Keigo goes out the window

[Captain Japan]

Japan fears polite speech on wane
China Daily

Japanese people need help to brush up on their polite language, a government panel has proposed.

A report for the Agency for Cultural Affairs said 'keigo' - honorific Japanese - was being widely misused.

Keigo is a complicated form of the language which involves different conjugations of regular nouns and verbs, or different words entirely....the rest...

[vir-jin]

ever noticed the arubaito kids trying to speak keigo? They are totally confused, especially on their first day.

[Mike Oxlong]

Didn't JapanZine do an article on this topic a year or so back...? Had some fun examples of misused keigo, like "suupu ni narimasu" - I will become soup, in place of "suupu de gozaimasu" - Here's the soup.

[Captain Japan]

This is kind of related...
ECONOMIC FORUM / 5 'languages' needed to stop academic decline
Gomiuri Shimbun

An apparent decline in the academic ability of younger generations, who will support the development of the economy in the 21st century, has become a serious problem.

More than 10 years ago, other advanced countries, including the United States, began to increase class hours, while fast-developing countries in Asia and other regions have devised policies to base nation-building on the development of human resources, starting with programs to enrich education and learning.

But during the same period, Japan put emphasis on ideological and abstract slogans, such as "cram-free education" and "creativity," diverting attention from the reality of national education. This led to the recent fall in the international academic ability rankings of Japanese primary and middle school students.

The distortion of primary and middle school education accumulates until these students advance to universities and colleges. As a result, the basic skills of university students, who are about to go into the business world, are seriously stunted.

Those in the world of university education are extremely dissatisfied with the leadership ability of teachers from primary to high schools. But as we enter an age of virtually unrestricted entry to universities and colleges--due to the declining birthrate--we have to accept that universities and colleges will be responsible for teaching basic skills to students.

But what are the basic skills to be taught? I believe they can be defined and taught through the enrichment and strengthening of education of five "languages."

The first is the Japanese language. Good understanding of Japanese is vital to learning the nation's history and culture, and also is a precondition to establishing smooth communication. Many universities and colleges stress the education of foreign languages, but very few emphasize Japanese-language education for those purposes....the rest...

[Neo-Rio]

And in other news, polite speech is dead in the water in the USA.

(Unless you tip really really well, and then no guarantee)

[Socratesabroad]

And in other news, polite speech is dead in the water in the USA.

There's actually a great segment (Act Two) on This American Life about that very topic:

http://207.70.82.73/ra/267.ram

Act Two. Dems Gone Wild! Ken Kurson, a Republican, runs for New Jersey State Assembly in a very, very Democratic district. He expects disagreement and debate. He doesn't expect his neighbors and friends to turn into vulgarians.

The Republican/Democrat angle doesn't really matter (TAL will never be confused as 'right wing'); what's more important (or lamentable) is the decline in politeness, and especially in public discourse.

[AssKissinger]

It really chaps my wife's ass if servers don't use keigo. She'll even tell them not to talk to her using the wrong verb conjugations! I can't understand Japanese that's either too polite or too casual.

[Mulboyne]

[Pencilslave]

And in other news, polite speech is dead in the water in the USA.

(Unless you tip really really well, and then no guarantee)

Now, now, I fear I must disagree with you my good man.While I shall not assume the role of a braggart and say that I'm a master of polite conversation, you can rest assured that there are americans like myself, who still practice the usage of basic polite speech.