Comparing Spanish and Japanese Farewell Expressions: Cultural Time Differences, Summaries of Spanish

Download Comparing Spanish and Japanese Farewell Expressions: Cultural Time Differences and more Summaries Spanish in PDF only on Docsity! Intercultural Communication Studies XII-1 2003 Ochi - TIME Conceptualizations Images missing. For more information contact the editor. A Cognitive Study of TIME Conceptualizations in Spanish and Japanese Naoko Ochi Seisen University Introduction The time rhythms and concepts in daily life differ depending on cultural background as between Spanish and Japanese. For example, generally, Spanish and Japanese have breakfast around 7AM but Spanish start to have lunch around 2PM and take much time for it, whereas Japanese eat lunch rather quickly about 12 noon. Concerning supper Spanish eat around 9PM but Japanese eat between 6 and 8 PM. E. T. Hall (1984:44-58) researched the behavior to time of Spanish and Latin American people and Japanese. He explains that there are two different behaviors to time: “polychronic” and “monochronic”. “Polychronic” is those who do things at a same time and they make a importance of the involvement of people and completion of transaction rather than present schedules, and therefore the schedule or plans for the future are broken. “Monochronic” is those who do one thing at a same time. They are dominated by schedule and time determines and coordinates everything even the relationship with others. Hall examined that Spanish and Latin American people are “polychronic” and Japanese are “monochronic” for the official business and they are “monochronic” beside the official business. However there are not many statistical studies about time between Spanish and Japanese. This research, utilizing E. T. Hall’s time frames, aims to examine the time expressions and vocabularies used in Spanish and Japanese and the related behavior regarding time and to explore any cultural differences that occur. The time-related expressions and vocabularies, “farewells” were examined in relationships between the speakers (formal/informal), and the period of the separation was also considered. A questionnaire to examine the analysis with Spanish and Japanese subjects were carried out for the analysis. Theoretical Background Hall (1959) distinguished “time” in three attitudinal frames. Formal time, informal time, and technical time. He explains that “Formal time reflects formal or traditional aspects of our time. For instance, the year that has three hundred sixty five days plus one fourth of a day. Informal time is what has to do with situational or imprecise references like “awhile”, “later”, “in a minute”, and so on. Technical time is an entirely different system used by scientists and technicians, such as the exact length of the year. For example, the solar year. (365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes, 45.51 seconds plus a fraction) (Hall,1959:64). In informal time, the expressions such as “Oh, it takes years to get that done.” you have to be there and know the person and the background of the remark to judge the time periods referred to (Hall,1959:141). Depending on the culture, contexts, situations, and so on, the expression, “see you later”, may be shorter, longer, or “later” may not come at all. The behavior regarding time is also different. There are some studies concerning punctuality. It is usually said that Japanese tend to be punctual, whereas Spanish tend to be late. To see if 113 Intercultural Communication Studies XII-1 2003 Ochi - TIME Conceptualizations there are any contemporary cultural differences, the questions about the waiting time attitude and the durations were researched among young people. Method The survey was conducted by questionnaires in Spanish and Japanese. See appendix A. A hundred seven Spanish University students in Madrid (57 male students and 50 female students) and 114 Japanese university students (54 male students and 60 female students) in Yokohama were asked to answer the questions.1) There were 13 questions concerning “farewell expressions” and their attitude toward time. In this study, question no. 1 to 4 and question no. 6 to 9 were examined. Analysis Farewell Expressions Table 1 shows the percentage of the farewell expressions that Spanish and Japanese use. The questions are from no.1 to 4 and the answers are either 3 or 4 choices. More than one answer were allowed to be selected or written down as they may not always use the same expressions. “Short TS formal” means the short time of separation with formal use. “Long TS Informal” means a long time of separation with informal use. In Spanish, the representaive category of speech level is formal and informal. Formal level of speech is used to older people and to those who are respected and to those who do not know. Informal level of speech is used to friends, family members, and relatives. In Japanese, there are fomal and informal usage. In formal usage, which is called keigo, there are three levels of speech: sonkeigo, kenjogo, and teineigo. Sonkeigo is to show respect to the hearer and the third person using special address terms, or using special expressions to their acts,or belongings. Kenjogo is to show respect to the hearer and the third person. The speaker uses the modest words to their own address terms, to their acts, and to their belongings. Teineigo is to show respect to the hearer using polite expressions to the things and the auxiliary verbs. Question 1 (Short time of separation, formal) is “What do you say to your teachers when you leave the class if you won’t see him/her for a few days?” and the choices are: 1. “Adiós” in Spanish and “sayounara” in Japanese, which is “good-bye”. 2. “Adiós, hasta luego” in Spanish, and “Dewamata, sayounara,” in Japanese which are“Good-bye, see you”. (Spanish and Japanese use these combinations, which do not have an equivalent in English). 3. “Hasta luego” in Spanish and “dewamata” in Japanese which are parallel to “see you”, and 4. others which the respondent can fill out for the other expressions. “Adiós”, which means “good-bye” in English is used by only 9% of the Spanish students whereas “sayounara” is by 80% of the Japanese students. “Hasta luego” which is equivalent to “see you” is used by 66.3%, whereas “dewamata” is 0%. “Hasta luego”(see you), is used the most in Spanish and “sayounara”, (good-bye) is considerably used by Japanese. Other expressions that are peculiar and different are “Otukaresama.” (Thank you for your earnest instruction.), “Arigatougozaimashita.” (Thank you very much.), and “Situreisimasu” (Let me excuse myself.). These expressions were only seen in Japanese. The first two express appreciation/gratitude rather than a direct farewell. In the last case leaving is considered a rudeness and requires an apology. Question 2 (Short time of separation, informal) is “What do you say to your friends when you leave the class if you won’t see him/her for a few days? ” The choices are the same as above. In regard to the Japanese, the expressions with friends (informal use) were changed to a casual style because the Japanese students do not usually use keigo (formal language use) with their friends. “Hasta luego” (see you) is ranked high (61.4%) and “Matane, baibai” (See you, bye) is also ranked high. (50.0%) For the short time of separation, Japanese tend to use the expressions meaning “good-bye” to both the teachers and friends. 114 Intercultural Communication Studies XII-1 2003 Ochi - TIME Conceptualizations apologize when they are late even for few minutes, and next come the Japanese men, the Spanish women, and the Spanish men. Both Figure 4 and Figure 3 indicate a similar tendency. We can say that the Japanese men and the women tend to apologize and explain the reason why when they are late for only a few minutes. S/M S/F J/M J/F Figure 2 : Worry Rates 0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% Minutes 5～10 15 ２０～２５ 30～120 not worry others Conclusion From the analysis of the farewell expressions, we can see that the usage of some expressions is not the same, as they are selected for use depending on the situation. In most dictionaries, the meaning of the words are explained, but not the situation of use. To avoid misunderstanding it is necessary to teach the situation adequately, the appropriateness of the use from the situation. Surprisingly, Spanish men tend to become impatient sooner than the other groups, but the rate of “no impatience” among the groups is also the highest. The rates of the Spanish men’s results were the most extreme. Both the Spanish and the Japanese women tend to become worried sooner than the Spanish and the Japanese men. It can be considered that this is not a cultural difference but a difference between men and women. Also, Japanese tend to apologize and give the reason sooner than the Spanish. Even though Japanese are regarded as being punctual, the Japanese university students do not become impatient as often when they are waiting for someone. This may be influenced by the well spread use of portable telephones. As most of the university students in Japan now have the portable telephones, they can call or send email when they are late. As I examined 99 university students about their sense of time when they are meeting their friends,(2) 26.2% answer that they get to the meeting place early, and 37.3% answer that they are on time, and 28.2% come after 5 to 10 minutes, and 7 %, after 10 to 20 minutes. Because of portable phone, they do not have to worry or become impatient about waiting but also they might be changing, becoming less punctual. In this study, I limited the investigation only to the contemporary culture of university students. For further research, by examining other age groups, and comparing their attitudes toward time cultural change may also be investigated. However, it can be said that there is a need for better social contextual information for contemporary young people in learning “time concepts” in dictionaries and textbooks, and the expressions and vocabularies should be acquired with the contextual situation. 117 Intercultural Communication Studies XII-1 2003 Ochi - TIME Conceptualizations Notes 1) The surveys were conducted at Universidad de Compultense in Madrid, Spain and Meiji Gakuin University in Yokohama, Japan. 2) This survey was conducted at Meiji Gakuin University. References Bruneau, T. 1979 The time dimension in intercultural communication. In D. Nimmno (ed.) Communication Year Book 3. New Brunswick, N J: Transaction Books. Hall, Edward T. 1959 The Silent Language. New York: Doubleday and Company. 1969 The Hidden Dimension. Garden City, New York: Anchor Books. 1976 Beyond Culture. Garden City, New York: Anchor Books. 1984 The Dance of Life: The Other Dimension of Time. Garden City, New York: Anchor Press. Hall, Edward T. and M. R. Hall 1987 Hidden Differences. Garden City, New York: Anchor Books. Martín Peris, Ernesto, Lourdes Miquel López, Neuz Sans Baulenas, and Marta Topolevsky Bleger 1984 Para empezar A. Madrid: Edi 6. Moreno, Francisco 1989 Elementos no Marginales en la Lengua Coloquial de los Jovenes. In Félix Rodriguez González (ed.) Comunicación y Lenguaje Juvenil. Madrid: Editorial Fundamentos. Suzuki, Takao. 1993 Kotoba to Bunka. Tokyo : Iwanami shoten. Shinmura, Izuru (ed) 1971 Kojien. Tokyo : Iwanami shoten. 118 Intercultural Communication Studies XII-1 2003 Ochi - TIME Conceptualizations Appendix A This is the translation of Spanish and Japanse questionnaire. Sex M F Age Homeplace Have you lived in any foreign countries ? No. Yes, month(s)/ year(s) in 1. What do you say to your teachers when you leave the class if you see him or her after a few days ? 1) Good-bye. 2) Good-bye, see you . 3) See you . 4)Others _____ 2. What do you say to your friends when you leave the class if you see see him or her after a few days ? 1) Good-bye. 2) Good-bye, see you 3) See you . 4)Others _____ 3. What do you say to someone important or you respect to when you won’t see see him or her for a long time ? 1) Good-bye, take care. 2) See you, take care. . 3) Others ____ 4.What do you say to your friends when you won’t see see him or her for a long time ? 1) Good-bye, take care. 2) See you, take care. . 3) Others ____ 5.If your friend is late, how do you value your emotion from 1 to 10 ? (10 is the highest score) 1) Worry . 2) Displeasure . 3) Impatience . 4) indifference . . 5) ____ 6.If you can’t communicate by phone, and your friend does not come, how long would you wait without impatience ? 1) minutes. 2) I wait calmly. 7.If you can’t communicate by phone, and your friend does not come, how long would you wait without worrying ? 1) minutes. 2) I don’t worry much. . 3) I don’t usually worry. . 8. If you are late, do you give the reason ? 1) I give the reason if I am late more than minutes. 2) I don’t give the reason. 9. If you are late, do you apologize ? 1) I apologize if I am late more than. minutes. 2) I don’t usually apologize. . 10. If your friend is late, do you ask for the reason ? 1) I ask for the reason if he or she is late more than minutes. 2) I don’t usually ask for the reason. 119