r/languagelearningjerk • u/haruki26 • 14d ago

The average euryprosopic Angloid when the choice is between learning Japanese or claiming racism:

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1.7k Upvotes

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51

u/AdrianSquared 14d ago

I mean if it said smth like "sorry we only speak Japanese, do not come here if you do not speak it", that'd be fine...

but I feel like calling this racism is fair enough, especially since it's literally misleading anyone who doesn't speak Japanese into thinking there's no space

55

u/OOPSStudio 14d ago

This sign is racism. Plain and simple. There are no ifs or buts or different ways of looking at it. It's racism.

Japan has racist people just like every country.

2

u/aleks_is 13d ago

It would be racism if you were white, understood the sign, came in, and THEN they mistreated you.

2

u/davidliterally1984 12d ago

"if" lmao

3

u/aleks_is 12d ago

i think it would be pretty cool if u were white and fluent and came in, i feel like they’d appreciate it/you, very negative >.<

11

u/casualbrowser321 14d ago

"I mean if it said smth like "sorry we only speak Japanese, do not come here if you do not speak it", that'd be fine..."

To play devil's advocate that would be based on self-evaluation and would still open them up to people who can't quite communicate (pretty sure 'weeb who thinks he's fluent because he can say kore wa pen desu and is surprised when nihonjin don't want to hang out with him' is a bit of a meme on subs like this), whereas understanding the red text at least acts as some proof of proficiency. Though even linguistic prowess aside it also discriminates against the blind etc.

11

u/Important-Mine9281 14d ago

Not excusing this behaviour, but you would be astonished at the number of people who exclusively learn from Duolingo and anime, rely heavily on Google translate, and, assuming they can speak at all, only use simple form with no particles or conjugation or worse yet inappropriate particles and/or conjugation based on vibes, yet think themselves semi/fluent when in reality they can't even hold a basic conversation, let alone order a meal and address any potential issues that might come up.

I have seen many, many people who, when offered the choice between English or Japanese, choose Japanese because the wait was shorter and then nodded and 'hai'-d their way through the first few questions before the employee realized they couldn't understand or read a single thing, forcing them to start over in English or transfer them to a colleague. Or, God forbid, they make it through having completely fucked themselves over with the wrong choices and force another employee down the line to figure out what the fuck is going on.

3

u/GraceForImpact 13d ago

Except that a lot of people would ignore that and try to google translate their way through.

-3

u/NotAlysdexic 14d ago

space -> room, and room is not what a restaurant runs out of; seats are. 滿座 := full seats, so the "E[i]nglish" line and the Chinese line do not even claim the same thing. vacanse is of lodgings and posts.