Japanese surveyed on how they thought it best to get a good conversation going with the opposite sex yield up some at first glance very sensible sounding advice.
1. Balance “aizuchi” (making encouraging utterances like “I see,” “mmm,” and “ah” to keep conversation moving and affirm that you are listening) with actual conversation.
2. Express an interest in their hobbies.
3. Be sure to adopt a sympathetic posture.
4. Search for shared experiences to talk about.
5. Try to engender an “at home” atmosphere.
6. Incorporate stuff about their home town into the conversation.
7. Praise their dress or possessions.
8. Follow through on any self-deprecatory comments.
9. Always ask questions at the end of a conversation.
10. Lightly ask for advice on something.
At the very bottom of approaches favoured was “play games together on your phones,” a perhaps understandably shunned pastime.
Strong agreement was present amongst those surveyed on the first few items, reducing significantly further down the list.
When the results were split by gender, the first items were also ranked all but identically, not entirely surprisingly suggesting there may well be some common perceptions of how to get a good conversation going between the sexes.
Picture for this implies something else entirely.
WTF!!!???
Number 1 in one of the most annoying things for me in Japanese conversations.
All those “mmm” and “ah” make me really angry.
It gives the impression that the conversation is a bother to the listener.
Now i’m told by this poll that it’s actually a cultural habit!?
Oh man, learning Japanese culture is getting more fucked up by the day.
I can’t keep up with it.
not exactly… it’s saying to balance both actual conversation and aizuchi, not to use those “mmmm” and “ah” all the time…
really ppl doesn’t read anything properly on internet anymore
The last ones seem rather awkward to me, specifically:
7. Praise their dress or possessions.
(“Praise” strikes me wrong here, it gives off the impression of pretentiousness, “positive comments” might be more along the lines of what they actually meant by praise)
8. Follow through on any self-deprecatory comments.
(I don’t find this a good conversation starter, might seem “self esteem issues”. It’s good to keep a conversation lighthearted though)
9. Always ask questions at the end of a conversation.
(This one is just wrong in my eyes, it’s better to know when a conversation is over and then move on to something else)
10. Lightly ask for advice on something.
(Asking for an opinion is good for getting a conversation going. Asking for advice seems overkill since the scenario is “get a conversation going”, assuming the other is a stranger or one is not yet familiar with. If it is, then I don’t see why getting a conversation going would be a problem)
It probably wun matter at at once u start stuttering…basically too nervous
no 2ch comments?
im disappointed