Ippei Inoue: Understanding English Through Tatemae

2022/01/20

It is common knowledge in the publishing industry that English conversation books and diet books can expect reasonably good sales. There is a joke that this is because no one ever actually achieves their goals.

Japan is also a major market for English-related businesses. In the era of paper dictionaries, British and American dictionaries known as "English-English dictionaries" in Japan—such as Longman, Oxford, and Cambridge—had to be conscious of how they sold in Japan. English proficiency tests like Eiken and TOEIC also continue to show an upward trend, even though TOEIC numbers decreased in 2020 due to COVID-19.

Despite this passion for English, the fact that it is difficult to gain a sense of achievement or feel like one is improving is not good for mental health, regardless of the reason. Here, through the objectives of my book "The English Way of Thinking" (Chikuma Shinsho), I would like to talk about one way to enjoy English healthily through a paperback book.

It is said that nearly half of the readership for many Shinsho (paperback) books consists of middle-aged and older men. When writing a Shinsho, the basic approach is to start by targeting this demographic. One might imagine they are a group seeking calm, gentle intellectual stimulation. However, the English Shinsho boom that forms the background of this project was not necessarily like that. With "stay-at-home time" increasing due to COVID-19 and the pre-COVID mood of welcoming inbound tourists feeling like a distant memory, the number of people across a wide range of generations who want to sit down and read a book rather than just practice "English conversation" may have increased.

A Shinsho is not the kind of book where you read one and suddenly become fluent in English (in fact, no such book exists); the real challenge is how much new insight you can provide to the reader. If this single book changes your perspective on English even a little bit, then the goal has been achieved, and as the author, I would be delighted.

In terms of content, "The English Way of Thinking" explains the principles of British and American communication behind the English language in an easy-to-understand way, based on insights from the fields of sociolinguistics and cognitive linguistics. For the general public, I intended to sprinkle in some "dad jokes" to make it as engaging as possible, but I must leave the success or failure of that to the readers. It seems to have been relatively well-received, though I do hear some voices saying the jokes get in the way.

This book deciphers English expressions and communication customs using three cultural premises as keywords: "Independence," "Connection," and "Equality." I also referred to "Equality" as the "English Tatemae (public stance)."

"Tatemae" is often thought to be a Japanese specialty. I often hear foreigners who interact with Japanese people say things like, "Japanese people are hard to understand because they have Honne (true feelings) and Tatemae." This is half right, but half a misunderstanding. Every culture has "Tatemae." It's just that they are different, which makes them hard to understand. People tend to be unaware and unconscious of the "Tatemae" of their own culture, while those of other cultures feel remarkably distinct.

For example, the Japanese phrase "Yoroshiku onegaishimasu" is a set phrase that clearly expresses one of Japan's "Tatemae": "I am lower than you and cannot get by without relying on you."

This kind of "Tatemae" is by no means universal. And in English, it is completely different. The "Tatemae" of English is "Equality." "Nice to meet you" does not imply a hierarchical relationship.

When saying that you share a common experience with someone, a common expression used to mean "I understand (or 'That's so true!' in modern slang)" is "I know the feeling." Since it means "I understand your feeling," one might be tempted to say "I know your feeling," but idiomatically it is "the" rather than "your." You should separate the shared sensation from the other person and say "the feeling"; saying "your feeling" becomes an unsettling expression that intrudes too much into the other person's "Independent" domain.

One of the things I wanted to do with my book was to unravel many common misunderstandings about English and the customs of the English-speaking world. For example, the idea that "British and American people do not humble themselves" is typical. They do humble themselves. However, the principle is different from Japanese humility. The Japanese Tatemae is "I am lower than you," but British and American humility only goes down as far as "Equality." Exchanging jokes is also a manifestation of the British and American "Connection" orientation.

"Independence" is a prominent feature of British and American communication culture. In terms of not intruding into the other person's domain, it can sometimes feel overly restrained compared to the Japanese communication culture of "Empathy," which values understanding things without them being said.

I believe that one of the sources of inspiration for Fukuzawa's idea of "independence and self-respect" lies in this British and American communication culture.

I think showing this kind of "way of understanding" English is one of the roles of a Shinsho book.

The English Way of Thinking: Grammar and Culture Lessons for Speaking

Ippei Inoue

Chikuma Shinsho

272 pages, 946 yen (tax included)