正文翻譯
原創翻譯：龍騰網 http://www.ltaaa.com 翻譯：騎著毛驢到處走 轉載請註明出處
Why is Japan so polite?
為什麼日本人過於講禮貌【下】
評論翻譯
原創翻譯：龍騰網 http://www.ltaaa.com 翻譯：騎著毛驢到處走 轉載請註明出處
（回答二）Hazel Sarah Federico, living in Japan for 5 years, teaching the Japanese for 14
There are several reasons why the Japanese are considered polite:
Politeness is deeply ingrained in their culture. One of the first things I noticed during my first time in the country is the exchange of polite words between the restaurant staff and its customers. Aside from the usual dialogue to welcome customers, once they finish eating, the customers will say “Gochisousamadeshita!” It can be roughly translated to “the food was delicious.” The staff would then respond with thank you.
Even when I go to supermarkets, I noticed that the staff say a lot more to customers in Japan than they would in other countries. For an outsider who barely speaks Japanese, this can be daunting, which brings me to the next point..
日本人被認為有禮貌，我想有幾個原因：
首先，禮貌在他們的文化中根深蒂固。在我第一次來這個國家的時候，我首先注意到的一件事就是餐廳員工和顧客之間的禮貌交流。
一進店門，店員會對顧客說些歡迎的話語，一旦顧客吃完飯，顧客就會說“Gochisousamadeshita！”它可以粗略地翻譯為“食物很好吃”。然後店員會以“謝謝”作為回應。
甚至當我去超市時，我注意到日本的工作人員對顧客說的話比在其他國家的要多得多。
對於一個幾乎不會說日語的外來者來說，這一點可能會讓人望而卻步，所以這就引出了我的下一個觀點。
I understand that originally there was no Japanese word for thank you until the Portugese visited. The word for thank you is obrigado in Portugese. As the Japanese attempts to say it turned into arigato gosaimashta as they use phonetic symbols rather than an alphabet. Politeness was always infered in Japanese culture and reliant on body language.
They will also stack words to be ultra polite such as: Domo sumimasen origatogosaimasu.
There is a very old book regardingb the travel to Japan by Mortimer Menipes at the turn of the 20th century. It describes the Japanese culture and why they are like they are.
I was in a taxi in Tokyo (The cab driver wore white gloves and a cap) and he accidentally stoped on a pedestrian crossing and the people were forced to carefully move around the bonnet to cross the road. He sat with his head bowed as low as he could get it. Seeing his discomfort and disgrace, each person stopped briefly to bow in acknowledgement of his suffering. It reminded me of that very old book called Japan where Menipes describes a similar display of polite body language.
據我所知，在葡萄牙人到訪日本之前，日語裡沒有“謝謝”這個詞。“謝謝你”在葡萄牙語中是“obrigado”。由於日本人使用的是平假名而不是字母，所以他們的發音變成了arigato gosaimashta。
20世紀初，有一位美國人到日本旅行。他寫了一本書描述了已經西方化的日本文化。
“我坐在東京的一輛出租車上，司機戴著白手套和帽子，他不小心將車停在了一個人行橫道上，以至於每個帶著帽子的行人都被迫小心地繞過車輛穿過馬路。司機低著頭坐著，儘量使自己的頭低下去。不讓人看到他臉上的不安和恥辱，而每個路過的行人都短暫地停下腳步，向司機稍稍鞠躬，表示諒解他所犯的錯誤
There was a time in our culture where it was polite to bow. This was replaced by the handshake in order to show that you were unarmed. Politness among Knights in armour where the lifting of the helmet visor to allow others to see your face eventually turned into the salute or tipping of a cap. Later came the removal of a hat with a flourish and bow in our polite society during Tudor and Elizabethan times. Of course all these things have all but disappeared in our society. Germany still bowed after a sharp click of the heals up to the end of WWI.
在我們西方的文化中，鞠躬也是表現禮貌的一種方式。只不過後來被握手禮代替。
握手是向對方表明自己沒有攜帶武器，所以發展成為一種禮儀。
在穿著盔甲的騎士時代，掀起面部的盔甲，讓對方看清你的容貌，被認為是表達禮貌的一種行為，這種禮儀最終演變成了敬禮或脫帽禮。
後來，在英國的都鐸時代和伊麗莎白時代，鞠躬禮也出現了。當然，所有這些傳統禮儀在現代西方社會中幾乎都消失了。直到第一次世界大戰結束時，就只剩下德國人還堅持使用鞠躬禮。
We had difficulty in understanding the Japanese culture during WWII. It was considered a disgrace to surrender. Hiro Hito was a living God and Bushido kept all soldiers true to its precepts. It was better to commit Sepuka than live with disgrace and the shame a family would inherit. It was agreat honour to be beheaded by a sword (Katana) and showed a return of respect for enemy officers. Europeans however are repulsed by the very though. We didn’t see it in quite the same way and thought it barbaric and cruel. However, many a nobleman and noble woman were beheaded in Europe for similar reasons in the 14th century.
So, it can be said that the West has undergone a lot of change. With that, we have lost a lot of our chivalry and manners. Japan on the other hand has maintained this. They also have great regard for age and revere the wisdom it carries. It is by no means a perfect society. Although there is little to no crime there is a seedy side to it that thankfully very few westerners will experience.
我們很難理解二戰期間的日本文化。
投降被認為是一種恥辱。裕仁天皇是一個活著的神，武士道讓所有的士兵都遵守它的戒律。與其個人和家族揹負著恥辱生活，不如自我切腹。
被(武士刀)斬首是一種巨大的榮譽，也是對敵軍軍官的尊重。然而，歐洲人對此卻非常反感。我們並沒有以日本人的方式看待它，我們認為這是野蠻和殘忍的。然而在14世紀的歐洲，許多貴族和貴族婦女，也將被斬首當做榮譽的象徵。
可以說西方已經經歷了很多變化，我們失去了很多騎士時代的禮儀傳承。
另一方面，日本堅持著自己的傳承。他們也很重視年齡，並且敬畏年齡所承載的智慧。
日本絕不是一個完美的社會。雖然這裡幾乎沒有犯罪，但也有其骯髒的一面，值得慶幸的是，很少有西方人會經歷到這些。
For example, in the workplace and educational settings, Japanese people are expected to conform to Joge kankei (superior-inferior relationships), where juniors and lower ranked persons use polite or formal language and manners, while superiors get away with more informal language. The classic example of this is a first year university student using desu/masu form (polite verb endings) when talking to a second year university student. The second year student outranks the first year student by one year, and so will use plain form (informal verb endings). The fact that this culture has survived to the present day is mind-boggling.
However, as this workplace survey shows, the majority of Japanese people experience significant stress in their personal relationships at work as a result of this superior-inferior system of rigid socio-linguistic culture.
Second question: if they don’t like it, why don’t they change? Why not just be more relaxed and behave more informally?
It is simply fear. The pressure to conform makes Japanese people intensely self-conscious and anxious about what others are thinking of them. This partly explains the prominent hermit (hikikomori) trend in modern Japan, where people who do not fit in simply hide themselves away. There are around 5 million of these hermits.
例如，在辦公室和學校中，日本人被期望遵循“上下級關係”，下級對上級通常使用禮貌正式的語言和禮儀，而上級對下級說話時則較為隨意。
舉個典型的例子是，一個一年級的大學生在和一個二年級的大學生說話時必須使用敬語。二年級學生的級別比一年級學生高一年，因此他們可以使用非常普通的語氣對晚輩說話。這樣的文化居然能夠流傳至今，實在令人難以置信。
然而，正是由於這種上下級分明的，僵化的社會語言文化，使得大多數日本人在工作中感到了來自人際關係方面的巨大壓力。
那麼既然日本人不喜歡這一點，為什麼不做出改變?為什麼不放鬆一點，表現得更隨意一點呢?
答案是恐懼。從眾的壓力使日本人非常自覺，並對別人對他們的看法感到焦慮。這在一定程度上解釋了現代日本著名的“宅”現象，很多人將自己藏起來，拒絕與社會接觸。據估計，在日本大約有500萬人過著“宅”生活。
Conformity has traditionally been emphasized in Japan. Bullying at primary school and high school reinforces the importance of conformity from a young age. Bullying at school is the reason why suicide is now the leading cause of death among children aged 10–14 in Japan. It’s higher than cancer.
But bullying doesn’t stop at school. It extends even into the upper echelons of politics. A party member who takes a critical stance against the prime minister could be bullied by fellow lawmakers in an indirect, passive-aggressive manner for months or even years afterwards. Such behavior drives home the undeniable fact that politeness in Japan is often a superficial presentation that helps avoid externally visible friction, but is not necessarily an expression of genuine kindness.
Conformity across society creates harmony in the respect that it reduces conflict. But conformity stifles individual expression. Conformity is not fun. And the pressure to conform creates fear.
日本傳統文化強調與大眾保持一致。
在日本，小學和高中的校園欺凌現象強化了從眾的重要性。在日本，校園欺凌是導致10-14歲兒童死亡的主要原因。遠高於不治之症。
但是欺凌並不僅僅侷限於學校。它甚至會延伸到政治層面。一個對首相持批評態度的議員，可能會在接下來的幾個月甚至幾年裡被其他議員以一種間接的、消極的攻擊方式欺凌。
這樣的行為也說明了一個不可否認的事實:在日本，禮貌往往只是表面的客套，有助於避免人際交往之間的矛盾和摩擦，但不一定是真正善意的表達。
雖然社會的趨同性創造了和諧，減少了衝突。但一致性扼殺了個人的表達。一味地從眾並不會讓你感到快樂，而且從眾的壓力會產生恐懼。
K Ken Nakamura, studied at University of California System
Japanese may be very polite but it has many downside compare to the US. For example:
In the US, if you arrive the hotel early (for example after the red eye from West coast to the East Coast) many hotel will let you check in at 8AM for example. That is not possible in Japan. They will take your luggage but you must wait until 2PM or 3PM, what ever the check-in time and use your room facilities.
In the US, if the item you bought in the store happen to be defective, you can return to the store and they are happy to exchange it. In Japan, in most cases, that is not possible. The store usually tells you to contact manufacture to fix the problem.
日本人可能很有禮貌，但與美國相比，依然存在很多缺點。例如：
在美國，如果你提前到達酒店(例如從西海岸到東海岸)，許多酒店會讓你在早上8點登記入住。這在日本是不可能的。他們會拿走你的行李，但你必須等到下午2點或3點，才能辦理入住手續，使用房間。
在美國，如果你在商店買的東西碰巧有瑕疵，你可以返回商店，店主很樂意更換。而在日本，在大多數情況下，這是不可能的。商店通常會告訴你聯繫產品製造商來解決問題。
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