Can I Please Be Someone's Sempai?

Yes means maybe and maybe means no. Or at least that’s how Bouchra Moujtahid explains a major cultural difference between Arabic, Japanese, and English speakers (4). Because the Arabic and Japanese cultures both rely heavily on politeness, the implications of directly saying no are being considered rude and insulting. This difference in cultural meanings of words is merely a small example of a larger issue – the grammatical rules and clarity of language as they translate from another language to English for an ESL student rely on cultural rules that may result in difficulty bringing a writer from a Japanese or Arabic background into the English stylistic rules. Moujtahid cites the idea of organization and syllogistic reasoning. In English writing, syllogistic reasoning is the basis for a logical and well-written academic essay. A claim is made and then clearly and logically argued and supported. Moujtahid explains, however, that in Japanese culture, writing in this style would be considered boring and simplistic (4). Because Japanese writing focuses on moments of brilliant insight, clearly explaining how those insights were reached would detract from their spontaneous brilliance. Because of this cultural difference, I can see potentially insulting a Japanese student or demeaning their work (unintentionally, of course) by asking them to clearly explain how they reached the conclusion they stated or how their ideas interconnect. As a matter of fact, according to Moujtahid, pressing a Japanese writer for exactness could be seen as “extremely offensive” because the Japanese have a culture of ambiguity (4). Especially in a system where traditional modes of polite recognition (like the Japanese honorific system) do not translate, it would be incredibly easily to accidentally insult a Japanese student when they are already uncomfortable. Though I certainly wouldn’t mind being addressed as “sempai” if it would make a Japanese student feel more comfortable. It would probably make me feel special. I focused a lot more on the Japanese cultural elements than the Arabic, because there were some elements of the Japanese culture that I already understood which put these ideas in context. The idea that I most drew from this article, however, was that an understanding of the culture behind a student’s writing can explain the reasons for the stylistic choices they made and can also help a consultant figure out how to address these issues in a way that will both make sense and not insult the culture the ESL student is coming from. And that seems kind of important.