In Japan, locals were having trouble understanding my Japanese, in spite of my perfect pronunciation at times.
Questions like “Nanji desuka” (what time is it) would invariably result in a blank stare, if not a waving hand gesture threatening to shoo me away.
Luckily, a fellow American cleared things up.
“Never speak Japanese to a native out of the blue”, he said. “If you do, all they’ll hear is English. You have to click them over first.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Before speaking, you have to say ‘ehhhhto ne..‘ then pause. That sends a signal to their brain to standby for Japanese words.
This simple technique helped me bridge the communication gap in Japan.
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