One thing that impressed me so much when I lived in Japan was the following:

People RARELY say "I".
Everyone refers to "us" and try to include everyone rather than creating divisions.
This has profound implications in many areas of life there.

In business whenever there's a dispute between two companies, even if one is entirely wrong the other one will make consessions so that their partnership can continue long term. There in never an 'elimination' or 'merger' mentality. This may be changing due to the influence of the West but it was my experience while living there.

When people:
-Leave home they say to everyone "Itekimasu"
-Come home they say "tadaima" literally "I'm back" and whoever is home says "okarinasai" literally "you're back"

In English we never really say anything more than 'see you later'

Just before eating a meal in Japan, you say "Itadakimasu" which means literally "I am receiving". This can be said when one receives a gift as well.

After eating a wonderful meal, a really nice thing to say to a sushi chef (If he's actually truly Japanese) is "go-chi-so-sama-deshita" This means thank-you for the delicious food. They really appreciate that gesture, especially if you're a foreigner.

I think most people know this already but in Japan, no one EVER wears shoes in the house.
There is usually a special cabnet by the door to put shoes in. Also a hilarious side not is that men commonly put on their mother or wifes slippers when they go to the market, 711 or gas station and the slippers are always 4 sizes too small. I could never understand that but it was hilarious to see.

What cultural differences can any of you share about your native language?
Can you share any special phrases and their meanings?

It would be nice to learn some new things about one another's culture.

I think an interesting difference is that in asian languages, using "you" or "I" is usually a disrespectful way of addressing someone else.

Some examples:

Younger man addressing an older man will address him as "big brother" while the older man in turn will address the younger as "little brother." Even if they're not really brothers.

A child speaking to an adult or an adult addressing an elder would adress them as "Uncle" or "Elder."

As a child growing up, the only time I heard "you" in vietnamese was when people were pissed at each other (or me).


Sorry about not trying to type out the words in vietnamese or chinese. I'm only literate in english and a bit of french.

That's a great point!
I think the same principle applies to Japanese & Korean.
Maybe Chinese as well?

I recall that anyone over a certain age is grandma or grandpa or auntie or uncle..

I love that aspect, it implies that everyone is related even if not by blood.

A lot of the rituals and behaviors of asian culture were first explained by Confucius. Confucius argues that under law, external authorities administer punishments after illegal actions, so people generally behave well without understanding reasons why they should; whereas with ritual, patterns of behaviour are internalised and exert their influence before actions are taken, so people behave properly because they fear shame and want to avoid losing face.
It really depends how traditional a family follows. Like for my own family, I teach my kids to call each other by big brother, little, and little brother, not to address each other by their names. To this day, I don't think my daughter even know her real name, she has always been called mei mei since the day she was born. The babysitters across the street are always known as aunt so and so. I know in western culture, respect is earned not just granted by the time of one's birth.

Another ritual my family practice is that we burn incense before certain meals, like Chinese New Year celebration. We prepared all the plates with rice and side dishes for our ancestors, and burn an incense. At the end of the incense it signifies that they have finished eating, then we can began eating.

....

When I was younger I was taught to do courtesy calls for every meals, but only whenever someone other than immediate family members were around. Say I'm halfway through my dinner and my uncle and auntie dropped by, I'd go "uncle, auntie, have you eaten yet?" or "uncle, auntie, are your bellies full?" and they'd acknowledge by saying "yes", "okay", "hmm" or just a nod. It might make no sense to some people, but the purpose of this courtesy call is not asking them to share your food, but to dispel the negative connotation of "quietly eating food behind other people" aka its the willlingness of wanting to share the food, not sharing the food itself that's important.

The main thing I noticed when first learning English was the seeming lack of respect in its mode of address. Saying 'you' to an elder in Korean is grounds for a beating so it was uncomfortable, to the very least, learning to adapt to the western way of thinking. I'm still discomfited by it and have trouble calling older gentlemen by their first names and stuff, especially the parents of friends. And there's no way in hell I'd EVER call my gf/wife's parents John and Mary, no matter how much they insisted on it.

Also interesting of note is that while in English, family and extended family are all addressed by the generic terms of 'aunts', 'uncles', and 'in-laws', in Korean pretty much everyone has a specific title. Your father's sister is Gomo while your mother's sister is Immo, your younger brother's wife is Jaesu while your older brother's wife is Hyungsu etc etc. It's so complicated most Koreans don't seem to know all the titles until they themselves get married.

Adriana, you mentioned the shoes in the house... one of my best friends growing up was Hungarian and his family was just as fastidious if not more so than us asians about it. Not only did they take their shoes off they washed their hands EVERYTIME they entered the house. They were very neat and clean. My Yugoslavian friend's fam also took their shoes off, so it must be prevalent at least in some white societies.

Now that I think about it, I'm actually quite curious about this:

Do the ladies here take their shoes off in their homes or not?

EVERYTHING begins with a good de-pantsing! Sunny, June 20th '08

I wouldn't trust you to run a bath, let alone a fucking restaurant!!Gordon Ramsay, Kitchen Nightmares