Dear Reader,
After you read the text below, do you understand what an “aizuchi” is? Do you have questions you’d like me to address?
This is my attempt to draft a Toastmasters speech.
Thanks for your help!
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Today I’ll describe a key difference between a good Japanese-language conversation and a good English-language conversation.

I’ll cover three topics. I’ll:
1) define the Japanese term aizuchi
2) give some examples of aizuchi
3) wrap up with a warning about your cross-cultural communications with native speakers of Japanese

Let’s start with a case study. Please listen carefully because I’m going to ask you a question at the end of this case study.

If you were talking non-stop to me and I didn’t interrupt you, what would you do? How long would you keep talking in the face of my silence? Five sentences? 15 sentences? 50 sentences? More?

There’s a big difference between the U.S. and Japan on this issue. As the speaker in Japan, I might stop after just one or two sentences.

Why? Because I want you to participate in the conversation. I want you to confirm that you’re listening by offering an aizuchi , which is a verbal or non-verbal signal. According to a popular author on the Japanese language, aizuchi are agreeable responses that make a conversation go smoothly.

In a literal sense, aizuchi refers to “alternate hammering by two blacksmiths.” That’s a metaphor for how a conversation — or even a speech — should be a two-way interaction in Japan. The alternation between one blacksmith’s hammer blow and the other translates into an ongoing verbal and nonverbal exchange between the two parties to a conversation.

Let’s consider some examples of aizuchi:
1) Nodding your head
2) Saying “ne” or “soo desu ne,” which mean “that’s so, isn’t it?”
3) Saying “haa,” “hai,” “ee,” or “un,” which are typically translated as “yes”
4) Finishing the other speaker’s sentence for her

I’ll bet that number four shocks you. In the United States, butting in to finish the other speaker’s sentence is considered rude. The perception in Japan is very different. Finishing the other person’s sentence CORRECTLY is considered complimentary. It’s a sign of how well attuned you are to the other person.

Number four gets me in trouble with my husband. I’m always trying to finish his sentences. No matter how many times he yells at me, I keep doing it. On some subliminal level I’ve decided that I should be so well aligned with my husband that I can finish his sentences for him.

Let me backtrack for a moment to aizuchi numbers one through three. Would you say that they’re all expressions of agreement with the speaker?

In an American context, that’s correct. They are forms of agreement.

But that’s not the case in Japan. In Japan they simply mean, “Yes, I hear you.” This is my warning to you about cross-cultural communication with the Japanese.