Speech Events

In last week's lesson, the example of a Japanese Marriage Proposal was given to highlight how people have different norms of intepretation for the same speech event.

To indicate her consent to the marriage, the woman has to hang her head, lower her gaze and remain silent. Personally as a girl, if I behave in the same exact manner, it would be because I am furiously trying to think of a way to reject the guy! By avoiding eye contact and keeping deadly quiet, I hope the guy proposing would understand I'm trying to reject him and so I would not have to utter the cruel word - No.

I really cannot help but wonder though. If this is how a Japanese woman accept a marriage proposal, then what is her course of action if she wishes to turn down her suitor? Look right into his eyes and make non-committal noises like "え...え...え..."?

When it came to time for the group activity, my group actually selected my interview experience to analyse using the analytic system given to us. The activity made me reflect on how I behaved during the interview, that I was trying my best to adhere to the rules of such an interaction, so I could ace the interview. Having analysed the situation so throughly, I left the class worrying whether I said/did the right things during my interview. Not a good feeling. Ha.