Japan Chronicles: Wakarimasen

One of the first words I confidently rolled off my tongue, Japanese accent and all, was 'wakarimasen' - not that the blank 'deer in the headlights' look would not have conveyed a similar message.

Simply translated, wakarimasen means "I don't understand."  Therefore I learned the word so easily out of sheer necessity.  And I use it perhaps five times as many as any of the ten or so words I know (I should do a poll). 

Interestingly though, in a few situations I've actually had the opportunity to utter "wakarimashita" / "wakarimasu".  This is not because my ardent study of the language is yielding fruit, but rather because the context, gestures and facial expressions often allowed me to correctly guess the messages being conveyed (and of course sometimes technology helped).    


Those times I naturally do a mental version of a happy dance but I also reflect on an aspect of the subject, Communication Studies, that I taught when I lived in my home country.  The communication process is a very interesting one and watching it unfold makes me giddy with excitement.  

Today while I waited in the doctor's office I took the opportunity to catch up on some writing.  An older woman sat beside me and once or twice from the periphery I noticed her glancing at my notebook.  I wasn't bothered because I highly doubted that she understood what I wrote (and it wouldn't have mattered if she did).  Not long after that asked me (in Japanese) if I could speak Japanese.  The mere fact that I understood her question made me do a couple back flips, mentally of course (after all it would have been highly inappropriate to do the physical kind then and there).

She asked (also in Japanese) where I was from and yes, I answered in Japanese.  She asked (in a mixture of English and Japanese) if I liked Japan and what Japanese foods I liked and I answered in kind.  I chuckle now thinking what my very hoarse and badly accented answers must have sounded like to her.  There were many times after she'd said something that I paused, leaned my head, squinted my eyes and furrowed my brows in deep concentration, not trying to remember the translation of the word she'd used (although I'm sure the average onlooker would interpret those actions as such), but trying to see if I could somehow guess what she could have been asking LOL - in my head I was playing a game (I'm not as sensible as I look) but more often than not 'wakarimasen' was the result.

I commended her English (which was perhaps only marginally better than my Japanese LOL but kudos for the effort) and she acknowledged that she only remembered some English from high school; and based on the fact she appeared to be someone about my mother's age group it would have been quite a while ago (esp since I left HS more than 20 yrs ago..OMG!).

Not surprising, our conversation stalled shortly after and Google Translate became our medium of polite conversation (I got a little carried away and she did the Japanesey thing of only vaguely indicating that my translating aid was too loud and might be disturbing ... oh crap! How could I have forgot about not having loud conversation in public? I looked around rapidly for someone to whom I'd offer an apology but the lone woman nearby was not even looking in our direction.

By the time we were ready to part company, the woman had given me her address, telephone number and email and invited me to bring my friends and come have a meal with her and her husband.  At least that's what I think I wakarimashita.