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- J Culture: Gokai -- Misunderstanding or the fifth floor?
J Culture: Gokai -- Misunderstanding or the fifth floor?
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There are four elevators in my office building. They can speak a few words. When you get into the elevator and push the button of the number you want to get off, it says “The door is closing.” When it arrives at the floor you want to get off, if the floor you want to get off is the fifth, it says “This is the fifth floor. The door is opening.” After a while, it says “The door is closing” again.
The fifth floor is called “Gokai” in Japanese, so the elevator says “Gokai desu” in Japanese. However, “gokai” has a few meanings, not only “the fifth floor” but also “misunderstanding.”
You know, the Japanese is a hieroglyphic language, so we distinguish the meanings with the contexts.
“Gokai desu” is a very short sentence, so it is difficult to recognize the meaning without any other phrases. In this case, you are on the elevator, so this means “the fifth floor.” However, I always think about the misunderstanding whenever I hear the “Gokai desu.”
I remember a story about a friend of mine, who got married with an Australian man and lives in Sydney when I think about the “Gokai desu.” She told me that it was too noisy in Japan when she came back to Japan. She said, “Anything speak in Japan and the announces are often heard like on the bus and the train.”
I was surprised at the announces on the bus when I went to Sydney. There was no announce on the bus in Sydney. I asked her how to know the bus stop you want to get off. She said that she saw outside when the bus stop came near.
This is the culture difference, isn’t it?
The fifth floor is called “Gokai” in Japanese, so the elevator says “Gokai desu” in Japanese. However, “gokai” has a few meanings, not only “the fifth floor” but also “misunderstanding.”
You know, the Japanese is a hieroglyphic language, so we distinguish the meanings with the contexts.
“Gokai desu” is a very short sentence, so it is difficult to recognize the meaning without any other phrases. In this case, you are on the elevator, so this means “the fifth floor.” However, I always think about the misunderstanding whenever I hear the “Gokai desu.”
I remember a story about a friend of mine, who got married with an Australian man and lives in Sydney when I think about the “Gokai desu.” She told me that it was too noisy in Japan when she came back to Japan. She said, “Anything speak in Japan and the announces are often heard like on the bus and the train.”
I was surprised at the announces on the bus when I went to Sydney. There was no announce on the bus in Sydney. I asked her how to know the bus stop you want to get off. She said that she saw outside when the bus stop came near.
This is the culture difference, isn’t it?
She said, “Anything spoken in Japan and the announcements sound similar on the bus and the train.”
I was surprised at the announcements on the bus when I went to Sydney.
There was no announcement on the bus in Sydney.
I asked her how did she know when she was at the bus stop that you wanted to get off at.
She said that she would see familiar scenery when the bus would approach her bus stop.
You know, the Japanese is a hieroglyphic language, so we distinguish the meaning by using context. - Perhaps it is worth adding 'with many homonyms.'
In this case, you are on the elevator, so this means “the fifth floor.” However, I always think about the meaning 'misunderstanding' whenever I hear the elevator say “Gokai desu.”
When I think about the “Gokai desu" I am reminded of a story about a friend of mine, who got married to an Australian man and lives in Sydney She told me that it was too noisy in Japan when she came back to Japan.
She said, “Everything speaks in Japan and the announcements are often heard like on the bus and the train.”
I was surprised at the announcements on the bus when I went to Sydney.
There was no announcements on the bus in Sydney.
I asked her how to know which bus stop you want to get off at.
This is a good example of cultural differences, isn’t it?
Haha. Yeah, it sure does feel noisy to me a lot of the time. I especially find it annoying having to constantly hear English spoken in trains and buses as it distracts me from my reading. I was just thinking the other day that the practice of many large chain stores in Japan of blaring out a recording which loops after a very short time (such as ビックカメラ) would be unforgivable in Australia. Customers would possibly complain, and it would certainly be a reason why many people would avoid going to the store at all.
> Perhaps it is worth adding 'with many homonyms
Yes, you're right. I forgot to mention it.
> which loops after a very short time (such as ビックカメラ) would be unforgivable in Australia.
Most stores are playing the commercial music. When my daughter was very young and went to one of electronic stores, she remembered the song and sang it on the way home.
I hardly hear such complainments in Japan.
This reminds me of a friend of mine, who married an Australian man and lives in Sydney. When she came back to Japan, she said it was too noisy here.
She said, “Everything speaks in Japan and you always hear announcements on buses and trains"
When I went to Sydney, I was surprised that there were no announcements on the buses
see above :)
I asked her how you know which stop to get off at.
She said that she could tell from the view when it was her stop.
Actually, travelling by bus can be a little tricky here, especially if it is your first time going somewhere. A couple of times in the past I've been in that situation, worried about missing the stop, pressed the button too early and then ended up walking further than I needed to! :)
Of course these days I drive my car everywhere because the buses and trains in Brisbane are expensive but not very reliable :)
> worried about missing the stop, pressed the button too early and then ended up walking further than I needed to!
If it happens in Japan, it must become a problem!
I noticed that too, when I first came to Japan. There are so many electronic voices and beeps and chirps everywhere. I thought it's so different than the USA. Your friend is right, usually you do have to look out the window to see your stop. But the USA is changing. I notice more and more electronic voices announcing things on the train and bus. But our traffic signals for walking across the street are still silent, for the moment, lol.
> There are so many electronic voices and beeps and chirps everywhere
I feel embarrassed a little.
> But our traffic signals for walking across the street are still silent, for the moment, lol.
The music traffic lights are for the visually impaired. Some of them, especially on the main road, are used such lights.
They can speak play recorded messages of a few words.
When you get into the elevator and push the button of the number floor where you want to get off, it the recording says “The door is closing.” When it arrives at the your floor you want to get off, if the floor you want to get off is the fifth, it the recording says “This is the fifth floor. I'm splitting hairs here, in that the elevator can't itself "say" anything. But a recording can play. Notwithstanding that, I'm sure you would here "say" more often than not.
The door is opening.” After a while, it the recording says “The door is closing” again.
The fifth floor is called “Gokai” in Japanese, so the elevator recording says “Gokai desu” in Japanese.
However, “gokai” has a few several meanings, not only “the fifth floor” but also “misunderstanding.”
You know, the Japanese is a hieroglyphic language, so we distinguish the meanings with by the contexts.
“Gokai desu” is a very short sentence, so it is sometimes difficult to recognize the meaning without any other phrases.
In this case, you are on the elevator, so this means “the fifth floor.” However, I always think about the misunderstanding meaning whenever I hear the “Gokai desu.”
I remember a story about a friend of mine, who got married with to an Australian man and lives in Sydney, whenever I think about the “Gokai desu.” When she came back to Japan she told me that it was too noisy here in Japan
She said, “Anything Everything speaks in Japan, and the announces announcements are often heard like on the bus and the train.”
"I was surprised at the announces bus announcements on the bus when I went to Sydney." I think this is a continuation of your friend's story, so I added quotation marks.
There was were no announcements on the bus in Sydney.
I asked her how to know she knew her the bus stop you want to get off.
She said that she saw looked outside when the bus stop came near.
This is the a difference in culture difference, isn’t it?
Yes, that's true for busses, here, but most modern mass transit trains announce the next stop. Even so, some of them are not vocalized statements, but only a lighted sign.
The transit system in San Francisco makes a short announcement of the net stop. But you have to pay attention or you'll miss the announcement. I once slept through four announcements, and had to take the return train back to my stop.
> Even so, some of them are not vocalized statements, but only a lighted sign.
I think it is ennough to notice the stop sign, but I am sometimes helped by the announcement when I get off the train.
I usually read a book on thee train, so the announce on the train is very useful.
As you know, the Japanese is a hieroglyphic language, so (in conversation) we distinguish the meanings of homonyms by context. (When I hear "hieroglyphic" I think of Egyptian, so it sounds a little odd here. Maybe that's just me? I'd probably say something like "Japanese relies on kanji to differentiate words that sound the same")
There were no announcements on the bus in Sydney.
There are a lot of things in Japan that talk, aren't there? It was kind of nice for me, because even if I didn't have anybody to talk to I'd still get some listening practice 笑
> Japanese relies on kanji to differentiate words that sound the same
That's what I wanted to say. Thanks!
> because even if I didn't have anybody to talk to I'd still get some listening practice 笑
I feel relieved to hear that. Well, in my case, I also want to hear English announcements if I go to the US.