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Exercise 8: Tone of Compliments
Certain
words (ほんとに hontoni
‘really, very,’ とても totemo ‘very’) are often used to intensify compliments. Note that those words are pronounced slowly and emphatically to make the
compliment sound sincere. Example 1
Example 2
Example 3
In case the recipient of the compliments refuses or deflects compliments, the speaker tends to extend the compliment again, stressing that s/he really meant it Example 1
Example 2
Native
speakers of Japanese, especially those of older generations, may not compliment
as often as speakers of Western languages.
One study showed that Americans complimented approximately 8 times (!) more
frequently than did Japanese (Barnlund & Araki, 1985). Bear this in mind when you don’t get an
expected compliments from Japanese speakers! |
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