Differences Between Japan and America

I have just come back from a brief visit to my home town in Michigan. Travelling there with my wife and daughter is nothing new, but this time my in-laws came as well! Not only was it their first trip to the United States, but it was their first time leaving Japan. Needless to say there were a lot of new experiences for them. It’s always interesting to me to see what differences between the U.S. and Japan different people pick up on when they visit for the first time and my father and mother-in-law found a very interesting one.

One night at dinner with my family my mother-in-law said that I must be turning Japanese. When I asked her why she thought so, she said it was because everyone else was using more gestures than I while they talked.  And while I don’t thinking I am becoming Japanese, she is right about people using a lot of gestures. Americans can be very expressive and using gestures is one way they can express themselves more. So using more gestures may be one way you too can speak English more like a native English speaker. Please give it a try sometime!

Chris, Smith’s School of English Otsu