Honorific Language in Japanese: Not Required for Foreigners?

For those with some familiarity with the Japanese language, honorific language is one of the big challenges of using the language for daily interactions. Sentences with the same meaning can be written and spoken in multiple ways, with different wording used to show differing levels of respect for the intended audience. When speaking to those of more advanced age and higher social status, one is expected to use honorific language that shows deference and respect. Failure to do so is not just rude but makes the linguistic output feel awkward and out of place. 

One situation honorific language should be used is interactions between service providers and their clients. The Japanese concept of "omotenashi," stipulating good service in consideration of customers' needs, requires that those providing the service treat those receiving it with deference. The use of honorific language by the service providers, then, is a basic part of their verbal communication with their clients, regardless of age and social status. The rules are socially mandatory enough that often, but not always, grown adults would be using honorifics on child customers, even though adults normally do not use honorifics when speaking with children.

Given the prevalence of honorific language in customer service in Japan, a common complaint is the inability of foreigners to grasp it in their professional work. As Japan becomes more dependent on foreign workers to man, not just "back-office" operational positions in construction and manufacturing, but also customer-facing ones in big companies and small retail outlets, many older Japanese customers have in particular complained about not getting proper honorific language from foreign workers. The gist is that in Japan, honorifics ought to be used in a professional setting of customer service, regardless of nationality.

Yet, that same logic often gets turned on its head when the service provider is Japanese and the client foreign. Visting a clinic recently for my third COVID-19 vaccination alongside a few other foreigners getting inoculated, I was struck by the fact that the clinic's workers of all ages were speaking to foreigners in casual, rather than honorific language, in a way deemed inappropriate for customer service. For those who do speak Japanese, the whole atmosphere gave off the impression of clinic staff speaking to children, in a way that would surely result in complaints if the customers were Japanese.

There are a couple of possible explanations for why it seems that honorific language is not required for foreign customers in a way that would not be for Japanese ones. One is the perceived difficulty of honorifics. Like foreign learners of the language, native Japanese speakers have come to view honorific language as difficult to comprehend compared to its more straightforward casual counterpart. With foreign customers also unable to properly express themselves in the honorific language (as customers usually do to show respect for service providers), it can be logically assumed that they will have difficulties with it on the receiving end as well.

But it is questionable whether causal language devoid of honorifics is more easily comprehensible for Japanese learners. The clinic staff, not the least because they are busily getting through many clients in a short time, was speaking at a rapid clip. The speed of their words, whether it is honorific or not, would be difficult for a foreigner unfamiliar with the language to understand. Rather, the decision by the staff to not use honorifics may be down to the need for a more efficient and speedy way of communication. Honorific language can be wordy, and busy people who need to move constantly just do not have the time for wordiness.

A more sinister explanation may be a nuanced condescending attitude toward foreign customers among Japanese service providers. While none of them would be brazen enough to say so explicitly, these service providers may behave in a way that betrays a mentality of unequal treatment, in which they think foreign customers, as they may be used to lower quality service wherever they come from, are neither deserving nor understanding of omotenashi in the Japanese context. As Japanese service providers cut back on customer service quality for foreign clients, honorifics, naturally, would also disappear.

Of course, it is difficult to prove that Japanese service providers drop honorifics intentionally for foreign clients out of well-meaning or malicious intent. But either way, the end result is a selective usage of honorifics split across racial and ethnic lines. As Japanese customers are shown more linguistic deference in their interaction with service providers, it is difficult to get around the impression that language is just one more of so many different ways that foreigners are reminded that they are fundamentally different and out of place. Honorific language, just as it splits Japanese people by social status and age, has also come to drive a social wedge between the Japanese and the non-Japanese.