Refusals in Japanese

Refusals in Japanese

Cloud Callout: No, thanks.

Contents in Refusals Unit:
This unit contains the ins and outs of refusals in Japanese
as you move through examples and exercises.

A refusal can be a response to a request, an invitation, an offer, or a suggestion addressed to the speaker. What is common to most refusals is the fact that the speaker is communicating a potentially undesirable message as far as the hearer is concerned. What strategies then should be used to mitigate a refusal in Japanese? Are they any unwritten rules we should know in making and interpreting refusals in Japanese?

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Exercises 1-2: Observing Refusals in Japanese

Unlike accepting an invitation or complying with a request, refusing one is usually not a pleasant speech act to perform. What strategies can we use in Japanese in order to build and maintain a good personal relationship despite the fact that we are refusing an offer or a request that someone is extending to us?

Go to Exercise 1

Go to Exercise 2

Exercises 3: Reasons for Refusals

Offering some vague, generic reasons is often appropriate behavior when refusing in Japanese. What are the typical expressions, and when are they used instead of more specific ones?

Go to Exercise 3

Exercises 4: Making Your Refusals Incomplete

Funny as it may sound, a commonly used strategy among native speakers of Japanese in making a refusal is leaving their sentence(s) incomplete. What does this mean, and how is it done?

Go to Exercise 4

Exercises 5-6: Refusing Continuing Requests/Invitations/offers　

Despite your initial refusal, some interlocutors may pursue their agenda a little further and try to get you to help, or to accept their invitation/offer. You may find yourself in a dilemma, wanting to help or accept it, yet knowing that it is impossible. What are some strategies to deal with such situations without hurting your interlocutors’ feelings or offending them?

Go to Exercise 5

Go to Exercise 6

Coffee Break

Even among good friends, sometimes it is a challenge to preach! Listen to this unsuccessful dialogue by our voice actors!

Click Below to Listen

Exercise 7: More Refusal Strategies

This exercise will review the strategies that have already been discussed in previous exercises and introduce still others that are commonly used.

Go to Exercise 7

Exercises 8: Tone of Refusals

As with any other speech acts, your tone of voice in making a refusal is crucial – it could make the refusal sound either sincere or untruthful. Listen and practice so that your refusals will signal that you would really want to do otherwise.

Go to Exercise 8

Exercises 9-10: Simulation Exercises for Making a Refusal

Now let’s just practice all that we have learned about refusals! You will be asked to self-evaluate the refusals you have given in these exercises.

Go to Exercise 9

Go to Exercise 10

Revisiting Useful Links

Ex7 Strategies Summary

Ex9 Comments

Ex10 Comments

Summary of Strategies

Let’s review all the refusal strategies we have seen in the exercises. The strategies in red are core refusal strategies, without which your utterance wouldn’t be recognized as a refusal. The strategies appearing in blue are particularly important supporting strategies that can enhance or expand upon your refusal. You will see in black additional strategies that can also help you perform refusals, but they are not essential. The strategies in green are general strategies that can be applied not only to refusals but also to other speech acts.

1.	Making the refusal statement Making the refusal statement (all exercises) Using appropriate refusal expressions according to the interlocutor and the situation (Ex. 1, 5, 6, 7, 9, all others)
2.	Abiding by the cultural norms for refusing Using generic reasons when appropriate (Ex.2, 3, 5) Using a white lie as a face-saving strategy (Ex.2, 3, 5) Speaking honestly with close friends (Ex.2, 3, 5) Making ‘ritual refusals’ before accepting an offer (Ex. 6)
3.	Using an appropriate level of politeness throughout the interaction (Ex. 1, 2, 5, 9)
4.	Using strategies of refusals Making the refusing statement (all exercise) Providing a reason for the refusal (Ex. 1, 2, 5, 7, 9) Offering an alternative (Ex. 5, 7, 9) Apologizing/Stating regret (Ex. 7, 9) Promising future acceptance (Ex. 7) Making an unspecific reply (Ex. 7) Postponing a response (Ex. 7) Stating positive feelings (Ex. 7)
5.	Using an appropriate tone of voice Alerting the hearer as to the upcoming refusal Speaking hesitantly (Ex. 8, 9) Stating positive feelings Apologizing Leaving the refusal sentence incomplete (Ex. 4, 8) Using bows in formal refusals (Ex. 8)

Learning Strategies for All Speech Acts

1.	Finding an informant (a native or non-native expert of the culture) who can answer your questions regarding sociolinguistic or sociocultural norms in the target language/culture.
2.	Listening to other speakers carefully to observe the cultural norms and language of their speech. Making your own hypotheses or hunches regarding appropriate use of the target language and being willing to renew them as necessary.
3.	Finding resources that can inform you of the target language and culture.

References

Beebe et al. (1990), Ikoma, T., & Shimura, A. (1993), Kanemoto, M. (1993), Kawate-Mierzejewska (2002), Kitao, S. K. (1996), Laohaburanakit (1995, 1997), Moriyama (1990), Naitou (1997), Sameshima (1998), Shigeta (1974), Shimura (1995), Ueda (1974)

View the Annotated Bibliography
of the Articles Used to Create the Exercises

View More Information about Refusals

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