Recently, one of my American students approached me with a cultural query. He and a bunch of his friends, American and Japanese, had been talking about planning a birthday party.
¡¸À´ßL¡¢ÕQÉúÈÕ¤À¤«¤é¥Ñ©`¥Æ¥£©`¤ò¤ä¤ê¤¿¤¤¡¹ (Raish¨±, tanj¨bi dakara p¨¡t¨© o yaritai, It¡¯s my birthday next week, so I want to throw a party), one of the students said. Everyone seemed to think it was a good idea, responding with, ¡¸¤½¤¦¤Ê¤ó¤À¡¢ÐФ¤¿¤¤£¡¡¹ (S¨ nanda, ikitai!, Oh really, I want to go!) and ¡¸¤¤¤¤¤Í¡¢¤ä¤í¤¦¤ä¤í¤¦£¡¡¹ (Ii ne, yar¨ yar¨!, That¡¯s great, let¡¯s do it!).
When the party took place a week later, only a few people showed up ¡ª all of them Americans. What cues did my student miss?
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