Gender-Based Conversation Topic of Indonesian Speakers in Japanese Conversations with Native Japanese Speakers at the First Meeting

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Gender-Based Conversation Topic of Indonesian Speakers in Japanese Conversations with Native Japanese Speakers at the First Meeting

Sonda Sanjaya

Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta, Indonesia Email: [email protected]

Submitted: 04/07/2021 Revised: 20/07/2021 Accepted: 09/08/2021 E-ISSN : 2579-4574 P-ISSN : 2549-7359

Abstract. Without a topic, conversation will not occur. However, the choice of conversation topic also needs to be considered, especially if the speech partner is a speaker with a different cultural and linguistic background. This study aimed to identify what conversation topics are raised by Indonesian-speaking Japanese learners in conversations with contact situations at the first meeting. The participants of this study were divided into male and female participants. The data was taken through roleplay conversation with the participants being 20 Indonesian speaking students and 20 Japanese speaking students. Roleplay conversations were carried out in two different settings, namely the setting of cultural exchange events at universities in Indonesia and the setting of conversations on trains in Indonesia. From the results of data analysis, it is known that for both male and female Indonesian speakers, both in the setting of cultural exchange events at universities in Indonesia and meetings on trains in Indonesia, the category of conversation topics that is most often raised is the category of personal information of the speakers and speech partners and categories of Indonesian and Japanese cultures and situations. Based on these data, it can be concluded that both male and female Indonesian speakers tend to be more open about their profiles or identities and wish to know Japanese speakers (speech partners) more deeply. In fact, female Indonesian speakers have more self-disclosure even though the conversation occurs at the first meeting in a contact situation. However, in spontaneous conversations that occur on trains in Indonesia in women's conversation groups, the topic of conversation in the profile subcategory does not appear as much as in conversations that occur at cultural exchange events at universities in Indonesia. It is possible that this happens because female Indonesian speakers consider conversations in this situation has less potential in building deeper interpersonal relationships with Japanese speakers.

Keywords: Conversation Topics, Indonesian Speakers, Japanese Conversations, First Meeting, Gender

https://ojs.unm.ac.id/eralingua

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License

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INTRODUCTION

Communication between speakers of different cultural and linguistic backgrounds requires an understanding of intercultural communication. This is because communication and culture are closely related. Ishii and Kume (2013) stated that culture and communication are closely related, as culture influences communication and the existence of communication contributes to the formation of culture. Thus, without understanding the culture of the interlocutor, it is difficult for speakers to understand how to communicate well. In the conversation that takes place between speakers of different languages, the topic of conversation becomes one of the important things to pay attention to. The conversation topic that is raised also need to adjust to aspects of gender, sexual orientation identity, ethnicity identity, citizenship, and even the status between the speaker and the speech partner. If the topic of conversation is in accordance with these aspects, the potential for successful communication is great (Martin & Nakayama, 2004). On the other hand, if the topic does not fulfill those aspects, the potential for misunderstandings that can lead to fractured relations between speakers will rise. In addition to these aspects, another aspect that needs to be considered is the selection of conversation topics. In some situations, the conversation topics discussed may offend the interlocutor's feelings or privacy. In Japanese conversations, sometimes Japanese speakers will meet Indonesian speakers who suddenly ask questions or mention conversation topics which for Indonesian speakers are normal but not normal for the Japanese speakers themselves, especially when conversations occur with someone who they are meeting for the first time.

Darmastuti (2013: 51-52) stated that differences in cultural backgrounds can cause problems if one speaker uses a different symbol from the symbol of his partner, which makes different meanings of the symbol arise. In addition, Sihabudin (2013) and Sukmono & Junaedi (2014) also gave similar statements that the communication process which occurs between people with different cultural backgrounds often experiences mistakes. Thus, it can be concluded that the greater the difference between the speakers’ cultural backgrounds, the greater the possibility of misunderstanding between speakers from different cultural backgrounds when communicating. Based on the explanations of these experts, it can be concluded that in communication, understanding the suitability of the chosen topic of conversation is very important to pay attention to.

A conversation needs to have a topic, as without a conversation topic the speaker cannot start the conversation, maintain the continuity of the conversation, and end the conversation with the speech partner. In addition, the relationship between the speaker and the speech partner can be built with the presence of the right conversation topic and in accordance with the situation, place, time, personal and culture of the speech partner. If the chosen topic of conversation is not appropriate to the situation and conditions, building a difficult relationship with the interlocutor cannot be realized.

Conversations can occur between speakers who speak the same language, which is known as a native situation or between speakers of different languages, known as a contact situation. In a conversation, the situation of native speakers

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needs to be considered, especially if it occurs between speakers of different nationalities and languages (contact situations) such as Indonesian speakers learning Japanese with native Japanese speakers.

Nowadays, conversations do not only occur face-to-face, but can also be done through internet-based media. By utilizing technological advances such as the many internet-based applications that facilitate communication or conversations including conversations between two speakers of different nationalities, new target language (foreign language) learning techniques have emerged that make it easier for learners (learners) to converse with native speakers of the target language. This is in line with the opinion of Thorne (2006) which states that the use of internet technology has changed foreign language education from using classroom-based contexts to learning with actuak interactions with native speakers of the target language. Thus, conversations between Japanese language learners and native Japanese speakers are facilitated by the presence of various internet-based conversational media so that not only language competency is increased but sociolinguistic, pragmatic, and intercultural communication skills can also increase (Isanova, 2021;

Muhamadjonovna, 2020)

There are several studies that analyze the topic of conversation in the conversation between Indonesian and Japanese speakers such as the research conducted by Sanjaya & Kusnendar (2018) and Sanjaya (2021). The research of Sanjaya

& Kusnendar (2018) analyzed the differences in the choice of conversation topics raised by native Indonesian speakers and native Japanese speakers among people who are already working. The topic of conversation chosen was the topic of conversation at the first meeting. Data or conversation topics chosen by Indonesian speakers and Japanese speakers are gathered through surveys through questionnaires. The researchers consider that Japanese language learners are more likely to prefer or seek relationships with Japanese speakers who are of the same position (students) or the same age, which warrants a need for research or studies that focus on choosing conversation topics for native Indonesian-speaking Japanese language learners to native Japanese-speaking students. In Sanjaya's research (2021), the data analyzed were topics that Indonesian-speaking Japanese learners will raise (topic selection) when having conversations with native Japanese speakers at the first meeting. Sanjaya's research data (2021) was also obtained through a survey with a questionnaire which answers were still in the form of respondents' consciousness of questions or statements regarding a conversational situation. If the respondent is in a real conversation situation, will the topics mentioned in the questionnaire also be brought up in the real conversation? Therefore, the researcher assessed the need for a research that focuses on the topic of conversation in the contact situation at the first meeting through observation of conversations between Indonesian-speaking Japanese learners and native Japanese speakers. In addition, the conversation topics raised by male and female Indonesian speakers may differ, which is why the researcher analyzed the conversation topics raised by gender.

There are also previous studies related to topics of conversation, gender, and interpersonal relations. Kipers (1987) examined gender and conversational topics in student conversations in Southern New Jersey. In his research, participants were

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divided into several groups, namely male conversation groups, female conversation groups, and mixed conversation groups (male and female). From the results of the analysis, it is known that the categories of topics related to home and family, personal and family finances are dominated by women's conversation groups while in men's conversations the topic categories that are most discussed are topics of conversation related to recreation and matters related to profession. Based on these data, it is known that men perceive themselves as the main party who are responsible in their area of work. In addition, they judged that they had plenty of time to fulfill their desires or interests in recreation. While women consider the two major things they are most concerned about are their homes and work, and as they do not have time to fulfill recreational activities, there were few topics of conversation related to this.

Another research is research conducted by Sehulster (2006) which analyzes daily conversation topics based on gender, age and marital status. Research data were taken through questionnaires to 515 respondents consisting of 165 men and 350 women with an age range of 18-72 years. From the data obtained, it is known that the topics of conversation that are most often discussed by men are topics related to school, class, and grades then topics related to family, children, and pets while the topics of conversation that are most often raised by women are topics related to family, children, and pets.

As explained above, the topic of conversation is an important thing to consider in carrying out a conversation (Nadig et al., 2010; Peng et al., 2019; König, 2019), especially if the conversation takes place in a contact situation and occurs at the first meeting. Therefore, there is a need for a study of what conversation topics can be raised and what conversation topics should be avoided, especially if the conversation is done together with someone who is meeting for the first time.

However, before analyzing what topics are raised by Indonesian speakers and mentioning the privacy of Japanese speakers, researchers need to analyze what conversation topics are raised by Indonesian speakers when having a conversation with Japanese speakers at the first meeting. Then, as mentioned above, there are possible differences in topics raised by male and female Indonesian speakers, which made the researcher analyze the conversation topics based on gender.

Mimaki (2018) and Sekizaki (2016) conducted a study that analyzed the topic of conversation in Japanese conversation. Mimaki analyzed the topic of conversation between Japanese speakers at the first meeting in a native situation, while Sekizaki (2016) analyzed the topic of conversation between speakers of a foreign language (non-Japanese) and Japanese speakers (contact situation) at the first meeting. As stated above, this study analyzes the conversation topics raised by Indonesian speakers who have conversations with Japanese speakers, which makes it different from Mimaki's research which focuses on conversation topics among native Japanese speakers. Meanwhile, Sekizaki's research focuses on the topic of conversations between speakers of foreign languages other than Japanese to native Japanese speakers. However, in that research the conversation participants from the foreign language speakers group were Japanese language students from various countries, while this study limits Indonesian speakers as Japanese language students

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as conversation participants. However, the researchers used these two studies as a reference.

RESEARCH METHODS

This study is a conversation analysis that aimed to find out the conversation topics raised by students of Japanese language when having conversations with contact situations with native Japanese speakers at the first meeting. In this study, the researcher focused on the conversation topics raised by native Indonesian- speaking Japanese language students without looking at the conversation topics raised by native Japanese speakers. The data of this research were taken by using free listening and speaking techniques and note-taking techniques. The free-of- conversation listening technique means that the researcher gives participants the opportunity to have a conversation while the researcher observes and is not involved in the conversation (Zaim, 2014). The researchers asked participants to have a role- playing conversation (roleplay) in two settings via the Zoom software. This internet- based conversation was used to make use of the technological advancement which allows conversations between people of two different nationalities, especially in the middle of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Although some experts such as Kushida et al (2019) and Takagi et al (2018) stated that conversational analysis should be taken through natural conversations not based on the researcher's plot, other experts such as Kato & Takiura (2016) argue that plotted conversations such as role-playing conversations can used as a data source for conversational analysis.

When applying the free-of-conversation listening technique, the researcher was not involved in the participant's conversation but recorded the conversation audio visually. The note-taking technique was used so the researcher can record any topics that the Japanese-speaking Indonesian learners raised and/or asked native Japanese speakers. Then, the researcher categorized the conversation topics raised in the first and second settings. Then, categorization was carried out based on the gender of Indonesian speakers.

The participants of the role-playing conversation were 20 conversation groups (10 male conversation groups and 10 female conversation groups). The conversation participants consisted of 10 Indonesian-speaking Japanese students from STBA YAPARI-ABA Bandung, 10 students from Universitas Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta, and 20 native Japanese-speaking students from Aichi Prefectural University, Osaka University, Kobe University, and Kinjo Gakuin University. All participants were asked to conduct group conversations (one student speaks Indonesian and one student speaks Japanese). To make sure the conversational roleplay could be carried out optimally, the researcher used the settings of cultural exchange events at universities in Indonesia and encounters on trains in Indonesia. The roleplay conversation of participants in each group conversation were limited to 15 minutes.

RESULT AND DISCUSSION

After the data had been collected, the researcher divided the conversation topics into four categories, namely the category of culture and situation of Indonesia and Japan, the category of personal information, the category of beginning and end

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of the conversation, and the category of plans, reasons, and invitations. Each category has a subcategory, and each subcategory contains a type of conversation topic. In the next part, the researcher revealed what conversation topics were raised by Indonesian speakers in the setting of cultural exchange events at universities in Indonesia and in the setting of encounters on trains in Indonesia, divided by gender.

Conversation Topic in the First Setting: Cultural Exchange Events at Universities in Indonesia

Based on data analysis, the category of conversation topics that were most raised by both male and female Indonesian speakers to Japanese speakers in cultural exchange events was in the category of information related to personal and cultural information and the situation of Indonesia and Japan. However, there are slight differences in the subcategories of conversation topics that were mostly raised by male and female Indonesian speakers. For male Indonesian speakers, the subcategory that was most frequently raised was the plans, reasons, assessments, or experiences subcategory, while for female Indonesian speakers, the profile subcategory was the most common. Even among male Indonesian speakers, the profile subcategory occupies the largest subcategory in the personal information category. The difference between the profile subcategory and the subcategory of plans, reasons, assessments, or experiences are very thin. However, regarding the number of topics appearing in the whole conversation, topics in the profile subcategory appear more than topics in the subcategory of plans, reasons, assessments, or experiences. For female Indonesian speakers, the subcategory of plans, reasons, assessments, or experiences were raised a lotand occupy the second most subcategory (after profiles) in the personal information category.

The number of topic occurrences show that the profile subcategory was the topic that appears the most in all women's group conversations. From this, we can see that both male and female Indonesian speakers tend to be more willing to share their profiles or identities to get to know their interlocutors more deeply. However, there are slight differences between male and female Indonesian speakers. In women's group conversations, female Indonesian speakers provide self-disclosure by providing information about their profile or identity and finding out more about the profile or identity of their interlocutor. In addition, in this subcategory, female Indonesian speakers brought up the topic of family, which is a topic that is not found in the conversations of the male group. This is quite in line with the findings of Kipers (1987) and Sehulster (2006) which state that the topic of family is mostly raised by female speakers. Based on these findings, it can be said that female Indonesian speakers are more open in providing access to information about themselves than male Indonesian speakers, even though their speaking partners are Japanese speakers who are foreigners. More details on categories, subcategories and the number of conversation topics as well as the number of appearances in all conversations in the setting of cultural exchange events at universities in Indonesia can be seen in table 1 and table 2 below.

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Table 1. Categories of Conversation Topics Raised by Male Indonesian Speakers in the First Setting: Cultural Exchange Events at Universities in Indonesia

Category Subcategory Conversation Topic

Number of Conversation Topics

Number of Topics Appearances

in All

Conversation

Culture and Situation in Indonesia and Japan

Culture

cuisine or food, tourist attraction or recommended place, Indonesian or Japanese culture, celebration in Japan, anime, Japanese drama (soap opera), sports, Tokyo Olympics, dialect or regional language, Japanlish, anime soundtrack

12 26

Situation

the situation of Indonesia or Japan, temperature, the situation of the covid 19 pandemic, places in Japan, the presence of Indonesian restaurants in Japan

6 12

Education

how to study, the education system in Japan, Japanese lectures in universities

3 4

Total 21 42

Personal Information

IT-based personal information

- 0 0

Residence or Location

where the interlocutor lives, the city where the interlocutor is located

2 2

Plans, Reasons, Assessments, or Experiences

the experience of coming to Indonesia, plans to go to Indonesia, desires or the speaker's plans to go to Japan, things he likes about Japan, experiences in Japan, things the interlocutor likes from Indonesia, Southeast Asian countries that the interlocutor wants to visit, is the interlocutor speaking to Indonesian speakers for the first time, impressions of Indonesia, lectures that are considered difficult

11 15

Skills and Competencies

foreign language learning,

Japanese language

difficulties, can the

interlocutor speak

Indonesian?

3 4

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Profile

name, hobbies, lecture major, lecture level, regional origin, extracurricular or student activities of the interlocutor, university affiliation, research of the speech partner, is the speech partner an otaku

9 23

Total 25 44

Beginning and

End of

Conversation

- expressions of gratitude 1 1

Requests, Suggestions, and Invitation

- invitation to meet again 1 2

Table 2. Categories of Conversation Topics Raised by Female Indonesian Speakers in the First Setting: Cultural Exchange Events at Universities in Indonesia

Number of Topics Appearances

in All

Conversation

Culture

cuisine or food, artist, tourist attraction or recommended place, Indonesian or Japanese culture, celebration in Japan, clothing, anime, Japanese drama (soap opera), Japanese kanji, festival

10 19

Situation

the situation of Indonesia or Japan, temperature, season, Japanese security, famous places, momiji (red leaves in autumn), cities in Indonesia, the situation of the covid 19 pandemic

8 17

Education

lectures in college, how to study, about majoring in Indonesian, student life in Japan, the school where you first learned English

5 7

Total 23 43

source of information of the

speaking partner

(interlocutor), social media

2 5

where the interlocutor lives,

the speaker's residence 2 2

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the experience of coming to Indonesia, plans to go to Indonesia, reasons for not going to Japan, preparation of speakers to learn Japanese, plans after graduating from college, experience of speaking partners to onsen (hotspring), reasons for speakers learning Japanese, experience of speakers talking to Japanese people, desires or the speaker's plans to go to Japan, things he likes about Japan

10 13

speakers' Japanese language skills, foreign language learning

2 5

Profile

name, profession or status, age, place of part-time interlocutor, hobbies, lecture major, activity at university, lecture level, speech partner thesis, regional origin, occupation of the speaker's parents, speaker's family, faculty, extracurricular or student activities of the interlocutor

14 34

Total 30 59

Beginning and

End of

Conversation

- greetings 1 3

- invitation to recreation 1 1

Conversation Topic in the Second Setting: Meeting on the Train in Indonesia

The second setting was not very different between the topic of conversation of male and female Indonesian speakers. In this setting, the conversational topic category that is most often raised was in the personal information category, specifically the subcategory of plans, reasons, assessments or experiences. This is because the speaker is in a public transportation setting, which means that the topic of conversation that was often raised was a topic of conversation related to plans, reasons, assessments, and travel experiences. However, there were differences in the number of types of conversation topics and the number of occurrences between male and female Indonesian speakers in this setting. For male Indonesian speakers, the profile subcategory (personal information category) appeared a lot in all conversation groups and the number is close to the number of cultural subcategories, while in female speakers' conversations, the profile subcategory (personal information category) is quite different from the cultural subcategory (category of

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culture and situation in Indonesia and Japan). Based on these findings, it could be seen that many female Indonesian speakers avoid topics related to profiles. This is probably because female Indonesian speakers avoid topics that explore the profile or identity of the interlocutor in conversations that have less potential for deeper relationships because the conversation occured in unplanned encounters. Thus, it can be concluded that female Indonesian speakers are more careful in raising topics related to profiles. However, it was found that there were female Indonesian speakers who actually raised the topic of conversation about their own religion and family as well as the marital status of their parents. From this it is known that even though the conversation occurs in an unplanned (spontaneous) situation, female Indonesian speakers are more likely to have self-disclosure regarding their profile or identity. More details on categories, subcategories and the number of conversation topics as well as the number of occurrences in all conversations in meeting settings on trains in Indonesia can be seen in table 3 and table 4 below

Table 3. Categories of Conversation Topics Raised by Male Indonesian Speakers in the Second Setting: Meetings on Trains in Indonesia

Number of Topics Appearances in All Conversation

Culture

tourist attraction or recommended

destinations, cuisine or food, anime, train, public transportation, anime soundtrack, Japanese kanji, Indonesian or Japanese culture, recommended souvenirs, Indonesian music, similarities between Indonesians and Myanmar people, Indonesian language

12 26

Situation

prefectural information in japan, temperature, snow in japan, covid 19 pandemic situation, train tickets in indonesia, coldest place in japan, supermarkets in Japan, earthquakes in Japan, cities in Indonesia, people of Jakarta

13 18

Education education system 1 1

Sensitive Topics

politics, relations between Indonesia and the People's Republic of China

2 2

Total 28 47

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social media 1 1

the interlocutor’

residence, the distance from the speaker's house to his/her high school

2 2

destination of the speech partner, destination to Indonesia, currently traveling alone or with someone, when they arrived in Indonesia, impression of Indonesia, length of stay in Indonesia, destination of the speech partner to destination, wishes or plans to go to Japan, experience of the interlocutor abroad, the reason the speaker rarely takes the train, the reason the interlocutor learns

Mongolian, the

experience of the interlocutor to Hokkaido, the reason for going to a destination, have you been to Jakarta or not, the reason for going to

Indonesia, the

interlocutor's interest in the sea in Jakarta, the impression of the train being taken, foreigners who like Japan, speakers experience while in Jakarta

19 31

Profile

the speaker's nationality, name, regional origin, occupation or status, hobbies, level of study, whether or not the interlocutor is the speaker's first Japanese friend

7 24

Japanese vocabulary that is not understood, foreign language learning, spoken Japanese ability, whether or not the interlocutor can speak English

4 5

Total 33 63

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Requests, Suggestions, and

Invitation -

greetings, gratitude, requests for permission to converse

2 5

Requests, Suggestions, and

Invitations -

an invitation to recreation, an invitation to eat together, an invitation to meet again, an invitation to be close friends

3 4

Table 4. Categories of Conversation Topics Raised by Female Indonesian Speakers in the Second Setting: Meetings on Trains in Indonesia

Number of Topics

Appearances in All

Conversation

Culture

tourist attraction or recommended

destinations, cuisine or food, anime, drama, train, etiquette on the train, how to ride a train, comics, accessories, religion in Indonesia, movies, ghosts in Indonesia, public transportation

13 24

Situation

season, family restaurant prices in japan, weather, train ticket prices, famous place, prefectural information in japan, foreigners in japan, temperature, snow in japan, covid 19 pandemic situation

10 11

Education

number of colleges, college situation, how to study, Japanese grammar

4 4

Sensitive topics - 0 0

Total 27 39

social media,

telephone number of the interlocutor, contact address

3 4

the interlocutor’

residence 1 2

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destination of the speech partner, destination to Indonesia, currently traveling alone or with someone, when they arrived in Indonesia, impression of Indonesia, with whom

they came to

Indonesia, length of stay in Indonesia, experience to Japan, destination of the speech partner to destination,

experience of riding the shinkansen train, impressions on Indonesians, wishes or plans to go to Japan, reasons for taking the train, plans to go to South Korea, things the interlocutor wants

15 26

Profile

the speaker's

nationality, name, regional origin, occupation or status, the speaker's family religion, remarriage of the speaker's parents, hobbies, college affiliation

8 15

Skills and

Competencies - 0 0

Total 27 47

Beginning and

End of

Conversation

- greetings, gratitude 2 7

-

an invitation to recreation, an invitation to eat together

2 3

From the results of the data analysis above, it can be concluded that in both settings, both male and female Indonesian speakers raised many topics of conversation related to personal information and culture and situation in Indonesia and Japan. At cultural exchange events, both male and female Indonesian speakers tend be more willing to open up and get to know more about their foreign partners (Japanese speakers). However, seeing that female Indonesian speakers are more open and willing to share details about their personalities, it can be said that female Indonesian speakers are more open to their interlocutors than male Indonesian

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speakers. In contrast to conversations at cultural exchange events, in spontaneous conversations on trains in Indonesia, female Indonesian speakers raise the profile of themselves and their interlocutors less. This could be due to an assessment that the conversation lacks the potential to build deeper interpersonal relationships with Japanese speakers (speech partners) of different cultures. Then, many conversation topics related to culture and situations in Indonesia and Japan are common in conversations that occur between two speakers with different language and cultural backgrounds. Through these conversation topics, the two speakers get to know each other and understand the characteristics of the language and culture of the two speakers' countries.

Lastly, there was not a lot of differences between the conversation topics raised by both male and female Indonesian speakers, both in the first setting and in the second setting. This shows a resemblance to the results of Sanjaya's research (2021) which showed that the category of conversation topics that most Indonesian- speaking Japanese students want to raise in conversations with Japanese speakers at the first meeting is about Indonesian & Japanese culture and personal information.

Thus, the consciousness of Indonesian speakers is not so different from the actual conditions of the conversation.

CONCLUSION

From the results of this study, it can be concluded that in Japanese conversations in contact situations, both male and female Indonesian speakers are oriented towards establishing interpersonal relationships with Japanese speakers through conversation topics related to personal information. However, there is a slight difference, namely that female Indonesian speakers are more open to share details about themselves even though the conversation occurs at the first meeting in a contact situation. However, whether female Indonesian speakers have more self disclosure when they do conversation with male native Japanese speakers needs to be examined further. The number of categories surrounding the culture and situation of Indonesia and Japan in both male and female conversational groups is a common thing because with this topic it is hoped that they will get to know and understand the differences in language and culture between speakers of different nationalities.

This research was conducted at the stage of analyzing the conversation topics raised in the conversation of contact situations between Indonesian speakers and Japanese speakers at the first meeting. In the next stage, the researcher considers the need for research that analyzes between the conversation topics raised, what topics are considered private for Japanese speakers and how the Japanese speakers respond so that Japanese language students can consider more conversation topics that can be raised and, if the topic raised concerns the privacy of Japanese speakers, the Japanese language learner can find out the right strategy so that the conversation can run smoothly and the relationship with the speech partner can deepen.

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