Re: "The Japanese girl who wrote short letters on beautiful, cute stationery. I found her letters frustrating, because I would write long letters to her describing life in America, and she'd respond with generalities like 'I like Disney. Do you like Disney?'"
There are three things contributing to this - one is typical shyness with new people, another is the intolerance of mistakes here (so people try overly hard to avoid making them in the first place) and the other is very low English skills. It's getting better, but still - when I teach English - to get people to talk sometimes, I have to use Japanese on them, then, once they're clear on the meaning, then we can communicate better.
Um... I could go on and on - just suffice it to say that I understand that situation only too well!
I Understand Only Too Well!
There are three things contributing to this - one is typical shyness with new people, another is the intolerance of mistakes here (so people try overly hard to avoid making them in the first place) and the other is very low English skills. It's getting better, but still - when I teach English - to get people to talk sometimes, I have to use Japanese on them, then, once they're clear on the meaning, then we can communicate better.
Um... I could go on and on - just suffice it to say that I understand that situation only too well!
Lyle