- Oh, I'm sorry, I almost didn't see you there.
How are you?
(upbeat rock music)
Hello, I'm Julian Northbrook, the Language Punk.
One of the most interesting books I have ever read is
this one, Don't Sleep, There are Snakes by Daniel Everett.
In a nutshell, Everett was a Christian missionary.
He went to live in the jungle with a tribe
of Amazonian Indians called the Piraha.
He went there to spread the word of God,
however his experience living with the Piraha
was so profound that he ended up giving up Christianity
and becoming a linguist instead.
He then went on to do some very important work
in the field of linguistics, some of which
challenged the ideas of universal grammar.
See this video for an explanation of that.
One of the things that Everett talks about in the book
is phatic communication, or rather,
the lack of phatic communication in the Piraha's language.
Phatic communication is extremely important in English
as it is in most languages.
Put simply, phatic communication is the language that we use
not to convey or ask for information,
but rather to connect with someone, to set a mood,
to show goodwill, to show respect for someone.
For example, when we say something like good morning,
we are not commenting on the fact that it is a good morning.
No, we are acknowledging the existence
of the person we are speaking to.
We are connecting with that person, starting a new day's
relationship with that person, as it were.
In the same way, when we say something like,
how are you, how's it going?
We are not asking after the person's health,
or at least not most of the time, anyway.
Rather, this has much the same function as good morning.
We are simply connecting with that person.
Other examples of phatic communication are things
like cheers, you're welcome, thank you, I'm sorry.
All of these things are completely missing
form the Piraha's language.
They simply don't do it.
It's not a part of their culture to express these things.
They don't have words for good morning, I'm sorry,
how are you because it's simply not a part of their culture.
It's simply not something which they do.
The Piraha language is an extreme case
and a very rare one.
Phatic communication is extremely important
for most languages and cultures, English included.
But the point is, when you are making small talk,
and phatic communication is a kind of small talk,
you have to consider whether the thing you are trying
to say actually translates into that other language or not.
Just like what I talked about yesterday.
Someone from say, Japan asking someone from,
for example, the United Kingdom, what's your blood type?
It's an odd, surprising thing for westerners,
because it's not something which we have in our culture.
In the same way, saying I'm sorry to someone
whose culture does not have I'm sorry
doesn't really make much sense.
Again, this is an extreme example,
but the point is, if you are struggling with small talk
in English ask yourself, are you stubbornly trying
to communicate things that exist in your culture,
but not in the culture of the people you are talking to?
We're going to continue this conversion tomorrow
because I've got some great examples
and stories to share with you, but before then remember,
on the 27th of this month, that is January 2018 I will
be doing the Small Talk Superhero seminar here in Tokyo.
For information and the place to book your ticket,
click on the link in the description.
You'll also find a link to Daniel Everett's book,
Don't Sleep, There are Snakes as well as several links
to EES Lessons that deal with phatic communication
and using it smoothly
and effectively yourself in conversation.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls,
is it for me, Julian Northbrook,
(upbeat rock music) the Language Punk for today.
But before I go, over to you.
Have you ever struggled with phatic communication?
Tell us all about it in the comments.
What happened, why did you struggle?
Tell us the story.