mission.japan

Besides observing the massive degree of formality at the general church meeting on Sunday, I took note of the different kinds of voices.

The Japanese standard for a “radio voice”, it seems, falls more along the lines of a tenor with a shallow-ish tone. Most of the men who spoke during the meeting had this kind of voice. Pastor Goto’s voice, on the other hand, is noticeably different. He somehow has a lot more warmth and power in his tone, closer to the American idea of a radio voice. Since he was speaking over the microphone it was even more apparent than normal—his words seemed to carry much further and better in Saidaiji’s sanctuary. Of course it could be that his particular frequency is in the range that the sanctuary was designed to carry best.

It was also interesting to compare the three Americans’ pronunciation of Japanese. Paul Bridgman definitely sounds more natural than both Dan Reddington and David Sedlacek (sorry David, until you shake that Texas accent you’re not going to reach Paul’s level). But even though Paul speaks with great intonation, I think there’s still something there that gives away the fact that he’s not Japanese.

I think it’s like that with all foreigners—some people can get close to perfect, enough to fool 99% of Japanese, but not quite to a native speaker’s level. I’m wondering if it’s simply a matter of practice or if there’s a physical difference between Japanese and Westerners that prevents the latter from ever perfecting their pronunciation.