Sammendrag
The aim of this study was to investigate how Japanese people say no without directly saying no in refusals. The research examines a variety of strategies used by Japanese people in specific refusal situations and if these refusal strategies differ from each other in different situations. In order to investigate the refusal strategies, interviews were conducted with 10 Japanese (aged 18-30) residing in Tokyo. The participants were requested to refuse in four fictive situations, where two of these situations referred to a refusal to a boss, and the other two a refusal to a colleague or friend. In the situation of refusal, people often avoid refusing directly but rather convey the refusal indirectly. Politeness is generally considered as the most important reason for being indirect in refusals. Thus the indirect refusal strategies explain general politeness strategies. However, this indirect strategies seem to be more prevalent in Japanese culture than in Western cultures. The results of my interviews show that Japanese participants used mostly indirect strategies such as excuse, reason, explanation, and statement of regret as refusal strategies. However, indirectness as a polite refusal strategy in Japanese can often lead to misunderstandings since indirectness is not always regarded as polite in other languages. The competence of being able to understand each other is important especially in intercultural communication. It is essential for preserving relationships between people. I therefore hope that this study can shed some light not only on the indirect refusal strategies but also the general politeness strategies in Japanese.