Discusses differences between perception of politeness in Western and Japanese societies, concentrating on relations of social power and social distance as well as on conception of family. Concludes that many problems experienced by Japanese speakers of English as a Second Language in accomplishing linguistic politeness in English stem from nature…

Examines the intersection of learner identity, social position, and second-language acquisition. The article, which focuses on a case study of a white woman learning Japanese in Japan, presents a conversation between the learner and her professor to show the dynamic coconstruction of identity and sociolinguistic proficiency within conversational…