Planning a persuasive speech for a Japanese audience
You must give a three-minute speech in Japanese at a regional speech contest. The theme is 'What my town should change'. Your town has a small shopping street that is quiet on weekends. You want to propose a monthly market. The judges are local adults, including a shop owners' association representative. You have 400-450 Japanese characters of speaking script. You must open with a hook, give one concrete proposal, address one likely objection, and close with a call to action. Your teacher warns against simply translating an English speech, because the expected structure and level of directness differ.
1. Describe how you would structure the speech to suit a Japanese audience, and why direct translation from English would be risky.
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A suitable structure: (1) a hook that starts from a shared experience, e.g. 「皆さん、週末の商店街を歩いたことはありますか。」; (2) background and a gentle statement of the problem, framed as a shared concern rather than an accusation; (3) one concrete proposal, the monthly market, with specifics such as date, place and who would run it; (4) acknowledgement of a likely objection, for example that shop owners are already busy, followed by a response such as rotating duties or student volunteers; (5) a call to action addressed to the audience, e.g. 「まず一度、一緒に話し合ってみませんか。」 Direct translation is risky because an English persuasive speech often opens with a strong personal claim and uses blunt imperatives. In Japanese, a speech that begins with a confrontational assertion can alienate adult judges, and a proposal framed as a demand may seem rude. Using shared framing, hedging (〜ではないでしょうか), and an invitation rather than an instruction fits the expected rhetoric while still being persuasive.
2. Rewrite a blunt sentence into a form suited to this audience, and explain what changed.
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Blunt version: 「商店街は活性化が必要です。市は予算を出してください。」 Revised version: 「商店街をもう一度にぎやかにするために、市にも協力していただけるとありがたいのですが、いかがでしょうか。」 The revised sentence changes several things. It reframes the goal positively (にぎやかにする) rather than as a deficiency. It uses していただけるとありがたいのですが to make a request indirectly, and ends with いかがでしょうか to invite the audience's view rather than issue an order. The imperative 出してください disappears. The meaning is still a request for support, but the listener is given room to respond, which is appropriate when addressing adults and a shop owners' representative whose cooperation you need. The revision keeps the proposal clear while adjusting the level of directness.