Unit 4: 言語と文化 - Language, Culture and Critical Reflection
What this unit asks of you
Unit 4 asks you to step back and analyse Japanese as a system and as a cultural practice. You need keigo as a three-part system (尊敬語、謙譲語、丁寧語), honorific and humble verb pairs (いらっしゃる／伺う、おっしゃる／申す、ご覧になる／拝見する), uchi/soto logic and how it governs who is raised and who is lowered, gendered and generation-linked speech, loanwords and script choice (漢語、和語、外来語 and why a word is written in kanji, hiragana or katakana), and language change such as ら抜き言葉 and 若者言葉.
Traps that cost marks
First, double keigo: 「おっしゃられました」 and 「ご覧になられました」 are common in the wild but marked as excessive; know why. Second, applying 尊敬語 to your own actions - you 伺う, you do not いらっしゃる. Third, confusing 謙譲語 I and II; the newer two-tier classification separates actions directed at a superior (お届けする) from humble descriptions of your own state (おります). Fourth, treating uchi/soto as fixed - the boundary shifts when a family member becomes an outsider in a different conversation. Fifth, evaluating language change emotionally; a question asking you to analyse ら抜き言葉 wants description of the mechanism and attitudes, not a complaint.
Rule of thumb
Ask two questions before choosing a keigo form: whose action is it? and who is the addressee? If the action belongs to you and the addressee is superior, you need 謙譲語; if the action belongs to the superior, 尊敬語.
Worked example
You are speaking to a client about your manager. Wrong: 「部長は明日いらっしゃいます。」 when the client is present and you are describing your own manager to an outsider. Right: 「部長は明日伺う予定でございます。」 Your manager is uchi in this exchange, so the manager's action is lowered, not raised.
Practice direction
Take five sentences in plain form and rewrite each in 尊敬語, then in 謙譲語, and note which ones become unnatural and why.