People ask questions even if they don't want to know anything.

• False: When people ask questions, they intend to know something.

• Positive: People ask questions even if they don’t want to know anything.

  • In that case, the intention is to
    • . expresses a willingness to engage in conversation.”
    • See if they respond.”
    • We’ll make sure there’s some common ground.”
    • The type of people who find silence painful do it to pass the time.”

• The question, “It’s a beautiful day, isn’t it?” isn’t about knowing what it is.

  • The main purpose is to express the intention to have a conversation and to check whether the other party will respond.
  • So there is no need to think about the definition of “good weather”.
  • Since we assume the purpose is to “confirm that there is common ground,” it is more appropriate to respond, “It’s a nice day,” or “Yes, it’s cloudy, but would you classify this as nice weather?” It is more appropriate to reply “It’s a beautiful day” or “Yes, it’s a beautiful day” than to respond “It’s a beautiful day” or “Yes, it’s a beautiful day.

• Words for everyday life | National Institute for Japanese Language and Linguistics

  • An international student’s advice: “Oh, I’m going out. I don’t like it when people ask me where I am going and check my destination.
    • Words that express interest, not questions about where to go.
      • Words for relationship building
    • “Yeah, I’ll just be up there.”
  • Greetings are words for relationship building
    • There are differences between cultures.
      • Japan often talks about the weather.
      • Talking about food in China and Korea
      • Some cultures prefer atypical expressions, such as complimenting the other person’s clothing instead of the standard pattern.

• When we part ways, while waiting for the train on a train platform or something, I’ll ask, “Where’s the nearest station?” I thought to myself, “What is this person thinking of doing by asking me what the nearest station is?” I felt uncomfortable. I understood that this was the protocol.

• Okay, I get it! I guess there is a general desire “not to know something, not to communicate something, just to have a conversation,” and because I have relatively little of that desire, I failed to recognize that the people around me were acting on that desire.

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