I am surprised no one has mentioned it so far, but when I first arrived in Japan, even if I was speaking Japanese there was always this invisible barrier that prevented smooth communication between me and my waiter. It was annoying as heck and was really stupid. I remember ordering a beer with my wife at dinner and ended up getting Orange Juice. After correcting the waiter and asking for a beer again, he leaves only to come back 5 mins later with another glass of Orange Juice. Eventually I got my beer and it was on the house thanks to the mix up. Is it just me or does this stuff happen a lot?
A bit of a tangent...I had a funny experience at a ramen shop staffed by Japanese young people in Vancouver, Canada. A couple at the next table, German speakers, were trying to explain that they couldn't handle "knoblauch" and neither could they remember the English word garlic nor knew the Japanese word ninniku. I phoned my German and English bilingual grandmother and she translated! It was fun, everybody learning the word in different languages. And she knew the word ninniku because of me, her wayward grandchild in Japan cooking Japanese food.
I am surprised no one has mentioned it so far, but when I first arrived in Japan, even if I was speaking Japanese there was always this invisible barrier that prevented smooth communication between me and my waiter. It was annoying as heck and was really stupid. I remember ordering a beer with my wife at dinner and ended up getting Orange Juice. After correcting the waiter and asking for a beer again, he leaves only to come back 5 mins later with another glass of Orange Juice. Eventually I got my beer and it was on the house thanks to the mix up. Is it just me or does this stuff happen a lot?