HABITS

VOCABULARY:

habit, tendency, disposition, acquired, repetition, characteristic,

interrupting, network, considered, specific, remedies, behavior,

annoying, crazy, support, nervousness, certain, correspond,

excessively, etiquette, experience, colleagues, maintaining, conscious,

obligation

habit - noun;. 1. the tendency or disposition to act in a certain way, acquired by repetition of such acts. 2. trait, addiction; (shukkan) or characteristic (tokuchoteki na).

QUESTIONS:

1. Do you know what the word habit means in English? Give me your best definition.

2. In America habits are usually considered to be negative traits (tokucho). Is this also true in Japan?

3. Here are some examples of bad habits in America; biting one’s finger nails, not being on time, interrupting (jama suru) other people during a conversation, rude driving behavior (kodo), poor table manners, smoking and chewing gum loudly. Do Japanese people also have these habits? What do you consider a bad habit?

4. In America people often network and ask people they have just met, “where do you work or what do you do?” I’ve noticed in some countries that people will not wait their turn in a line. Are these considered bad manners and being rude or is it a bad habit?

5. Are there any bad habits that are only specific to Japanese culture or people? Give me an example.

6. Do you have any bad or good habits? Tell me about them.

7. What have you done to stop doing this habit? Were you successful?

8. In America people have put bad tasting spices on their hands to stop biting their nails, to quit smoking they will chew gum or toothpicks or they will ask family and friends to help correct their behavior. To help from over eating they will put notes on their refrigerator or on mirrors. Do you know of any good remedies (chiryoho) to stopping certain bad habits? Are there any specific to Japan?

9. What habits do other people do that is very annoying (meiwaku na) to you?

10. Does someone close to you (your husband, wife or family member) have a bad habit that drives you crazy?

11. Do they know you don’t like it and are they planning on quitting? How will you support them?

12. Do you see bad habits as being a weakness in character?

13. Have you heard the idiom Cold Turkey? This means to quit a bad habit immediately instead of stopping a little bit at a time. Example: My uncle quit smoking cold turkey but my mom cut down little by little until she didn’t smoke anymore.

14. Why do you think people develop bad habits? It is because of stress, poor upbringing (yoiku) or nervousness?

15. Do certain habits help you cope (ni taio suru) with certain situations or do you think they cause you more problems in the long run?

16. Do most children in Japan have good manners or do their parents allow them to develop bad habits? How do you feel about this?

17. Is there a certain age that children are expected to have good manners and not practice bad habits?

18. Did you have any bad or funny habits as a child?

19. How do you think parents can help their children not to develop bad habits or break them of bad habits?

20. In America young people often don’t correspond in a timely fashion, interrupt, talk loudly on cell phones in public and drink or smoke excessively. Do you think the younger generations have more bad habits than their elders? Give me some examples.

21. Technology has developed its own code of etiquette (reigisaho) in terms of cell phones, e-mail correspondence and answering machines. Are you good at maintaining good habits with modern technology or do you find it hard to keep up?

22. What are some habits that older generations have that young people find annoying (this can also be a state of mind)?

23. Do you find that younger generations are forgetting about old fashioned etiquette and are falling into bad habits such as using bad table manners or not showing respect to the opposite sex or elders. How do you feel about this?

24. Are Japanese men in the habit of opening doors for women or letting them order first from a menu. What is your experience?

25. Are your relationships with family or colleagues more traditional in terms of etiquette and maintaining good habits or are they more relaxed?

26. Do you make a conscious (ki ga tsuite iru) effort to develop good habits or does it just come natural to you?

27. Do you have someone that helps you to stop bad habits?

28. Do you think it is the family members’ obligation to help the other not continue with bad habits?

29. Are there traditional roles in Japan that prevent someone from telling someone else that they have bad habits even it is a close relationship? For example, wives tell their husbands to not drink so much or that they themselves want to improve a certain aspect of their lives.

30. Are you afraid of developing any bad habits as you get older? What would some of those habits be?

Ask your teacher three questions about their personal experience with bad habits.

IDIOMS AND EXPRESSIONS:

1. When I quit smoking I quit cold turkey.

2. Little by little I stopped biting my nails.

3. I’m in the habit of interrupting people, I just can’t help it.

4. That drives me crazy, why do you do that?

5. I can’t stand that, please stop.

6. That bad habit of yours really bothers me.

7. I noticed that she always networks at parties.

Written by EMR