Gender Based Conversation Topics of Japanese Native Speakers on Contact Situations with Japanese Learners of Indonesia: First-Time Meeting Encounter

Abstract


INTRODUCTION
Conversations between speakers who have different cultural backgrounds and native languages require an understanding of intercultural communication, as conversation and culture are very closely related.This is in line with the opinion of Ishii and Kumei (2013), who states that culture and communication are closely related, that culture influences communication, and that the existence of communication contributes to the formation of culture.Thus, without understanding the culture of the speech partners, speakers may experience difficulties in communicating properly.
In conversations between speakers of different first languages, the topic of conversation is important because topics play an important role in starting, continuing, and ending conversations between speakers and speech partners.The topic of the conversation is raised or chosen not because the conversation just happens to occur, but it also factors in several aspects such as with whom, when, where, why we are talking, and how to talk about the topic.What's more, if the conversation is carried out with speakers of different languages with very different cultural backgrounds, such as speakers of Indonesian and speakers of Japanese.
Cultural aspects also become important to pay attention to.In addition, the topic of conversation raised also needs to adjust to aspects of gender, ethnic identity, nationality, and even the status between the speaker and the partner.If the topic of conversation is in accordance with these aspects, the potential for successful communication is great (Martin & Nakayama, 2004).On the other hand, if the topic does not adjust to these aspects, there is the potential for misunderstandings to arise, which will cause a breakdown in relations between speakers.
In addition, in terms of communication (Sihabudin, 2013) and Sukmono & Junaedi (2014) state that mistakes often occur in communication between people with different cultural backgrounds.Thus, it can be concluded that the more different the cultural background between the speakers, the greater the possibility of misunderstanding between them.Based on the explanations of these experts, it can be concluded that in communication, understanding the accuracy of selecting conversation topics by taking into account the cultural background of the interlocutor is very important to note.
In the past, research regarding conversational topics had been carried out by several researchers such as Kipers (1987), who examined student conversation topics in conversations between boys and conversations between girls, and Sehulster (2006), who studied conversation topics based on age, gender, and marital status.However, both of these studies analyzed topics in English conversation.In research on Japanese conversation topics, there have been several conducted studies, such as the selection of conversation topics by Indonesian speakers and Japanese speakers conducted by Sanjaya & Kusnendar (2018) (Sanjaya, 2021) and (Sanjaya, 2021).Sanjaya & Kusnendar (2018) analyzed the conversation topics raised or chosen by native Indonesian speakers and native Japanese speakers in the conversation that occurred at the first meeting.Native speakers of Indonesian and Japanese were studied among people who were already working, which in Japanese is known as shakaijin.The conversation studied in the previous research is between fellow speakers of the language.This research shows that topics Japanese speakers tend to be safe to raise with Indonesian speakers in conversation at the first meeting.However, Indonesian speakers tend to be more careful when selecting topics when communicating with Japanese native speakers.The topic of conversation was selected through a survey using a questionnaire so that it can be said that the topic found in this study is still the awareness of the questionnaire respondents.Thus, it is possible that the respondents will raise or choose a different topic of conversation in the actual conversation.
In Sanjaya's research (2021), conversation topics were analyzed through data obtained from actual conversations, not just awareness surveys.Then, the topics of conversation are topics raised by Indonesian speakers in a conversation with a contact situation (with Japanese speakers) at the first meeting.Furthermore, Sanjaya (2021) developed his research by dividing the topics raised by Indonesian speakers based on gender.The research result shows that both male and female Indonesian speakers are oriented towards establishing interpersonal relationships with Japanese speakers through conversation topics related to personal information.However, there is a slight difference: female Indonesian speakers disclose themselves more even though the conversation occurs at the first meeting.Moreover, Indonesian students are highly likely to cause misunderstandings when conversing with Japanese students during the introductory conversation by bringing up topics considered private by native Japanese language-speaking students.The data analyzed were any topics Japanese language learners who spoke Indonesian brought up (topic selection) when conversing with native Japanese speakers at the first meeting.
Sekizaki (2016) researched topics in conversations with contact situations at the first meeting.Conversation participants comprised several groups; each with native Japanese speakers and Japanese language learners from various countries.While several previous studies examined topics raised by Japanese language learners from Indonesia or other countries, Mimaki (2013) studied topics raised by native Japanese speakers (native situation) at the first meeting.
Seeing that several studies analyze topics raised by Indonesian speakers in conversations with contact situations, the researcher assesses the need for studies that analyze topics raised by Japanese speakers in conversations in contact situations (with Indonesian speakers) at the first meeting to see the trend of categories and the types of topics covered.In addition, gender differences allow for differences in choosing conversation topics.
In this study, we divided the categories and types of topics based on gender so that male and female Japanese speakers could identify similarities and differences in topic selection tendencies.By knowing the trend of categories and the types of topics raised by male Japanese speakers and female Japanese speakers, Japanese learners in Indonesia can select better conversation topics for better conversation, especially at the first meeting with Japanese speakers.

METHOD
This study analyzed conversations between Japanese speakers and Indonesian speakers to know what conversation topics are raised by Japanese speakers when having conversations in contact situations with Indonesian speakers at the first meeting based on gender.The data of this research were taken using speaking and note-taking techniques.With these techniques, the researcher will not participate in the conversation between participants as the researcher will only observe the conversation between the participants (Zaim, 2014).Participants of this study carried out two roleplay conversations in two different situations, namely, a cultural exchange held at a university in Indonesia and accidental meetings on trains in Indonesia.Both settings are used to see if there is a significant difference in topic taking if two conversation situations are completely different.
Some linguists, such as Kushida et al (2019) and Takagi et al (2018), argue that conversational analysis must be taken through natural conversations and not based on research plots.Still, Kato & Takiura (2016) argue differently that plotted conversations, such as role-playing conversations, can be used as a source of conversation analysis data.
The participants carried out the conversations through the Zoom communication platform because the conversation participants, both native Japanese speakers and Indonesian speakers, were very far apart (both speakers were in their respective countries).We are not involved in the participant's conversation when the participant is having a conversation.During the conversation, the researcher observed the conversation and recorded the conversation through audiovisual media.The conversation topics were recorded by observing the results of recorded conversations while focusing on the topics the Japanese speakers raised and/or asked Indonesian speakers.After taking notes, the researcher categorized the topics of conversation raised in the first and second settings based on the gender of Japanese speakers.
Conversations were carried out by 20 conversation groups consisting of 10 male conversation groups and 10 female conversation groups, each consisting of one native Japanese speaker and one Indonesian speaker.The Native Japanese speakers consisted of students from several universities in Japan.At the same time, participants who spoke Indonesian were Japanese language learners from the Japanese Language Study Program and Japanese Language Education at several universities in Indonesia.The roleplay conversation time given to the participants of each conversation group was 15 minutes for each situation.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
As explained in the previous chapter, the conversation settings were divided into two: conversations on cultural exchanges held at a university in Indonesia and conversations on an Indonesian train where an Indonesian speaker talked to a Japanese stranger.From all the data collected, the researcher divided the conversation topics into four categories: the Indonesian and Japanese cultural and situation categories, personal information categories, conversation starter and ending categories, and requests, suggestions, solicitation, and other categories.Each category has subcategories, and each subcategory has types of conversation topics.Next, we pay attention to what topics of conversation are mostly discussed by Japanese speakers based on gender in cultural exchange settings at a university in Indonesia and in conversation settings on trains in Indonesia.

Conversation Topics on First Setting: Cultural Exchange Events at a University in Indonesia
Based on data analysis, there are 60 types of topics that male Japanese speakers raise in the first setting conversation.When viewed from the number of topics in male conversation, the Japanese-Indonesian situation and culture category is the category with the most types of conversation topics raised by male Japanese speakers, namely 32 types.In addition to having the highest number of types of conversation topics, this category is also the one raised the most by Japanese speakers, namely 63 times.
The second highest rank is occupied by the category of personal information, which totals 27 types of conversation topics and appeared 60 times, slightly different from the Japanese-Indonesian situation and culture category.For a more detailed view, the categories, subcategories, and the number of topics of conversation, as well as the number of appearances in all conversations in the setting of cultural exchange events at tertiary institutions in Indonesia, can be seen in Table 1 below.* number in the parentheses ( ) shows how many times the topics were raised.
If we look at Table 1, it can be summarized that the topics raised the most by male Japanese speakers in the Indonesian-Japanese situation & culture category are related to culture, such as cooking or food (raised 10 times), languages such as dialects in Indonesia and local languages (Javanese and Sundanese), and situations like the Covid-19 pandemic situation (raised 6 times).The latter topic was raised often because the conversation took place in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic.Topics in the category of personal information are also very much raised by Japanese speakers.Still, in this category, topics related to the speakers' and interlocutor profiles are only slightly raised.
The topic of names was also raised because during cultural exchange events, participants often introduce themselves, or the speech partners ask for the speaker's personal name.Sub-categories of plans, reasons, judgments, and experiences in the category of personal information were also raised a lot.Still, this subcategory tends to explain or inquire about the experiences of oneself and the interlocutor relating to life in their country, other countries that have been visited, learning the language learned, and plans after the study so that even though it is included in the category of personal information, it is not so obvious that the topics in this subcategory explore the private information of both the speaker and the hearer.We have already seen the types of topics raised by male Japanese native speakers and their frequencies in this setting.Next, let us see the topics raised and the number raised in Table 2. Just like the male Japanese speakers, female Japanese speakers also raised the most topics of the Indonesian-Japanese situation & culture category.Many topics in this category arose from cultural topics, such as food or cooking, and situations, such as seasons (seasons in Japan and Indonesia).Topics in the category of personal information were also often discussed, almost as much as those in the Indonesian-Japanese situation & culture category.The most common sub-categories in this category are plans, reasons, judgments, and experiences.This can be seen from the many female Japanese speakers who raised topics around why their interlocutors learn Japanese, and their wishes and experiences abroad (Japan, Indonesia, etc.).Female Japanese speakers are twice as likely to discuss topics in this subcategory than male Japanese speakers.In the profile subcategory, female Japanese speakers tend not to mention their names unless they were asked by their speech partners (Indonesian speakers) or their partners to introduce themselves first.In contrast to male Japanese speakers, many female Japanese speakers mentioned their age or asked the age of their speech partners.It is possible that Japanese speakers decide to bring up the topic of age because the conversation is carried out by participants of the same gender, and in cultural exchange events, there tends to be an opportunity to get to know each other more openly.
Based on the data shown in the two tables above, we can conclude that in terms of cultural exchange settings in a university in Indonesia, both male and female Japanese speakers discuss the situation and culture of Indonesia and Japan the most.However, there are a lot of topics related to personal information that appears slightly less often than the number of topics that appear in the categories of situation and culture of Indonesia and Japan.Even so, the topics most often raised are related to the desire or experience of going abroad and reasons for learning a foreign language (Japanese or other foreign languages).There are not many topics related to private areas (except topics related to age) and only related to majors or lecture affiliations.According to Mimaki's (2013) findings, these kinds of topics (majors and lecture affiliations) appear quite a lot in conversations between native Japanese speakers (native situations).However, in this study, we found that female Japanese speakers revealed more information on their age or their speech partners, which tends to be private topics for female Japanese speakers.
Let's compare how often the topics appear in the conversations.Female Japanese speakers bring up more diverse topics, with 75 topics with 170 occurrences, while male Japanese speakers bring up topics with 60 topics with 124 occurrences.Based on these findings, male Japanese speakers seem to focus more on a few deemed necessary topics than female Japanese speakers who discuss a more varied selection of topics.

Conversation Topics in the Second Setting: Conversations on the Train in Indonesia
Based on data analysis, in the second setting, the most types of conversation topics and the number of occurrences of conversation topics raised by male Japanese speakers were in the Indonesian-Japanese situation & culture category.The category of Personal Information follows this.Nevertheless, the category of personal information in terms of the type of topic and the number of times it appears is not different from the category of Indonesian-Japanese situation and culture.This shows that male Japanese speakers are also quite open to informing matters related to their personalities and actively ask for or discuss information related to the person of their speech partners (Indonesian speakers).Detailed data can be seen in Table 3 below.* number in the parentheses ( ) shows how many times the topics were raised.
If we look at Table 3, topics in the Indonesian and Japanese situations and culture categories are raised the most because, in this setting, Japanese speakers often raise culturally related topics such as food or cuisine, situations such as recommendation places, famous places, tourist objects which are all closely related to an object.A trip somewhere.Topics in the category of personal information were raised the most because most of the topics discussed are related to experiences, plans, and assessments on trips carried out by speakers and speech partners.Topics related to the profile were limited to names, so topics do not appear to offend the privacy of themselves or their interlocutors.
These results show that Japanese speakers, both in cultural exchange settings and conversations on trains in Indonesia, raise more topics related to the Indonesian-Japanese situation and culture rather than discussing personally related topics.
In the second setting, female Japanese speakers raised the most topics of the Indonesian-Japanese situation & culture category.Similar to the first set of topics related to culture, such as cooking or food, situations such as recommended tourist places and objects are often raised because it seems this topic was closely related to the travel carried out by speakers and speech partners.The category of personal information was also widely discussed, and the difference in the number of appearances is small compared to the Indonesian-Japanese situation & culture category.The topics raised also revolve around plans, experiences, and assessments of trips that are or have been carried out by speakers and speech partners.Detailed data can be seen in Table 4 below.* number in the parentheses ( ) shows how often the topics were raised.
Table 4 shows that in this setting, female and male Japanese speakers tend to talk about plans, reasons, judgments, and experiences, including travel-related topics.As for the topics related to personal information, some of them talked about matters related to previous trips the speaker and the interlocutor had taken.In this setting, same as male Japanese speakers, female Japanese speakers did not talk about their own age or that of their interlocutors.It can be concluded that the difference in setting makes a difference in the choice of conversation topics for female Japanese speakers.
In the second setting, male and female Japanese speakers tend to talk the most about travelrelated things.Although topics such as recommended places, famous places, and tourist objects fall into the Indonesian-Japanese situation and culture category, the topics are closely related to travel.In addition, many topics in the personal information category were raised because of topics related to plans, reasons, and experiences.Speakers and interlocutors about trips that have been and are being carried out were widely discussed.
Based on the number of topic occurrences, even in the second setting, female Japanese speakers tend to bring up more diverse topics, with 71 topics and 114 appearances.In contrast, male Japanese speakers bring up topics with 45 types of topics with 94 appearances.

CONCLUSION
From the explanation above, it can be concluded that male and female Japanese speakers in both the first and second settings mostly raise topics related to the Indonesian-Japanese situation and culture.Topics in the category of personal information are also very often raised by male and female Japanese speakers in both the first and second settings.In addition, when viewed from the number of types of topics and the number of appearances of topics, the types of topics raised by female Japanese speakers were more varied than the topics raised by male Japanese speakers both in the first setting of conversation and in the second setting of conversation.This shows that female Japanese speakers raise more topics than male Japanese speakers.
The topics raised by Japanese speakers in contact situations (conversations with Indonesian speakers) are different from those raised by Japanese speakers in native situation conversations.That might be affected by topics that Indonesian speakers raised.This research needs to be continued to investigate how much the topics that Indonesian speakers raised affect Japanese speakers to select topics.

Table 1 .
Category of Conversation Topics Raised by MaleJapanese Speakers in the First Setting: Cultural Exchange Events at a University in Indonesia

Table 2 .
Category of Conversation Topics Raised by Female Japanese Speakers in the First Setting: Cultural Exchange Events at a University in Indonesia

Table 3 .
Categories of Conversation Topics Raised by Male Japanese Speakers in the Second Setting: Conversations on Trains in Indonesia

Table 4 .
Conversation Topic Categories Raised by Female Japanese Speakers in the Second Setting: Conversation on Trains in Indonesia