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Differences in Personal Distance Between People: Brazil and Japan | H&A Portuguese Language School
- atsukohoshi
- 3 days ago
- 4 min read
Oi gente! Tudo bem?
This morning, the temperature suddenly dropped. Tokyo is windy and gloomy today, but I still had a great time enjoying Portuguese lessons with my students!
The other day, one of my students told me that they find it difficult to understand the sense of personal distance with Brazilian people. When trying to give a hug, they feel awkward—their body stiffens up and they can’t do it naturally. They also said that since Brazilians tend to speak quite directly, they sometimes find themselves becoming a bit guarded. That’s true…
When I first came to Japan, I felt exactly the opposite. I found it difficult to get close to Japanese people, and since they don’t always say things directly, I often couldn’t tell what they were really thinking. When greeting someone, instead of shaking hands or giving a hug, people bow — and if you don’t keep a certain distance, your heads might bump! It took me a while to understand that this moderate sense of distance is an essential part of Japanese communication.
Having lived in Japan for over 25 years now, I’ve learned to adjust — keeping a Brazilian sense of distance with Brazilians, and a Japanese sense of distance with Japanese people — so it’s no longer a struggle. But in the end…
「Quando em Roma, aja como os romanos」
In English, we say “When in Rome, do as the Romans do,” and in Japanese, “Gou Ni Iritewa Gou Ni Shitagae” . It means that when you enter a different culture, the best thing you can do is to adapt yourself to it. By repeating this process over and over, you gradually get used to the new environment — that’s really the only way, I think.
However, I believe that knowing why such cultural differences exist makes a big difference in how we perceive and accept other cultures. These differences come from various factors — historical background, geography, and so on — but we can also find some clues in the structural differences between languages and expressions. So today, I’d like to briefly touch on that!
When I was studying at a Japanese university, my professor told me that Japanese writing generally follows the structure of “Ki-Sho-Ten-Ketsu” (introduction, development, twist, and conclusion). I thought, “That’s quite different from Western writing styles.” In Brazil, we sometimes use a similar Ki-Sho-Ten-Ketsu structure, but the more common one is the Western-style PREP format. This stands for Point, Reason, Example, Point — in Japanese terms, conclusion, reason, example, conclusion.
In this PREP structure, you start by clearly stating your conclusion, then provide reasons and examples to support understanding, and finally restate your conclusion. In contrast, with Ki-Sho-Ten-Ketsu, you won’t understand the conclusion until you listen all the way to the end — so sometimes it’s hard to grasp what the speaker really wants to say. The PREP format, on the other hand, lets you first understand the person’s main point and then listen carefully to how they reached that conclusion.
When I first came to Japan, I felt that Japanese people didn’t speak very directly — but actually, that impression came from the fact that they often don’t start with the conclusion. I found myself getting a bit impatient, thinking, “Just tell me what you mean already!” On the other hand, my student’s impression that “Brazilians are quite direct” probably comes from the fact that we tend to state our conclusion right at the beginning.
As for why Brazilians tend to express the conclusion upfront, there are many reasons — but I’ll save that for another time, perhaps during our lessons. For today, let’s focus on one particular difference — the structure of the languages themselves.
Both English and Portuguese originate from Latin, and their grammatical structure follows the SVO pattern — Subject–Verb–Object. Japanese, on the other hand, follows an SOV pattern — Subject–Object–Verb. In other words, in Portuguese, the verb comes earlier, while in Japanese, it comes at the end. It’s just a small difference in word order — but don’t you think that’s quite fascinating?
In Japanese, which follows the SOV sentence structure, the verb typically appears at the end of a sentence. This naturally places the conclusion at the end, leading Japanese writing to build information step by step toward a final point or connection. The Ki-Sho-Ten-Ketsu structure perfectly reflects this flow.
On the other hand, in SVO languages such as English and Portuguese, the verb comes earlier in the sentence, so it’s more common to present the main point or conclusion right from the start. Don’t you think this resembles the PREP writing structure? In Western-style communication, it’s expected that you provide clear information to your listener or reader by stating your conclusion first.
In Brazil, there’s a common expression — “encher linguiça,” which literally means “to stuff sausages.” In conversation or writing, it refers to speaking or writing in an unnecessarily long-winded way — using too many words, beating around the bush, and ultimately failing to make your point clear.
When you look at the differences this way, it makes sense that Japanese people tend to prefer not to jump straight to the conclusion. Instead, they like to organize and communicate various related pieces of information first, maintaining a certain respectful distance, and only then present their conclusion. (At least, that’s how I understand it — and how I switch between communication styles when interacting with Brazilians and Japanese people.)
Knowing that these linguistic differences influence how sentences are structured — and even how communication styles develop — can make life in another culture feel much more familiar and enjoyable.
Finally, for those who would like to start learning or further improve their Portuguese — here’s a little invitation. True communication isn’t just about knowing the language. It’s about understanding the culture, customs, and background of the people who speak it. At H&A Portuguese Language School, we offer fun lessons that highlight the cultural contrasts between Japan and Brazil.
If you want to further improve your Portuguese skills, check out the short video below (57 seconds) and click the button below as well.
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