English Audio Request

In Japanese, there is a word "complex" コンプレックス, which is used like the phrase "inferiority complex" in English.

People are sometimes traumatized by what other people say.

When I was talking with a friend of mine the other day, I noticed something interesting: People in different cultures seem to have inferiority complexes about different things.

My friend is American. I was surprised to hear that she was shocked and upset when her neighbor, who is Japanese, told her that she had a "small face." You know what? Being told that you have a small face is a good thing for most Japanese women. We say, "I envy you. You have a small face!" However, my American friend got confused and ended up treating as if her neighbor was saying that she had a "small brain." (^_^;)

Another thing that we often say as a compliment is "You have really white skin." My female friends from America take it as a "pale skin," which sounds to them, like a sickly and unhealthy complexion.

We have the phrase "having a high nose" 鼻が高い, which is also a good thing for Japanese people. However, it seems like Westerners take it as having a big nose or something, right?

Thus, some of my friends from America are very confused by hearing what Japanese people say to them.

In general, Japanese women's ideal face is "white" and "small" with "round big eyes" and a "high nose." My friend told me that all of those things are theopposite in America. If that's the case then, our compliments toward Western women must sound offensive most of the time...

Japanese people, who don't have any friends from other countries and never know how Westerners feel, they will keep saying those things to them. That's a shame.

One thing that I am very impressed by Western women is that they don't talk about other's appearance features much. (^v^) / I am honored.

After hearing her talk, I thought that I should learn more about Western culture while I'm learning English.