In this, an online survey was conducted from October to December 2022, with 1,200 male and female college students from four countries, namely Korea, Japan, China, and the United States (150 men and 150 women from each country, totaling 300 people from each of the four countries) to determine whether nine humble expressions would be perceived as humble” or “factual.” The main results are as follows.
The percentage of respondents who perceived the expressions as humble was the highest in China (78.9%), followed by Korea (75.7%), Japan (68.9%), and the United States (45.7%). By contrast, the percentage of respondents who perceived the expressions as factual was the highest in the United States (52.9%), followed by Japan (29.6%), Korea (22.6%), and China (19.4%).
These results indicate that speakers tended to interpret as literal facts the humble expressions habitually used in Confucian cultural spheres such as Korea, China, and Japan, for example, saying, “This is not expensive”when giving an expensive tea as a gift, or “I lack in many ways, but please take care of me” during self-introduction.