Active Listening and Aizuchi

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is an intriguing brief article by Daniel James Ince-Cushman and Marion Dove in the January 2025 issue of Canadian Family Physician magazine - Volume 71, No. 1, pages 67 and 68 titled Approach to teaching active listening in the age of artificial intelligence.

 

The fourth and fifth paragraphs say:

 

“Aizuchi originally referred to the alternating strikes of hammers on hot iron by an expert sword maker and their apprentice. It has come to mean the frequent short interjections or sounds that a Japanese listener makes to show they are paying attention. Simple aizuchi translations include words such as yeah, uh-huh, and oh (Table 1).

 

However, aizuchi is not only a verbal phenomenon. Nodding is also a form of aizuchi. Much of Japanese communication is nonverbal, and short utterances are also mirrored with engaged facial expressions and well-timed nods. In linguistics this is referred to as back channelling. Back channelling is how we interject to show understanding and attention rather than to convey new information. These are not so much questions but rather facilitating remarks to encourage the speaker to continue.”

 

The image was adapted from one of forging ahead at the Library of Congress.