Are かた and 人 interchangeable in this sentence?


I played a game app, and I found this sentence on the TOS agreement screen.

> ないようがわからないかたは、おうちの人にがめんをみせてください

English: _If you don't understand, show this screen to your parents._

The sentence is written in Hiragana, so it seems to be for children.

  * ないようがわからないかた: children who play the app
  * おうちの人: their parents

I know **かた** is politer than **人** , but if the only difference is whether
it's polite or not, why is the sentence not polite to the parents?

If the sentence was not wrong, it would be interchangeable with this:

> ないようがわからない人は、おうちのかたにがめんをみせてください




> 「ないようがわからない **かた** は、おうちの **人** にがめんをみせてください。」

This sentence, while 100% grammatical, sounds kind of awkward, and I am sure
that, as a fellow Japanese-speaker, you probably felt the same way.

Even though it is a little awkward, it probably could not be improved much
because it has been written to express something that the Japanese language is
not designed well to express.

**It is awkward because it is written by the vendors (adults) to the customers
(children) and in what is essentially supposed to be an** **_honorific
language._** Imagine having to write instructions using keigo to someone who
cannot even read kanji!

(I sometimes hear the same kind of awkwardness/unnaturalness in restaurants,
shops, etc. in Japan where the adult employees must sometimes speak to kids. I
would not do any better than they do, either, if I worked at one of those
places.)

This instruction uses 「かた」 to refer to the child customer, and I would say
that it is a reasonable word choice. The manufacturers, however, used 「人」 to
refer to the kid's parents when the parents themselves are likely to be the
ones who actually payed for the product. My guess is that the instruction-
writer tried to see things from the kid's viewpoint and ended up using 「おうちの人」
as that might sound "better" or "more natural or familiar" to the kid
him/herself.

(Kids are generally pretty poor in their keigo usage. The manufacturers know
that, but they could not completely ignore keigo since the kids are their
customers and customers are gods in Japan. This dilemma, according to me,
helped create the awkwardness of the instructions.)

In conclusion, I find it difficult to improve the sentence. One could use 「かた」
twice, but my bigger concern would be the fact that even if one used 「かた」
twice, it would not improve the awkward and unnatural verb phrases that should
go with the polite and respectful 「かた」. I am referring to 「わからない」 and
「みせてください」, both of which are "plain" and would not be used in product
instructions for adults, but using 「おわかりにならない」 and 「おみせになっていただくようおねがいいたします」
instead would be out of the question with kids.

To say:

> 「ないようがわからない **人** は、おうちの **かた** にがめんをみせてください。」

would be risky because one could end up sounding so 「上から」 by addressing your
customer with 「人」 even if s/he is a kid. It would sound like an instruction on
a cheap candy. Just to play safe, I would pesonally not use the sentence in
highlight above as an instruction in a game. If you used it, however, not many
people would feel it strange, either.

Adult Japanese-speakers would know instinctively that this is not a good
situation to use keigo properly or even nicely for that matter.




> 「ないようがわからない **かた** は、おうちの **人** にがめんをみせてください。」

This sentence, while 100% grammatical, sounds kind of awkward, and I am sure
that, as a fellow Japanese-speaker, you probably felt the same way.

Even though it is a little awkward, it probably could not be improved much
because it has been written to express something that the Japanese language is
not designed well to express.

**It is awkward because it is written by the vendors (adults) to the customers
(children) and in what is essentially supposed to be an** **_honorific
language._** Imagine having to write instructions using keigo to someone who
cannot even read kanji!

(I sometimes hear the same kind of awkwardness/unnaturalness in restaurants,
shops, etc. in Japan where the adult employees must sometimes speak to kids. I
would not do any better than they do, either, if I worked at one of those
places.)

This instruction uses 「かた」 to refer to the child customer, and I would say
that it is a reasonable word choice. The manufacturers, however, used 「人」 to
refer to the kid's parents when the parents themselves are likely to be the
ones who actually payed for the product. My guess is that the instruction-
writer tried to see things from the kid's viewpoint and ended up using 「おうちの人」
as that might sound "better" or "more natural or familiar" to the kid
him/herself.

(Kids are generally pretty poor in their keigo usage. The manufacturers know
that, but they could not completely ignore keigo since the kids are their
customers and customers are gods in Japan. This dilemma, according to me,
helped create the awkwardness of the instructions.)

In conclusion, I find it difficult to improve the sentence. One could use 「かた」
twice, but my bigger concern would be the fact that even if one used 「かた」
twice, it would not improve the awkward and unnatural verb phrases that should
go with the polite and respectful 「かた」. I am referring to 「わからない」 and
「みせてください」, both of which are "plain" and would not be used in product
instructions for adults, but using 「おわかりにならない」 and 「おみせになっていただくようおねがいいたします」
instead would be out of the question with kids.

To say:

> 「ないようがわからない **人** は、おうちの **かた** にがめんをみせてください。」

would be risky because one could end up sounding so 「上から」 by addressing your
customer with 「人」 even if s/he is a kid. It would sound like an instruction on
a cheap candy. Just to play safe, I would pesonally not use the sentence in
highlight above as an instruction in a game. If you used it, however, not many
people would feel it strange, either.

Adult Japanese-speakers would know instinctively that this is not a good
situation to use keigo properly or even nicely for that matter.

