Introduction
Introduction Statistics Contact Development Disclaimer Help
___
|_ |
| | __ _ _ __ __ _ _ __ ___ ___ ___
| |/ _` | '_ \ / _` | '_ \ / _ \/ __|/ _ \
/\__/ / (_| | |_) | (_| | | | | __/\__ \ __/
\____/ \__,_| .__/ \__,_|_| |_|\___||___/\___|
| |
|_|
June 5, 2020
At the grocery store near my apartment, there's a small desserts
section. I currently live and work in Japan, and so most of the items
in this section are traditional Japanese desserts, and my favorite is
this thing called a manjuu. It's an almost saucer-shaped item, with
an outer "shell" made from flour and rice powder, surrounding an
inner filling like redbean paste. It makes for this really unique
contrast of flavors and textures, with a solid, toothsome exterior
giving way to a kind of fluffy, creamy interior. If you ever have the
chance to get one, I highly recommend it.
Check out some manjuu
.. ___
I' `~~~,____,.
I .__. /
I (MMMM) /
I (MMMM) |
I '*~~*' (
I,~'""`~,,__ \
I `""``
I
I
I've only lived in Japan for about a year, but I've studied Japanese
for the last five to six years. Am I fluent? Not at all, no, but I
feel I can navigate myself fairly well around a conversation, as long
as it's not too complex or jargon-filled.
Like many language learners, the twists and turns that the language
presents have at various times fascinated, confused, and frustrated;
but up until very recently, I always accepted them as just a part of
the language, something not to be questioned, but embraced, in order toErr
improve.
Recently, though, I've been thinking a lot about language not as a
skill, or something to be learned, but as a tool, or something to be
used. When you boil it down, that's really all it is, right?--not
unlike a hammer, the speaker uses it to accomplish a task more
difficult without it, but this task is expressing thoughts, not
driving nails.
But not all tools are built the same; recently, as I've been using
Japanese pretty frequently, I find myself really disliking this tool.
At its core, Japanese is remarkably specific. A few examples:
* It has numerous ways to say "you" based on the speaker's gender,
the listener's gender, the listener's relation to the speaker, and if
the speaker is irritated or angry
* It has four words for "rice," depending on the rice's level of
maturity and processing
* It has specific terms to refer to (what I feel are) remarkably
specific, obscure concepts, like 24 traditional seasons that are each
2 weeks long, various local strains of rice, etc.
However, the grammar can also be remarkably vague. Remember all those
forms of "you"? You likely won't hear them, as most speakers don't
use subjects in their sentences, and especially not pronouns.
Moreover, when spoken by Japanese individuals, the language becomes
an even more remarkably vague thing. Much like the manjuus I
mentioned before, their speech tends to have an outward layer that's
presented to the listener, masking one's true inner feelings.
Strongly emotional terms like "love" or "hate" are often watered down
into "really like" and "don't like very much." The society also tends
to avoid outward conflict, so many speakers will communicate
criticism or negative feeling not through words, but through verbal
hesitation or non-verbal cues - or may not even communicate it at all.
With time, I've started to dislike expressing myself in Japanese.
It's painful, twisted, and convoluted; it requires so much intonation,
body language, honorific verb conjugations, and understatement; and
sometimes, I've found that communicating certain ideas just isn't
possible.
., ,,eeeEEEEEe. qQQp
\EP***'' HHHHP` H! ,
|E HHH' _,eeHhoOQQQb
|E HH* `HHP**;ZHHb
|E .,eEEEHHH; * .E*H!\Q\
|E\EP**'' HHH; /E* H! \Q,,
|E HHH ./E; ,HHher\QQQ,.
)E; dHH; .ep* \HP;H` \QQQQ\
(E; .,,,eeEEEHHH (H; `
\EEP**` `*HH; HH
` *
But here's the question: is it right for me to be frustrated by this?
Is it okay for me to prefer using a different, less vague language?
What about the fact that my native language, English, has its own
vagaries, too? Am I wrong for caving and staying within my safe zone?
For me, readers, the jury's still out. But it's getting late, and I'm
getting tired, so I'll just finish this manjuu and leave the thinking
until tomorrow.
--EOF--
You are viewing proxied material from sdf.org. The copyright of proxied material belongs to its original authors. Any comments or complaints in relation to proxied material should be directed to the original authors of the content concerned. Please see the disclaimer for more details.