Cape Malleum Majorem
Richard Feynman, on his frustrations with the Japanese language:
I made up a sentence with the word that I had just learned.
"No, no!" he said. "When you say to someone, 'Would you like to see my garden?' you use the first 'see.' But when you want to see someone else's garden, you must use another 'see,' which is more polite."
"Would you like to glance at my lousy garden?" is essentially what you're saying in the first case, but when you want to look at the other fella's garden, you have to say something like, "May I observe your gorgeous garden?" So there's two different words you have to use.
Then he gave me another one: "You go to a temple, and you want to look at the gardens..."
I made up a sentence, this time with the polite "see."
"No, no!" he said. "In the temple, the gardens are much more elegant. So you have to say something that would be equivalent to 'May I hang my eyes on your most exquisite gardens?"
Three or four different words for one idea, because when I'm doing it, it's miserable; when you're doing it, it's elegant.
I was learning Japanese mainly for technical things, so I decided to check if this same problem existed among the scientists. At the institute the next day, I said to the guys in the office, "How would I say in Japanese, 'I solve the Dirac Equation'?"
They said such-and-so.
"OK. Now I want to say, 'Would you solve the Dirac Equation?' — how do I say that?"
"Well, you have to use a different word for 'solve,' " they say.
"Why?" I protested. "When I solve it, I do the same damn thing as when you solve it!"
"Well, yes, but it's a different word — it's more polite."
I gave up. I decided that wasn't the language for me, and stopped learning Japanese.
Politeness to a fault, quite literally. Everything in Japanese is permeated by ritual and tradition and ceremony, even when there is absolutely no need for it — to the Western mind, at least.
This Space Intentionally Left Blank.
Well I've been trying to learn Japanese,Russian and mandrin but I just don't have the time not that school is back in session
Hi
Organized Canine Bureau Special Agent
@pwiegle
- True. But I'm personally not worried about that one... On a personal level that is.
Still open for any advice on studying by yourself.
Hopefully the option to stay in Japan and learn the language will be open. Or maybe not.
edited 19th Sep '16 7:43:20 AM by Ominae
"Exit muna si Polgas. Ang kailangan dito ay si Dobermaxx!"
Organized Canine Bureau Special Agent
Welp.
I'm going back to study it again 5 years of getting N5. Sucked (I'm sure) at my initial assessment test and I'll do it Manila instead of Tokyo. No support, but it's on my bucket list.
I don't know, but I'll likely have to take a lower level class and it could take a while before I can do classes that can be the equivalent of doing N4.
"Exit muna si Polgas. Ang kailangan dito ay si Dobermaxx!"
Putting this up as a thread for anyone to talk about studying Japanese as a foreign language. Also includes stuff to help anyone who's studying it.
Once upon a time, there was a time when I was about to go to Japan and study it while I moved back from Canada permanently. I was forced to discontinue such plans due to concerns from my mom.
Right now, I'm in my early 30s and out of my first job. I'm studying distance education in the meantime to finish my remaining credits and get ng BA. My concern is that I was told maybe I should study Japanese by myself.
I wish to ask anyone who did try to study the language by themselves and whether it's a good idea or not. I'm at N5 level after I spent some months studying it again since I got rusty at it...
My folks aren't going to shell out money for me and I'm doing DE in addition to volunteering myself for a university research project.
edited 19th Sep '16 7:42:52 AM by Ominae
"Exit muna si Polgas. Ang kailangan dito ay si Dobermaxx!"