A Homeless Blog

My View of Japanese (Language)

I've been more or less 'casual' about writing this blog, and I want to keep it that way (although my head is full of all the serious thoughts). Today's story evolved from my 2-month experience with the Japanese language.

Though difficult as many people might already know, the language also explain so much about Japan in many senses. Here are a few observations...

Verb is at the end of a sentence: This is like the first thing a foreigner would notice about the language...because it's difficult for them. But well...there's no right or wrong. Just because we are used to the verb in the middle doesn't mean it makes more sense to be there.

This tells me a lot already. Communication usually comes in a batch of sentences. Mostly, I can never really understand the point until the sentence is over. It explains (at least to me) why Japanese are polite and patience (not quite the words I'm looking for, but sort of). Not only because they have to wait until the end of a sentence, but also because they absorb the essence of the language into their life. Patient, they've become.

Various forms: Japanese language has soooo many forms of things. Plain form. Polite form. Super polite form. Honorific form. Humble form. Form for self. Forms for referring to others. And I'm not making these up (except the "Super Polite" one :P)

So what does it tell me? Japan's social system is not only seen in practice, but also embedded in the language. The first word that came to my mind was "tight". I see this as both good and bad thing. The social system, which has (or had, I don't know) worked well since after WWII, is pretty difficult to penetrate. People seems to be happy about their life.

But, some people might say that it sucks (please excuse my language). The system is so strict; there's no flexibility...especially for younger people. Those who comes from a more-liberal social system would feel uncomfortable, especially in the work environment. Everything must be accordingly.

Tough position, indeed. All I can say is that social unity comes at a cost of individual freedom.

Language barrier: Sorry I'm going beyond the language itself. But I can't leave out the great hardshell of Japan. Here...nobody speaks English (of course, it's an exaggeration). But if you are here, you'll understand what I mean. They do speak English, but only when they really really have to. Japan also translate everything into Japanese, for example, books. Tons of foreign books in Japanese.

Anyway, I just recently learned that Katakana is not just for a foreign language. What's written in Katakana might sound similar to English (or any other language), but it's not. It's Japanese, and should be read accordingly...otherwise nobody wouldn't understand what you are talking about.

The language itself is quite difficult to master. I heard it'd take at least a year to actually use (talking and reading and writing) Japanese in everyday work & life. In a way, the language barrier protects Japan from various things outside. It's not easy to get immediate employment because of the language. It's also not easy to sell things to a Japanese if you cannot communicate well with them.

Well well well...there is no conclusion for this blog. Just scattered ideas and impressions of the country related to its language. Anybody, any more ideas? I'm just going back to my vocabs laew la. A big test next week /(o o')\

posted by Bikku @ 1:11 AM