Japan Saga 1:
Thread-
My step-daughter is on her college's Junior Year Abroad program in Japan. A year and half-ago she spoke no Japanese, but as a result of some fairly intensive language instruction as part of a major in East Asian Studies, she can now conduct a conversation in Japanese. Currently she is an a program for international students, but hopes next semester she can take at least some classes with Japanese students. In any case, she sends me emails about her life in the Land of the Rising Sun, which is now nearing the end of its second month, and her reflections on matters Japanese. With her permission, I propose to post some of her emails on this thread under the title "Japan Saga". The young lady- we'll call her Ceci-- is a fairly discerning individual (at least on good days). I plan to continue this series of posts if they generate interest on this thread (hey, what's of interest to a step-dada may not qualify as general interest!). Her emails may be excerpted and lightly edited to protect her identity, to clarify a free-wheeling email exchange, and to avoid matters personal. In an effort to delineate who says what, I'll try to italicize her comments (that should give you clues about what you may wish to skip!). Let me know if this is a tradition I should continue over the course of the academic year.
We'll start with her reaction to an article in the New York Times whose URL I sent her:
nytimes.com
(Remember, access to the NYT is free, but you must register):
Larry
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Thanks for sending me this article. It's too bad that
the writer incorrectly translated "osake kudasai" as
"Do you have osake?" First of all, "kudasai" is never
a question but more of a polite imperative. If she
wanted to ask for sake rather than demand it, she
should have used "kudasaimasenka?" or
"itadakemasenka?" But what she really wanted to say
was "osake wa arimasuka?" or to use honorific-polite
language which she should very well have done, "osake
wa gozaimasuka?" both meaning "Do you have sake?" I'm
sure she didn't even notice that she left out the
particle "o" between the object and the verb. In
spoken Japanese, leaving out the particle usually
doesn't fly.
What did we learn from this? That the NY Times editor
didn't review this piece with enough care. Meticulous
attention to details is extremely important in general
but especially so when it comes to other countries,
other cultures. A Japanese acquaintance of mine
recently told me about an article on Japanese
businessmen's table manners in Time Asia some months
ago. Apparently, most of the information in that
article was completely inaccurate. What the writer
failed to understand in her encounters with the
Japanese was that in their effort to make her, the
foreign guest, feel comfortable, they did everything
as she did. Their subtle accommodation was completely
lost upon her--how do such shallow buffoons land jobs
with Time and the NY Times? Their ignorance is just
downright insulting to those who come much closer to
understanding Asia, its people and customs. The
Japanese are inscrutable only if you're an idiot ... |
