(no subject)
I was reading a little in my Japanese textbook, because there’s no reason to be lazy (and forget everything I’ve learned) because it’s summer! The course ended in the middle of chapter 7, and now I looked at the grammar section of chapter 8. That’s where “short forms” are explained. (That’s good, because now I know that that’s what I’ve been hearing like all the time in the dramas I’ve been watching.)
Well, I wasn’t going to talk about Japanese grammar exactly, but I just found it interesting what the book says about the use of short forms: “It may not be easy to decide when it is appropriate to switch to short forms. First of all, Japanese speakers are very conscious of seniority. A year’s difference in age may in many cases totally preclude the possibility of establishing a truly ‘equal’ relationship.”
It’s fascinating how language reflects culture in so many ways. For a Swede, these things are something that have to be explained and learned. We’re on first name basis with literally everybody (well, okay, not the royal family - but who ever meets to them anyway, right - or maybe like in the army when you talk to a superior officer?) and there aren’t that many contexts where it matters a lot how you talk.
We never use words like Mr, Miss or Mrs except jokingly! If somebody calls you Miss Last Name, you know that they're not being serious for some reason. In one of my French classes, we agreed with the (native French) professor that we should all use "tu" in class because we are in Sweden after all and we'd feel so silly if we had to say "vous". But I think he was the one who had lived the longest in Sweden (even though his Swedish was not that good), the rest of the French teachers never even mentioned it but used "vous" all the time. As for my Japanese professor, she was prefectly happy with using our first names because she understand that it feels unnatural for Swedes not to do that, so it was always First Name-san.
Anyway, when I read that paragraph, I thought about something my grandmother told me recently. It wasSonia’s (my cousin’s ex husband’s Colombian girlfriend) birthday. When somebody asked her, a couple of days earlier, how old she was exactly, she had to think hard to remember it. She actually turned 32, but it seems like where she’s coming from it doesn’t make any difference at all if she were 28 or 34 instead. This might sound very strange to her Japanese classmates… (She’s learning Swedish and she has two Japanese classmates, a boy and a girl. I’ve been thinking of asking her to introduce me to them, but I’m too shy…… Sonia says they’re both very nice but the girl is very reserved and seems afraid to talk in class even though her writing is near perfect. Sonia says she finds that Swedes are often just like the Japanese; not easy to get us to open up… I imagine there are exceptions everywhere, though!)
Now I'm going to bake a cake! That is, I haven't decided yet what kind of cake, but my sisters are both coming over tomorrow so that's a good reason to bake something.
Well, I wasn’t going to talk about Japanese grammar exactly, but I just found it interesting what the book says about the use of short forms: “It may not be easy to decide when it is appropriate to switch to short forms. First of all, Japanese speakers are very conscious of seniority. A year’s difference in age may in many cases totally preclude the possibility of establishing a truly ‘equal’ relationship.”
It’s fascinating how language reflects culture in so many ways. For a Swede, these things are something that have to be explained and learned. We’re on first name basis with literally everybody (well, okay, not the royal family - but who ever meets to them anyway, right - or maybe like in the army when you talk to a superior officer?) and there aren’t that many contexts where it matters a lot how you talk.
We never use words like Mr, Miss or Mrs except jokingly! If somebody calls you Miss Last Name, you know that they're not being serious for some reason. In one of my French classes, we agreed with the (native French) professor that we should all use "tu" in class because we are in Sweden after all and we'd feel so silly if we had to say "vous". But I think he was the one who had lived the longest in Sweden (even though his Swedish was not that good), the rest of the French teachers never even mentioned it but used "vous" all the time. As for my Japanese professor, she was prefectly happy with using our first names because she understand that it feels unnatural for Swedes not to do that, so it was always First Name-san.
Anyway, when I read that paragraph, I thought about something my grandmother told me recently. It wasSonia’s (my cousin’s ex husband’s Colombian girlfriend) birthday. When somebody asked her, a couple of days earlier, how old she was exactly, she had to think hard to remember it. She actually turned 32, but it seems like where she’s coming from it doesn’t make any difference at all if she were 28 or 34 instead. This might sound very strange to her Japanese classmates… (She’s learning Swedish and she has two Japanese classmates, a boy and a girl. I’ve been thinking of asking her to introduce me to them, but I’m too shy…… Sonia says they’re both very nice but the girl is very reserved and seems afraid to talk in class even though her writing is near perfect. Sonia says she finds that Swedes are often just like the Japanese; not easy to get us to open up… I imagine there are exceptions everywhere, though!)
Now I'm going to bake a cake! That is, I haven't decided yet what kind of cake, but my sisters are both coming over tomorrow so that's a good reason to bake something.