(no subject)
1. it's weird how almost everything we learn in school, and everything we learn extensively/in-depth in K-12 education, is ONLY about europe. like everything is about europe. and ESPECIALLY about art, drama, dance, music. it's all europe. like why is europe so goddamn important. why is that the main and everything else is the periphery.
2. japanese people have some fucked up ideas about the outside world, but also americans have some fucked up ideas about asia and other places as well. just extrapolating from this, it seems like everyone in every culture has fucked up ideas about stuff simply because they do not know it. because they do not know it. it's as simple as that, no experience, no knowledge. neither hypothetical nor real. and it all adds up to xenophobia. which we all have to varying extents.
3. learning japanese forces you to examine your own language a little more closely.
or i should say, learning two languages that are very structurally different and have very little shared vocabulary concepts forces you to examine the structure/use of language in general a little more closely.
and japanese and english are like that.
so when i learned french, i learned that "donner" means give and "reçevoir" means receive. like, it's as simple as that. word-for-word substitution in every case. and that's basically what i thought language learning was. until i learned japanese.
japanese uses kureru/ageru/morau/sashiageru/itadaku/kudasaru to mean give and receive and the context behind each and why you should use it is totally different. use kureru when YOU receive something, not only an item but something that was done for you like a favor or a deed. use ageru when you give something to someone. use morau when someone else receives something from someone or when you want someone to do something for you. use the others in polite situations by level of politeness.
and japanese people just understand this intuitively, there is no need to analyze it at all. just like english speakers understand english intuitively from birth(so to speak) without ever examining it artificially.
french has some conceptual differences from english but not much. it tends to be very word-for-word translation.
2. japanese people have some fucked up ideas about the outside world, but also americans have some fucked up ideas about asia and other places as well. just extrapolating from this, it seems like everyone in every culture has fucked up ideas about stuff simply because they do not know it. because they do not know it. it's as simple as that, no experience, no knowledge. neither hypothetical nor real. and it all adds up to xenophobia. which we all have to varying extents.
3. learning japanese forces you to examine your own language a little more closely.
or i should say, learning two languages that are very structurally different and have very little shared vocabulary concepts forces you to examine the structure/use of language in general a little more closely.
and japanese and english are like that.
so when i learned french, i learned that "donner" means give and "reçevoir" means receive. like, it's as simple as that. word-for-word substitution in every case. and that's basically what i thought language learning was. until i learned japanese.
japanese uses kureru/ageru/morau/sashiageru/itadaku/kudasaru to mean give and receive and the context behind each and why you should use it is totally different. use kureru when YOU receive something, not only an item but something that was done for you like a favor or a deed. use ageru when you give something to someone. use morau when someone else receives something from someone or when you want someone to do something for you. use the others in polite situations by level of politeness.
and japanese people just understand this intuitively, there is no need to analyze it at all. just like english speakers understand english intuitively from birth(so to speak) without ever examining it artificially.
french has some conceptual differences from english but not much. it tends to be very word-for-word translation.