Friday, February 16, 2007

I love Japanese

Some languages make sense. Some do not. I will let you be the judge of whether Japanese fits into the first or second category.

"Kono ryoori ha oishisou desu." means "This food looks delicious."

"Kono ryoori ha oishiisou desu." means "I heard that this food is delicious."

What is the difference between these sentences, you ask? The difference is the one "i" in oishisou that completely changes the meaning of the sentences. I suppose you have to understand the sentence based on context in these cases. And that would imply that I understand the meaning of the sentences that would surround this sentence. Haarumf!

1 comment:

moonrat said...

Someone told me this once, although it was a long time ago so I don't remember who. Oh wise person.

Most foreign languages are very very difficult in the beginning. The hardest parts of grammar come right away, because you're exposing yourself to something wildly different from your own language. After you learn the framework, the rest of the language, even the arcane little quirks, are much easier to learn, and the whole process becomes geometrically easier as you go along.

There are a couple of exceptions, where the basics of the language are actually the easiest aspects and that the more you learn the more difficult the language actually becomes to learn.

Would you say Japanese would qualify? I dunno. I'll have to think about it REAL HARD. But in which other languages are there eight different pronounciations for the word that means "life" (all spelled the same way)? Remember when ignorance was bliss, and you only thought that there was that one reading you first learned? In which other languages does it become more cripplingly difficult to speak as you learn because as you learn people become less forgiving when you use an ill-advised level of keigo? In how many languages do you have to worry about clashing honorifics and humblers in the same sentence? In how many other languages are certain words unlucky to say at certain times because there is the wrong number of strokes in their written composition?

My head hurts. Heart. That's why *I* love Japanese.