Blog / Language Study
The crux of this matter—and the meat of the story—is the evolution of communication protocols, indeed this young lady didn’t actually know the origins of the PDQ terminology, nor the origins of its meaning.
For those cultivated under the 26-letter alphabet soup used as the communication mechanism of English, the initial shock upon discovering Japanese students must go through 2,136 mandatory characters at the behest of the Ministry of Edification can not be denied.
Truly, most Japanese distain those who come here with the arrogance of attitude embodied within “open up Japan,” and the boisterous blob of the greedy American was no exception in failure to “open up Japan.” So what exactly does “Suck It Up Buttercup” mean?
minoru hodo kōbe wo tareru inaho kana The sake flowed and the party at the counter got underway in earnest, and during this party, each individual character was laid bare for all to see.
A delightful arrow in the linguistic quiver is to sprinkle one’s Japanese with onomatopoeia. These most flavourful sounds and phrases always add special sauce to the esoteric Japanese language.
Being ignorant of kotodama, and the importance of reading the air, will always leave one at a distinct disadvantage when interacting with the Japanese, if unaware of this element of communication.
The deep influence of a writing system and language on a society can not be overstated. Language is a concept, and the Japanese society is built upon the constructs rooted in complex ideograms imported from China around 700 CE.
The core principal of Japan’s kata cultural from the earliest times has been the promotion and maintenance of harmony. Personal behaviour, as well as all relationships, both private and public, was based upon strictly controlled harmony in the proper inferior-superior context of Japanese society, which continues up until this day.
One could say the most used and significant word in Japanese is shikata. In particular, and most significantly, the form and order of the process.
Having an awareness and understanding of kata is paramount to gaining comprehension of, and deal with the Japanese. The entire traditional Japanese culture, starting with personal etiquette, and then in how one learns to do all routine things in life, was, and still is based on precise kata.
Proverbs are indigenous to all cultures, and often expose the deeper roots of the philosophy and psychology of a society. Japanese culture is especially rich in kotowaza or proverbs, as Japanese culture is ancient and has been highly sophisticated for a very very long time.
Japan’s traditional etiquette continues to be one of the most structured, refined, and sophisticated patterns of behaviour ever imposed on any people. From infancy, the Japanese were trained physically and verbally on how to behave in the prescribed Japanese manner.
Like many things in Japanese culture, coming to an understand of key social concepts and the significance of their meaning to the Japanese takes intention and awareness to fully understand. One must say gaining an in-depth understanding of “kao" or "face", and the gravity of protecting one's face is of paramount importance to successfully interacting with the Japanese.
Among the most important tenants of Confucius philosophy are the obligations children owe to their parents, the young owe to their elders, students owe to their teacher, and that all people owe to their superiors. These obligations are natural and inherent.
Some of the Japanese social conventions took much longer to internalize, and some of these lesson were really tough. The age old custom of the Japanese attaching the honorific san to the first and/or last names of the people one addresses is perhaps one aspect of Japanese etiquette which may seem like trivial nonsense to some foreigners.
A deeper concept than “I’ll scratch your back if you scratch mine”, gaining an understanding into "amae", is to gain an understanding into the Japanese way.Very early in Japanese history the concept of "amae" became a primary principal in the cultural and one of the fundamental foundations of where bonds of mutual trust are build into long, durable relationships.
Traditionally, the Japanese women were happy to be stay-at-home mothers, running the house, taking their children to their extracurricular activities, and visiting with their friends.
I have a relationship with a subsidiary of a large corporation since 1992. There was a gruff but kind engineer who had been with this company from its inception in 1970. He called me “anchan” all the time, which I guess was an appropriate suffix for him to use in this ridged Japanese hierarchal system.
A large vessel can not be created quickly; To become great, it takes much time. Therefore, it’s not too late, for one.
