I've got a bit of a problem. On January 1st we did what we always do, visiting my wife's family, including making our annual trip to her 80-year-old uncle's house. He fought during World War II on the Ise, essentially a battleship on the front and a flight deck on the back which could launch a squadron of fighters. We like to listen to his war stories -- he talks about how he got the scar on his face from shrapnel from an American bomb, and how the only reason he survived the war is because they took the fuel from his ship and gave it to the Yamato for its final sortie. I like my kids to talk with him as much as possible, since it's hard to get the kind of insight he can offer us about the past. Anyway, he's decided he wants to learn how to use the Internet, and is hoping we can help him get online. Now, it can be a challenge for any older person to learn something that complex, but it's doubly hard for him. When he was growing up, it was considered "unpatriotic" to use foreign loan words from English, which resulted in words like "curry" being translated into kanji meaning "yellow sauce with meat on rice" (黄色肉入り汁かけご飯）for the duration of the war, and as a result, people from his generation understandably know almost zero English. Yet here I am trying to explain alien terms like "mouse" "browser" and "window," words that can't be translated into Japanese since they're exclusively used in English. It sure is a challenge.
One of the more useful words of Japanese you might want to learn is nani, which essentially means "what," and is one of the first words that old-school anime fans from the 1980s like me learned -- we didn't have any of these newfangled "subtitles" or "English dubbed tracks" you kids have nowadays. While you can occasionally hear nani?! (what?!) when watching anime or dramas in Japanese, the word usually takes a more polite form in everyday use. The most common usage would be nan desu ka? (nahn dess kah), which is just "What [is it]?" with an implied subject that's usually clear from the context. If you want to ask what a specific object is, point to it and say kore wa nan desu ka? (ko-REH wa nan dess ka), which is "What is this?" In Japanese, there are "counters," words you use to count different types of items, like mai (for counting flat objects, like sheets of paper or coins) or hon (for counting cylindrical objects like umbrellas). You can combine these counters with nani to ask thing like "how many playing cards?" or "how many pencils?" which would be nanmai? or nanbon? respectively. Put this kanji together with the character for "hour" and you get nanji, what hour, e.g what time is it now. Since this word has the same pronunciation as that dreamy bread served in Indian restaurants (naan), all foreigners are required to make the same corny joke, holding up the bread and asking kore wa nan desu ka? (which would mean either "what is this?" or "is this naan bread?").
One thing I've noticed about Japan: it's a very seasonal place. Spring is beautiful with its short-lived cherry blossoms, summer is hot and humid with many festivals, fall is filled with crisp brown leaves, and winter is cold and frosty. I've met Japanese who tell me with great pride that, unlike America, Japan has four distinct seasons, and they enjoy every one of them -- apparently these people haven't ventured outside of Southern California. Japanese people try to avoid being kisetsu-hazure (ki-SET-tsu HA-zoo-ray), which means doing the wrong things for the wrong season, and foreigners regular receive comments like "What's wrong? Aren't you cold?" for wearing short sleeved shirts on warm days in October -- we're too dumb to know that long sleeves should be worn after October 1 regardless of the actual temperature. Once, I was teaching a lesson using an ESL textbook with my students which featured a picture of a boy flying a kite in summer. My students were amazed that anyone would do this -- it turns out in Japan, flying kites (called tako) is something you do on New Year's Day, and almost no one would think of flying kites during any other season. Our lesson turned into quite an interesting cultural discussion.
Here are today's "really cool products" that I've picked out for you, out of the 30+ new items we've added to the J-List and JBOX.com sites today. Note that some products may be "not safe for work" but that all links will allow you to redirect yourself either to the J-List or JBOX.com websites. To see all the J-List products, check out J-List or the JBOX.com updated products link.
Monday, January 07, 2008
A useful word of Japanese, Japan's seasonal nature, and how to teach an 80 year old Japanese war veteran about the Internet
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7 comments:
You should see the gifts the Japanese government gave him for being a veteran. A silver cup for drinking sake, a gold watch and a really cool pen, and a letter of thanks from the prime minister of Japan in (I am not kidding) extra large printing. I hate to even ask, but does the U.S. have any kind of such system for WWII veterans? I certainly hope so. I will eventually post pictures of the items by the way (been super, super busy).
30 years ago there was a TV commercial for the Sylvania Superset television. The spot compared the Superset to some Japanese TVs and, at the end, said that the Superset was judged to have the sharpest picture. Then a male voice was heard to exclaim something in Japanese, which I figured was something profane, but thanks to your post today I now know was simply, "Whaaat??!"
Wow, cool!
I can see your problem, explaining the internet to your uncle by marriage, especially the "borrowed" words. I would love to hear, and understand such a person. They are passing away so quickly now, on both sides, and their stories will be lost forever.
I would have the kids tag-team their great uncle after I had primed them with a list of WW-II web sites about Japanese warships.
It would be a learning experience for both, and I've seen children show remarkable patience when they aren't dealing with siblings.
He should probably have access to a computer whenever he gets the urge - do you have a spare that they could give him as a gift?
It wouldn't need to be powerful, so an old unit should be fine, but the larger the screen the better for his older eyes (also make sure the kids know how to zoom in on characters & pictures before they start teaching).
If he starts using e-mail, it will be important for someone (a family conspiracy perhaps) to send him things to read frequently - otherwise he'll probably stop checking it.
Lastly, if he has a goal such as finding members of his military unit, or doing genealogy, it might keep him mmotivated.
Happy New Year
Peter - with regard to a previous posting – Yes, many Christians (and I assume members of other religions) will stay away from religious sites that aren't of their particular flavor, with some Protestants even avoiding sites of other Protestant flavors. I first consciously experienced other religions when my fifth grade Sunday school did a pretty complete comparative religion module that included visits to various churches & temples. I assumed this education was normal, but have since learned that it isn't even common in liberal churches like the Episcopal Church we attended at the time.
While I might come short of comparing religion to American Idol (which I try hard to avoid :-), I think your comments are pretty much on track. People are able to contemplate God, Mother Nature, or the Force anywhere, and as long as you’re respectful of their traditions, you shouldn’t exclude yourself from the activities of other religions. While you may be uncomfortable as the lone gaijin at the shrine, your example is very important to your kids – keep it up.
In much of the world, religious observations are falling out of favor (as in England), especially with the young - this may be true for the expatriates in your community. Many Europeans now identify themselves as post-Christian (agnostic), and would probably visit a shrine only in the role of a tourist.
I think exposing kids to a variety of religions & experiences prepares them better to make their own choices as adults, but some religious leaders appear to be afraid the kids might not make the "right" choices ... Naturally, many parents & leaders don't think children should be prepared to make choices - "you were born a ____, and you'll die one too". The most extreme example of this may be the honor killings (particularly of young women) that occur in the Muslim world, but such strong feelings are found many other places.
BTW – instead of putting the government in charge of cultural diversity (mingling), how about taking charge of it yourself and finding a way to make a profit on it? That makes it more likely to succeed and eliminates another bureaucracy and it’s associated “waste, fraud, & abuse”.
I'm thinking I want to keep it simple, and keep it windows, since his other family members will be more able to help him than if I give him an old Powerbook. If he's up for it, we'll buy the simplest PC notebook we can and remove everything but the browser. I think he's not going to be up for things like email, but I'll bounce the idea off him. He does use "waapro" (dedicated Japanese word processing computers) so hopefully it won't be too totally alien.
Interesting that you were exposed to other religions. I have not been much at all, other than the horrible week I spent at Baptist camp (long story) and living in Japan. It'd be so nice if people would relax a bit more about religion, since if God is what they believe him to be, it's the same exact God for brand X as for brand Y, and even Christians/Jews/Muslims all agree it's the same god of Abraham they're fighting over. Well, think I'll go back to my Carl Sagan book... ^_^
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