Greetings

Posted on July 18th, 2008 in Customary Drivel, Unsolicited Commentary, 日本語 by Deas
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My principal delivered a rousing speech at our close of the term ceremony today. Predictably, it involved exhorting the students to be polite members of society, illuminating the meaning of the word “greeting,” and a fishing anecdote. (I know I’m being sarcastic - but I should really give my principal fair credit - he’s actually quite good at public speaking, and I usually enjoy his orations. He’s also got a great voice for speech, so he’s easy to listen to. And he seriously almost never uses filler sounds. In short, he’s a pro.) Anyway, my base school is pretty militant about greetings and formalities. One of the higher compliments you can pay to the baseball team, for instance, is to say that they always greet you flawlessly. (While most teams love it when you tell them they play well or have excellent sportsmanship, greetings are the top for us.) Anyway, I learned that the kanji for “greeting” are not 常用漢字 (jyouyou kanji), or part of the standardized set of Chinese characters for use in everyday life, and are in fact 当て字 (ateji), or phonetic equivalents. But they do have appropriate meanings.

挨拶する = あいさつする = aisatsu suru = to greet
挨 or ひらく (開く) + 拶 or せまる (迫る)

So…if I understood properly, and correct me if I’m wrong, the meaning of the phonetic equivalent characters is “to open up” and “to draw near.” My principal spoke of it in terms that made me imagine it as opening a connection between one person and another. It was cheesy, but effective. Then the little anecdote about fishing came up. Basically, 2 guys go fishing. They can’t even catch a single fish. At the end of the day, one guy expresses his frustration at the situation. The other guy concludes that it was a pretty great day regardless of the lack of fish, because he spent it with his friend. Awww. Yes, it was a bit of a Chicken Soup for the Japanese High School Student kind of speech, but I think that’s purposeful. Lots of the announcements (and homeroom activity surveys, even) had to do with bullying, internet crime, and other stuff. I don’t think it’s a particularly bad problem at this school in particular, really. But I think it’s precious that the teachers try to instill proper attitudes about life in the kids during assemblies. Ha ha. Anyway, school’s out for summer! (For the students. Not the teachers.) :-)

National Language(s)


This was fascinating for me to hear. This clip is Mark Steyn commenting about the nature of dual language countries and his personal confusion over why any country would choose to become such a place. I teach English as a second language in an area of Japan that honestly doesn’t see much value in English. This leads me to sometimes wonder if I’m actually teaching useful language or merely indulging a quasi-fetishistic view of foreign languages. I’m still not really sure one way or the other and I sway from day to day on the topic. Also, as an immigrant here, I’ve learned Japanese to the best of my ability so that I can go about daily life and have adventures and whatnot. I very rarely feel upset when something is not translated into English (which is actually considerably rare in most of urban Japan) - the only recent exception being a survey for foreign people. But that was no big deal, really. For those who aren’t quite sure what Mr. Steyn’s referencing, Senator Obama was taking questions from the crowd in Georgia recently when someone asked about bilingualism in America, implying that they’d like to see the country move in that direction. Here’s Senator Obama’s reply.

I don’t understand when people are going around saying, ‘We need to have English only.’ They want to pass a law ‘We want English only.’ Now I agree that immigrants should learn English. I agree with that. But understand this. Instead of worrying about whether immigrants can learn English. They’ll learn English. You need to make sure your child can speak Spanish. You should be thinking about how can your child become bilingual. We should have every child speaking more than one language. It’s embarrassing when Europeans come over here, they all speak English, they speak French, they speak German. And then we go over to Europe and all we can say is merci beaucoup, right?
(YouTube)

Now, I’m really not attempting to get into a political brawl here, so let’s just leave the presidential politics at the door. Instead, I’m curious about your thoughts on bilingualism. Or rather, a country’s purposeful transition to multiple mainstream languages. (In other words, I know most of you, like me, are totally thrilled with learning new languages, and we see the value in that as individuals. But what’s your take for society as a whole?) This question also leads into topics like immigrant assimilation and involved communities versus linguistically segregated ones. So…thoughts?

Batman Reimagined

Posted on July 9th, 2008 in Customary Drivel, Media, Unsolicited Commentary, Video by Deas

Remember the Animatrix? Well, a similar tie-in has been developed for Batman. It’s called Batman: Gotham Knight, and it features 6 animated shorts by prominent anime directors. I am very pleased with the outcome, though that may be because I expect slightly weird interpretations. And I’m cool with it. It doesn’t threaten my image of Batman. (Though…let’s face it…Robin does.) :-) Here are some still shots I pulled of each Batman - feel free to click on any of the thumbnails for larger versions. There are obviously corresponding Bruce Wayne characters too, but I’ve left them out. I’ll post my favorites at the bottom.


“Have I Got a Story For You”
directed by Shojiro Nishimi

“Crossfire”
directed by Futoshi Higashide

“Field Test”
directed by Hiroshi Morioka

“In Darkness Dwells”
directed by Yasuhiro Aoki

“Working Through the Pain”
directed by Toshiyuki Kubooka

“Deadshot”
directed by Jong-Sik Nam

My favorite Batman design: Jong-Sik Nam
My favorite Bruce Wayne design: Toshiyuki Kubooka
My favorite short: “Field Test”

Opinions? Thoughts? Your reactions are welcome in the comments. :-) Watching this was a great way to get stoked for the upcoming Dark Knight film. Especially because the actual content of the set of shorts was…lacking. Definitely leaves you hankering for something more satiating. I guess for overall content I like the Christopher Nolan reinterpretation of the Batman franchise. But this little outing was fun for what it was. Give it a shake if you’re up for it, and let me know what you think.

Ambassadorial Lesson

I like this story for so many reasons, it’s hard to pick one. First, the fact that an older United States Ambassador has become a bit of a novelty musical celebrity in the Paraguayan language called Guaraní. That’s pretty darn cool to start with. Very off beat and fun. Second, the fact that he’s got other languages under his belt already (apparently he’s fluent in Spanish, Portuguese, and Italian). Third, he tackled the new addition to his linguistic repertoire like a pro. He didn’t start studying Guaraní until his last month at his former post (Havana, Cuba). Yet, when he gets off the plane, he immediately delivers a 3 page speech in Guaraní. ROCK ON. Ha ha ha.

”I’ve never been to a country where I couldn’t speak the language,” Cason told The Miami Herald. “These words are very hard to retain. It’s pure consonants. You’ve got to just bang them into your head.”

In low-key Paraguay, the new ambassador showed hints of showmanship on his first hour on the job.

Upon arriving in December 2005, he stepped off the plane wearing the traditional hand-embroidered Paraguayan ao poi dress shirt and greeted local reporters in Guaraní, delivering a three-page speech. Not even embassy staff knew he had studied the language.

In Asunción, he recruited his third tutor and began watching Guaraní TV and filling his iPod with vocabulary lessons that shared time with the Beatles, Buddy Holly and Whitney Houston on his playlist. He soon discovered Guaraní music, translating 1920s songs about emigrants longing for Paraguay and Paraguayan soldiers who march into battle afraid their girlfriends will stray in their absence.

Singing in Guaraní did not occur to Cason until a few months ago, when his wife Carmen, an admirer of the ambassador’s Peter, Paul & Mary renditions around the house, recommended that he hire her piano teacher for voice lessons.

The trick to learn a language? Do it like 63 year old U.S. Ambassador James C. Cason. Get involved with the language, use it professionally and in your private life, and find things about it that interest you. And, optionally, become an unexpected pop star if possible. This is inspiring to me. (And hey, it’s not absurdly negative news / speculation for once! Yay!)

Chipmunk Japanese


(Bigger version!)

Credit goes to Kathy for this find: a brief bit of Japanese in the midst of a crazy American made English language kids’ movie about a group of singing chipmunks. I’ve spliced together the two relevant scenes. Since I used the time codes so generously provided, I’ve still not seen this movie and cannot tell whether or not I am accidentally giving anything away. So…apologies if I ruined your personal screening of the film. (Somehow I highly doubt it. :-P ) Ha ha. “See, you love it, it’s Spanish!” Nice. I am incredibly skeptical about all three of the dolls’ languages. Not one of them sounds accurately pronounced. Then again, they are just prototypes. By the way, does anyone else get the feeling that they took this movie way more seriously than they should have? :-D

Sex Sells

Ha ha ha - I’ve been meaning to post this for…2 years. It’s the sake vending machine at the ferry port on my island. Nude chicks selling alcohol. What’s not family friendly about that? (Actually, I guess she’s wearing a hat, if that counts as clothing.) Sure, she has nostrils on her upper lip like a duck of some kind, but I guess that’s why she’s in her line of work. She’s got a face for radio. But the old fishermen who buy booze from her aren’t too bothered by it. Her milkshake bring all the boys to the yard. Ha ha.

UPDATE: That’s no GIRL it’s a KAPPA!!!! (Everyone scream.) Thanks to James for pointing that out with the first comment.