〈35〉 ◆ chap 4 Advanced, how to construct a sentence !
part 1. What is the purpose of language ?
Congratulations !! You have done well. Now it's time to move on to the advanced class. Let's use what you've learnt so far and try your best to fluently and freely manipulate the Japanese language!
But first, I have one question for you! ⇩⇩
??? What are words and languages for ???
When asked this question, most people would say that it is for communication. That's right, language is a tool for people to communicate with each other. Therefore, if you want to communicate with foreigners, you need to learn their language or have them learn your language.
However, learning any language is not so easy. Everything from individual letters and words to pronunciation, grammar and underlying culture is different. In fact, pronunciation of English and Chinese and grammar of Western languages are very difficult even for Japanese.
Every language has its own barriers for foreigners to learn.
Yes it is. In other words, words and language are for communication, for people to feel each other out. And at the same time, perhaps they are also there to close it down.
Spanish has 15 different past tenses of verbs, which are almost impossible to master completely. Chinese has tens of thousands of Kanji characters, in addition to which Japanese has Hiragana, Katakana and a wide variety of onomatopoeia, which cannot be mastered with extraordinary effort.
Even if a language genius works day and night to master it, it is impossible to perfect the native pronunciation and phrasing of sentences, as well as the verb changes, singular and plural, masculine and feminine forms of the Latin languages, without a single mistake. The native speakers would probably recognise him as a foreigner. (They think he might be a spy?, lol).
A new language called Esperanto was conceived some time ago. At the time, it attracted a great deal of attention because it meant that many languages did not have to be learned. It seems that people who jumped at the chance of not having to learn so many languages have now forgotten that it even exists. Furthermore, there are many different dialects within the same language, and the number shows no sign of decreasing.
In other words,
language is a tool for people to communicate with each other, but at the same time it is also a tool for people to exclude each other. The reason why the languages of the world are still not unified is probably due to our mysterious nature as human beings.
However, language must have another important role.
--- It is a tool for thinking about things ! ---
Since ancient times, we humans have used language to think about various things.
Why does the apple fall from the tree?
What is love and what is hate?
Should we live or should we die?" ------- and so on.
The following are also quotes from Mahatma Gandhi of India.
「明日には死ぬと思って生きなさい、永遠に生きると思って学びなさい！」
" ashita niwa shinu to omotte okinasai, eien ni ikiru to omotte manabinasai ”
Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever.
What profound words !
They clearly reflect the form of thought that mankind as primates has been seeking and searching for the truth. It is also a tool for us to think about things. It could also be called our inner communication. I sometimes say these words to myself and reflect on the true meaning of living and learning.
In the forthcoming advanced course,
We will learn how to construct sentences to help us think about things using words. In other words, this is also a process of learning, understanding, training and mastering how our Japanese ancestors thought about various matters.
It is full of unexpected sequences of thought and ways of constructing sentences, like a jumble box. By comparing them with other languages, you can also get closer to more interesting truths. Let's start exploring each one of them, right away, in our next installment!
So, look forward to the next installment!
See you next time!
Welcome your comments and suggestions.
ーーー The next post will be
Part 2, The glue of words
☆
I also have a Japanese internet class in Spanish, if time permits.
When you have any questions, why not give it a try? (30 € 2 H, 25 € 1.5 H, 20 € for less than 1H) Send me email → vivasouy1@mac.com Thak you !!
☆Copyright is not abandoned. You must contact the publisher to cite this sentence.
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