I studied Spanish, Latin, German, and Chinese (and have decent reading comprehension in French and Italian due to the first two), so I always thought I was "good with languages" ... until enrolling in Japanese during my second year of grad school. I also struggled with the three writing systems and complex grammar. But what really tanked my grade was speaking "like a man"—the professor wanted me to adopt a light, high-pitched, "feminine" tone and consistently marked me down for my inability/refusal to comply. I somehow escaped the class with a B+ and decided that was enough Japanese study for me.
Always delightful and so astute, Pallavi! BTW, I’ve always thought that Bahasa Indonesia is probably just as streamlined and consistent as Esperanto, at least the way it’s taught in school before Javanese idioms seeped in for daily use. For a nation renown for its chaos, the official language is remarkably minimalist and logical.
Hey, I studied German, English, Hindi, Russian, Tamil, went on to learn Urdu and Bengali and have a smattering of French. I can read, write and speak them all to varying degrees. Trying to learn Turkish now. :-)
Just be pleased that you didn't have to learn Manyōgana (shakuji), which predates hiragana and katakana. It used kanji for their pronunciation as well as meaning. The difference is that you are busy with all sorts of stuff but the aristocrats who started to write Japanese had nothing much to do except court etiquette and writing each other poems - the more complex the better, so they could use it effectively for puns and wordplay. Also, you didn't have to learn hentaigana (variant kana) which were standardised over a hundred years ago, so really you got the easy version.
I studied Spanish, Latin, German, and Chinese (and have decent reading comprehension in French and Italian due to the first two), so I always thought I was "good with languages" ... until enrolling in Japanese during my second year of grad school. I also struggled with the three writing systems and complex grammar. But what really tanked my grade was speaking "like a man"—the professor wanted me to adopt a light, high-pitched, "feminine" tone and consistently marked me down for my inability/refusal to comply. I somehow escaped the class with a B+ and decided that was enough Japanese study for me.
B+??? That has got to be a humble brag ;-)
Always delightful and so astute, Pallavi! BTW, I’ve always thought that Bahasa Indonesia is probably just as streamlined and consistent as Esperanto, at least the way it’s taught in school before Javanese idioms seeped in for daily use. For a nation renown for its chaos, the official language is remarkably minimalist and logical.
Agreed. I'm up for making Indonesian the global language!
Don't forget the circle: ぱ and パ, otherwise you're Barabi :)
Oops! Thanks! But proves my point re my terrible Japanese :-)
Hey, I studied German, English, Hindi, Russian, Tamil, went on to learn Urdu and Bengali and have a smattering of French. I can read, write and speak them all to varying degrees. Trying to learn Turkish now. :-)
You polyglot, you!
Such a fascinating post. The Sapir Whorf hypothesis is so true.
Agree!
I think the sub continent language wise is heavenly. Had no problems in learning Kashmiri
Urdu , tamil , English.
Just be pleased that you didn't have to learn Manyōgana (shakuji), which predates hiragana and katakana. It used kanji for their pronunciation as well as meaning. The difference is that you are busy with all sorts of stuff but the aristocrats who started to write Japanese had nothing much to do except court etiquette and writing each other poems - the more complex the better, so they could use it effectively for puns and wordplay. Also, you didn't have to learn hentaigana (variant kana) which were standardised over a hundred years ago, so really you got the easy version.