If you think Japanese is lazy, learn why you’re wrong
Everyone says that the Japanese language is vague and imprecise. The Japanese say yes when they mean no, or refuse to give their opinion clearly and unequivocally, it is often said. But this is wrong. Japanese is actually an incredibly accurate language.
No Theme Declared Doesn’t Mean No Theme
It is true that the Japanese do not like to say no outright; The Japanese may say something is “difficult” when what they mean is “it can’t be done”; and Japanese sentences often omit the subject. For example:
Kinou, shiryou-o itadakimashita.
Yesterday I (or we) received the documents.
The subject of the sentence I (or we) is not stated, but the Japanese understand it by the choice of the verb itadakimashita. That verb is a more polite form of moraimashitawhich means to receive, but more than courtesy, itadakimashita express kenjou, or humility, towards the listener. As such, it can only be used when you (the speaker) or your group are receiving something, never when talking about someone else.
ha ha in japanese no means yes
Also is true that Hey (yes) doesn’t always mean yes. When learning Japanese, a better translation to memorize is “I heard what you said.” In fact, a Japanese person who accepts an invitation will not say Hey absolutely:
IN: Ashita-no paatii, ikimasen ka?
Are you going to the party tomorrow?
B: ikimasu.
Yes (lit. “go”).
Out of this linguistic culture, we Westerners like to think of Japanese as a vague and inscrutable language.
Japanese themes can be omitted, but that doesn’t mean the theme doesn’t exist. The word choices and sentence structure allow a Japanese speaker to skip over the topic without loss of comprehension.
While it is true that Japanese, for various historical reasons, tend to speak indirectlyit is not true that they speak loosely. The Japanese could not have built a world-leading economy with imprecise language. On the contrary, Japanese is a language of great precision.
Japanese is super accurate
In English, the same word often has many different meanings. Even the word “Japanese” can refer to the Japanese or the Japanese language. Most of the time in Japanese, a word has a meaning.
For example, the English word “factor” (meaning element or cause) can be translated as you join gold you’re sobut these two Japanese words do not have the same meaning. you join means “causal contributing factor”, while you’re so means “element in the composition of something”. The English “factor” includes at least those two meanings, related but not the same. The separate Japanese words are more precise equivalents. As you learn Japanese, use the English translations as a guide, but it’s also important to understand how the original Japanese word is used.
Japanese onomatopoeia is unique
Japanese onomatopoeia (gitaigo) is an intricate system for conveying the nuances of an emotion or situation, and has no equivalent in English. A pebble that falls down the street rolls.”korokoro“While a rock cascades down, the movement of a mountainside is”gorogoro.” These words alone convey a picture that fits each situation precisely and succinctly, whereas the English equivalent requires at least a sentence or two.
Hundreds of years ago the Japanese incorporated thousands of kango (words of Chinese origin) and more recently imported thousands of mostly English words such as gairaigo (foreign loan words).
The beauty of learning Japanese
These words of foreign origin, along with the native language itself, give the Japanese language a richly nuanced vocabulary. One beauty of learning Japanese is appreciating the subtleties of Japanese vocabulary and Japanese culture.