Text z Miya_Una - English
Chinese and Japanese
- Some Chinese learners who come from the non-Chinese character cultural area say that Japanese have a great advantage to know Chinese characters before learning Chinese.
- Yes, it is true that we Japanese know a lot of them.
- But wait a minute.
- Is it really an advantage?
- In my opinion, it isn't sure.
- For example, Chinese characters don't necessarily have the same meanings to both people.
- For instance, the character "聞" means smelling in Chinese, but hearing or listening in Japan.
- The word "手紙" means toilet paper in Chinese, but a letter in Japanese.
- Chinese is to Japanese what Latin is to many European languages, and Japan used to adopt Chinese cultures, the government system, coins and so on as well as its characters.
- Today, however, we can't say that the relationships between Japan and China is very good.
- Anyway, it is obvious that Japanese has been influenced by Chinese, and Japan and China have been neighbours for a long time.
- I suppose that they shouldn't forget it.
- Lastly, I'd like to end my talk with a tanka, or a traditional Japanese short poem made by ABE-NO Nakamaro (701~770), who passed away when he was in China.
- 天の原ふりさけ見れば春日なる三笠の山に出でし月かも.
- The moon in the sky now I looked up at in China is the one I had seen from Mt.
- Mikasa in my hometown, Kasuga.
- Since about a thousand years ago, we have seen the same moon.
- Miya_UnaAugust 2013Zahlasuj teraz!
PLEASE, HELP TO CORRECT EACH SENTENCE! - English