Maybe a little bit offtopic, but still....
Hi there! My first post and it's not a pleasant one... Sorry in advance, I might sound quite harsh but these posts just struck a nerve...
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Nicholas0016
If you look at English and German, they are frightenly identical to each other. :)
Is that so? Bother to back that up? I assume that you are fluent in both languages, or what makes you so sure about your claim?
Since German and English are, as you put it "frightenly identical to each other", it surely poses no problem to the average German speaker to read and speak English as well? Or more interestingly vice versa? I have, of course, met oh so many Americans and Britons who speak perfectly German, you know... And guess what? Swedish is also "frightenly identical [to German]" that's why I can easily read anything in Swedish, even though I don't speak it at all. Why do I bother replying in English, btw?
Vielleicht sollte ich auf Deutsch umsatteln, es sollte dir und allen anderen Leuten die Englisch sprechen sicher keine großartigen Probleme bereiten, nicht wahr?
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Nicholas0016
hehe
one two three four five six seven eight nine ten
ein zwei drei vier fünf sechs sieben acht neun zehn
I talk about food, every single living organizim eats it.
Wow, you can count in English and in German! (Oh, well, it's "Eins", btw. And, I don't know if it's the forum or just me, the umlaut isn't displayed, so just avoid it by spelling it with 'ue', but I bet you are well aware of this, right?) Now you've proved everything! Tell you what, let's count in French, as well!
un, deux, trois, quatre, cinq, six, sept, huit, neuf, dix
oh my gosh! Don't you see the pattern? Like with "one" and "un"?! This can be no coincidence, they are too similar to each other, therefore we can safely conclude, that French is identical to German and English and Swedish? Maybe even Spanish and Italian? I guess there is only one language in Europe, since by your standards they are all identical! Hooray!
"Research" - Warning I'm a bit riled
I apologise n advance for the tome of this post. There just seems to be a lot of this nonesense about. What is it?
The comments you make are extremely typical of westerners who make brief, superficial visits to japan. Or those who stay longer but never really assimilate: spend their free time in roppongi with other gaijin talking about how crap the Japanese are.
I think the results of your 'study' are extremely ironic. In fact the whole premise is one big irony (maybe that was your intention - I'll come back to this). You claim to assess the nation's uniqueness by focusing solely on your perception of Japanese pettiness. And where does 50% come from? You interviewed about 60 million Japanese did you? Of course not, you just made assumptions from your own tiny sphere of experience - no doubt you consulted some of your western friends to get a balanced view?
As Gaijin Punch pointed out most of your observations are either inaccurate, incorrect or represent no real example of Japanese 'uniqueness' at all. I therefore find your list somewhat pointless, not a little futile and of little interest to anybody with a more than superficial experience of Japan and its population.
To be fair you did invite readers to take your 'research' with a pinch of salt and a good sense of humour. That would be fine if your observations were a little sharper, contained more wit and perhaps a touch of satire. It would then at least have been entertaining.
On the other hand, you may be cleverer than I think you are and in fact your irony was actually in exposing the ignorance and superficial nature of westerners when broaching the Japan theme. The problem with this however is that you have also managed to exposed the pettiness and simplicity of those who have posted hearty messages of concurrence with your findings.
It's a shame 'cos you must have spent ages writing that (if not so much time actually thinking about it). Given you are cited as 'spiritual leader to all' I would have thought your time would be much better spent making useful or even just funny observations.
I suppose there will be a scramble for my respect meter now...