Posted on 09/13/2016 6:57:08 AM PDT by BenLurkin
Ha ha, I’m not speaking from a lot of personal experience, more in jest, heh heh.
normally they just don’t include the pronoun and it’s implied - there’s a lot of that in Japanese, but the only word I know spoken that is equivalent is ‘anata’.
>> English was good enough for the Bible to be written in <<
Yep. Amen to that!
Moreover, it’s really great that the scribes, disciples, apostles and prophets of old decided to write the Bible in the “Shakespearian” or “King James” variety of English, because we’d find it much more difficult to understand if they had written it in Chaucerian English.
(And I guess it’s even better for us that they didn’t decide to write it in Greek or Hebrew!)
>> it seems to be true among Japanese . . . that they almost never use this pronoun, preferring a third-person reference instead. <<
Might have something to do with Asian cultural norms, because I have noticed the same tendency in the Chinese and Thai languages.
That’s why linguists use phonemes to study language. Written language is arbitrary, but the phonemic representation for such words iss distinct.
Interesting and likely right.
“Ni” is you in chinese and I do tend to hear it a fair amount when I’m in Shanghai/Beijing, but typically only in questions and not in directives/comments.
Ivan wrote:
“math and music are the universal human languages”
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Maybe that’s why the Chinese and other Orientals not only are great at math, but also why they are among today’s most acclaimed performers of “European” classical music.
For example, if you go to a New York Philharmonic performance of a Beethoven or Mozart sonata, the odds seem to be greater than 50-50 that the soloist will be Chinese, Japanese or Korean.
The word “Democrat” natural sounds like slave master, racist, bigot, thief ... that universal language thing is uncanny. Amazing.
DOG:
English: Dog
Spanish: Pero
Italian: Cane
Russian: Sabaka
German: Hund
Korean: Dinner
Nope...i don’t see any similarities here, do YOU? :-)
Oh my!
All the words for specific species...such as dog or cat or tiger...are made up of fewer than ten billion syllables...coincidence? I think not!
Gosh! You are right about that!
Here’s another:
God:
English: God
Arabic: Allah
Hebrew YHVH, Elohim, Adonai, and more!
Spanish: Dios
French: Dieu
Greek: Theos
Russian: Bog
German: Gott
(The Romance languages have a similarity because they all come from Latin. The Semitic languages, however, are something else altogether!
LOL! :-)
Sure, but it has seemed to me that if for example your surname is Reed, then your guide (your minder?) usually will ask something like,
"Would Mr. Reed like to visit the Great Wall today?"
(As opposed to, "Would you like to visit the GW today?")
Pretty much the same practice holds in Thailand, except that speakers of Thai will normally use your given name instead of your surname. So if your full name happens to be John Reed, they normally will ask, "Where would Mr. John like to visit today?"
ug
Well of course they wroote in English since they were English themselves with names like John, Mark, Luke and Matthew...
Actually in Chinese they use the pronouns for “you” all the time; I do speak Mandarin fluently. But, they have two forms, one of which is more respectful, like the French vous. I don’t know anything about Thai.
Well of course it’s American English. Why do you think everything else is called a “foreign” language? Think, people.
As Nixon found out.
It was a joke.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.