> You're ability to say things does not make them true. When will people learn this?
*yawn*
Did your ability to post "You're ability to say things does not make them true" make the statement true? When will you wake up from the never ending loop?
Altho it is interesting, that there is Japanese superstition, kotodama(sprit of words), that they believe whatever they say will have spirit and will come true... but I don't buy that crap.
And don't tell me you believe in "truth." It becomes a disgusting religious war if you start mentioning "truth." There is no absolute truth. Go back 1000 years, Sun goes up and down would be "true," and it does from observer's point of view.
Then what am I saying here? Think.
It's not the "truth" I'm talking about, I am simply sharing a story I *know* from my own experience. And sharing of knowledge will only make sense if you do it rationally with supporting arguments and evidence to back you up.
You can agree if you wanna, and you can of course diagree, too. I am not claiming it's the truth. I am simply testing if you can see what I see. (@see paradigm)
If you do speak several natural language, or if you can think in some object-oriented programming language, you will realize that the speaker has to adopt herself into the notions of the language she is trying to speak.
Imagine C++ programmer who doesn't understand the notion of type. She will complain int k = 1 / 2; is not "0.5"
So it's a loop, the culture shapes the language, and the language shapes the speakers, and the speakers form the culture. Get it?
So, my point is that the language did matter after all.. Take some vacation, learn new language and travel outside your country. You will rediscover yourself.
"Rain" polly wasn't a good enuf example because it's hard to explain what I exactly mean by different ways of calling rain, but how about ten+ different "me"?
I don't think English language will have equivalent translation for: watashi(formal), atashi(fem.), watakushi(formal), ore(rude m.), oi(dialect m.), boku(polite m.), sessha(polite obs.), jibun, unu(dialect), soregashi(obs.), chin(used by noble obs.), touhou(formal), onore(lit), wagahai(rude obs.)
They all mean "me," but used in different context.
Same applies to "you." like kimi, kisama, atana, omae, temee...
The reason why there are so many ways of addressing one another is because Japanese human relationship is never even.
And by using Japanese language, notion of respect level somehow slips in, and thus Japanese speaker will not have the concept of simple "you and I" even relationship. Because they lack the concept of simple "you and I," title names or names are more often used to address others instead of "you," "he," or "she" to clarify the respect level in the sentence.
If you do speak multiple natuaral languages, you will realize that the language IS relevant.
Especially some Asian language like Japanese that has ten ways of saying "me" depending upon the speaker's gender, age, and the context, is much different compared to English.
To make the story short, language shapes the mind of its speaker.
imho, gendered language like Hindi, Italian, Spanish... will always make its speakers see things in gendered manner. And Japanese language speaker will always see things in the respect level embedded in the language itself.
And yes, C++ programmer will see problems in terms of object and its member functions, and polymorphism....etc.
In Japan, there are probably twenty+ different ways of calling "rain," because it's a rainy country with four distinct seasons. In Mongol, there are whole bunch of ways of calling a horse, because of nomadic life.
I am sure when you say "rain," in english, you are not going thru the thought process a Japanese will go thru when she hears "kirisame" or "tsuyu." And Mongolian nomads will see "horse" in a much different manner than you.
Slashdot Mirror
It's actually Rinakkusu, for most ppl. (Some geeks may say Rinukkusu)
*yawn*
Did your ability to post "You're ability to say things does not make them true" make the statement true? When will you wake up from the never ending loop?
Altho it is interesting, that there is Japanese superstition, kotodama(sprit of words), that they believe whatever they say will have spirit and will come true... but I don't buy that crap.
And don't tell me you believe in "truth." It becomes a disgusting religious war if you start mentioning "truth." There is no absolute truth. Go back 1000 years, Sun goes up and down would be "true," and it does from observer's point of view.
Then what am I saying here? Think.
It's not the "truth" I'm talking about, I am simply sharing a story I *know* from my own experience. And sharing of knowledge will only make sense if you do it rationally with supporting arguments and evidence to back you up.
You can agree if you wanna, and you can of course diagree, too. I am not claiming it's the truth. I am simply testing if you can see what I see. (@see paradigm)
If you do speak several natural language, or if you can think in some object-oriented programming language, you will realize that the speaker has to adopt herself into the notions of the language she is trying to speak.
Imagine C++ programmer who doesn't understand the notion of type. She will complain int k = 1 / 2; is not "0.5"
So it's a loop, the culture shapes the language, and the language shapes the speakers, and the speakers form the culture. Get it?
So, my point is that the language did matter after all.. Take some vacation, learn new language and travel outside your country. You will rediscover yourself.
# Sorry my English sucks. but you get the story..
I don't think English language will have equivalent translation for: watashi(formal), atashi(fem.), watakushi(formal), ore(rude m.), oi(dialect m.), boku(polite m.), sessha(polite obs.), jibun, unu(dialect), soregashi(obs.), chin(used by noble obs.), touhou(formal), onore(lit), wagahai(rude obs.)
They all mean "me," but used in different context.
Same applies to "you." like kimi, kisama, atana, omae, temee...
The reason why there are so many ways of addressing one another is because Japanese human relationship is never even.
And by using Japanese language, notion of respect level somehow slips in, and thus Japanese speaker will not have the concept of simple "you and I" even relationship. Because they lack the concept of simple "you and I," title names or names are more often used to address others instead of "you," "he," or "she" to clarify the respect level in the sentence.
Especially some Asian language like Japanese that has ten ways of saying "me" depending upon the speaker's gender, age, and the context, is much different compared to English.
To make the story short, language shapes the mind of its speaker.
imho, gendered language like Hindi, Italian, Spanish... will always make its speakers see things in gendered manner. And Japanese language speaker will always see things in the respect level embedded in the language itself.
And yes, C++ programmer will see problems in terms of object and its member functions, and polymorphism....etc.
In Japan, there are probably twenty+ different ways of calling "rain," because it's a rainy country with four distinct seasons. In Mongol, there are whole bunch of ways of calling a horse, because of nomadic life.
I am sure when you say "rain," in english, you are not going thru the thought process a Japanese will go thru when she hears "kirisame" or "tsuyu." And Mongolian nomads will see "horse" in a much different manner than you.