I wonder how English difficulty would rate with native speaking Japanese learners? Otherwise, FWIW, on a very very basic level: Your post (here) about Hagoromo, along with two other brief English explanations of the story: your discussion, Leanne, was the only one that included those pivotal words "Doubt is for mortals; in heaven there is no deceit". Certainly for the Western mind, this is the "reason for the story". Its absence in the other two English explanations leaves the Western mind wondering "So?" Western drama does center on conflict and its resolution. If I was just walking along the street and kicking a pebble, from which I trip and fall, the Western mind-ers would want to know about the state of my psyche. Even if the street was a pothole paradise with accidents "just waiting to happen". Specificity from whose point of view? and by what means? Is this what Japanese structures so differently?
Sally, this was so incredibly interesting what you said. Thank you so much for taking the time. I hope you didn't stumble or take a fall though. I did that last year and still have a scar on my knee. For a special issue of Kyoto Journal on the silk road, we interviewed a Noh actor and that is where that quote came from. I am going to go try and see if I can find the draft of that and send it to you asap. I just loved what you said about American conventions in memoir and fiction and other traditions which do not have the strong focus on an embedded "I" Coincidentally I have an essay on this very topic coming out in the Millions on 8/5. Regarding language difficulties. I assume that the Japanese diplomatic core would not categorize English as being more difficult than Russian, for example... mainly because so much media is in English so it is more on the radar. When I lived in japan, though, except for North Korea, Japanese rated lowest on EFL scores worldwide... which was a big issue in Japan given how much money was spent on English education.... no matter how you slice it, language learning is so hard for a lot of people (I have to add since a friend is always reminding me that being bilingual is no big deal to most of the world... but it is a big deal for me, since it was so hard and remans hard for me).
Oh, I really hope I can read your essay coming out in the Millions. And thank you for reading my long comment! I almost deleted most of it. And, no, I didn't fall, but I did trip. (Sure wasn't going to be me on my face on the ground in front of those cars at the unevenly paved intersection. Lol! the embedded I wasn't going to me-the-embedded! Sorry about your knee. Ugh ugh ugh.) Anyway, if you can find the Kyoto journal draft, I'd love to read it. Is the Noh actor the one that Vollman also talks with? And, yes, language learning is hard. Several of my native Japanese friends who read and write English very proficiently say they actually couldn't discern different standards of English literature i.e. the Barbara Carter romance novel as different from Jane Austen -- well, maybe, Jane Austen, the older and more formal english structure. But you know what I mean! haha!
Wonderful post!
I wonder how English difficulty would rate with native speaking Japanese learners? Otherwise, FWIW, on a very very basic level: Your post (here) about Hagoromo, along with two other brief English explanations of the story: your discussion, Leanne, was the only one that included those pivotal words "Doubt is for mortals; in heaven there is no deceit". Certainly for the Western mind, this is the "reason for the story". Its absence in the other two English explanations leaves the Western mind wondering "So?" Western drama does center on conflict and its resolution. If I was just walking along the street and kicking a pebble, from which I trip and fall, the Western mind-ers would want to know about the state of my psyche. Even if the street was a pothole paradise with accidents "just waiting to happen". Specificity from whose point of view? and by what means? Is this what Japanese structures so differently?
Sally, this was so incredibly interesting what you said. Thank you so much for taking the time. I hope you didn't stumble or take a fall though. I did that last year and still have a scar on my knee. For a special issue of Kyoto Journal on the silk road, we interviewed a Noh actor and that is where that quote came from. I am going to go try and see if I can find the draft of that and send it to you asap. I just loved what you said about American conventions in memoir and fiction and other traditions which do not have the strong focus on an embedded "I" Coincidentally I have an essay on this very topic coming out in the Millions on 8/5. Regarding language difficulties. I assume that the Japanese diplomatic core would not categorize English as being more difficult than Russian, for example... mainly because so much media is in English so it is more on the radar. When I lived in japan, though, except for North Korea, Japanese rated lowest on EFL scores worldwide... which was a big issue in Japan given how much money was spent on English education.... no matter how you slice it, language learning is so hard for a lot of people (I have to add since a friend is always reminding me that being bilingual is no big deal to most of the world... but it is a big deal for me, since it was so hard and remans hard for me).
Oh, I really hope I can read your essay coming out in the Millions. And thank you for reading my long comment! I almost deleted most of it. And, no, I didn't fall, but I did trip. (Sure wasn't going to be me on my face on the ground in front of those cars at the unevenly paved intersection. Lol! the embedded I wasn't going to me-the-embedded! Sorry about your knee. Ugh ugh ugh.) Anyway, if you can find the Kyoto journal draft, I'd love to read it. Is the Noh actor the one that Vollman also talks with? And, yes, language learning is hard. Several of my native Japanese friends who read and write English very proficiently say they actually couldn't discern different standards of English literature i.e. the Barbara Carter romance novel as different from Jane Austen -- well, maybe, Jane Austen, the older and more formal english structure. But you know what I mean! haha!