Tales from Japan ...
As I said in yesterday's post, my sister and brother in law are in Japan for a few months. My sister was telling me about some amazing things she has observed there.
My sister is learning Japanese from a great group of four middle aged ladies there. She goes to class every Wednesday.
In Japanese, apparently the verb changes according to the nature of the object it refers to. For example, in the two sentences "I like the table" and "I like Jane", the verb used for the action "like" is different, because in one case, an inanimate object is refered to and in the other case, the verb refers to a live person.
Apparently, my sister was taught how to say "I love this food" etc .. but when she asked them how to say "I love my husband", they were flummoxed, because apparently they do not have a verb for that. In fact, they never say "I love you" to their husbands !! And they never hold hands in public. And they were quite shocked when my sister told them that she both held her husband's hand in public and told him she loved him !!
But it might be different with the younger generation, and in fact, one of the ladies has promised to ask her daughter about the whole "I love you" business and report back. Stay tuned for updates, folks ...
My sister is learning Japanese from a great group of four middle aged ladies there. She goes to class every Wednesday.
In Japanese, apparently the verb changes according to the nature of the object it refers to. For example, in the two sentences "I like the table" and "I like Jane", the verb used for the action "like" is different, because in one case, an inanimate object is refered to and in the other case, the verb refers to a live person.
Apparently, my sister was taught how to say "I love this food" etc .. but when she asked them how to say "I love my husband", they were flummoxed, because apparently they do not have a verb for that. In fact, they never say "I love you" to their husbands !! And they never hold hands in public. And they were quite shocked when my sister told them that she both held her husband's hand in public and told him she loved him !!
But it might be different with the younger generation, and in fact, one of the ladies has promised to ask her daughter about the whole "I love you" business and report back. Stay tuned for updates, folks ...
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