February 05, 2005

The Japanese government is publishing a manual encouraging Japanese to return to using "polite" forms of expression. [Telegraph article.] For background, here's the Wikipedia article on polite forms in Japanese.
posted by pyrrthon1 19 years ago
  • Oh glorious english, mongrel tongue of the world! All we ask is that you try to remember how to spell.
  • I wish them luck. I have a great deal of respect for the traditional Japanese social customs, and it's sad to see them disappearing and becoming Westernized.
  • I didn't care for keigo and kenjougo to start with, but have come to appreciate their utility. In a language where pronouns are rarely used and verbs give little indication as to who is performing the action, humble and honorific forms serve the very useful purpose of clarifying what pertains to whom. However, it's true that many Japanese themselves are unsure of how to use polite language forms: I have heard some very confused usage among young people. Koko: I don't think that Westernisation is to blame for this change: the process seems to have started recently, and Japan has been a Westernised nation for longer than that. I'd be more inclined to attribute it to the effects of the economic malaise that has afflicted Japan since the bubble burst, the breaking of the job-for-life social contract, and the same processes that have produced so many furiitaa (freeters). Perhaps they could start by sending the manual to the police, who use very condescending language.
  • I'm a sucker for old-fashioned politeness too, but I suspect you can't legislate for this sort of thing. Isn't the Académie Française fighting a losing battle on similar terrain? There's been a bit of a revival of traditional politeness here in China post-collectivism, so maybe. Surely the trick would be to make it fashionable. Tibetan's got a very similar complex set of polite forms that fox the foreign learner.
  • Or we could campaign to bring back 'thee' and 'thou' in English just to annoy the Quakers.
  • I am sure you are right, ThreeDayMonk-san. Forgiveness please!