Thank you

I want to be a nice English writer and reader so since then I will continued to study English!
I  love English and Prichan, and  I have had Prichan's class for two years, so I miss you (:_;)



I want to write more...but today I will have two exams next and next next classes, therefore I should study about them.
This is why I end this blog now.

Comparing 2 Culutures

Have you ever felt bad of other people’s rude manner? Probably most people have such experiences, and these cases often happen between people from different countries.  Above all, for a long time it has been said that Japanese are stricter than American in that we do honor to other people. In fact I have such experiences, too. Then, how do we have differences between the two countries?  There are clearly some differences how to honor people. 

One difference is grammars. Compared with American, Japanese have honorific languages which we use for showing respect for high-ranking people. Moreover, these words have some styles, respectful, humble and polite languages, and these languages have each characteristic formal word.

meaning	plain	respectful	humble	polite
see / look / watch	見る; miru	ご覧になる go-ran ni naru	拝見する haiken suru	見ます　mimasu
meet	会う au	regular (ex.お会いになる o-ai ni naru)	お目にかかる o-me ni kakaru	会います　aimasu
be	ある aru			ござる gozaru
	いる iru	いらっしゃる irassharu	おる oru	おる oru
come / go	来る kuru (come)	おいでになる o-ide ni naru	伺う ukagau	参る mairu
	行く iku (go)		参る mairu
know	知る shiru	ご存じ go-zonji	存じあげる zonji ageru	存じている zonji te iru
eat / drink	食べる taberu (eat)	召しあがる meshi-agaru	頂く itadaku	頂く itadaku
	飲む nomu (drink)

The respect language forms are used in the case you respect to the subject of the sentence. For example, when you say “sensei ga…suru(do)” in Japanese, teachers are high level, therefore “…suru” should be put in respect word“…nasaru”, which is good for your quality. Next, humble languages are tools to show us modesty or humility. When you are assigned to a task by your reader, saying “wakatta” is too bad. In this case, you should say “shouchi itashi masita” in this country. Showing our level is lower than our boss is needed, which means modesty. Last, polite languages are very used all a day.  These are characterized by using of the sentence ending "desu" or the verb ending "masu" and the use of prefixes such as "o" or "go" towards neutral objects. We can see this example on television, where the presenters usually use polite language. Then, how do Americans respect for people though they have not such languages? Actually English have a fewer expressions than Japanese, but when showing to respect others, American people use the past form. For example, a person A says “Will you open the window?” and another person B says “Would you open the window?” Do you think which person is accepted by American boss? Probably you learned, the latter is the best for bosses.

Second difference, between Japanese and American how to honor to other people, can be seen from many familiar scenes. One example is in schools. There is a gap how to call our teacher in this scene. Most of Japanese students call their teachers “…sensei”, but Americans usually call them using their name without an honorific title, for example, we call our teacher of English writing class in Kyoritsu “Prichard” or “Carab”. This is mere a culture, but this may make a happening. I heard following tale from a woman. A Japanese girl was taught this culture by native teacher of her school from America then she thought we can call our teacher without using “…sennsei”, so she called her Japanese teacher name without an honorific title as”Tanaka!”. Since then Ms. Tanaka had been called so by many students, therefore she was in trouble. Someone who feels unpleasant may be in Japan.  They may think “Are Americans rudeness?”

   Japanese culture has had hierarchy for a long time. Today it is called “Tate-shakai”. The society shows connection between superiors and subordinates clearly. Most of things are decided by this system in this country. Compared with Japanese society, American society is called “Yoko-shakai” in Japan. This word means the country has equal society. In this society, we can be equal with whomever. Each country has each culture and no one can decide which is better.  It is difficult to learn them because they are usually not written down in books and these rules also change as the society develops. We may think someone who is from a different country behaves rudely when their behavior is accepted in their own country. Social rules are important for us because they are our cultures. This is why the British may have an expression “When in Rome, do as Roman do.”

nengajo

Nengajo is the first greeting messaage card to careblate a new year.
It is usually written on a post card, and it is sent to New year's days.

The system has been used since the Nara. Now Chinese and Korea use it, too.