Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!seismo!sundc!pitstop!sun!decwrl!hplabs!hpcea!hpfcdc!hpfclp!fritz
From: fritz@hpfclp.HP.COM (Gary Fritz)
Newsgroups: comp.ai
Subject: Re: words order in English and Japanese
Message-ID: <7390004@hpfclp.HP.COM>
Date: 8 Feb 88 18:22:00 GMT
References: <1671@russell.STANFORD.EDU>
Organization: HP SDE, Fort Collins, CO
Lines: 29

> I think that your problem with Japanese is the same one faced by all
> language learners.  There is nothing special about Japanese.  Have you
> ever tried to explain English to a Japanese or Russian speaker ;-?  Try
> explaining the difference between "John likes to ski" and "John likes
> skiing".  How about the distinction between "Eve gave Adam an apple" and
> "Eve gave an apple to Adam"?  

I disagree.  You are, I believe, speaking as a person with no experience
in Japanese.  (This is why I felt someone with some knowledge of Japanese
should support Nakashima-san's statements about "nuances" in Japanese.
Too many people were stating opinions with little or no factual/experiential
basis.)  I have learned a reasonable amount of French and German, and a 
smattering of Italian, Spanish, and Swedish.  None of these languages
(to my knowledge) contain the same subtleties of expression of MOOD, and
vaguess of expression of CONTENT, that I have observed in Japanese.  I have
been told the same thing by two different Japanese teachers (both of which
speak excellent English), and several other native speakers.

Japanese is VERY different from any Western language I am familiar with.
This is to be expected, since it does not have the common roots in Greek
and Latin found in most Western European languages.  It also evolved in
a vastly different society than Western languages.  Perhaps it isn't
"special", but it is very definitely *different*, and I stand by my
previous claims.

(Disclaimer:  I do not have any formal training in linguistics.  I have
some experience in several languages, including Japanese, but that is all.)

Gary Fritz