The Japanese language has "existed in name only"! The elderly can't even read TV, will China go backwards?
Japanese, once considered synonymous with kawaii, is facing a surprising situation. Imagine an elderly Japan sitting in front of a TV and confused about what's on the screen. This is not because he has a problem with his hearing, but because he does not understand what young people in his own country are saying. This situation makes one wonder: Is the Japanese language "dead in name"? What is even more provoking is whether this change in language will become a trend, and will other countries, such as China, follow in their footsteps?
Let's take a look at how the Japanese language evolved from a language heavily influenced by Chinese to a "new species" full of English vocabulary. This process reflects not only the changes in Japan society, but also the fate of language and culture under the wave of globalization.
The story of the Japanese language begins a long time ago. At the beginning of the 5th century, Japan was a country without written language. Imagine how the history, culture, and ideas of a people without writing can be inherited? It wasn't until the Baekje monks came to Japan with kanji that the Japanese language had tools to write. This is like giving Japan a key to a new world, and since then Japan's cultural development has made a qualitative leap.
The introduction of kanji was not just an addition to a writing tool, it also greatly enriched the vocabulary of the Japanese language. Japanese, which used to have a limited vocabulary and a simple grammatical structure, has become more colorful thanks to the addition of kanji. Japan even imitate the word order of Chinese to construct their own linguistic structure. It's like a child who has just learned to walk and suddenly gains the ability to run, and the speed of Japanese development can be imagined.
But the Japanese are not satisfied with this. They invented hiragana to indicate pronunciation, which is like dressing kanji in a Japan coat. The combination of kanji and hiragana constituted the main form of written early Japanese. This unique combination allows the Japanese language to retain the essence of kanji while having its own characteristics.
In the middle of the 19th century, Japan ushered in a major turning point - the Meiji Restoration. During this period, Japan, like a giant that had just opened its eyes, began to comprehensively learn from the West and embarked on a large-scale modernization process. But it is interesting to note that even in this period, the Japanese language still retains its own characteristics. They did not abandon Chinese characters entirely, but used them to translate new Western concepts, such as "economy" and "law". Not only that, but the Japanese language has also created a large number of new words to translate Western concepts such as "service", "imagination", etc. This creativity shows that the Japanese language of the Meiji period still had a strong vitality.
However, the real change took place after World War II. Under the impetus of the United States occupation government, Japan carried out an extensive campaign to de-kanji. In 1946, the Japan government issued a decree restricting the use of Chinese characters, and only 1,800 Chinese characters were retained, and nothing else was allowed to be used. It was like a "great revolution" in the language that completely changed the face of the Japanese language.
At the same time, a large number of new words from English poured into the Japanese language, transliterating them using katakana. For example, the pronunciation of "ガールフレンド" (girlfriend) is "嘠 Ru Frandot", which is very similar to the English word for girlfriend. The pronunciation of "ミルク" (milk) is "lost library", which is almost exactly the same as milk in English. This change is like injecting a "shot in the arm in the arm" of the Japanese language and giving it a new vitality.
In the 21st century, the English language has become more pronounced. In business, technology, entertainment, and other fields, the use of English vocabulary is becoming more and more common. The younger generation of Japan speaks significantly better English than the previous generation, which leads to an interesting phenomenon: older people use traditional kanji Japanese, while younger people prefer to use British Japanese, creating a language gap between the two generations.
The situation has upset some Japan. They began to reflect: why can China translate the term "color laser printer", but they can only transliterate it as color laser printer? This question has led to thinking about the direction of language development in Japan society.
But Japan is not the only country facing this situation. In fact, in the last century, the mainland has faced similar challenges. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when China was reduced to a semi-colonial and semi-feudal society, some intellectuals influenced by Western ideas came up with a startling idea: to replace Chinese characters with the Latin alphabet, or to reform Chinese characters with reference to Japanese kana symbols.
These people argue that Chinese characters are too complex and hinder China's modernization process. In their eyes, Chinese and Chinese characters have become stumbling blocks and hindering China's progress. They believe that the grammatical rules of Chinese are too simple and crude to conform to the sophisticated system of a modern language, and that Chinese characters are too old and difficult to understand.
This idea sparked heated debate at the time. Proponents of reform proposed a variety of proposals: some suggested replacing complex Chinese characters with the phonetic alphabet, others advocated the introduction of English grammar, and some even proposed replacing Chinese with English altogether. These radical statements caused an uproar among the intellectuals, with the two voices arguing tat for tat.
Just when the debate was heating up, Peking University professor Zhao Yuanren stood up. He used an article called "Shi's Lion Eating History" to skillfully illustrate the unique charm of Chinese characters. The 96 characters in this article are exactly the same phone, but their meanings are different, which fully proves the advantages of Chinese characters in word meaning discrimination.
Under the advocacy of Zhao Yuanren and others, a language movement came into being. This movement greatly improved the expressiveness and adaptability of Chinese characters, and at the same time, the vernacular movement also brought the expression of Chinese closer to the spoken language, and classical Chinese gradually withdrew from the stage of history.
Some scholars have also pointed out that the use of kana symbols in Japanese was merely a temporary expedient measure, and that kanji remained its official written language. Replacing Chinese characters with pinyin symbols is tantamount to abandoning the accumulation of Chinese civilization. Some newspapers and periodicals at the time published editorials, whew
We call on intellectuals not to blindly worship the foreign and to cherish national culture. They believe that Chinese characters carry the history of civilization of the Chinese nation and should not be reformed lightly. Some students and social activists also launched a campaign to defend Chinese characters, with protest marches.
Thanks to such two-pronged efforts, the Chinese language has finally survived the storm of reform and presented itself to the world with a new look. This process fully reflects the wisdom of the Chinese and their adherence to traditional culture. Even when China was poor and white, we did not repeat the mistakes of the Japanese. The reason behind this is precisely because there has always been a group of people in the mainland who stick to their own scholarship and ideas.
One of the key reasons why Chinese characters have been preserved with the continuous changes of the times is their unique trinity structure of "sound, shape and meaning". Compared with pinyin characters, which can only be phonetic, Chinese characters can not only express meaning, but also correspond to pronunciation. This unique structure gives Chinese characters a strong vitality and adaptability.
In ancient times, the Chinese language was composed of monosyllabics. In this way, each kanji can accurately express the pronunciation of one syllable. Unlike most alphabet pinyin characters in the world, Chinese characters are ideographic text symbols, and a Chinese character represents a meaning, and its glyph directly corresponds to the meaning.
For example, the word "person" resembles a person, the word "wood" resembles a tree, and the word "horse" resembles a galloping horse. This kind of meaning conformity gives Chinese characters a strong advantage in memory and comprehension. Chinese who use Chinese characters can quickly master thousands of Chinese characters by learning a few root glyphs. This advantage was even more pronounced in the ancient era of underdeveloped information.
Since each Chinese character represents a meaning, the Chinese language expresses a unique system of concepts. Values such as "benevolence", "righteousness", "propriety", "wisdom" and "faith" are condensed in Chinese characters. The word "yuan" contains the meaning of "line" and "knot", and it is difficult to express the philosophy in English. Without the inheritance of Chinese characters, it would be difficult to pass on the essence of ancient Chinese cultural classics such as the Book of Songs and the Analects.
It can be said that Chinese characters are not only a writing symbol, but also a carrier of Chinese culture. It carries the history of Chinese civilization for thousands of years and records the crystallization of the wisdom of the Chinese nation. It is precisely because of Chinese characters that we can transcend time and space, have a dialogue with our ancestors, and feel the wisdom of the ancients.
The retention of Chinese characters also reflects the wisdom of the Chinese. We did not blindly follow the West, but innovated on the basis of preserving tradition. For example, we have created new words such as "computer", "software", and "hardware" to retain the characteristics of Chinese characters and accurately express the meaning of new things. This ability to innovate is the embodiment of the vitality of Chinese characters and Chinese culture.
Looking at the changes in the Japanese language, we can't help but ask: Does the development of the language have to come at the expense of our own culture? Is the "Englishization" of the Japanese language really conducive to the inheritance and development of Japan culture? These are questions worth pondering.
As Chinese, we should be proud of our language. Our Chinese characters, after thousands of years of vicissitudes, are still full of vitality. Far from becoming an obstacle to modernization, it has become a unique advantage for us to communicate with the world.
In today's globalized world, we should cherish and carry forward our language and culture. We need to learn foreign languages and understand the world, but at the same time, we need to deepen our cultural roots. Only in this way can we bloom the most beautiful flowers in the hundred gardens of world culture.
Language is the carrier of culture and the symbol of the national spirit. It is the responsibility of each of us to pass on and promote our language and culture. Let us work together to make Chinese characters and Chinese culture shine more brilliantly in the new era.
Finally, I would like to ask you to think about a question: in this era of globalization, how should we balance the inheritance of our national culture with the needs of internationalization? You are welcome to share your thoughts in the comment section.