Simple Differences Between Japanese and English (Western Languages)

Simple Differences Between Japanese and English (Western Languages)

Differences Between Japanese and Western Speakers (Excluding Multilinguals) Japanese and Western languages (specifically Indo-European languages like English) are different. But there are levels to this difference. They differ at a pretty deep level. It’s a difference at the level of “What is language?” Or even deeper: if using language requires a brain and a spirit, then the way the brain and spirit are used is different. On a shallower level, the way of viewing the world and thinking is different. Knowing this might be useful for something—maybe for learning foreign languages, or perhaps for philosophy, cultural anthropology, comparative culture, or brain research.

Japanese and Westerners Differ Beyond Just Language It’s not just language; the difference is deep. For example, Japanese culture feels a “heart” (mind/spirit) in everything—living things, non-living things, space, time. It is a culture that “puts heart into things.” As a result, Japan is overflowing with “heart.” If “heart” isn’t the right word, you can call it “sensing God,” “believing in Buddha-nature,” “having emotions,” or “valuing sensibility.” Westerners aren’t devoid of this, but there is a conscious or unconscious prohibition against it. For example, in biblical religions, feeling God in God is OK. But feeling God in created things (everything other than God) is prohibited. This might also be influenced by Greek philosophy. Also, it might be related to the difference between Japan’s long agrarian culture that prohibited eating mammals, and Western pastoral cultures that used and ate livestock. If you empathize too much with livestock, you can’t survive. In Japan, we feel sorry for neutering pets or get “pet loss” syndrome, but that would be troublesome in a livestock culture. Western culture tends to avoid excessive emotion or sensation toward objects. As a result, while Japan is filled with “heart/animism,” the West has areas where this is void or diluted. Even though Christianity is fading fast in the West, the input of over 1000 years doesn’t vanish easily. The spiritual distance between Japanese and Westerners is likely still vast.

Differences in Language Attitudes toward words differ. Western culture believes words can correspond to meaning exactly one-to-one. Or at least, they try to make them converge. It’s like mathematical convergence. The Bible is an example. In a world where the Word is absolute, the Word is God. Therefore, every word in the Bible accurately represents God. This comes from the Greek “Logos.” Since the West believes “Signifier = Signified,” they aim for convergence. Japan aims for the opposite—divergence.

“Fu-ryu-monji” (Not Establishing Authority on Written Words) There is a Zen phrase, “Fu-ryu-monji.” It means words and meaning never perfectly match, or that there are things words cannot express. This is the mainstream Japanese linguistic view. For deeply religious Westerners, this is inconvenient. If the Bible is the word of God, saying “meaning and words differ” is like picking a fight. Saussure was probably the first in Western linguistics to suggest something “Fu-ryu-monji”-like. His idea that the relationship between words and meaning is arbitrary must have been shocking. Generally, the West tries to match the Signifier and Signified (convergence), while Japan tends towards mismatch (divergence). Japan uses this mismatch in interesting ways, like Zen or “Ma” (negative space), “reading the air,” or “Yugen.” We use words to point at things that words cannot express (Context over Text).

Grammar as a System Natural language isn’t code, so it can’t be perfectly systematized, but Western civilization has a strong will to systematize grammar. English grammar books show an obsession with this. Japanese grammar education has been influenced by this. Some scholars try to fit Japanese into English grammar frames, causing misunderstandings. For example, “He runs fast.” Translated to Japanese, the most natural might be “Kare wa hashiru no ga hayai” (As for him, running is fast). But school grammar insists on “He runs fast” (SVM structure). Japanese is an SOV language, but maybe we shouldn’t force it into English frames. “She likes cats.” -> “Kanojo wa neko ga suki.” Is “ga” a subject marker or an object marker here? English grammar gets confused. But Japanese doesn’t need a subject. “Ga” just introduces something new. Japanese is “Predicate-centered.” English is “Subject-centered.” In English, you must decide the subject to determine the verb form (singular/plural). In Japanese, the predicate (verb/adjective) is king, and the subject is optional.

Conclusion: Analogies

1. Semiotics: Western languages aim for Signifier = Signified. Japanese Signifiers include “surplus” meaning (atmosphere) outside the Signified.
2. Gestalt: Western languages describe the “Figure” (Figure) and cut out the “Ground.” Japanese tries to describe the “Ground” (Background/Atmosphere) as well.
3. Quantum Theory: Western languages act like classical physics or particles (collapsing the wave function to determine meaning: “A is B”). Japanese acts like a quantum field, maintaining a superposition of meanings until the very end.