Comments on: Japanese scripts: Romaji

By: Romaji sentences | Zanahoriadesig

Romaji sentences | Zanahoriadesig — Thu, 03 May 2012 15:24:39 +0000

[...] Japanese scripts: Romaji | Japanese LinguaLift blogJun 11, 2010… of Japan, is never used by native Japanese speakers to write full sentences, … Many teachers and textbooks use romaji to teach beginners … [...]

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By: LS

LS — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 12:51:34 +0000

Valid points … on (1), it's at least worth pointing out that the DPRK uses entirely hangul (not that they should necessarily be emulated. And on (2) I would be interested in hard evidence one way or the other (but I doubt there is any). I don't know hangul so I can't compare it with kana.As for (4), though, I think that although Western newspapers might use words beyond the average person's reading level, alphabets have huge advantages. They can be sounded out and remembered even if you don't know the word. You can ask someone or very easily use a dictionary. You aren't stuck with a symbol you probably can't remember, can't pronounce, and can't look up without ridiculous effort. It's as though you must already know every word you might encounter, whereas in English you can learn as you go from context.I think there's no doubt that if the Japanese had been exposed to an alphabet rather than Chinese script early in their orthographic development they would have ended up with something quite a bit more sensible.

By: seifip

seifip — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 12:12:56 +0000

1. While it may be true that Korean has similar homophone issues, I've heard that they still couldn't completely transition to hangul, and that actually, there is was recently even an increase in the use of hanja and a renewed interest in chinese characters overall.2. Latin letters are much better suited to shape reading than kana. I'll discuss this in more detail in my next article in the series.3. IMHO we can't be sure that the transition could be made quick and painless. The aforementioned Korea is a great example of how it's close to impossible. And they have hangul, a script that's amazing by and in itself, not some simple kana that may look cool to some but certainly has more disadvantages than advantages and can't be even compared to hangul.4. You can say the same about western education. It's not like you don't have to learn a far superior amount of words to read anything more advanced than red tops. I know many high-school educated people who don't understand half of what's said in the more complicated periodicals, probably more so, as unlike Japanese newspapers limited to the standard kanji western newspapers love to use obscure and very specialized vocabulary.

By: LS

LS — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 09:58:23 +0000

1. Korean has a similar syllable structure and homophone issue, but they write almost entirely phonetically.2. I read by word shape in English. Roman letters don't impede me. Having spaces and dealing with kerning would not be the end of the world.3. Just using the kana would be totally standard.4. Isn't it elitist to require years of education just to reach minimal reading ability? What about the divide between native Japanese and immigrant workers, which Japan will need to accept in greater number to avoid demographic crisis?

By: caughtredhanded

caughtredhanded — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 14:10:38 +0000

Firstly, great post!Secondly, I also am of the impression that romaji is simply not the way forward where Japanese is concerned, unless of course used in the ways in which you have described. My first point is: please let's not Westernise yet another aspect of another society's culture. Language learning would become extremely boring if all languages were written in Latin script, that I feel is undeniable.On a more important point however, although learning kanji can seem like a daunting task in the beginning, it can never be replaced by romaji, or a hiragana/katakana equivalent. Reading Japanese would become a complete nightmare, for exactly the reasons that you describe above. Once you understand kanji however, a simple glance at them makes an entire sentence sing, as each and every one packs in so much meaning you cannot fail to whistle through Japanese sentences.I am even of the (personal) belief that using romaji in signage, especially on the subway, though helpful and inclusive for non-Japanese speakers as it may be, should also be removed. When people enter Britain we do not compensate for people's understanding by producing signs in French, Spanish, Urdu or Chinese, but to name a few, in fact we simply presume that people can understand our language. Why other countries do us the courtesy of dumbing down their language is beyond me; the least people can do is learn a little hiragana.