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Japanese and its older forms | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| evol Triglot Newbie Hong Kong Joined 4140 days ago 28 posts - 39 votes Speaks: Cantonese*, English, Mandarin Studies: French, German, Spanish | Message 1 of 5 21 January 2013 at 1:53pm | IP Logged |
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I would like to ask how different Modern Japanese is from the tongues in The Tale of
Genji (namely Early Middle Japanese) and The Tale of the Heike (Late Middle Japanese). To what extent would a Japanese speaker understand them in their original tongues? My surface understanding is that many characteristics of Old Japanese are present in Early Middle, but are greatly reduced in Late Middle, hence in its modern form. It imply that Japanese speakers in our time might not be able to read them without specific studies. Thank you in advance. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| atama warui Triglot Senior Member Japan Joined 4511 days ago 594 posts - 985 votes  Speaks: German*, English, Japanese | Message 2 of 5 22 January 2013 at 7:10am | IP Logged |
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They're so different, they won't understand them without actually learning it.
2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| evol Triglot Newbie Hong Kong Joined 4140 days ago 28 posts - 39 votes Speaks: Cantonese*, English, Mandarin Studies: French, German, Spanish | Message 3 of 5 22 January 2013 at 6:51pm | IP Logged |
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Is it common for Japanese to learn their ancient language? As far as I know it is not
included in their mandatory education. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| atama warui Triglot Senior Member Japan Joined 4511 days ago 594 posts - 985 votes Speaks: German*, English, Japanese | Message 4 of 5 22 January 2013 at 7:08pm | IP Logged |
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Japanese kids have at least some exposure to that during their Japanese classes in high school. I can't say exactly how much they actually learn tho, and I guess it's more of a mandatory thing anyways. If one was to learn more, they'd probably enter college for it. I don't know many Japanese people who could read and understand those texts. Edited by atama warui on 22 January 2013 at 7:09pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Lakeseayesno Tetraglot Senior Member Mexico thepolyglotist.com Joined 4144 days ago 280 posts - 488 votes Speaks: English, Spanish*, Japanese, Italian Studies: Esperanto, French | Message 5 of 5 22 January 2013 at 7:45pm | IP Logged |
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I'm no authority on the subject, but I remember watching a Japanese TV documentary in which the most recent historical studies imply that spoken Japanese started resembling it's modern counterpart between the Sengoku and Edo periods (as, before Edo, the states that would become Japan waged war, and there was a need for simplified communications).
However, on the same documentary they said that written Japanese didn't take it's current form until after WWII--that's why the Kojiki, The Tale of Genji, The Tale of the Heike and all their respective contemporaries, if still published, are mostly sold with a "translation" to Modern Japanese. I can vouch for this, since a friend asked me to buy a specific edition of the Kojiki while I was visiting Japan last year. The seller kindly threw in a tremendously discounted "modern copy" with included translation for me, and said it was the copy they used in schools nowadays. I guess that to a certain degree, they do study a smattering of old Japanese as part of literature class, but I don't think they can read it without specializing in it. 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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