Re: Universal iconic language - (was - Sanskrit as computer programming language)?

From: Steve Schafer (see_at_reply.to.header)
Date: 07/09/04 

Date: Fri, 09 Jul 2004 18:59:29 GMT

On 09 Jul 2004 11:04:25 -0500, Matthias Blume
<find@my.address.elsewhere> wrote:

>Usually this only happens with place names -- because they are old and
>many of the Kanji involved are not used anymore in other contexts.

Of course, but that's the whole point. Archaic those kanji may be, but
they're still in use, and nobody outside of a select few are able to
pronounce them. Is that really a good idea?

If I've never been to New Orleans before, I may not know what a beignet
is, and if I don't know any French, I might really butcher the
pronunciation, but at least I'll come close enough that someone who
_does_ know what one is, and _does_ know how to pronounce it, will
eventually be able to figure out what I'm trying to say. All they have
to do is ask me how this "beg-nat" thing is spelled, and the confusion
will be cleared up immediately.

>Seems like you never left Tokyo.

The other way around, actually--I've spent relatively little time in
Tokyo.

It's been 20 years since I was last in the Kyoto subway, so my memory of
that particular venue is sketchy at best. But on various secondary and
tertiary rail lines throughout the countryside, as well as on the main
lines, seeing all three (kanji, kana, romaji) on the station signs has
for me been the rule rather than the exception. The kana is often
rendered as furigana, so you have to be quite close to the sign in order
to even see it, much less read it.

On the other hand, once you're inside a station, locating your
connecting train can be dicey, since the route maps frequently lack
romaji. I've never really understood that aspect--for foreigners, the
signage does a good job of telling you where you are, but tends to be a
lot less helpful as far as telling you how to get to where you want to
go.

>> It's obvious that the romaji is there for the benefit of us gaijin,
>> but if kanji-literacy is so high, then why the kana?
>
>For children.

Exactly. Is it really fair to claim a 99% literacy rate when schoolkids
have to have what amounts to a backup language just so they know where
to get off the train?

-Steve

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