"Spring has come"

MATSUMOTO Toshimichi

"Spring has come." This commonly known English sentence was once translated, it is said, into a Japanese sentence "BANE-WO MOTTE KOI" which would mean "Bring a coil." when translated back to English. This may easily win a place among the most amusing mistranslations, although the story is bit too much to take at face value.

The proper Japanese translation of this English sentence is of course "HARU(spring)-GA(subject case particle) KITA(has come)" one might say. However, that is not the only correct answer. There are two issues involved. One is variation in style such as "HARU-GA KITA-WAYO." to indicate a feminine speaker or "HARU-GA KITA-NODA." to indicate an assertion in a bookish writing. There are many variations to match the varying context. When you learn one translation in a classroom you tend to think that is the only possible translation. One must guard against such a tendency. Another issue is the alternative ways the word can be written using different character sets.

	kanji (spring, come) + hiragana
	kanji (spring) + hiragana
	kanji (come) + hiragana
	all hiragana
	all katakana

There are more if you include those with spaces between words like or . The most common may be , but others are also legitimate. To give a softer impression you may opt to use all hiragana. To create the tone of telegraph, all katakana. There is a subtle difference in nuance which can be discerned and felt.

There is a tremendous increase in the number of foreigners learning Japanese. I hear that one of the most troublesome for them is this alternate ways of writing. "Which one is correct?" is their question. In the Japanese writing system it is unavoidable to have alternatives. All three main character sets, Kanji, hiragana, and katakana are commonly used in regular writings. This system of writing benefited Japanese language immensely by enriching its expressive power, while making it the most complex in the world. OKURI-GANA (the system of using hiragana to write the conjugating part of a kanji word) exemplifies the complexity.

I'd like to welcome the increase of foreigners learning Japanese. It will lead to a better understanding of Japan itself. I hope they learn Japanese enough to experience its beauty and richness. At the same time, I can't help thinking that efforts must be made to make it easier to learn it for them. Part of such effort should be a standardization of written words.

Since the dawn of the modern era, we Japanese, as a nation have been frantically pursuing mastery of foreign languages. Compared to the enthusiasm shown in mastery of English, our development of methods and manuals to teach Japanese is clearly unsatisfactory.

One time I had an opportunity to tutor a student from China. I was astonished to see the content of his Japanese drill book. It was full of special expressions and subtle wordings which even a native Japanese speaker would mistake. They should show straight-forward, common expressions before forcing such things down a student's throat, I thought, while getting infuriated with the drill book.

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