So the learning of Japanese is progressing. I can devote about 45 mins to 2 hours to the task, depending on my workload, and the traffic situation—which is to say that if the bus gets stuck in traffic, I have more time to study. I have decided to somewhat ignore the spoken langauge, and focus more on the written language. This has a fwe implications that are way beyond the scope of this entry, which, as you might gather from the title, is painted with a very broad brush to begin with.

Now, for a little diversion due to an Unexpected Twist of Fate. For me to really write about Kanji (or even Japanese) I need to input characters as, well, characters, not as graphics. finding the character, putting it in my copy buffer, pasting it into photoshop, saving it, uploading it, and that whole rig-a-ma-role is—quite frankly—annoying. If you want to see the characters as they are, you have a few different options: 1) Get a mac. They natively handle oriental character sets. Not only do they do it, but they do it nicely. 2) Install Asian Language Support for your PC. Goto Preferences-> Regional Language Options -> Languages Tab -> Make sure "Install Files for East Asian Languages" is checked. It really isn't hard to do, and there is a certain innate beauty to Asian languages, even if you cannot read them. It makes me wonder how English looks to foreign eyes.

Now, In a previous entry I had expounded upon the poetry of the Kanji, how they seem to have an innate beauty, well, after sitting down and seriously trying to learn the Kanji, my tune has changed. There is beauty, but there is a strangeness to the written language as well. if you ever ever interested in a concrete example of the queerness, talk to me about "Harry the Freaking Clam" the one eyed bad-ass walking shellfish. That being said, I am continually learning that there is still beauty and poetry to be found not only in the Kanji, but in the higher elements of the language.

Now, one example of the beauty of Japanese is the so-called 4 Character Idioms. A 4 character idiom is exactly that, 4 characters that carry with it a moral or a meaning. Sometimes the meaning and idiom is simple like 四字熟語 for example, with 四 meaning 4, 字 meaning character, and 熟語 which is a kanji compound that means "idiom; idiomatic phrase; kanji compound". Now, you can further separate 熟語 to its component Kanji: 熟 can mean "ripen; mature; or acquire skill" (additionally mellow) and 語 means "word; speech; or language". What this means is that 四字熟語 can be directly translated as "4 character idiomatic compound", but can also have the deeper connotation of "4 character mature language" or even "4 character ripened speech" which gives this quality as if our idiom was a fruit that we could pull off of a tree, and tear into like a ripened apple.

Now another example is 起承転結, which translates into "intro, development, turn, and conclusion" which in reference to a style of poetry. How about this one: 一(one) 石(stone) 二(two) 鳥(bird). You can guess the meaning of that one. How about this? 十(ten)人(people)十(ten)色(colours) or to translate: To each their own. And finally, this one: 我(my)田(rice field)引(pull)水(water), drawing water to ones own field, or as we might say, look out for number one. Now, there are plenty of Kanji for the concept of oneself, like 自 or 吾, but the Kanji 我 has 2 very interesting alternate meanings as well, "ego" and "selfish".

Maybe next time I'll talk about stroke order and the Eight Principles of Yong.