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From: Ben Sauvin <sauvin@csql.mv.com>
Subject: Re: Why don't you ask in Japanese?
Message-ID: <3258623F.F54@csql.mv.com>
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Date: Mon, 7 Oct 1996 01:51:59 GMT
References: <52vick$ird@keyaki.cc.u-tokai.ac.jp> <325504EF.7B37@ix.netcom.com> <ceicher-ya023080000410961647380001@news.inav.net> <3255AC9F.502B@ix.netcom.com> <3255F8BF.137D@csql.mv.com> <325600D3.5D49@autobahn.org> <32571EF6.3760@ix.netcom.com>
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JFC wrote:
> =

> The original question was: Why do the Japanese use English outside of
> Japan.
> The question was asked in English, by a Japanese researcher.
> When I replied: "Why don't you ask in Japanese?", I meant "for the same
> reason that you are asking in English," implying "so as to be understood
> by as many people as possible."
> =

> In no way did I mean: "You ought to have asked in Japanese."
> =

> All the comments that followed, as to how one could use Japanese on the
> Internet, just went to stress the obvious: compared with English, few
> people outside of Japan know Japanese, and not all of those know how to
> use it on the Internet.
> =

> Except when targeting the Japanese-reading, English is preferred even by
> the Japanese themselves. Do you need a research project to figure out
> why?
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> Michelle posted:
> > Ben Sauvin wrote:
> > <snip>
> > > > > =96{=93=96=82=C5=82=B7=82=A9=81B=8E=84=82=CD=83A=83=81=83=8A=83J=90=
l=82=C5=82=B7=82=AA=81A=93=FA=96{=82=C9=82=A2=82=E9=8E=9E=81A=93=FA=96{=8C=EA=
=82=B5=82=A9=98b=82=B5=82=DC=82=B9=82=F1=81B
> > > >
> > > > So now you know why they don't write Japanese on the Internet. To m=
e,
> > > > and presumably to many others, it comes through as gobbledygook suc=
h as
> > > > the above! Still they could write in romanized transliteration.
> >
> > >   That didn't really look Japanese. It looked more like a Copt's
> > > drugged nightmare vision of a cross between Cuneiform, Cyrillic and
> > > runes.
> >
> > It's in shift-JIS format. You need something like Union Way or another =
application to view it
> =

> > "Genki o dashite mou nakanaide; ashita ni nareba subete kawaru wa....
> > Genki o dashite mou nakanide; atarashi kaze mukatte smile again!"
> >
> > "Cheer up, don't cry any more; When tommorow comes, everything will cha=
nge.
> > Cheer up, don't cry any more; Face the new wind and smile again!"
> >
> > Mou Nakanaide (Don't Cry Any More) Ranma 1/2 theme
> --
>  JFC  canu@ix.netcom.com,canu@juno.com,at439@rgfn.epcc.edu
> =

> "My country is not ONE country, my country is all countries ...
>          No! It is the whole world as God has made it,
>                    ONE and without borders."


  My quip regarding the cryptic line of what I had assumed was something =

friendly to Japanese environments was meant to elicit a few laughs; if =

it seemed insulting, condescending or otherwise indicating (expressly or =

by implication) adverse reaction, such was NOT my intention.

  I would tend to suspect that the Japanese would tend to use English =

wherever possible simply because English appears to have one of the =

widest global circulations. However, I'd be dismayed to learn of any =

movement, popular OR legal, to make English the official language on the =

streets of Tokio.
