The original thread has really caught my interest, so much that now I go out of my way to bring it up and find out more from people who would know.
It had been mentioned (to make a gross generalization) that a large part of the population of Japan has a hard time accepting a multicultural system. This said, here's a paraphrased example a a Navy vet from WW2 told me at a dinner party:
"It's well known that, as far as their navy goes, they have a history of simply using pre-existing naval terms rather than coming up with their own. Like, a Japanese captain will use the English term "radar" since it's never dawned on them to come up with their own translation for the instrument. While it is common practice to borrow some naval terms and use them across the board, most terms make the change over to the tongue of the country in which they are used. We in America say "rifleman" over the Prussian "arbrustschutzen." The Japanese, wouldn't."
These are his words, so while they seem a little broad for me to take as a serious focus in Japanese culture/language, it makes for a good rundown.
[This message has been edited by solypsist (edited 11-13-2000).]
[This message has been edited by solypsist (edited 11-13-2000).]
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