Re: tlug: kanji or romaji for Japanese? (was: parallel-port IDE)

[Matt Gushee <matt@example.com>]

Scott Stone writes:

 > > Extending the same logic, I suppose that instead of trying to cope
 > > with human differences (and, dare I say, growing in the process), we
 > > should try to eliminate those differences in the interest of
 > > efficiency. But I'm sure nobody believes that ... 

Correction: "I'm sure nobody *here* believes that ..." (with a
no-longer-implicit "or do they?")

 > I think that this is what someone once meant by the 'babel' concept -
 > human languages tend to diverge into more and more fragmented languages
 > instead of converging on one language.  It's kind of sad.  Imagine all the
 > neat wars we could have if everyone could understand everyone else's
 > insults! :) (just kidding - actually I think it would be good for the
 > world overall if we could all understand each other)

Hmm ... I'm certainly in favor of understanding. But it seems to me
that understanding is more of a process than a state. Suppose
everybody in the world learns to speak English -- will we all
understand each other then? On one level -- exchanging technical
information -- perhaps we will. But if we are interested also, as I
hope we are, in encountering each other as human beings, removing one
obstacle just leads to the next, and the struggle for understanding
goes on. Isn't that what life is all about?

So if we take standardization beyond its rightful domain (electronic
communications protocols, etc.) and extend it to everything in life,
I'm sure we'll be very, very efficient ... but what will be left of
us? What will we have to be efficient *about*?

Come to think of it, (for the non-Japanese on the list) why are we
in this country? It's an awful long way to come just for a job, unless
it's an extraordinarily good one. I suspect many of us are here partly 
or even mainly because it's different from our home countries, and we
expected to find something valuable in that difference. And (unless
we're monstrously thick-headed and cold-hearted) we have become, for
better or worse, slightly different versions of ourselves than we
would be otherwise.

So what's wrong with keeping 500 dozen different languages, and
everybody learning 1 or 2 or 3 besides their own? Enjoy the challenge, 
I say!

* though, as Steve says, the general trend is for languages to
converge

Matt Gushee
Oshamanbe, Hokkaido
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