[KS] Re: Mori's cockamie ideas

Henny Savenije adam&eve at henny-savenije.demon.nl
Sat Sep 9 05:12:00 EDT 2000


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>In any case, the point is that Mori Arinori's suggestion that the Japanese 
>switch to English was not out of step with other debates in other places.
>
>Just didn't want that lost...


I think you're right, there were and still are debates to replace the 
official language, even in Holland they wanted to replace the official 
language at universities for English (recently) French (beginning last 
century) Latin being the official one. I think the debate in the EEC lately 
is something similar. The French and the Germans want of course their 
language being the official one, and the British of course too. The debate 
will continue, ... I think forever, and not only in Europe but anywhere else.

BTW by the time Perry opened Japan, they found a large number of Japanese 
who could speak Dutch rather well and Dutch signs everywhere. The Japanese 
still thought Holland was a world power and Dutch the major language in the 
world. Ah well, the dream had to collapse once.

A completely different subject though, the better I learn Korean the more I 
find there are quite a few Dutch, German and French words in Korean. For 
the Dutch I think the explanation lies in the fact that the same words 
exist in Japanese as well, the German words; that medicine was mainly 
introduced in Japan by German doctors in Japan, but I am curious about the 
French ones though, one that jumps in mind is Manto (French Manteau)
-----------------------------
Henny  (Lee Hae Kang)

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