[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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