1. Are feelings emotions and facial expressions universal across borders, happy, sad, etc..?
I think feelings, emotions, and especially how we express those emotions are very cultural. We may tend to think that we all feel the same, but all you have to do is watch a movie from a different country to see that people don't show emotion in the same ways. Some cultures, Italian comes to mind, are very physical and show their emotions openly with their body. Other cultures, Japanese and Finnish, tend to use more subtle facial expressions and gestures. So sometimes I think it can be difficult to understand how a person from another culture is feeling if you don't know much about their culture.
2. Try to name as many feelings as possible in Japanese. ( 10 minimum) Now write the English translation.
3. Are there any feelings in Japanese that cannot be translated into English?
Rather than answer these questions, I'm going to get a little more specific and talk about the difficulty translating a word/concept between Japanese and English: "LOVE".
If you look up "love" in the dictionary it will probably translate it as either 愛 or 恋. Neither of these words really matches the concept very well. In English, love has a very broad meaning. It can be used to express pleasure with someone or something. It can be a romantic feeling, but at the same time, it can be a more complex (not romantic) attachment between two people. It can be between lovers, friends, or family members. You can love your pet, your boss, you can love people you haven't even met. Its a very diverse word.
At the same time 愛 and 恋 don't translate into English well either. If you look them up they will likely be translated simply as "love" but they are quite distinct emotions. 愛 for example represents a stronger, deeper emotional bond. It can be between lovers, as well as between family members, and in some cases treasured objects. 恋 on the other hand, represents a deep, but usually temporary emotional state. With 恋 it is usually an initial reaction, an almost obsessive and uncontrollable feeling. This can turn into 愛, but it can also simply disappear.
These seem to be such simple emotions, but when we think about them they are really much more complex and connected with our culture than we imagine.
3 comments:
Great blog! Thanks for all the great comments. By the way, could you send me directions to that Mexican place in Kure. I am going there on Saturday.
I was really impressed by your opinion. Actually I think these two translations of "love", 愛 and 恋 are quite distinct from each other. I agree with you on this point that 愛 has stronger feeling while 恋 seems to be temporary feeling.
Rolf. CCC Class will be cancelled today June 18th. Sorry about that. See you next week.
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