The Los Angeles Times features an interesting obituary for a man named
Otis Cary who was a Navy translator during World War II. He served with Donald Keene. Cary supposedly could get POWs to "convert" and assist the occupation:
Cary's deep understanding of the Japanese enabled him to help the POWs overcome their shame at having been captured and their fears of returning home in disgrace. He encouraged them to see themselves as patriots, who had given their all to their country and who now had a duty to support its reconstruction.
After the war, he worked for Doshisha University in Kyoto, helping to start a graduate program in American Studies and running a dormitory called Amherst House:
For 32 years, he was director of Amherst House, a dormitory where he encouraged Japanese students to dispense with customs that he considered obstacles to modernization.
One of his targets was honorific speech, which mandates different degrees of politeness depending on a person's social rank. To put students on an equal footing, Cary just gave them nicknames.
I wonder what sort of psychological effect it would have for Japanese to have to use plain speech with everyone in their dorm. Would they really start to see themselves as equals?
3 comments:
It does seem doubtful, doesn't it? A bit of a Sapir-Whorfy approach... OTOH, if people were choosing the Americanized dorm for themselves (rather than being assigned to it), it wouldn't be that surprising if everyone who went there was all enthusiastic about the project and not a bit uncomfortable about having to use nicknames.
Maybe Sapir-Whorfy, or maybe Skinnerian--every time you go to use a polite form, you force yourself to examine the issue. Going the other direction, I find myself thinking "Am I boku or watashi now? Can I drop the -masu?" when speaking Japanese.
azuma: That's ok, we don't run at internet speeds around here anyway.
That's an interesting point that maybe many of us "gaijin" miss about keigo--that it carries more meaning than just "respect."
I wish I could say that while I was in Japan my Japanese was to the point where I could anticipate and relish such things.
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