Repetition of History

[sirdarksol]

I am reading a book by Thich Nhat Hahn, a Zen Master who mostly writes about peace and mindfulness.
The book that I'm reading was written in 1992. He talks about President George Bush (senior) declaring war on Iraq and then calling out "God Bless America". He understands that Bush is merely attempting to do the best that he can, but needs to be taught that there are better ways to solve problems and better ways to pray. He says that one country can't be blessed against another. He then says that it's not enough to vote against Bush in the next election, that if people don't teach each other how to live in mindfulness and peace, things won't change.

Here we are, 15 years later, with nearly the same situation, a president (with the same name no less) in the same war, claiming that God is behind the war.

Kinda creepy, neh?

[Shirindo]

Kinda shows the guy knew what he was talking about dont it.

[disgruntled]

Originally Posted by sirdarksol

it's not enough to vote against Bush in the next election, that if people don't teach each other how to live in mindfulness and peace, things won't change.

just thought that it needed to be restated. especially as a canadian considering that i cannot vote in the next american election.

Originally Posted by sirdarksol

Kinda creepy, neh?

number one way to tell if you are a karate addict neh?

anatawa karate o renshu shimasu ne.

(if my japanese is off excuse me... if i cannot spell in english and have poor grammar, so it is only fair to do so in japanese as well )

[sirdarksol]

The neh is actually a European thing (I think maybe Celtic). The ne in Japanese is pronounced closer to "nay".

But you're right, of course.

The Japanese looks right. I actually don't know all of the words, but "anata" means "you", "wa" is a topic marker, karate is obvious, "shimasu" is in the polite form of "please", but I'm not precisely sure what it means. "Ne" is basically a throwaway word, actually very similar to the "neh" that I used (it amuses me how similar things pop up in different languages). No idea what renshu is.

[disgruntled]

renshu is "to practice" and shimasu means "to do" ne means "don't you" or "isn't that right" (question mark implied)

neat to learn about the celtic thing..... here we say eh? LOL

[sirdarksol]

I think the "shimasu" in that statement would be replaced be "des" and could be followed by "ne" (making a statement into a statement question, as you said), at least in common parlance. I'm learning from JapanesePod101.com, which teaches mostly modern speech patterns. (By the way, JapanesePod101.com is free from iTunes. You don't need to buy anything, just download iTunes and look up JapanesePod101.com in the podcasts)

[disgruntled]

neat. i took japanese in high school and university. the only problem is they teach you a more polite way of speaking so it is hard to understand anime that use lower forms of speach..... but as a foregner they would most likely use the higher japanese to speak to a stranger...... well actually they would just use english

[sirdarksol]

Yeah, most Japanese know English since it's part of their school curriculum. But they consider it polite when people attempt to speak nihongo.
The level of politeness actually depends on who you are talking to. Many of the people you are likely to talk to in the beginning will be using the most polite forms, since they are going to be the host/hostess at a hotel or restaurant, employees of shops, etc...
However, once you start talking to more ordinary people, they are going to start using the "less polite" forms (for those who haven't taken Japanese, the "higher" forms of Japanese are littered with the equivalents of "if you would please" and "I thank you" and so on, while the "lower" ones speak more plainly. Think of it as a difference between courtly English and modern English). They will be more impressed if you can speak these forms, as long as you use them properly (don't speak casually to an official of the Imperial Palace, for example), since it is more of an art form to know what you can leave off and what needs to stay.