[sumo] OT: Japanese language question

[Carl Freire]

At 12:10 AM -0400 3/30/08, Kuramarujo wrote:
>	Oh $DEITY!  I am often glad that I am not living in Japan now because
>there's no way I'd ever be able to follow the thought processes there.

As with anything, when you hear it in context and get acclimated to 
that context it's very easy to understand and follow.  We use it in 
the same sense in English, but more often by way of apology rather 
than proactively.  "I hope you'll understand why we can't refund you 
for this defective Norwegian blue parrot."

>Heck, I had trouble dealing with Americans now for going on 20 years.  I
>sware, everyone in the world is crazy except me.  And the sock monkey,
>of course.
>
>	BTW, is there any other phrases that end with "mashita" out there?
>Occasionally I hear that with out the "wakari" in front.  Or at least
>I'm not hearing the first part.

You hear "mashita" all the time--it is the past tense verb ending in 
all "neutral polite" level contexts.  E.g., tabemashita= the verb 
"taberu" (eat) + neutral polite past ending (mashita), nomimashita = 
the verb "nomu" (drink) + mashita.  "Wakarimashita" comes from the 
verb "wakaru" (understand, but you can also parse the verb quite 
literally as, well, "parse" or "take apart"*).

Carl

*For that matter, "wakaru" can be used with another Chinese character 
that even more literally means "parse" or "take apart."  That 
character (also read "in Japanese" as "toku," and "in Chinese" as 
"kai") forms part of the word "rikai" that is used even more often in 
the sense that Doreen mentions.  E.g., "Kokusai shakai kara wagakuni 
no ratchi mondai ni taisuru tachiba o *rikai itadaku* you ni doryoku 
shite imasu." = "We are making efforts to obtain the understanding 
(i.e., get them to see things our way) of the international community 
regarding the abductions issue."
-- 

**********

Carl Freire
cfreire-at-ix-dot-netcom-cot-com
cpfreire-at-gmail-dot-com
Tokyo, Japan