The whole culture war between China and Japan reminds me in a lot of ways of France and England. So much shared history but so many wars and so much bloodshed. But it seems like the Japanese are considered sexier and their terms get incorportaed into English a lot more. Aside from Kanji/Hanzi there's also the whole zen/chan buddhism problem. Chan being invented in china, but made popular in it's Japanese form so everyone just knows the Japanese word for it.
I have an LJ friend who spent a year in Beijing, she had learnt some Chinese before she went and she said she had problems communicating with people a lot. She suggested waiting until you feel quite comfortable with the language before you go. One of the guys from Bibliogoth is going soon and I suggested he at least learn hello, and thanks and a few things before hand. But he's going on a tour so he's not likely to have as many chalanges as you guys did. Still going and doing it even when you don't speak the language is a huge accomplishment. And I am terribly jealous!
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2005-11-03 09:24 pm (UTC)I have an LJ friend who spent a year in Beijing, she had learnt some Chinese before she went and she said she had problems communicating with people a lot. She suggested waiting until you feel quite comfortable with the language before you go. One of the guys from Bibliogoth is going soon and I suggested he at least learn hello, and thanks and a few things before hand. But he's going on a tour so he's not likely to have as many chalanges as you guys did. Still going and doing it even when you don't speak the language is a huge accomplishment. And I am terribly jealous!