- 10 Apr 2004
- 1,290
- 81
- 58
There are a lot of things that English doesn't have a word for. Through studying Japanese I've noticed a lot more of them recently. Here are some examples....
There is no third person for someone you don't know the gender of. Let's say your company is hiring a new employee, but you don't know if that person will be male or female. All you can say is, "When will IT get here?"
There is no second person plural. If you're talking to a group of people, you have to use "you" (which is really only for one person) or "ya'll" (which is bad English).
We have no single word for the Japanese "ototoi" (the day before yesterday) or "asatte" (the day after tomorrow). Or "nomihodai" (all-you-can-drink) and "tabehodai" (all-you-can-eat).
Got any others?
There is no third person for someone you don't know the gender of. Let's say your company is hiring a new employee, but you don't know if that person will be male or female. All you can say is, "When will IT get here?"
There is no second person plural. If you're talking to a group of people, you have to use "you" (which is really only for one person) or "ya'll" (which is bad English).
We have no single word for the Japanese "ototoi" (the day before yesterday) or "asatte" (the day after tomorrow). Or "nomihodai" (all-you-can-drink) and "tabehodai" (all-you-can-eat).
Got any others?