Why the Japanese Words for “I” and “You” Will Surprise English Speakers
The notion of the self in the Japanese worldview differs from that of the Western view.
One of the first words you learn to say in a new language is the word for “I.”
And for good reason.
Cogito, ergo sum — “I think, therefore I am,” so declared René Descartes in his writings.
Philosophy aside, from a practical standpoint, you do need to learn how to introduce yourself. And to introduce yourself you need to learn how to use the first-person pronoun. The second thing you probably need to learn is how to ask a question to your listener. And to ask your listener a question, you need to use the second-person pronoun, “you.”
Right?
Be prepared to be surprised, because the same rules don’t exactly apply in the Japanese language.
Japanese native speakers prefer dropping the grammatical subject in a sentence
What if I told you that in Japanese, you can, and are often encouraged to omit the subject in many situations?
Many early learners of the Japanese language are somewhat stumped by this, especially if they are English…
