One language, two systems, three scriptsIf you are a complete beginner, Japanese writing may appear just like Chinese.
But if you look at it more carefully you'll notice that it doesn’t just contain complex Chinese characters… there are lots of simpler ones too.
Take a look.
それでも、日本人の食生活も急速に変化してきています。ハンバーグやカレーライスは子供に人気がありますし、都会では、イタリア料理、東南アジア料理、多国籍料理などを出すエスニック料理店がどんどん増えています。
Nevertheless, the eating habits of Japanese people are also rapidly changing. Hamburgers and curry rice are popular with children. In cities, ethnic restaurants serving Italian cuisine, Southeast Asiancuisine and multi-national cuisine keep increasing more and more.(Source: “Japan: Then and Now”, 2001, p. 62-63)
As you can see from this sample, within
one Japanese text there are actually
three different scriptsintertwined. We’ve colour coded them to help you tell them apart.
(What’s really interesting is the different types of words – parts of speech – represented by each colour – it tells you a lot about what you use each of the three scripts for.)
Can you see the contrast between complex characters (orange) and simpler ones (blue and green)?
The complex characters are called
kanji (漢字 lit. Chinese characters) and were borrowed from Chinese. They are what’s called a ‘logographic system' in which each symbol corresponds to a block of meaning (食 ‘to eat', 南 ‘south', 国 ‘country').
Each
kanji also has its own pronunciation, which has to be learnt – you can’t “read” an unknown
kanjilike you could an unknown word in English.
Luckily, the other two sets of characters are simpler!
Those in blue above are called
hiragana and those in green are called
katakana. They’re both examples of ‘syllabic systems', and unlike the
kanji, each sound corresponds to single sound. For example, そ= so, れ= re; イ= i, タ = ta.
Hiragana and katakana are a godsend for Japanese learners because the pronunciation isn’t a problem. If you see it, you can say it!
So, at this point, you’re probably wondering:
“What’s the point of using three different types of script? How could that have come about?”
In fact, all these scripts have a very specific role to play in a piece of Japanese writing, and you’ll find that they all work together in harmony in representing the Japanese language in a written form.
Noooooooooooooooooo somebody vote for me. Obi means belt and wan means bowl you guys, seriously.
You can revote with your original RFD as I took this debate seriously when it should have been taken as a troll debate.
*******************************************************************
Vote Reported: K_Michael // Mod Action: Removed
Points awarded: 6 arguments to pro for arguments, sources, and conduct
RFD: owl is an incoherent term as Con says. I also award conduct on the basis of purposely creating a debate to trap ignorants. I would also like to note that I knew that obi meant belt before reading this debate, so I know you what you were doing.
And finally, I don't want the #1 on the leaderboard to lose a debate to the last place's alt.
Reason for mod action: The voter explains none of these points. Further, voting based on bias and not wanting someone to lose is not acceptable.
The voter should review the COC here: https://www.debateart.com/rules
The voter should also review this: https://www.debateart.com/forum/topics/346?page=1&post_number=4
*******************************************************************
The delete option doesn't show up currently.
You may be able to delete it yourself, I’m not Auden I’d too much time has passed.
It’s absolutely no problem: this part of the rules can be pretty complex. Kudos for taking the time to try and understand them though: more people should be doing that!
Would you kindly remove the poorly constructed CVB I made?
Fair enough, very well I'll remove my CVB my apologies.
Unfortunately that’s not what the rules say. The rules say:
“In the case of awarding conduct points solely on the basis of forfeits, there is an exception to these steps: a debater may award conduct points solely for forfeited rounds, but only if one debater forfeited half or more of their rounds >>>>or<<<<< if the voter also awards argument points”
The or is important. What this means is that you can award conduct points due to a forfeit if one side has forfeited half or more rounds - or if they haveforfieted a single round and the voter awards arguments too.
The rule is to prevent people going around and awarding a single easy point vote for conduct for a single forfeit - and forces them to additionally award argument points too.
I couldn't care less what all voters are doing, which they aren't. The rules specifically state that the majority of rounds have to be ff to award a conduct point.
Forfeit rounds - even a single one - are almost universally given a conduct penalty by almost all voters on all debates. Not making an argument and forcing your opponent to wait days is profoundly disrespectful, and should be penalized to discourage people from doing it.
I believeyour confusing the “Forfeit half rounds” exemption where you can award only conduct for a forfeit without explaining arguments.
Lol I’d debate this with you