Why does not Japanese people use the subject?
The subject is hardly used in a Japanese daily conversation !
The center of the West language is a subject, and a Japanese language center is a predicate.
The Japanese is usually using Japanese without the subject.
In Japanese, the subject of the act is not usually described clearly.
Especially, most Japanese people hardly uses the subject in the conversation.
For example, if Japanese people ran into an acquaintance on the road, they will say, "atsui desune[It is hot ,isn't it ?]
- "What is hot? "
- "Where is hot? "
- "Who is hot?"
They don't say about these in the daily conversation.
This is a phrase like a greeting for a Japanese, and they don't use a subject intentionally.It is because they can understand a meaning only by "atsui-desune".
Or, for example, if Japanese people ran into an acquaintance on the road, they will say, "odekake-desuka? [Do you go out?]".
- "Where"
- "Who"
Japanese people hardly touch on it.
In addition, the conversation becomes lengthy by using the subject.
Conversation will not be realized if a subject doesn't exist in English.
That is because existence of the subject in English is important.
But the conversation without a subject of Japanese is realized.
It is because existence of the predicate in Japanese sentence is important.
For instance, "I love you." in English.
The Japanese says "I love you." without word "I and YOU".
"I love you": When this is translated into Japanese, it is "私はあなたを愛しています。[Watashi wa Anata wo Aishite imasu]".
It becomes a lengthy and unnatural expression.
The expression like "好きだよ(Suki dayo)[=I love you.]" or "愛してるよ(Aishite ruyo)[=I love you]" is natural in Japanese.
In the case of texts, such as a novel, the expression for which the subject is not used improves reader's feelings.
This is a famous phrase in the novels "YUKIGUNI" by "Yasunari Kawabata" who is a famous writer in Japan.
"The train came out of the long tunnel into the snow country."
「国境の長いトンネルを抜けると雪国であった」
(Kokkyo no Nagai Tonneru wo Nukeruto Yukiguni de atta.)
"The train came out of the long tunnel into the snow country."
This English sentence has been translated by "E. Seidensticker."
To tell the truth, the subject doesn't exist on Yasunari Kawabata's original.
E. Seidensticker translates "Train" as a subject.
He is not wrong.
But, the Japanese doesn't think "Train" to be a subject.
"The person who came out the tunnel" of this sentence is "me who looked at the outside of the window from a train".
Note: "I" in this case is a hero of this novel.
If word "I" is written in these sentences, it becomes very unnatural sentences.
The expression for which the subject is not used improves reader's feelings.
As for readers, empathy becomes possible by such expression, and the reader is drawn in to the world of the novel.
But, "E. Seidensticker" is not wrong.
It is because the Japanese interpretation without the subject is not necessarily one.
In the case of this novel, it is because it is a fact that the train has come out from a tunnel with the hero.
Japanese sentence which needs to use a subject.
Japanese people hardly use a subject in daily conversation.
But, when a subject needs to be specified, they are using the subject.
If the subject is not necessary, the Japanese doesn't use the subject.
However, if the subject is necessary, they use it.
The feature of Japanese : "Japanese people are race who wants to omit wording" rather than "the subject doesn't exist in Japanese".
For instance, they do not omit the subject in the scene that gives the instruction to many people.
In such a case, Japanese people do very wordy and lengthy expression rather.
"Mr. Suzuki must pass on the content to you when Ms. Sato calls Mr. Suzuki at the conference room.
After that, you must go to Mr. Sasaki's room and tell Ms. Sato's report to Mr. Sasaki."
The explanation in Japanese for this case is confusion.
「佐藤さん（女）が会議室から鈴木さん（男）に電話をしたら、鈴木さんはあなたたちにその内容を伝えなさい。あなたたちは社長室に行って佐藤さんの報告を社長にしなさい。」
-Sato san ga kaigi-shitsu kara Suzuki san ni denwa wo shitara, Suzuki san wa anata tachi ni sono naiyou wo tsutaenasai.
anata tachi wa shacho-shitsu ni itte Sato san no houkoku wo shacho ni shinasai.-
[What a wordy and lengthy sentence it is!]
Since Japanese people have a custom not using a subject in daily conversation, they feel explanation in such a scene very troublesome.
But in such a scene, Japanese people explain carefully, in order to avoid misunderstanding.
Japanese may be "a language on which it lives together with a situation."
By Hararie
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