Exercises in the Yokohama Dialect

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Yokohama Dialect 1879.jpg

Exercises in the Yokohama Dialect was a not very serious guide to learning Japanese for everyday use in Japan. Written by a stranger, the 32-page booklet was published in the revised version of a fictional "Bishop of Homoco" with a fictitious circulation of 22,000 in 1879. The booklet gives an insight into the wishes of foreign globetrotters in the years after the country was completely opened in 1871.

introduction

The booklet is dedicated to the German linguist and religious scholar Friedrich Müller and a John Grigor, representative of the Hong Kong and Shanghai Banking Corporation. Following

  • a foreword,
  • Notes on laudatory notes in the local press for the 2nd edition,
  • a foreword to the present edition and again
  • Notes on laudatory notes in the local press.

structure

The booklet is divided into five teaching chapters, a section with translation tasks into the Yokohama dialect, a section with translation tasks into English and a final chapter “Nankinized – Nippon”. In the latter u. a. on the Sino-Japanese reading, e.g. B. the numbers, received, but what happens not quite correctly.

  • Chapter 1 begins with the fact that there is no equivalent for the, a an, some in the Yokohama dialect. “I” (I) is rendered with Watarkshee, but also with Watarkoosh '. It is found that the latter is only used by "mining owners or millionaires". Horse becomes "Mar", tea becomes Oh char.
  • In the 2nd chapter u. a. the numbers (in brackets the correct rendition, with the final u being almost voiceless) introduced: one = stoats (hitotsu), two = stats (futatsu), three = meats (mitsu), four = yotes (yotsu), five = it suits (itsutsu), six = moots (mutsu) or Row ku (roku), seven = nannats (nanatsu) or sitchi (shitchi), eight = yachts (yatsu), nine = cocoanuts (kokonotsu), ten = toats (To ), twenty = knee jew (nijū).
  • Chapter 3 renders church / temple with “Oh terror”, correctly O-tera, and priests with “Tacksan hanash bosan” (Takusan hanasu bosan) = “Priest who speaks a lot”. Brand is portrayed as “Cad gee” (Kaji).
  • Chapter 4 shows the vehicle with Kooromar (Kuruma) or Bashaw (Basha), the man-drawn vehicle with “Gin Ricky-pshaw” (Jinrikisha).
  • The fifth chapter is designed as a summary of what has been learned in the form of a conversation between a foreign customer and a seller of Japanese antiques and gifts. The lengthy answer of the seller is reproduced in English in an ironic form and reduced to its content in Japanese. This is how it turns out
    • "Excuse my plain speaking, I am not like other Japanese dealers, and have always made it a rule to ask only the price I will take for my goods. I have traveled in Christian countries and have learned to despise the double faced dealing of our country. "
    • "Watarkshee atchera kooni maru maru arimas. Japan otoko bakka, kono house stoats neigh dan backary hanash. ” (Watakushi atchira kuni mairu mairu araimasu. Japan otoko bakka, kono house hitotsu nedan bakari hanasu. - I have traveled around your countries. Japanese are crazy, they talk about two different prices. This house says only one price. ")

Remarks

  1. ↑ Horse = uma: the u in the initial and final voices is only spoken weakly, the r in the English rendition after the a is used as an elongation r.

comment

The Japanese connoisseur Lewis William Bush (1907–1987) discussed the booklet in an article for the Japan Times . He writes that the Japanese scholar and Anglicist Ichikawa Sanki (市 河 三 喜; 1886–1970) came to the conclusion in an article in the renowned monthly magazine "Bungei Shunjū" (文藝 春秋) that the author could have been a certain Hoffmann Atkinson, an employee of the Smith, Baker & Co. Bush company who is familiar with Japanese, on the other hand, thinks that the fictitious Bishop of Homoco could be the missionaries SR Brown or Hepburn . Dr. Brown wrote a "Grammar of Colloquial Japanese" in 1863, which was the standard for many years. Hepburn had just finished his dictionary. Perhaps the author of this booklet wanted to piss off Japanese learners a little.

literature

  • YOKOHAMA DIALECT: REVISED AND ENLARGED EDITION of EXERCISES IN THE. TWENTY SECOND EDITION: Revised and corrected of the special request of the author by the BISHOP OF HOMOCO. YOKOHAMA 1879. A facsimile reprint, published by Charles E. Tuttle Co., Rutland Vermont and Tokyo, 1955, was used.