The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-04-29

theIf OWN country VINO are equally as
proficient. One of the leading news
| papers in Toxic has an English sub
editor who was born in a small village
| of interior Japan. His father and
mother were Christians, and he fell un-
| der the influence of American mission
aries. He studied English in Japan
csc university, and then went to live
with an American missionary family.
He speaks not only English, but Ameri-
can, and is equal to making an original
| joke IN the purest of George AIDE. His
accent is strange, of course, but no one
has any difficulty in eonversing with
| him upon the most abstract subject
He translates the foreign cablegrams
for his newspaper, and when such dis
tinguished visitors as Secretary Taft
or Mr. Bryan come to Japan he is sent
to interview them. He is often asked:
''Where did you study in America -
and it is not without pardonable pride
that he replies: my English was
made in Japan. -
The Japanese students. look to
American sources more often than to
English, perhaps because of the fact
that American translators have been
more active than their British cousins
In the native book shops scattered all
about the great city of Toxic one sees
the unmistakable evidence of Ameri-
can influence. There are several differ
ent editions of "'The Life of Roose-
welt, - and books which hide their mys-
teries under the cryptic Chinese char
acters declare their origin by the half
tone cover pictures of Washington,
Benjamin Franklin, General Grant,
Lincoln, Bryan, Gladstone, Napoleon,
and other great men of the Occident.
The great majority of books trans
lated from English into Japanese are
of scientific or technical character
Many standard English novels have
been translated, but many more are to
be found in editions for the student
of English, containing copious foes
notes in japanese. In this way the
Japanese student is introduced to the
delightful romances of Sir Walter
Scott and to the stirring tales of ad-
venture from the pen of Alexander
Dumas, coming from the French via the
English. The influence of Western lit
erature is making itself felt upon jap
anese writer's, and many novels are APP
pearing which take English fiction for
a model of construction. Heretofore
japanese poetry has been confined with
in the narrowest possible limits OF me-
chanical Journalism, the custom requir-
ing that poem must consist of either
thirty-one or sixteen syllables; no more,
no less.
The agitation IN favor of abolishing
the use of Chinese characters by law,
and of substituting the Roman alpha
bet, has resulted in the introduction
of a bill in the Diet, but it will be
many years before the change will
come about The radical difference
between the spoken and written Ian
guage of Japan makes a phonetic rem
dition very difficult and the universal
adoption of the Roman characters
Nould cause great confusion. Never
theless, the use of the typewriter the
study of English, and the new IDEAS
of literature are bringing about a con-
dition which will one day relegate the
Chinese characters from everyday use
to the limbo of the classics.
Everyday use of English is increas- |
ing more rapidly than exact knowl- |
edge of correct grammar and orthog-
raphy, and the result is a multiplied |
ton of ridiculous errors. Even the
ambitious publications are not always
careful of their translations. Tokyo {
Puck is comic weekly modelled along +
the lines of its New York contempo- /
rary of the same name in physical /
but differing vastly in the
of it's humor. This publica-
ton is entirely the product of Japa-
nese natives, but it appears with /
dual dress of japanese and English.
It's illustrated jokes and cartoons have
their japanese legend attached at the t
right hand of the picture, running
vertically. and their English legend |
It's humor is so coarse and broad l.
that it would not be permitted to
circulate in America, and it is con-
demned by the higher class of Jap
anese newspapers as indecent and
scurrilous. However, it has a big cir
culation. In politics it is "agin the
government" and it does not hesitate
to attack anything short of the throne.
In recent issue there was car
toon showing the prime minister and
the minister of finance seated in a
their faces distorted as if in
terror, reading a newspaper. Above
were portraits of the late King and
Crown Prince of Portugal. and under
meath this legend: Marquis Saionji
and Mr.. Matsuda, who raised the
taxes, read the news Of the Portuguese
assassination Some of it's attacks
on the Prime Minister, although print
ed in English. are so vile that their
exact character may not even be hint
ed at.
The usual EN- glish as she is spoke"
curiosities may be seen everywhere in
Japanese cities. "Ferrules and Ice
here" is a puzz1er until one finds that
"ferrules" is free rendering of
fuel Beef and Hen Met Here is /
the sign over a butcher shop. Cen
Milk is milk from which |
the germs have been expelled by the |
Pasteur method. The sublime tailor"
and the ''higher washman" are out |
for business, as is the man who |
writes my company do send bag
cages into any direction with a good t
The sign over a candy |