It’s often frustrating for learners of the Japanese language when they can’t express themselves clearly because they don’t know a specific word. However, it can be even more frustrating when the language doesn’t clearly contain the concept they’re trying to get over. Case in point: the distinction between an addiction and a poison.
In Japanese, both addictions and poisonings are referred to as \u4e2d\u6bd2 (chuudoku), with the word before that used to define the type. So for example, here are some common phrases:<\/p>\n
– \u30a2\u30eb\u30b3\u30fc\u30eb\u4e2d\u6bd2 (arukooru chuudoku) – alcohol addiction. Note: often shortened to \u30a2\u30eb\u4e2d (aruchuu), presumably because it’s so common…
– \u4ed5\u4e8b\u4e2d\u6bd2 (shigoto chuudoku) – work addiction, which although it sounds like it should be common too, is not usually shortened to “shichuu”
– \u30a4\u30f3\u30bf\u30fc\u30cd\u30c3\u30c8\u4e2d\u6bd2 (intaanetto chuudoku) – Internet addiction
– \u305f\u3070\u3053\u4e2d\u6bd2 (tabako chuudoku) – nicotine addiction<\/p>\n
– \u98df\u4e2d\u6bd2 (shoku chuudoku) – food poisoning
– \u30ad\u30ce\u30b3\u4e2d\u6bd2 (kinoko chuudoku) – mushroom poisoning
– \u925b\u4e2d\u6bd2 (namari chuudoku) – lead poisoning<\/p>\n
Because no clear distinction is made between these two concepts, the dictionary often lists both for any specific word. So, for example, “\u30c1\u30e7\u30b3\u30ec\u30fc\u30c8\u4e2d\u6bd2” (chokoreeto chuudoku) is shown as both chocolate addiction and chocolate poisoning. To the native English speaker, of course, these two are very different! If the news reported a rash of chocolate poisoning, that would be far more scary to most people than a spate of chocolate addiction, for example.
However, as a great example of Orwell’s idea that language defines thinking, many Japanese people don’t seem to see a clear distinction between the two concepts. That is, they (at least, the people who were asked before writing this) feel that something that you are addicted to is automatically a poison, inasmuch as the two are inseparable.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
| It’s often frustrating for learners of the Japanese language when they can’t express themselves clearly because they don’t know a specific word. However, it can be even more frustrating when the language doesn’t clearly contain the concept they’re trying to get over. Case in point: the distinction between an addiction and a poison. In…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-157","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\n
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