So with the number of reibuns (sample sentences) I am writing for class these days, I got to thinking about whether or not we are saying something to our senseis that we don't even realize. I'm not sure if this was the planned evolution of our language training, but right now any of us doing the review course for the N1 level of the Japanese Language Proficiency Exam have all shifted our focus to writing out these reibuns. Basically we're given a bunkei (sentence pattern or grammar point) and have to create a sentence that fits logically and grammatically. At least for me, it's a lot harder than it sounds; for one thing, there are nuances about each bunkei that are lost on me, When I go over my reibuns with Aoki, he points out there's something I'm missing. I have the general gist of the bunkei, but I am slightly off-target. It's at times like these that I am reminded of just how completely different Japanese and English are; our training at least in the US sometimes treats the grammar, vocabulary, conjunctives, prepositions, etc etc as though they are all interchangeable. It just ain't so.
My impression is that Japanese is very specific: you can only use this bunkei if you are trying to convey something with a slightly negative nuance, or this one word only works when you are thinking of a situation abstractly. It's a lot to remember. It also helps in explaining why sarcasm and irony don't work as well in Japanese beyond just saying it's a cultural thing: the problem is built into the language. For irony to work, you need your point to exist in both contexts at once to create that cognitive tension whereas in Japanese a lot of the time it can only be one and not the other and hence the tension is never there. There have been a couple of times that I've thought I was giving my reibun some extra depth by being implicitly critical or humorous, and without fail Aoki just kind of looks at me and is like "どういう意味？何の背景?" ("What's the meaning? What's the context?"). Or else maybe I'm just really bad at writing these reibuns and there is a way to get that kind of nuance across: I just have no idea how to do it. Please correct me before I spread misinformed observations.
But a lot of my week is dedicated to writing these reibuns not only because some of these bunkeis are difficult to understand, but also because you get tired of writing the same lame sentences over and over again. It's really easy to write something about some test you have tomorrow, or a homework assignment, or anything related to school, but man it gets tired after awhile. You have to think that if you're bored writing these things, then your sensei is passed out, drooling on their keyboard. So you - or should I say "I" in this case... I'm not sure if this applies to everyone, but I have to think I'm not the only one - spend a good amount of time trying to come up with something interesting. Even when I've made a mistake in my reibun and Aoki asks if I can come up with another example after he's explained the bunkei, I want to avoid talking about school, another dumb Japan-America comparison, or the difficulty of the Japanese language (and yes, I'm aware this entire post so far has been dedicated to what a pain in the ass Japanese can be, and I'm just about to break out of that in a second, thank you). Speed found his niche in either hitting on Aoki or making all the senseis think I have a drinking problem, and I'm not one to retread someone else's path. I dig deep trying to think of something to write, which is not unlike keeping this blog. Variety is the spice of life.
But in hunting around your mind and distilling it all into just one sentence, you have to wonder what exactly you're revealing about yourself without realizing it. I think everyone in their daily lives gives away more about themselves in what they say and what they don't say: it's just a matter of paying attention to it. It's a conceit of mine that I can pick up on this patterns and construct a far more nuance image of a person's concerns, desires and fears. Plus, you know I'm a sucker for a juicy secret. However, in doing this, I also realize that I myself am just as vulnerable. Whereas it's pretty easy to recall a transcript of what someone else has said to you and to others, it's a lot harder to recall all the things you have said. You filter for certain parties, you're more open with others, and if you're anything like me, you have a monologue running through your head that a thousand monkey stenographers at a thousand typewriters would get lost transcribing. At least for me, keeping a solid sense of what you have said on a daily basis and determining patterns is far more difficult, and I'm absolutely certain I have given more away than I am comfortable with (UGH, ending in a preposition... but I'm too lazy to fix that sentence. "Than with which I am comfortable" sounds too fucking stiff).
However, reibuns offer a tiny lens into your own psyche. Depending on how invested you are in writing them, they can be very much a product of your stream of consciousness at that given moment. In looking over my reibuns, I'm thinking I'm not exactly the greatest litmus test for my theory since as I'm writing, I try to be aware of what I might be saying. I err on the side of caution most of the time. I use a lot of historical examples because, you know, I did fancy myself an historian at a time. I feel like I could have a field day with someone else's reibun spreadsheet though. I'm going to do what I can with my own examples, though, since they're the only ones I've got. Here's one for you:
彼は話題が誰かと関係があろうが関係あるまいが、最後まで話しっぱなしだ。
Regardless of whether anyone is interested in his topic, he talks straight through to the end.
Obviously, I have a problem with this personality type. Considering the reibuns I wrote for Aoki in 2nd quarter about a certain couple of people who never shut the fuck up despite a) not doing their homework, and b) being fucking boring, you can probably tell that I think of myself as quite the opposite. The thought that I am boring someone gives me anxiety - I am far too self-conscious not to - and I therefore detest the tendency of others to run their mouths. Perhaps this example is a bit of a stretch. Here's another:
子供は親の説教に耐えない。
Children can't stand to be lectured by their parents.
あの先生は厳しくて、説教めいた言い方をする。
That sensei is strict, and has a preachy style of speaking.
Both are kind of universal truths, but I wrote them both in the same night within two or three bunkeis of each other. It's probably not a revelation to anyone that I HATE being told what to do, but I think you can easily draw that conclusion about me from these two sentences.
犬や猫たりとも生きる権利がある。
Dogs and cats have the right to live.
Duh, I love animals.
母が作ったクッキーは皿から落ちるなり、犬に食べられてしまった。
The dog ate the cookie my mom made the second it fell from the plate.
Yeah, you have a right to live, little pookie, but when you eat my cookie you're testing me.
田中さんは好きな女の子が待っているレストランの入り口で行きつ戻りつしていた。
Tanaka-san paced nervously (literally, went and returned) to the entrance of the restaurant where the girl he liked was waiting.
NOPE, I don't know that feeling AT ALL. ::cough::
ガリレオはイタリアの厳しい弾圧をものともせずに、地球が太陽の周りを公転することを信じており、「E pur si muove!]（それでも地球は動いている）と述べた。
Flagrantly disregarding the strict oppression of the Italian government, Galileo believed that the earth revolved around the sun and said "E pur si muove!" ("And yet it moves!")
This story (you can go ahead and tell me it's just myth, it doesn't make a damn bit of difference to me) has always been an epistemological obsession of mine. I just love that an idea or a phenomenon does not require human explanation to exist. What do we know? What else don't we know? What will we never know? Plus, I just love characters that flip the bird to authority figures.
The other themes I've picked up from my reibuns is a fixation on the Japanese Language Proficiency Exam (um, duh) and being forced out of Japan (double duh). Nothing I haven't talked about here before. I guess in a way I have shot holes into my own theory, but hey, maybe if you asked Aoki-sensei or if I passed my reibuns on to another party, there might be other conclusions. I, for one, can think of more than a couple of people whose heads I'd like to crack into via enhanced reibun technology.
Oh, and I think the reibuns in my textbooks are hitting on me. Check it:
真珠のアクセサリーは女性らしさを引き立ててくれる。
Pearls bring out the femininity in a woman.
O RLY?
あなたと私はいつか結婚する運命だったのです。
You and I are destined to get married one day.
No.
強い愛情が２人を結び付けている。
There is a strong bond of love between the two of them.
Jealous?
I think they also have some issues:
父は家庭を顧みず、仕事ばかりしていた。
My father took little notice of our family and just worked all of the time.
And how does that make you feel? What was your relationship like with your mother?
昔の恋人が結婚しようとしまいと、今の私には関係のないことです。
Whether or not an old lover gets married, it has no bearing on who I am now.
Methinks thou doth protest too much.
そんな皮肉めいた言い方をしないでください。
Don't speak so sarcastically/ironically.
DON'T YOU TELL ME WHAT TO DO.
少年法改正が叫ばれて久しいですが、ここで注目したいのは、18歳を少年少女といえるか、ということです。
The revision of the Juvenile Act has long been called for, but the point I want to emphasize is whether we can call an 18-year-old a "young woman."
You want to talk about 18-year-old girls, huh? I'm calling the cops.
So what do you think you reibuns say about you?
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