Give and take

One of the most remarkable and unexpected things that's happened during the past few months - besides Dave posting twice within one month - is how the American exchange students at Nanzan University have started speaking Nihonglish, a mix of Nihongo (Japanese) and English. It tends to start with people substituting adjectives into their sentences,

"Oh man, that dessert looks oishii!" (delicious)

and slowly grows and morphs until people start conjugating Japanese verbs into English,

"I really ganbatt-ed that shiken."

It kind of started as a game for us, but sometimes when we're speaking in English, we'll use sentences that have more Japanese words than English ones. And as a few of us are getting ready to leave, we lament having to give up Nihonglish. It's both fun and allows you to be expressive in new ways.

This got me thinking about the idea of the purity of culture and language. I think I sort of have/had the idea that cultures and languages are betsu-betsu (separate) until people intermarry, but when I really think about it, it falls apart. Japanese language and culture has this image of homogeneity, but actually contains a lot of influence from China and the West. And I don't have to say anything about America, which is culturally something of a beautiful mess. Just look at the music we listen to and where it comes from - jazz, country, and rock and roll, to name a few.

Although it's good to maintain an identity and protect one's culture, cross-fertilization seems to be a good thing if done equally and in moderation. And I think it would be cool to see more people intentionally thinking up creative ways to do this, through language, music, food, or whatever. Maybe this would turn the immigration debate in America (and Japan, for that matter) on its head.