Re: Whose mistake?

"Marc Adler" wrote:

> Philip Ronan wrote:
>
>> So it seems that the Japanese tend to assume the missing subject is "we".
>> But why? Or are these just bad translations?
>
> Because if it were anything other than the first person, it would
> require だろう (et al.), and "I" is pretty unlikely here. The only
> option left is "we."
> (snip)
> If they _had_ wanted to make it ambiguous, they would have used a
> passive form: 過ちは繰り返されぬから.

Nice explanation. Thanks :-D

> The interesting thing here is that this radical nutcase is right. It's
> not the Japanese that should be apologizing for bombs being dropped on
> Hiroshima and Nagasaki. They've got a lot to apologize for, certainly,
> but not that of all things. The memorial is a strange example of
> victor's logic in reverse.

Or a complete absence of logic..? Japan still seems very confused about
its position on the war.

--
phil [dot] ronan @ virgin [dot] net
http://vzone.virgin.net/phil.ronan/


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