(identity 'myron)

Sun, 19 Oct 2003

Korean speech levels [/misc]

Following up on my recent interest in Japan, Korea and China, I was talking to Nakakita-kun about Korean yesterday. On top of 2 honourific forms, there are no less than 7 verb "levels" each with its own unique set of verb endings, conveying different levels of politeness. According to Wikipedia, "Taken together, honorifics and speech levels form a cartesian product of 14 basic verb stems".

And we both thought Japanese was politeness-heavy... little did we know.

// posted at 02:27. permalink   comments

China-Japan-Korea [/Japan]

I commented earlier on the DRPK's latest response to Japan's plea for the return of its abducted citizens, saying that Japan, China and South Korea have uneasy relations mostly based on financial gain. I'm happy to note I might be proved wrong, as this Tuesday, the leaders of the three countries will announce their "first-ever joint declaration, seeking cooperation on economic and security issues".

First ever! Spectre of history aside, it's about fucking time. :)

// posted at 02:07. permalink   comments