[YuriTokoro]

Originally Posted by sarvodaya

I know what you mean. However, when and while are a bit more flexible than that.

"While..." can be used to mean "during the time that..." or "for as long as..."

As for "when", that does indeed usually mean a shorter time or "at the instant that...", as in:

"When the cock crows..."

Thank you!
I understand that “when” means two things happen in parallel, and “while” means the term is a bit longer. Is this right?

Ok, so it's:

あと <after>
から <from>
きた <came>
のに <nevertheless>

のに is not <nevertheless>.
“の”means 人in this context.
That meansあとから　来た人に　追い越されて

おいこされ <be surpassed>
なくのが <to weep>
いや <unpleasant>
なら <if>

さあ <come now>
あるけ <walk!>

So...

If it is unpleasant to be surpassed by your successors, if it is unpleasant to weep, come now and walk!

This is excellent!


Now, about “の”.
When you are pointing your pen, you say “This is mine.” That’s これは私のです。
You can say これは私のものです, and これは私のですmeans the same.
When you are holding one of your books, you can say これは私のです.

When you are in a parking lot, and being asked which your car is, you would say pointing a car, “That red car is mine.” =「あの赤い車がわたしのです」＝「あの赤いのが私の� �です」

Usually, の doesn’t indicate person or people, but when you speak casually, it can indicate 人.
“The person who is coming from behind is Sukesan.” = 後から来ているのが助さんです。

When you want to say it politely, and Sukesan is not one of your relatives; 後から来ている方（かた）が助さんです。
When Sukesan is one of your relaties; 後から来ているのが助です。

I have written some complicated things. You don’t need to remember the sentences as of now. I just want you to know that “の” can indicates material objects (and sometimes, a person or people), and there is Honorific speech in Japanese which is very complicated.
Honorific speech in Japanese - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hmm.. Yes, but it's not always the word order that determines the focus in English. I'm not quite sure how to explain it, but I think it's the copula that takes precedence. Thus we had:

1. This was the premise upon which their discussion was based.

As opposed to:

2. Their discussion was based upon this premise.

・・・To which the answer is clearly that there is some extra meaning being conveyed by the more complex structure.
・・・So the reader's attention is focused on this unnecessary addition, making it clear that this is the intended focus.

Is that clear?

Yes, that’s clear now. Thank you.

Don't worry! I consider many Americans to be extremely overbearing, and I know that the attitude of some British towards foreigners has been quite overbearing, especially in the nineteenth century.

I think you understand my meaning. I don’t accuse the colors of the Americans or the English people. Your attitude must be natural in their country. The problem must be there are great differences between us.

Chicken-hearted!? I am surprised to hear you say that.
We define chicken-hearted as "Timorous and cowardly as a chicken, faint-hearted". This is not what I think of when I think of Japan. Perhaps I am outdated!

The word “Chicken-hearted” may be not good to describe Japan. I don’t know any right words.
Many Japanese people regard that the Japanese can’t say any “No” to foreign people, and almost always stub our tow over the international negotiations.

My dictionary says that “cowardice” means 憶病 and卑怯, but憶病 and卑怯 are completely different.
Sometimes we call ourselves 憶病 to foreign people , but we actually might be “not overbearing”.
“Timorous” sounds to be similar to憶病. I think I should have said “timorous” or “not overbearing”.

When I think of Japan I think of codes of honour, humility, diligence and dedication. This seems to me the opposite of chicken-heartedness. One who is willing to die for a cause is not chicken-hearted.

Oh,yes! “Humility” must be the word! Thank you! I didn’t know it.

Here are a couple of our quotations from the OED:

I don’t seem to have seen the sense of the word “chicken –hearted.” Thank you.

I only meant that no nation could be so perfect that all of its members have no hatreds that are based on religion or skin colour — I'm sure that every nation has at least a few members that hate on the basis of religion or skin colour.

I don’t mean to say Japan is idealistic. Some Japanese people dislike some foreign people’s spirit who are from a few certain countries, because the people in the countries often do what we call 卑怯. For example; they make imitations of Japanese products illegally.

Our religion is polytheism and nobody knows the exact number of our Gods. I think we are relatively generous about other religions. We don’t deny other religions, or say our Gods are only approximately eight million real Gods.

Our skin is colored. I think we don’t have any color-based prejudice.

I didn't have that impression. I read this article as a result of what you said:

Japan's Road to Deep Deficit Is Paved With Public Works - NYTimes.com

Now you see what I mean. Thank you.
We need to get out of this pitiful situation.

I see that, as a percentage of GDP, your national debt is almost three times as much as ours. So fair enough!

Thank you for understanding.

Don't talk to me about Prime Ministers! Yes Japan has had quite a few changes in recent times, but we have not fared so well with ours either. Tony Blair led with a presidential style entirely inappropriate to his office. At times we benefited from this, but mostly the country was damaged by it. He was not a strong leader, and so to maintain his presidential style he kept his most realistic challenger, Gordon Brown, in check with a leadership deal and assassinated (not literally, thank goodness!) any competition in the cabinet that he couldn't handle. In my view Gordon Brown had the qualities of a good Prime Minister, but by the time he took over the Labour Party was so severely weakened by Blair's premiership that he could hardly get anything done and we were left with an incompetent government. Now we have Cameron, who is turning out to be more poncey and bumbling by the day. I've always been a supporter of the Liberal Democrats, and so I'm glad that they're getting a look in, but I don't hold out much hope of them being able to make a tremendous difference in this coalition.

I have thought that Tony Blair is a strong leader. Now I know why your country was flourishingly while the Thatcher Administration, and after that, the economy has turned downward.