Quote:
Originally Posted by RealJames
I feel that Japanese is somewhat crude and lacks the proper vocabulary to express simple ideas, but like you said, sometimes Japanese can express things much more easily than English, I just feel it's not an even balance...
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Wow... I just don`t even know what to say to this.
It`s not an even balance because you can`t speak them evenly.
Just because you don`t know the proper vocabulary doesn`t mean it is not there.
There is a tendency to feel that the language you are weaker in is a weaker language. It`s not. It`s your own ability. If you have a limited vocabulary, the entire language is going to seem limited. It has nothing to do with the actual qualities of the language.
I find that Japanese literature is often more expressive than English. You`ll hit this a lot if you compare translations - You need far more text to convey things that are quite short in Japanese... And often it loses an incredible amount of meaning even then.
When it comes to literature, I`ll choose whichever translation (from a third language I do not know) feels better to read - in most cases I find myself choosing the Japanese unless the translation is really poor.
But in the end, I`d really say they`re almost entirely equal. My answer to which is better would change based on what it is I`m referring to, the time of day, or my mood.
And, well, if you just say "Scary" in English, it`s not going to be very exact either. It isn`t as if you cannot distinguish between "I`m scared" and "I`m scary" in Japanese - you just don`t have to if it is clear in context. If you want to be explicit in everything you say, while sounding very odd and like overkill, it is entirely possible.