tanka, and other things

[helwen]

9 Nov

Sun, leaves, gathering
Oakstone members congregate
Merry and somber
Conversations and lessons
On y donc a du poulet


..... okay, that might be a little abstruse.... I will explain that the final line is something one of L's fellow students in high school used to day as one of his answers in French class when he didn't know the answer (roughly "They only have chicken here").

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Languages are interesting. When I was first learning French, we learned that "Je t'aime" meant "I love you" but "Je t'aime beaucoup" meant "I like you very much", NOT "I love you very much." Our teacher was showing us that what works in one language doesn't always work in another language. So how would you say how much you loved someone in French? Well, I suppose poetry might come in handy, or at least poetical prose. In French, you have to work at telling someone of your love for him or her. In English we used to do that (Shall I compare thee to a summer day?), and thankfully some folks still do, but it strikes me as interesting that poetical phrasing has been left behind in much of modern life.

Of course, it often seems to be true these days that when some says "I love you", this simple, powerful truth may lack the force it once had... one of the many by-products of a culture built on hyperbole perhaps? A former history professor of mine spoke on this once, how the word "awesome" should be used to describe things that are truly significant, earth-shattering, life-changing, not for describing, say, a new skateboard.

Which is not to say there isn't a place for hyperbole, at least not in my book. But in our modern world of too many stimuli, it seems to be the tool of choice to get people's attention.

I think this is one of the reasons I'm enjoying the Tanka Challenge. Granted that my poetry isn't that great much of the time, yet the syllable constraints do tend to lead to more thoughtful choices of wording.

Comments

[gigglingwizard.livejournal.com]

I think we still have a vocabulary to express extremes. What's more challenging is expressing something less than that, getting just to the right degree without embarrassingly overstating the matter. In Spanish, "Te quiero," means "I like you." In English, though, "I want you"--the literal translation of "te quiero"--means something much more.

Reminds me of the time a Puerto Rican friend and I were saying goodbye as I was leaving a week-long festival. I'd been flirting with her throughout the week, but hadn't gotten any clear signs from her one way or the other. As we said goodbye, she moved her face close to mine as though to kiss me. I attempted to reciprocate the gesture but was rebuffed. She kissed my cheek, which is customary among friends in latin culture. "Te quiero," not "I want you."

[helwen.livejournal.com]

I agree we still have the vocabulary, just that the majority of people don't seem to bother anymore. Advertisements certainly don't help either.

Inter-cultural aspects of communication are a whole other level of complexity.