Since I finished reading Yukio Mishima’s novel Confessions of a Mask a few days ago, I’ve started to study the unfamiliar Japanese words I encountered in the book using the Anki flashcard app. Although this is a relatively short story, I came across hundreds of words I didn’t know.
As I can only study around 15 words per day due to my busy schedule, it would take me more than two weeks if I were to cover all the words, but that’s not what I intend to do—I plan to memorize significantly fewer words, as most of them are archaic words of classical Chinese origin and no longer in common use in modern Japanese—I will only select those words that are presently relevant for studying and memorization.
Speaking of Mishima’s language, being curious about how he acquired such a refined and extensive vocabulary, I asked ChatGPT for some insights, along with the experiences of the author Haruki Murakami, who has also impressed me with his rich vocabulary.
Not surprisingly, Mishima was excellent at his schoolwork, particularly in the subjects of classical Japanese and Chinese, benefitting from the pre-war Japanese education with emphasis on memorization of large amounts of classical texts to build the foundation of his vocabulary.
Mishima also recounted his experiences of reading a wide range of books—literary works by Japanese writers and those by Western writers translated into Japanese—from a very young age, being a cosseted kid doted on by his grandmother due to his poor health. It is worth noting that he consciously read books that were considered too difficult for a reader of his age, perpetually attempting to venture outside of his comfort zone and challenging the limits of his intellect.
There was no mention by ChatGPT of Mishima attempting to mechanically memorize words from dictionaries or glossaries to broaden his vocabulary—which is usually my approach—his unparalleled knowledge of literary terms was acquired thanks to his extensive reading of classical works and intensive studying and memorization of selected passages, along with the formidable amount of writing exercise he did to refine his style.
As for Haruki Murakami, he recounted in multiple essays and interviews that someone aspiring to become a novelist must be prepared to read an insane number of books to acquire a robust vocabulary and establish their unique writing style. When he was a student, rather than doing his schoolwork conscientiously, he opted instead for reading countless books, particularly American literature translated into Japanese.
On top of authoring his own books, Murakami has also translated numerous books from English into Japanese. This translating process—where he needs to constantly ask himself what are the Japanese words and phrases that most accurately convey the meaning of the original writing—has sharpened his sensitivity to the nuances of words, enriching his own vocabulary in Japanese and helping to shape his unique writing style.
As I’m not aspiring to become a writer, I certainly don’t need to go to those extremes as experienced by Mishima and Murakami to grow my own vocabulary. Having said that, I do think it’s important for me to possess decent knowledge of Japanese as it’s the primary language I think in on a daily basis. Maybe I can take a page or two out of their playbooks in order to improve my mastery of this beautiful language.
No comments:
Post a Comment