Through the Open Window: A Manifesto for Approaching Language Study with an Open Mind

(Editor's Note: A Manifesto is 'a written statement declaring publicly the intentions, motives, or views of its issuer(Merriam-Webster)' which means what you're about to read is highly opinionated, more blunt in tone and likely to make you angry. Just a fair bit warning, since it's a bit long and you may not agree with what I'm about to say. And yes, I do expect you not to skimp, silly *laughs*)

The language we're raised with is shaped by grammar, colored by vocabulary & powered by culture, a word strongly tied to the stuffy and snooze-inducing aspects of our world-for example, the guy who turns his nose at those not into musicals or fine wines.

However, as culture can be manifested by a tea ceremony, so can it manifest through Causal Fridays & riding the bike trail to Border's with your friends every Saturday, all 3 a way of doing things cultivated through shared values & beliefs. When grammar, vocabulary & culture work in sync, our thoughts gain life & let us interact with the world how we want to, even if we've never seen it before.

You may be wondering how this relates to learning a language, and to that I say this: In understanding this you not only uncover the key to learning a language, but the key to learning it as your language.

Lesson 1.4: Mora

For English we use syllables to write, read and pronounce each of our words as well as quickly pick apart any new words(like, say, the newly minted dictionary entry Bromance) or dialects we encounter. By comparison, Japanese pronunciation is much different, and instead of saying their syllables altogether in a constant breath, each one is said distinctly as a mora, or a unit of sound that helps us decide what gets emphasis in the words we say.

Take the word Mora, for example. Instead of pronouncing it as we might've learned from American style English(All a bit slurred together, IE MOR-a), we give each part of the world a bit of heft, pronouncing it a bit more like this (MOH-rah). Think along the lines of the way British English and Spanish is spoken, especially the Spanish rolled R's and you'll get even closer to Japanese style pronunciation.

Side note: Pronouncing Japanese through American style English accent is known in Japan as the 'Gaijin-san' accent, the term loosely translating as 'Mr Foreigner", and often communicates that your main knowledge of Japanese is through the heavily distorted versions seen in pop culture(such as in Banzai & The Karate Kid, no disrespect meant to those who do Wax On & Wax Off). It's viewed much the same way we'd view Japanese people pronouncing English through their accent, and I would assume is NOT something you'd like to be associated with.