Title:題名: Italian is Passionate, German is Ugly, Japanese Deceptive: language myths for cultural propaganda and War.
Think of a language or a local dialect and you will quickly conjure up a stereotype. We do it all the time. We can't help it. Which is the more 'sophisticated' speech? Kyoto Japanese or Osaka Japanese? It's Osaka-dialect. Right? A stupid question which 1000 Japanese students in a survey described here claim they know the answer.
Language myths can be:
(a) Never-ending: British English is more correct than American English"
(b) Dangerous: "Women talk too much"
(c) Irritating over-simplifications: "Chinese is harder to learn than Japanese",
(e) Illogical: "French is more logical than Japanese".
Some myths are harmless. This lecture will mention how some language myths are dangerous and ruthlessly employed in state propaganda for trade wars and culture wars.
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