Comments on: Mayor Ishihara Thinks the French Can’t Do Math

By: duh

duh — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 00:24:00 +0000

the translation from japanese to english is intended provocatively here. governor simply said french can’t count in japanese. in english translation, it is said as if french people are bad at mathematical calculation. hence david’s comment. when governor said french cannot count means when you say 97 for exapmple in french, they have to say 20×4+17. among developped countries’ language, french is the only language to count as if they can’t count. in other latin derivative such as spanish, italian, romanian, they don’t do. what’s dumb is those who respond blindly to his comment just by reading stupid english translation.

By: David

David — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 07:10:00 +0000

He he, too bad! I’m sorry Ishihara shit, I went for an interview and…what’s happen, a Japanses manager didn’t know to count..yeahh..it’s true (it was 430 / 4 = 107.50, he stopped at 107 something after 30 sec!) I don’t know if he knows everything for a dplomate (?). We know all that French is the diplomatic language..sorry for the Japanese but your language is still too poor
But, I prefer keep in silence this shit of a man who has never stopped “enjo kosai” and so on…
Well, seems like, he is satisfied himself! Do I continue?

By: ashamed

ashamed — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 18:41:00 +0000

I think the timing has something to do with the ITER project…

By: Édouard

Édouard — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 03:34:00 +0000

Thanks for the link. That sort of casual historical sloppiness (rioting by “underclass” & LA earthquake) certainly rings a bell on these shores.

By: dr Dave

dr Dave — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 10:16:00 +0000

Heh, yea… Gallois, Cauchy, Thom, Shwartz… all of them into making cheese. No wonder this country has such a wide offer…

It’s very difficult to say what goes through the head of Ishihara when he makes such idiotic statements. I think it’s part pragmatism, part stupidity, with a layer of disregard for any form of foreign culture on top. I recommend reading the link above to get a grasp on the character. He is a full on racist, who made some comments that would kill the political career of any mainstream politician in the west…

If anything, I guess that reflects more on the apathy of the average Japanese voter (completely disconnected from politics) more than any sort of hatred or even strong feeling against the French language. Most of the fluffy obaachans who would tend to vote on his good family man looks probably even think that French is a cute and lovable language… As for him, he was likely just trying to justify some deep cuts and forgot to turn his brain on before opening his mouth… which does happen quite often…

By: T

Fri, 12 Mar 2010 01:32:00 +0000

Well Japanese is lacking in adjectives so perhaps poetry is beyond the grasp of the japanese – ooh wait a second – haiku was invented here.. / sarcasm

By: Édouard

Édouard — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 07:44:00 +0000

Any reason, logical, political or just xenophobic, for the Mayor of Tokyo to take such a bizarre stance ? Does making idiotically rude and incorrect statements about the French language somehow help his reputation among the (presumed) hordes of anti-French-language Tokyoites ?

By: Mark J

Mark J — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 03:59:00 +0000

Yeah, we all know that the French have been historically bad at math. Just ask the Marquis de L’Hôpital… the… erm… famous cheesemaker.