How Hand Plane Cut - Video

[phrog]

This is a link to a video that shows how a plane cuts wood - more specifically, how the cap iron affects the cutting ability of the plane. It is one of the most enlightening videos on planes that I have seen. It was filmed at a university in Japan and the audio is in Japanese. However, there are subtitles in English. It is fairly long but IMO it is well worth watching if you are interested in hand planes.

http://giantcypress.net/post/2315954...deo-created-by

[leehljp]

I was thinking about that video last week. I saw it a few years ago when I was in Japan.

[phrog]

I was thinking about that video last week. I saw it a few years ago when I was in Japan.

It's a great video. Can you understand the Japanese?

[leehljp]

It's a great video. Can you understand the Japanese?

About half of it. Quite technical and they didn't teach me the technical words that were used there. Japanese have about 4000 words that are basic for most any conversation and then beyond that things become technical. They have about 40,000 words overall and beyond the 4000 to 5000 range, the rest are technical. If one does not have a specific reason to be within that field, you don't get taught that. Even the average Japanese probably don't know what he said. (A woodworker would and mechanical engineer would.)

When I started learning some basic woodworking terminology, I could not use it around most Japanese because they would have no clue as to what I was talking about. IN the case of this video, they are speaking in engineering lingo, above my pay grade! The wood tear out part and measurements were no problem though. The Mechanical - most of it was difficult.

As to the technicality: While most americans will learn quite a bit of technical jargon of different fields such as medical, banking, and even sports, Japanese rarely get out of a certain field of specialty words. I had a teacher whose son went into banking and she told me he had to learn about 2000 new words. That would probably be like most of us having to learn a new language by going into quantum mechanics or maybe the name of every bone, cell and muscle of the body. While we do learn some, Japanese do not wander into even the fringes of specialty fields like we tend to do.

[gerti]

English has quite a large technical vocabulary too. Maybe not as much as Japanese, but still When I moved here my English was pretty decent for everyday conversation. But you have no idea how often I was at Sears etc asking for "the thing that works like so and does such and such". And it wasn't just woodworking: car parts, kitchen utensils, spices (just think how many there are), the list goes on.

And then there are those cultural references. When people ask me how to prep for moving to the states, one of my tips is to watch Wizard of Oz several times. References to WoZ are plentiful, I seem to come across one most days.

[leehljp]

English has quite a large technical vocabulary too. Maybe not as much as Japanese, but still When I moved here my English was pretty decent for everyday conversation. . .

I can imagine what you went through. I have noticed the struggles of many like you (and me) when conversations got into specialty areas. When I was in Tokyo (86 - 91) There was a paint store nearby me that had Tung Oil and it was written on the can in English letters, although the instructions were in Japanese. But after moving to Osaka and for the next 10 years, I could not find tung oil nor find a word for Tung oil. It was in front of me all the time at local hardware and even small home centers under the name of "China Oil" (Chu-abura in Kanji).

Where Japanese were different from the mainstream of technical jargon, in what I noticed and later confirmed by some of my Japanese teachers, was that they overall as a society (yes, a huge generalization) they accept that there are areas that they are NOT supposed to understand and don't even try.

As a minister, I gave far more time towards "illustrations and stories" to make a point. It was here that I learned that general stories about sports, medical, computers, banking, law, construction, animals etc, that were very generic to me went over the heads of many.

HOWEVER, AS you mentioned, when you move into a new culture, it is difficult. BUT, moving into the Japanese culture, and use THEIR language, THEY do not understand, because what you or i say is over their heads with their own language. I wrote a 7 page story about some of my hobbies, likes and dislikes in Japanese as Language practice (Kanji). I was asked to fill in on an English Conversation class for a friend. I took my written story with me and with 6 students (middle aged men and women) and gave 1 page to each person. They were to read the page that I gave them and ask questions in English.

Every one of them did not know some of the "generic" words that my Language teachers had approved as appropriate. The term, "He missed his calling", while ministerial is also used in context of specialized "field of work." My teachers all knew the word, but none of the "middle aged students" had ever heard that. Strangely, some years later, a Japanese lady who visited our home and saw some of my woodwork and knew that I was a minister said (upon looking at the woodwork): "You missed your calling!" A male Japanese language teacher who knew my style well, moved away from teaching me "technical jargon". My fellow cohorts in ministry all looked down on me with my language useage until Japanese started telling them that I communicated better than they did. "Dumb it down" became my motto for effective communication! That point was not aimed at the Japanese abilities as much as the technical words that "I" was using and as was used in the video.

[cwsmith]

Hank,

Very interesting topic (your experiences with language) and one which I greatly appreciated reading.

I have always liked so-called "public speaking" and especially opportunities to teach some subjects to other employees within the framework of my industrial employer's needs. Early on, I leaned that one needs to "speak the other persons language".... meaning that one needed to know their audience and speak to them at their level. (Never a problem for me as my formal education was only at the highschool level.)

One of the great joys of decade leading up to my retirement in 2003 was that I 'coordinated' the training visits of engineers from many other countries to our facility in Painted Post. Always interesting, and sometimes embarrassing in a humorous way. While "English" was the common language, as interpretations of certain terms and phrases can be significantly different. Yet, it is amazing how much we humans all have the common interests of peace, love, and family no matter where we come from.

CWS

[phrog]

About half of it. Quite technical and they didn't teach me the technical words that were used there. Japanese have about 4000 words that are basic for most any conversation and then beyond that things become technical. They have about 40,000 words overall and beyond the 4000 to 5000 range, the rest are technical. If one does not have a specific reason to be within that field, you don't get taught that. Even the average Japanese probably don't know what he said. (A woodworker would and mechanical engineer would.)

When I started learning some basic woodworking terminology, I could not use it around most Japanese because they would have no clue as to what I was talking about. IN the case of this video, they are speaking in engineering lingo, above my pay grade! The wood tear out part and measurements were no problem though. The Mechanical - most of it was difficult.

As to the technicality: While most americans will learn quite a bit of technical jargon of different fields such as medical, banking, and even sports, Japanese rarely get out of a certain field of specialty words. I had a teacher whose son went into banking and she told me he had to learn about 2000 new words. That would probably be like most of us having to learn a new language by going into quantum mechanics or maybe the name of every bone, cell and muscle of the body. While we do learn some, Japanese do not wander into even the fringes of specialty fields like we tend to do.

Thanks, Hank. I just learned a lot. It seems almost as if you're saying that the Japanese culture is not so curious (for lack of a better word) as ours. I find that facinating. I thought that curiosity was a natural part of the human species.

[phrog]

As a minister, I gave far more time towards "illustrations and stories" to make a point. It was here that I learned that general stories about sports, medical, computers, banking, law, construction, animals etc, that were very generic to me went over the heads of many.

Again, I learned something - I didn't know you were a minister. I have many relatives who are ministers. One just left Memphis a few years ago.

[leehljp]

Thanks, Hank. I just learned a lot. It seems almost as if you're saying that the Japanese culture is not so curious (for lack of a better word) as ours. I find that facinating. I thought that curiosity was a natural part of the human species.

Bingo! . . . and somewhat naive about the real world. This last reminds me of when a close friend from Minnesota was teaching English and was teaching "animals". "Racoon" came up and then the Japanese in the class (age 20 - 30 ish) began telling what they knew of racoons: "They wash their food before they eat!" Scott could not convince them otherwise.

[leehljp]

Again, I learned something - I didn't know you were a minister. I have many relatives who are ministers. One just left Memphis a few years ago.

You aren't the first to imply that I don't act like one! I am of the equip and send out persuasion (missionary) rather than the gather and bring in (pastor).

CWSmith
Very interesting topic (your experiences with language) and one which I greatly appreciated reading.

I enjoyed the language learning but it was difficult. I don't have the natural inclination for learning languages that many have, so I really had to work hard at it. I learned from observation of body language and facial gestures as much as the language. It seemed to me that those who had difficulties in learning the language (but stuck with it) were better at overall "communication" than those who were excellent at grammar. The problem with "excellent grammar" in Japanese is that excellent grammar is intentionally vague, only the Japanese teachers don't tell us this most of the time. Kind of like the "Queen's English" - very formal.


As to the video, it bordered on informal language style while holding onto the technical jargon.