Are Japanese jokes funny? (3)
Maryna
青いキリン
ある大金持ちが「もし、青いキリンを見せてくれたら、莫大な賞金を出そう」といった。
イギリス人・・・そんな生き物が本当にいるかどうか徹底的に議論を重ねる。
ドイツ人・・・そんな生き物がいるかどうか博物館や図書館へいって調べる。
アメリカ人...軍を出動させ、世界中に派遣して探し回る。
スペイン人・・・賞金をもらった気になって盛んに前祝いをはじめる。
日本人・・・努力に努力を重ねて品種改良のうえ、青いキリンをつくろうとする。
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Maryna
Blue giraffe
One rich man said: "If you show me a blue giraffe, I will give you a huge bonus."
The English: have exhaustive discussions about whether such an animal really exists.
Germans: go to museums and libraries to find out if such an animal exists.
Americans: dispatch the army and send it around the world to find this animal.
Spanish: imagining that they have already received the award, they begin a magnificent celebration.
The Japanese: by daily efforts they improve the breed of an animal, and try to create a blue giraffe.
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Maryna
Grammar comment
Since representatives of different countries are mentioned in this joke, let's look at the formation of nouns Japanese, American, etc. The grammatical pattern is very simple. You need to take the name of the country and add 人 (jin) - "person" to it. For example:
イギリス  (igirisu) + 人 (jin) →  イギリス人  (igirisujin) - English;
ドイツ (doitsu) + 人 (jin) → ドイツ人 (doitsujin) – German;
アメリカ (amerika) + 人 (jin) → アメリカ人 (amerikajin) – American;
スペイン  (supein) + 人 (jin) → スペイン人  (supeinjin) - Spanish;
日本 (nihon) + 人 (jin) → 日本人 (nihonjin) is Japanese.
For those who want to practice on their own, we will write a few more country names: ロシア (roshia) - Russia; フランス (furansu) - France; 中国 (chyu:goku) - China; 韓国 (kankoku) - South Korea.
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Maryna
Linguocultural commentary
So, what does this anecdote tell about the Japanese, what trait of their national character is it talking about? It seems that this is constant effort, daily, painstaking diligence, the result of which are truly miracles: high-speed trains that are not late for a minute, tunnels under the ocean, artificial islands - if they know how to create the impossible, it is in Japan. Maybe someday we will see a blue giraffe under the sakura.
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Maryna
Do you agree with this national character of Japanese?
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