JINSEI WA GEIJUTSU DE ARU (was: Getting started with a newborn lang)

--- J Y S Czhang <czhang23@...> wrote:
>JINSEI WA GEIJUTSU DE ARU
Oh, no no... LOL!  Again, non-native me speaking, but
I think the style here is quite amusing.  That _de
aru_ form derived from the copula _da > desu > *de
gozaru > de gozaimasu_ is a literary form and not
common even in writing today - unless you intend to
sound quite rigid.  Don't get me wrong, it *is* used
still (and even common in some business situations
I've found myself in) but it's definitely rigid, and
to say "life is art" with that rigid marker sort of
contradicts the meaning to me.

Speaking of this phrase, _jinsei = geijyutsu_ seems to
convey another meaning than the intended "life is
art".  I wish Hiroshi Kato were on to give his
opinion, because somehow it gives me this feeling that
"life, at least, is [some sort of] artistic skill" and
not necessarily this idea of "art".

For instance, if you mean "life is art" as in to
convey that life is "beautiful and colorful", then why
not go with a better translation IMHO such as "jinsei
ga utsukushisa da" (lit. "life is beauty" and the fact
I use particle _ga_ goes to emphasis the subject
"life" instead of convey the nuance of contrast that
_wa_ can convey).  Or, perhaps not as direct but
something else like a definition "jinsei to iu mono
wa, kinchou na geijyutsu to ieru deshou" (lit. "one
can probably say that 'life' is a precious artform").

Bottomline:  I, for one, have serious reservation on
the use of _jinsei wa geijyutsu de aru_ to convey the
meaning of "life is art"...

Any Japanese (or Jpn-speaking foreigners) willing to
opine?

M.E.S.



__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Try FREE Yahoo! Mail - the world's greatest free email!
http://mail.yahoo.com/