Distance from a document

 We need dictionaries to read classical or foreign documents.

 When I studied at university as a graduate student, my professor forced me to read documents written two thousand four hundred years ago in Greece. I needed two kinds of dictionary. It took me about four hours to understand a line. My professor was so strict. When I couldn’t understand the meaning of a document he scolded me severely. I used to prepare for over fifteen hours for his class every week but I could never understand those documents. He always scolded me. During the class I always broke out in a cold sweat. We continued the class for four years.

 Recently, I read a book written by a Japanese popular novelist who is ten years younger than me. The book was a so-called “light novel”, a style of Japanese novel for young adults. I was enjoying the book very much, but suddenly I found two words I couldn’t understand. I repeatedly read the text, but I couldn’t even imagine the meaning of the words. This experience reminded me of my professor and made me break out in a cold sweat.

 I checked on the Internet. One of the words was a technical term for a snowboard. The other was a technical term for a video game. The author was ten years younger than me. His generation knows all about snowboards and video games. They could easily understand these words. I was too old to read his literature without recourse to a dictionary or the Internet. Every language is changing. If it continues to change like this, it will be very different two thousand four hundred years from now. Furthermore, if a foreign person reads a book written today, he or she will need four hours to understand one line.

 Actually, documents which you can read without using a dictionary are precious. The writer must be close to you. He or she uses the same language. He or she must be your generation. You should support him or her right now. Are you thinking of enjoying books after your retirement? However, in the future, young popular writers will use words you can’t understand and write documents you can’t understand without a dictionary.

 It will never happen, but if a graduate student in Greece read this document of mine two thousand four hundred years from now, he or she would break out in a cold sweat. Literally it would be Greek to him or her. Oh! I don’t mean literally?

 

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