Question
Updated on
16 Mar 2021
- Japanese
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English (UK)
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French (France)
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Simplified Chinese (China)
Question about English (UK)
What does The English-translated Japanese Constitution begins with : "We, the Japanese people, ...". Why didn't they stipulate "We the people of Japan...", like the Constitution of the United States ? Would you come up with any possible explanation? mean?
What does The English-translated Japanese Constitution begins with : "We, the Japanese people, ...". Why didn't they stipulate "We the people of Japan...", like the Constitution of the United States ? Would you come up with any possible explanation? mean?
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19 Mar 2021
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- English (UK)
I don't know why the former translation was chosen but "the Japanese people" sounds more collective than "the people of Japan." "The Japanese people" is a collective noun phrase referring to all Japanese. If it were "we Japanese people" then it would imply each individual but it would be very informal. "the people of Japan" is less collective and could/does easily imply all the individual people. "The people of Japan" could refer to the individuals or at a stretch to the collective, people as a whole. I would use "the people of Japan" and I don't think it sounds any less modern.
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- English (UK)
- English (UK)
You could possibly construe "the Japanese people" as meaning something different to "the people of Japan", but I don't think that is the case here. It's likely just because "the Japanese people" is a simpler, more modern expression than "the people of Japan".
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- English (US)
- English (UK)
The grammar and syntax of different languages are different. There is no reason that the Japanese Constitution should mirror or mimic the US Constitution.
In other words, the Japanese Constitution is the Japanese Constitution. There is no reason that it should sound like the US Constitution.
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- English (UK)
I don't know why the former translation was chosen but "the Japanese people" sounds more collective than "the people of Japan." "The Japanese people" is a collective noun phrase referring to all Japanese. If it were "we Japanese people" then it would imply each individual but it would be very informal. "the people of Japan" is less collective and could/does easily imply all the individual people. "The people of Japan" could refer to the individuals or at a stretch to the collective, people as a whole. I would use "the people of Japan" and I don't think it sounds any less modern.
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