There& #39;s a Japanese grammatical construction that has the connotation of, "this may be a controversial thing, but I believe it very strongly."
When I learned it in class (in Japan) I used climate change as my example. Yes, we knew how to say "climate change" [1/?] https://twitter.com/TheValorieClark/status/1311156869210148864">https://twitter.com/TheValori...
When I learned it in class (in Japan) I used climate change as my example. Yes, we knew how to say "climate change" [1/?] https://twitter.com/TheValorieClark/status/1311156869210148864">https://twitter.com/TheValori...
The teacher told me I was wrong, and I couldn& #39;t understand why. We went back and forth a few times (in Japanese, of course), and I still didn& #39;t get it. So I went to ask after class because I was VERY confused. [2/?]
It still took a few tries but finally the teacher said -- very rhetorically! -- "But climate change isn& #39;t controversial, right?" and the lightbulb went off!
I was wrong because *this wasn& #39;t considered a controversial belief in Japan* it was considered, simply, fact [3/?]
I was wrong because *this wasn& #39;t considered a controversial belief in Japan* it was considered, simply, fact [3/?]
And my teacher had failed to figure out where I was misunderstanding because to *her*, the fact that it was factual was very obvious!
After that I asked my Japanese friends about it and told them that 1/4 of Americans don& #39;t "believe" in climate change [4/?]
After that I asked my Japanese friends about it and told them that 1/4 of Americans don& #39;t "believe" in climate change [4/?]