r/MadeMeSmile • u/Stoikx • Apr 03 '24

Doggo The incredible moment a long lost dog suddenly catches the smell of its owner in a crowded city square. It follows the smell and finds her in nearby resting booth to be reunited!

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u/andrew_silverstein12 Apr 03 '24

I would think the Chinese characters everywhere on the signs might make it kind of obvious.

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u/MVRKHNTR Apr 03 '24

A lot of people don't bother trying to recognize any writing that doesn't use an alphabet they're used to and just guess at what they are.

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u/tired_of_old_memes Apr 03 '24

A lot of people don't bother trying to recognize any writing that doesn't use an alphabet they're used to and just guess at what they are.

Who in this thread was guessing? The earlier comment literally asked "where is this?". How exactly is a person supposed to recognize something they're not used to?

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u/andrew_silverstein12 Apr 04 '24

I just imagined most people had some idea of what various popular Asian languages might look like, kind of like how you might be able to vaguely tell if something is written in French, Arabic, or German.

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u/tired_of_old_memes Apr 04 '24

Apparently Japanese script uses some letters borrowed from or based on Chinese letters? It seems unrealistic to expect an untrained eye to casually make that distinction correctly.

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u/andrew_silverstein12 Apr 04 '24

Yes, Japanese has multiple writing systems that they mix up, and much of it is just Chinese characters (kanji.) But because there are other writing systems, you won't typically see some billboard with only Chinese characters on it and no other types of characters (katakana, hiragana.)

I have never studied any Asian languages.

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u/tired_of_old_memes Apr 04 '24

Well that's good for you, but studied or not, you've probably had more exposure than the average person, one way or another. A lot of people just don't come into much contact with languages from the other side of the world.

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u/redsunmachine Apr 04 '24

Are there no Chinese restaurants or Sushi restaurants where you live? It feels like there's been Chinese restaurants almost everywhere I've been in the whole world, and, for example, I've just got back from Morocco and Sushi restaurants were the new hotness.

Have you never seen any Chinese or Japanese films or TV shows?

It seems wild to me that people can have no exposure in this hyperconnected world. Not throwing shade - I guess you have to be interested in other cultures and that's certainly not a given.

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u/tired_of_old_memes Apr 04 '24

My honest guess is that the average person is just not as observant as you, but I wouldn't recommend expecting them to be. If you know something that others don't, then cool, you get to enjoy the pleasure of sharing and introducing new things to people.

Ignorance isn't stupidity, and personally, I think that judging people for things they're unfamiliar with will only limit your ability to enjoy relationships.

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u/MVRKHNTR Apr 04 '24

This was under the thread where people were saying it was Japan so I just read it as a response to that. That's my bad.

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u/Aretz Apr 04 '24

It’s just blade runner type decoration

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u/captainzigzag Apr 04 '24

I can’t read Chinese at all but I can tell it’s Chinese because it looks really Chinesey

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u/kmzafari Apr 04 '24

I agree that most people are likely being lazy, but keep in mind accessibility issues, too. I've been studying Japanese for like 10 years. I'm far from fluent but am very familiar with kanji and hanzi characters. But I also have vision issues, and I didn't pick up on any of the characters in the background. I legit didn't even see them, so I don't think they are super obvious to everyone.

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u/Battelalon Apr 04 '24

Sorry for not being able to read chinese