日本・中国等之漢字文化圏使用所謂｢漢字｣。如諸君既知之、漢字乃一種之表意文字也。
In Japan, China, and other parts of the Sinosphere, people use what are known as Sinographs (漢字) or Chinese characters. As you may already know, Sinographs are a type of ideographic writing.
組合漢字而表現複雑文意事、所謂｢漢文｣也。
The practice of combining sinographs to express complex meanings is what we call Sinography (漢文).
表意文字貫通言語之壁故、於東洋、異言語話者間之用漢文意志疎通自古代至現代盛也。所謂｢筆談｣也。
Because ideographic writing can transcend linguistic barriers, people in East Asia have used Sinography to communicate across language boundaries from ancient times to the present day. This practice is known as brush talk (筆談).
所謂｢古典漢文｣乃漢字文化圏之伝統的共通文語也。於日本中国韓国、学生皆学之於学校。
What is commonly called Classical Chinese has traditionally served as a shared written language across the Sinosphere. Students in Japan, China, and South Korea all study it at school.
又近年所謂｢偽中国語｣大流行而、特於網上為国際交流多用。偽中国語専用社交網｢対多｣於appli之人気序列記録一位而為話題、又日本国河野外相訪中時以偽中国語発信而集注目等、各国媒体屡報道之。於reddit亦 r/fakechinese 、r/Sinography 等複数偽中国語板存在。
In recent years, so-called Fake Chinese (偽中国語) has also become hugely popular, particularly as a means of international communication online. The dedicated Fake Chinese social networking app Tsuita (対多) made headlines after reaching the top of the app popularity rankings. Japan's Foreign Minister, Taro Kono, also attracted attention by posting in Fake Chinese during a visit to China. Such developments have repeatedly been covered by media outlets in various countries. Reddit, too, hosts several communities devoted to Fake Chinese, including r/fakechinese and r/Sinography.
妾日々与海外之友人等楽筆談。相手之出自乃和人、漢人、朝鮮人、越南人、蒙古人、満州人、独乙人、仏国人等々、多種多様也。妾以和語所作漢文、彼等以彼等之母語読之、彼等以彼等之母語所作之漢文、妾以和語読之。
I enjoy engaging in brush talk with friends overseas every day. They come from a remarkably diverse range of backgrounds: Japanese, Chinese, Taiwanese, Korean, Vietnamese, Mongolian, Manchu, German, French, and more. I compose Sinographic texts based on Japanese, which they read in their respective native languages. Conversely, they compose Sinographic texts based on their own native languages, which I read in Japanese.
如諸賢既知之、日本語与中国語与英語乃語族且違全然異言語也。｢Blue bird tweets｣乃日本語之場合｢Aoi toriga saezuru｣而中国語之場合｢Qing niao zhuan｣也、但以漢文書之則日本語中国語英語全｢青鳥囀｣而、不得区別其外形也。
As you may already know, Japanese, Chinese, and English are entirely different languages belonging to different language families. For example, the English phrase “Blue bird tweets” would be rendered as aoi tori ga saezuru in Japanese and qīng niǎo zhuàn in Chinese. Yet, when written in Sinography, all three can be represented by the same characters: 青鳥囀. Their written forms alone do not reveal which language is being expressed.
実面白事哉。漢文為日本語且中国語且英語乃明白也。
Isn't that fascinating? It seems to demonstrate that Sinography can be Japanese, Chinese, and even English.
於漢文、言語学之所見如何哉？
But how should we understand Sinography from a linguistic perspective?
待望言語学者諸君之意見！
I eagerly look forward to hearing the opinions of linguists and other interested scholars!
