I remember the behind and front. But in my mind behind means before and front means after, the opposite of how this has it. No matter how many times I tell myself it’s the opposite, I still revert back to my original thinking.
For example: 以後, which is afterwards, I always type previously. Because it’s since + behind, which to me means is previously.
This is because in my head I picture a timeline
Earlier <-------- X -------- Y -------- Z --------> Later
X is behindY, therefore it is before it in time. Z is in front of Y, therefore it is after it in time.
This makes sense to me. Turns out the Japanese think otherwise
Think of it like a line/queue. If someone is in front of you, they go before you. If someone is behind you, they go after you. It’s basically the same in Japanese and English and it’s very consistent if you use that perspective.
I’m not reading this to avoid messing myself up because I’m scared your reason will make sense. Good luck, practice makes perfect, and it might help to write it out both the kanji and English meanings.
I understand the reasoning behind the way the did it. My rant is this doesn’t fit with how I usually use the word.
The line/queue metaphor only works if the point of reference is in the queue and has a predetermined direction. That’s not how I naturally think of it, my point of reference is outside of the queue.
Here is a sentence that matches the way I think about it:
“The reasoning behind this decision.”
Is saying
“The reasoning happened before the decision was made”
In this case, behind == before. This is how I normally use it. The queue metaphor is the only example I can think of that where it’s not the case, whereas I can think a few different examples that match the way I think.
Because of this, I would never use it like the queue example. As in would never say “You are in front of me, so you can go before me”, it sounds weird. I would say “You are in front of me, so you can go first”.
Eitherway, it is what it is. So I guess I’ll just hav to suck it up.
Interestingly enough, I too have a very similar problem, though in a bit different way.
We are moving forward in time. Therefore, on your scale, Z is closer to the front 前 while X is closer to the back 後 – that’s how I see it.
However, that’s not how the Japanese see it – from the Japanese perspective, when I move forward in time, X is what I encounter first, so X is the the front 前. Z – I’ll encounter afterwards, so it’s 後。
The way it’s phrased makes me think of you imagining Japanese people deciding the meaning of words at a conference like they’re ISO standards or something.
Yep! That’s similar to the way I think about it. I did a quick search and there is a couple of other posts about these kanji as well with a similar issue. I’m glad I’m not alone
I’m realising now, I never use the word ‘before’ to mean ‘in front’ in regards to a queue setting so I can avoid the contradiction. I always use other words instead.
I had the exact problem as you had when I started learning Japanese. I was thinking about things the same and also had a hard time wrapping my mind around it. Because it felt backwards to me.
But if my experience is anything to go by, then eventually it’ll become natural in Japanese. I don’t even think about it anymore.
So hopefully, with time, this will stop being a problem for you.
Personally when I’m having trouble wrapping my head around things like this, reasoning in English tends to just confuse me more. So here are some WK context sentences I found that use these words, hope it helps
後
コウイチはドアにかぎを掛けた後、そのかぎを隠した。
Koichi locked the door and then hid the key.
この後、本州に行くつもりです。
After this I plan on going to Honshu.
毎週水曜日は、学校の後プールに行って泳いでいます。
Every Wednesday after school I go to the pool and swim.
前
私のせきは、前から二列目でした。
My seat was in the second row. (from the front)
死ぬ前にもう一度花見をしながら宴会がしたいなあ。
Before I die, I want to have a drinking party under the cherry blossoms one more time.
開ける前に、ドアを叩いてって言ったよね！？
I told you to knock on the door before opening it, didn’t I?!
