Even Smileys Get Lost in Translation

[ozgeorge]

I have a friend in Japan I correspond with, and when she adds a smiley to show "happy", she types this (^_^)
I've always wondered why the mouth on her smiley doesn't smile, and today I discovered why.
Research has shown that people from East Asia focus their attention on a person's eyes as a means of interpreting their emotion, and as a result they have difficulty distinguishing facial expressions for different emotions where the eyes look similar (eg "surprised" vs. "fearful").
I wonder if this explains why the eyes are exaggerated and disproportionate in Japanese animations?

Here's the article:
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/08/090813142131.htm

[EofK]

Interesting!  I wondered that myself.

[HandmaidenofGod]

Well that makes sense.

[ialmisry]

I wonder if this explains why the eyes are exaggerated and disproportionate in Japanese animations?

I''ve always wondered about the giant moths and such in the movies.  Fascinating

[Rosehip]

Fascinating! I think the same applies to a certain degree to Eastern European culture. There's the saying "Eyes are the windows to the soul". I always look at people's eyes...therein can be found such  depth of emotion-whether joy or pain-and even clues as to the person's character. I find many western people in general very unsophisticated in their ability to read into the soul by observing facial expression compared to the more finely-tuned sensitivities of the Eastern European folks.

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