August 17, 2014　=========
☆ wise　　賢い
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Someone who is wise is not foolish. They are able to use their experience and knowledge in order to make sensible decisions. In English movies and books, we often hear about the “wise old man” or the wise old woman”… but, really, there is no need to be “old” in order to be “wise”!
Obviously because you need a lot of experience to be wise, but that doesn’t always mean you have to be old, right? Some people gain a lot of experience when they are very young… the CEO of Facebook was just 23 years old when he became a billionaire. Hmmm, maybe he is just very smart, not actually “wise”. However, his salary with Facebook is just US$1 a year. Yes, about 100yen. The rest of his money comes from stocks in the company – he chose this type of salary and stock option because he felt it was more motivating to work to help the company grow (so that his stock values increase and he gets richer) than a set salary. So maybe he is wise, too.
How about in Japanese culture? Is being wise generally associated with being old?
Bye,
Chris