Tag: language

"Nothing is lower than the human race---except the French."  --Mark Twain

A couple months ago, a Chinese person shared how she's struggling with the Japanese counting system because it had different units for different things.  Counting two pencils is "ni-hon," for example, but two books is "ni-satsu."  Boats are counted "ni-sou" yet larger ships are "ni-seki."

A couple months ago, I defended lawyers. To show that I can make myself even more lovable, today I defend my educational background, which I thought spoke for itself.  For this show of narcissism that's paralleled, y'all can thank my office neighbor, who, upon hearing the details of my academic history,  questioned whether I slipped through the

The managing partner of my firm's Tokyo office once said that he considered anyone who claimed to be bilingual to be a liar.  Bilingual himself, he was being facetious, but he had an underlying point that I completely shared:  bilingualism just means that you're imperfect in two languages.

I'm often asked, generally in Japan, which language I'm more comfortable with, English or Japanese.  Since my subconscience* (i.e. my dreams) has been in English for years, the answer to the question is obvious.

That answer, though, is actually a matter of relativity.  Just because English is my better language doesn't mean I'm a good English

A two and a half week absence from my blog has left me with mixed feelings: the gratification in knowing  people follow my blog but resignation in knowing they're only interested in my politics. For those who kindly encouraged me to break my silence as Ted Kennedy died and Japan went through an Obama-esque "change,"

Japanese is a terrible language.  And I'm not saying that just because I haven't been able to master the language due to my elementary school slackery.

Even if you set out to intentionally create the most vague, indefinite language, you couldn't have done better than Japanese language.

It fits the people perfectly.