Tag: Japanese language

The concept of humor is a complex one, and it's not uncommon for something that's funny in one language to ...

One of the first things you learn as a foreigner in Japan is that people here will assume you're intimately ...

I often write about how Japanese people are the most polite in the world, which can be understood pretty well ...

The Japanese, as I've often written, are a group-oriented people, and it's interesting to observe the subtle body language that ...

One thing about the Japanese written language is that there's a strange "duality" present, with many words having two valid ...

Back in the early days of my interest in Japan, I used to wonder how computers and word processors might ...

One unique aspect of the Japanese language is the great difference between male and female speech, including gender-specific pronouns, e.g. ...

Quick, what's the square root of five? I have no idea, but my wife knows: it's 2.2360679. How about the ...

The relationship between Japan and the English language is a long and complex one. Everyone studies the language for six ...

When learning Japanese, there are various yardsticks students will use to measure their progress. Are you able to converse normally ...

One thing serious learners of a language need to have in place are concrete strategies for their success. What's fun ...

Sometimes part of the fun of studying a language like Japanese is "surfing" the linguistic elements that are different from ...

One thing about living in Japan: it will really teach you how to apologize well, since the Japanese language is ...

It's well known that the Japanese are an extremely polite people, and this politeness is actually infused into their language. ...

As an American living in Japan, I know how surprised Japanese can get when foreigners internalize the society around them ...

You've been in Japan too long when, while back in the U.S., you're asked your shoe size and reply, "Er, ...

The Japanese can be quite creative when it comes to playing with words, whether it's coming up with an advertising ...

One of the first things you do when learning a foreign language is, of course, to investigate all the "naughty" ...

One of the more useful features of the Internet is the ability to search for information, and this works the ...

The roles of men and women in Japan can be quite different from in the West, for example the general ...

I continue to enjoy my time back home, doing San Diego things like going to the beach and the desert. ...

When you learn a language as different from English as Japanese is, you have to get used to concepts not ...

Every once in a while I like to revisit the rules of Japanese pronunciation, since the language can be tricky. ...

It was reported last week that the Japanese Diet had passed a new law that outlawed various forms of Internet ...