This expression is an interesting one, which I’ve seen used in a unique way in both real life and in a Japanese movie. The original meaning is pretty easy to guess – it’s the term for when passing a baton on in a relay race from one runner to the next. However the meaning has… Read More »
Since I speak to my son in Japanese most of the time, I’m always looking for more ways to increase my vocabulary in the area of natural phrases that I can use when playing or interacting with him. This is one of the reasons I was eager to watch this film, which my wife found… Read More »
The Japanese are known for their video games, with a long line of classics like Street Fighter, Mario Bros., Final Fantasy, Devil May Cry, or even Dance Dance Revolution. While in the last decade or so the number of non-Japanese game companies has increased, the Japanese have continued to put out great quality games at a great pace, and… Read More »
Many of us are into cultures from a certain foreign country, and feel that many things produced from that country are funny, interesting, or thought-provoking. Or maybe you’re a general culture nut and feel all the world’s cultures have something unique to offer. In my case I’m still very enamored with Japan and Japanese culture, but there are… Read More »
The other day I read a fellow blogger’s review of the book “Fluent in 3 months” (which you can see here), and that got me thinking about what foreign language fluency really is. If I did an online search I’m sure I could find hundreds of explanations, but I decided to take a different angle and… Read More »
I’ve mentioned in a few posts how background knowledge on a certain subject will make comprehension, and acquisition of new vocabulary words much easier when reading or listening to foreign language content related to that subject. For example, if you are very familiar with biology and read a Japanese biological journal, you’ll be able to… Read More »
As I’ve touched on several times in this blog, one of the themes in my Japanese studies is uncovering what real Japanese is like. Not the stuffy textbook Japanese (though that’s also important in it’s own way), but things like slang expressions and other phrases you’d hear on the street or spoken by an everyday native… Read More »
For me, one of the attractions of studying and becoming fluent in a foreign language is the concept of thinking in a language other than my native tongue. I’m not talking about just speaking in a foreign language without first forming the thoughts in one’s native language, but also the ability to follow a chain… Read More »
Yesterday me and my family stopped by the Ichimura Japanese Gardens in Miami, Florida, where we heard they were holding a Japanese festival. These gardens are located right next to Miami’s “Jungle Island” Zoo, the latter of which has been around for 75 years. I was first surprised when I discovered the Ichimura gardens because… Read More »