If you really want to be able to use a foreign language well, you need at some point to start thinking in the language — easier said than done! One of the participants in our Spanish forum asked how:
This is a stupid question, but how do you learn a new language’s structure without thinking of [...]
Aug
29
2009
29
2009
Learning To Think in Spanish
Aug
27
2009
27
2009
The Japanese and Bikes
When I was in Japan, I enjoyed riding a bike. My bike was a typical Japanese bike, which has a low seat, upright seating, and a front basket (of course). There is a slang expression for this type of bike. It is called a, “mama-chari”. “Mama” means, “mom”. “Chari” is the short form of “charinko”, [...]
Aug
27
2009
27
2009
Cats in Japan
I love animals. One of my dreams when I was young was to live at and work for the Mutsugoro Animal Kingdom in Hokkaido (the northern island of Japan). Although my dream never came true, and I am not surrounded by as many animals as I had wished, I do have two spoiled cats. I [...]
Aug
27
2009
27
2009
Radio Exercises
As I mentioned in previously, Japanese summer is very hot and humid. The humidity reaches up to 70~80 %. It is obviously not a comfortable time, but there are many things that I miss about the Japanese summer. When I was little, I used to go to the shrine grounds to do “radio exercises” every [...]
Aug
27
2009
27
2009
The Color of the Wall
I mentioned in my previous blog that generally the Japanese don’t move as much as North Americans. There are many differences between a Japanese house and one in North America. One of them is the color of the walls. It is not common to have colorfully painted walls in Japan. They are usually white or [...]