ghoti

How many hours do Japanese students have to study in order to master English?

I was told by one of my teachers back in my undergraduate days about twenty years ago that for me to master Japanese it would take me 700 hours of class time. The number now seems to be 2,200 hours. Japanese is a language notoriously difficult to learn for native English speakers because of their…
Literature, second language, authenticity, passion

I have fond memories of my undergraduate days as a Japanese major. To me they were exciting times. The world was seemingly spinning at a furious pace. The people I met were doing things, going places. My future was ahead of me. My future now, of course, is still ahead of me (metaphorically, can it…
Internet security

that warm fuzzy feeling one gets when one connects to the internet and finds the servers are not down.
Sustainable economics (linguine-istics)

Sustainable economics – what economists think is possible but environmentalists know is not. See all linguine-istics. (What are linguine-istics?)
Derrida

An awful mispelling of ‘the reader’ by ignorant postmodern scholars. See all linguine-istics. (What are linguine-istics?)
Lay monk (linguine-istics)

Lay monk – a person who has taken the vow of not getting up. See all linguine-istics. (What are linguine-istics?)
What are ‘linguine-istics’?

Linguine-istics are humourous definitions of words and phrase. for example: Linguine-istics – the study of humourous language that is just right (al dente). They are to be regular feature on this blog and are categorized under linguine-istics. Click here to see all.
Word play – Minimum
Academic life – it’s all about publish or perish, and quality over quantity

The bottom line in academia is publish or perish … but … . I have a friend who says publish anything anywhere but in the long run that is academic suicide. Publishing a junk paper in a junk journal is selling yourself short academically. And there are some who think publishing a lot is important.…
If you can’t even get your Japanese right how are you expected to get your English correct

My kids watch this show on NHK called Cooking Idol Ai My Mine. Great show about a girl who is a real live cooking show host. Shows like these truly give kids imagination and creativity. But I was really disappointed in the looseness of their script writing in this dialogue shown the other day: Child:…