Tag - language

 
 

LANGUAGE

Japan Times
CULTURE / Books
Jan 3, 2015
Novelist Mizumura fights to arrest fall of Japanese literature
The abiding belief among some native English speakers in Japan is that Japanese people need to use more English instead of sheltering in the comfort of a mother tongue barely spoken beyond their archipelago.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / BLACK EYE
Dec 17, 2014
Japan and others gain from Jamaican brain drain
In the last part of this series on Jamaicans in Japan, Baye McNeil speaks to a teacher, author and poet in Yokohama and an attorney in Tokyo.
WORLD
Dec 16, 2014
U.S. dictionary Merriam-Webster picks 'culture' as word of year
Whether popular, corporate or entitled, "culture" was named word of the year by U.S. dictionary Merriam-Webster on Monday as a flexible catch-all that can easily identify a subject, idea or issue.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Dec 5, 2014
Nagoya YWCA offers language classes with day care
The Nagoya YWCA School of Japanese Language in Aichi Prefecture has added a "Bambina" course to its curriculum.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Nov 28, 2014
Flash cards help foreign children learn kanji
An elementary school teacher from Aichi Prefecture has developed a unique new way for foreign children to learn Japanese from flash cards.
WORLD
Nov 21, 2014
Oxford chooses 'vape' as word of the year for 2014
The Oxford English Dictionary named "vape" — the word used for drawing on an electronic cigarette instead of a burning stick of tobacco — as its 2014 word of the year.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / BLACK EYE
Nov 19, 2014
Jamaican sisters come bearing victuals and vibes
Baye McNeil profiles two Jamaican women who have built thriving careers for themselves in the Land of the Rising Sun, half a planet away from the Land of Wood and Water.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / VIEWS FROM THE STREET
Nov 10, 2014
Catalans in Tokyo: How did you vote in the Catalonia referendum and why?
Independence-minded Catalans at a polling station in Tokyo explain why they voted in defiance of Madrid in a referendum that had already been ruled invalid.
WORLD / Society
Oct 25, 2014
Alaska's indigenous languages now official along with English
Alaska's governor signed a bill on Thursday to officially recognize the state's 20 indigenous languages in a symbolic move that gives a nod to tribal efforts to save Native American tongues at risk of dying out.
Japan Times
ASIA PACIFIC
Oct 20, 2014
Sidney Shapiro, famed U.S.-born translator and Chinese citizen, dies at 98
Sidney Shapiro, a famed U.S.-born translator who was one of the few Westerners to gain Chinese citizenship and become a member of a high-level parliamentary body, died over the weekend in Beijing, his granddaughter said. He was 98.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / How-tos / LIFELINES
Oct 19, 2014
DeafJapan opens up the world to the hearing-impaired
DeafJapan provides opportunities for hearing-impaired people in Japan to enjoy activities in English while also linking them up with the global community.
Japan Times
JAPAN / CHUBU CONNECTION
Sep 5, 2014
First-language classes in Aichi struggle to find funding
Various cities in Aichi Prefecture have started offering language classes to children of foreign descent in their first language.
WORLD / Society
Aug 27, 2014
Decline of French language could cost half a million jobs: report
A decline in the number of people worldwide who speak French could cost France 120,000 jobs by 2020 and half a million by 2050 due to missed economic opportunities, a report commissioned by President Francois Hollande said on Tuesday.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / FOREIGN AGENDA
Aug 25, 2014
Use them or lose them: There's more at stake than language in reviving Ryukyuan tongues
With the last speakers of the Ryukyuan languages dying out, an identity is vanishing too.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / TELLING LIVES
Aug 24, 2014
Constructivist 'Pied Piper' of English education rebuilds after hitting rock bottom
David Paul lost almost everything when his Hiroshima-based company, David English House, tumbled like a house of cards in 2010.

Longform

Sociologist Gracia Liu-Farrer argues that even though immigration doesn't figure into Japan's autobiography, it is more of a self-perception than a reality.
In search of the ‘Japanese dream’