Tag - language

 
 

LANGUAGE

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.
Japan Times
JAPAN / History / JAPAN TIMES GONE BY
Aug 2, 2014
Emperor, councilors weigh war declaration; simplified Japanese created for foreigners; Russian musicians defect; foreigners' office hears thousands of problems
100 YEARS AGO
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LEARNING CURVE
Jul 27, 2014
Osaka bets big on TOEFL to boost English levels
The Osaka Prefecture Board of Education is pushing through a raft of initiatives to shake up English-language education, chief among them the introduction of TOEFL at top-performing high schools, which will be taught by an elite group of teachers earning approximately ¥8 million a year.
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Voices / HOTLINE TO NAGATACHO
Jul 9, 2014
Three ways to jump-start English abilities in time for 2020
There will likely be a raft of further efforts to encourage English learning in the run-up to the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, but here are three simple ideas that could help boost English levels right now.
LIFE / Language
Jun 29, 2014
Particles create the chemistry of adjectives and adverbs
I first started studying Japanese the summer after my first year of college. I was still promising my parents that I would take the med school prerequisites and eventually become a doctor, but I knew going in to college that all I really wanted to do was learn Japanese. I must have had science on my...
Japan Times
JAPAN
Jun 22, 2014
Japan urged to do more to promote its language overseas
Japan needs to make bigger efforts to promote its culture and gain public support for the promotion of Japanese-language education overseas, according to a linguistics scholar who has taught the language for more than 40 years in the United States.
COMMUNITY / Voices / OVERHEARD
May 31, 2014
The short answer
Man #1: My friend speaks English well.
COMMENTARY / Japan
May 20, 2014
Design tests to measure priority outcomes
The discovery of fraud in the adminstration of the high-stakes TOEFL and TOEIC tests is disturbing, but the larger issue — which has been given short shrift — is that these tests are designed to emphasize written English rather than spoken English.
COMMUNITY / Voices / OVERHEARD
May 10, 2014
Unclear on the concept
Woman #1: Can you speak English?
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Issues / LEARNING CURVE
Apr 20, 2014
To teach to test or for communication — or both?
Which is more important: to communicate in a second language or to test well?

Longform

Construction takes place on the Takanawa Gateway Convention Center in Tokyo, slated to open in 2025.
A boom for business tourism in Japan?