« Bisounours »🧸🐻 It comes from the French name of the kids cartoon “Care Bears,” and means “la la land.” We use it when a person is a bit naive and sees the world like a rainbow where everyone is lovely — like the Care Bears world. For example, former French president François Holland was called “président […]
In my initial post about Japanese linguistics, we took a look at the important grammatical differences in emotional expression between English/French and Japanese languages. In the second post, we saw the differences in establishing viewpoint and perspective. Today, I’d like to talk about another difference: the time perception. This can be a strange concept, since many assume time should be […]
🇫🇷 « Mais il est dit que, jusqu’à la fin, Vienne décevra celui qui, entre tous les grands maîtres qu’elle a vu passer, lui aura prodigué avec la plus éblouissante abondance les témoignages de son génie.» Emmanuel Buenoz – « Mozart »📚 🇺🇸 Today, a quote about Mozart. This excerpt mentions how Vienne never really acknowledged Mozart’s genius […]
« In cauda venenum » 🇺🇸 The poison (of scorpion) is in the tail This proverb is teaching us that the most dangerous part of a scorpion is not their visible pincers in the front, but their poisonous tail in the back. A person may act nicely at first, but may also sting eventually, so beware! 🇫🇷 […]
Wonder how Japanese police conduct themselves? In my experience, they are polite and helpful, and although they do some targeted ID checks once in a while, the population is generally not afraid of them. Despite their reputation for being calm, this video shows them in action with a Yakuza group, yelling and talking like…Yakuza! But […]
🇺🇸 Today, let’s explore some French words that are “faux amis.” It means that they are “false friends,” because they are similar to English words, while having a different meaning which often lead mistakes for many students. Let’s go over some of the most common French faux amis: — Déception ≠ deception. It means “disappointment.” […]
🇺🇸 Although artist Kumisolo was born in Japan, as a teenager she was inspired to live in Paris after watching a Jean-Luc Godard’s movie. Perhaps this is why her music possesses a French 60’s vibe that is mixed with a touch of Japanese aesthetic. Some of you may recognize the song “Ce soir” (=tonight) as […]
« Moulin à paroles »🍃 🇺🇸 It means “chatterbox.” (Literally “a words’ mill”) 🔻🔻 🇫🇷 « Qu’est-ce qu’il m’embête celui-là, il n’arrête pas de parler, c’est un vrai moulin à paroles ! » 🍃🍃🍃 🇯🇵 直訳は「言葉の風車」で、くだけた言葉で、「おしゃべりな人」のことを言います🍃風車が止まらず回転し続けているイメージから来ています🌷日本語の「マシンガントーク」に近いですね💡C’est un vrai moulin à paroles! 彼めっちゃおしゃべりだよね!と言う感じで使います👌🏻 Chokuyaku wa “kotoba no fuusha” de, kudaketa kotoba de, “oshaberi na hito” no kotowo iimasu. Fuusha […]
🇺🇸 In a previous post, I discussed how the perspective differs between Japanese and English languages. Today, I’d like to share two more examples that are areas where students often make mistakes. Quiz time: how would you translate these two phrases into Japanese? 1) “My friend and I swam.” Many students are tempted to do […]
« Asinus asinum fricat »🐴 🇯🇵 ロバはロバを撫でる (roba wa roba wo naderu) 古代ローマで、ロバは馬鹿の意味でも使われていて、お互いを褒めちぎってばかりいる人たちのことを揶揄した格言です🐴🐴 (Kodai rooma de, roba wa baka no imi demo tsukawareteite, otagai wo homechigitte bakari iru hitotachi no koto wo yayushita kakugen desu.) 🇫🇷 L’âne frotte l’âne Proverbe latin se moquant des personnes qui n’arrêtent pas de se faire des compliments excessifs mutuellement🐴🐴 🇺🇸 The […]