Language | WELL SAID Aug 3, 2015
No student should be without the Japanese double-negative
by Akemi Tanahashi and Hitomi Tashiro
The pattern X-nai+noun wa nai/inai expresses that, in fact, everyone is/does X.
Language | COMMUNICATION CUES Aug 3, 2015
Defending champ Miki Sudo won the women's division of the Fourth of July hot dog eating contest in New York.
Language | BILINGUAL Jul 27, 2015
A crash course in wartime Japanese terminology for foreign demons
by Mark Schreiber
Ahead of the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II, here's a look at the words, phrases and concepts that found wide usage in the fateful years leading up to 1945.
Language | WELL SAID Jul 27, 2015
Just because you think you know itte-mo, you shouldn't rest on your laurels
by Akemi Tanahashi and Hitomi Tashiro
Today we introduce two expressions that use the verb iu — といっても and といって ...
Language | COMMUNICATION CUES Jul 27, 2015
Squatting in super-tight "skinny" jeans may pose a health risk, Australian doctors warn, reporting the case of a woman who temporarily lost feeling in her legs from an hours-long squeeze.
Language | BILINGUAL Jul 20, 2015
Ain't no cure for the salaryman blues
by Kaori Shoji
This is an excerpt from an interview with a salaryman who wishes to remain anonymous.
Language | WELL SAID Jul 20, 2015
Tarry awhile to learn sakki and, after that, ato
by Akemi Tanahashi and Hitomi Tashiro
Today we look at various ways of using the colloquial nouns さっき (a short while ago) and あと (after a while).
Language | COMMUNICATION CUES Jul 20, 2015
Softbank Corp. announced on June 20 that 1,000 units of its humanoid robot Pepper sold out in just one minute after they went on sale on its website.
Editorials Jul 18, 2015
Honda is just the latest in a growing number of Japanese firms embracing English as its official language; now the nation's education system needs to respond with more effective ways of teaching the language.
Language | WELL SAID Jun 29, 2015
Sitting on the fence in Japanese depends on these sentence patterns
by Akemi Tanahashi and Hitomi Tashiro
Sore-wa ashita-no tenki-ni yorimasu-ne (It depends on tomorrow's weather.) ...
Commentary / World Jun 26, 2015
Picking the right words to ban from campus
by Cass R. Sunstein
American universities have been trying to reduce use of words or behavior that might stigmatize or humiliate people, but they are overshooting the mark.
National Jun 23, 2015
American-Okinawan working to keep Ryukyu language alive
by Tomomi Tomita
Byron Fija, who knows nothing about his American father and little about his Okinawan mother, now works to preserve Uchinaguchi, a native language in Okinawa, after having overcome an identity crisis. "Uchinaguchi comprises my identity itself," said Fija, 45, who refers to himself as an ...