The end of term blues
Stress is rising amongst the students and staff as we move closer towards the end of term and the final exams. In Japan the school and university year runs from April to January/February, just the same as the financial year. In fact many people start their jobs in April each year. I’ve been busy making tests for the students in the last few days and from next week I’ll be giving them and then marking them all! I’ll let you know how my university students get on.
Plants and flowers at one of my universities.
Thanks for your blog Rosi I loved your explanation on Maori carving it reminded me of the jade necklace I bought for Sophie with a twist in it when I visited New Zealand.
I wonder what has happened to your package? Is it in the corner of a vastsorting room somewhere in Italy like something from Indiana Jones?
Translating is something very hard NOT to do as Pary in Iran said. I remember I used to do that with French a lot. My problem these days, apart from not being very good, is what teachers call ‘second language interference’. Basically I speak and think in Japanese mostly (a second language) but when I go to France I need to access that language (a different second language) from the deep dark recesses of my brain but the other more prominent language ‘interferes’ and the words come out in Japanese rather than French. That can be pretty funny, when I went to a post office in Paris last summer I asked for “kitte hagaki kokusaiteki kudasai” which is something like ‘could I have a stamp for an international postcard please’. The counter staff looked quite surprised. Perhaps that is why Sophie’s postcard took so long to get here! Delphine I can answer your question, yes the postcard was in an envelope! Darkweed I think you were the victim of an Indiana Jones type conspiracy. But you should have had an apology at the very least. Cristina yes I think you can say “yesterday!” when you need something in a hurry, but you might need to be in a native speaker country for people to understand that! What do you think? Have you ever tried “ASAP”? But with both of these I think a little care should be taken as they both could be considered rude. The sound of your voice is very important when using them.
James beer is usually about 4, 5 or 6% alcohol, whereas sake is about 20% but whisky, gin and vodka are around 40%. I understand what you mean about the microbes, but they live in the guts of the fish, however, with sushi you only eat the ‘meat’ of the fish and usually only the very best parts. When you eat really good sushi it just melts in your mouth it really is surprising and tasty in a light way. All this talk of beer and sushi is making me hungry and thirsty! 
These small Shinto shrines are cared for by the local people. This tends to be older people. You can see these 'O-gizu-san' all over Kyoto and they contain small stones which represent the local gods. Small offerings of food and sake or other drinks are left in front of the stones.
Ricardo yes it took me longer than I had realised to reply to Rosi. As they say in Japan ‘Gomen-ne’ (sorry about that).
Financial year The year from April in one year to March in the next year for the planning of spending and receiving money.
Vast Very big
Sorting room The place where letters and parcels are taken to be organised so that they can be delivered to the right people.
Recesses A place which is difficult to get to either physically or as in this case mentally.
Interference Interferes Gets in the way of, preventingsomething from happening or slowing it down.
Prominent More often used also easy to see "landmark".
ASAP As Soon As Possible.
Comments
Hi Simon, Sophi’s Post card took ages to reach the destination, well. Some time it happens everywhere. To whom can we blame? Still people are sending post cards or greeting cards. I had seen the post man got bunch of letters in his bags long ago. Now he has very small number of letters with him to deliver. Why? Courier, cell phone and internet have taken away the work load of the post man. Still we can’t trust the post dept because of the enormous delay.
Hi Simon, "interference interferes” expression was great! Firstly a few words about myself, I am a studious visitor to this site and have been following BBC LE now for over a year. That is to say that English language is a serious hobby to me. My recent site absence for couple of weeks is due to my annual holiday. We just got back from Crete last night, but ASAP we got back I read the entries that you and Rosi have written and noticed that the conversation was interesting, very decent, I would say. I am looking forward to your oncoming writs.
Hi, you'll must be very busy in the next few weeks, marking tests always take a lot of time, if you want to be fair. it will be interesting if you explain us the abbreviations used in general. I have sometimes difficulties to understand what they mean.
Hi Simon! Actualy, there were written more responses on your last blog. Never mind, your posts are always worth to try it again. Firstly, wonderful flower greeting to Rosi, Sophie and to please all of us, almost romantic I dare to say! There is something in your eyes and face, I can´t guess the right word but I have to smile when I am reading. I am sure now you are hundreds miles from Van Gogh! (Excuse, only an amateur psychologic deformation from traying to paint portraits passionately when it´s time enough.) Now seriously, I have imputed to my laziness those second language interferences. Very interesting to read it happen even to a teacher of languages. And you had to work really hard (as Sophie do too) on managing to speak and think Japanese. Excelent! I take the hut of to both of you! Have a fun at your university work!
Hi, I couldn't comment before. I don't understand what you wrote about exams. Why now if the year ends in January/February? Certainly it must be a mess with so many languages. I know italian and sometimes in Brazil I tried to speak without knowing too much of portuguese and the italian words appeared, perhaps because they are similar, but between French and Japanese there is a big difference!
can l be your friend? bcos that l hope l can learn english language from you and improve it, thanks .
it's me again. My previous comment is not available till now. I agree with someone who ask you to explain abbreviations. I had to search Wikipedia to know what J1 means.
Hi Simon! Oh... the azalea shrubs are really beautiful! The university gardern is very well cared :-). Have a nice weekend, Ana Paula.
Hi Simon, Thank you for your explanation. I didn't know that in England is common to say "yesterday" when you need something to be done very quickly too. But I agree with you that it can be a bit rude to say both "yesterday" or "ASAP". So I think I made a good choise by saying "the sooner the better". Please, send my regards to Sophie. Have a nice weekend. Cris
Hello Simon :) You say that the school and university year runs from April to January or February. How come a lot of Japanese students come to England every year in July and August? Do they have an additional summer holiday? As for the expression 'for yesterday': in Poland it is very common but I wouldn't recommend using it at a hotel, especially when you are a foreigner. Best wishes!
Hello Simon, it's nice talking to you again. I loved the photos of the flowers and the shrine. Do you usually go to England on vacation time? Or do you travel somewhere else? It's good to know that the term is coming to an end and you'll have some time to rest. Thank you for your blog, I'll continue to read it as regularly as possible.
Hi Simon I don't know howmany languages you know. As far as I understand you can speak french, japanese and english and..I don't know the rest of them.. is It difficult to learn such as different languages? It is said that japanese is similar to Turkish at least as the structure but totally different from english or french as the structure and latin alfhabet is used in Turkish. It is easyness for other people especially coming from europe. I think written japanese should be more difficult.The letters seem to me like drawings. Writing takes long time! :)) I think you and Sophie are good at learning other languages or you should have some skills. I spend very much effort to learn english. I feel as if I stand at he same point.My efforts will go on that's why It is my hobby. While speaking english, I realise that I make mistake :(( but words come out as without control. The thing you said seems to be normal when compared to myself. Knowledge on deep places in your brain can interfer eachother. I wish I spoke a few languages like you and they interfered eachother. By the way I like your blogs. Thank you very much altough you very busy to write to us, your students which is online, hope you will be free in a short time. You promised me to write about living in Japane as a foreigner. Take care. Have nice time! :))
Hi Simon ; How are you doing ? In Morocco we speak french a lot and we ddidn't have the possibility to practice the english . I use the BBC Blog to improve my english . I have just posted a comment to Rosi . I am sur , i have made a lot of mistakes . Could you please take a look and gave me your opinion . Thank you very much Redouane
Hi Simon! Nice to e-meet you!! As for the mail, the Italian postal system has gotten worse since its privatisation. Just out of curiosity, when do the Japanese students start their summer holidays? I cannot wait to read your next posts. All the best,
Dear Simon, Your post of flower bed created a curiosity to ask you about special flower arrangement of Japanese people ikebana. How does it differ from flower bouquet? Certainly this question may be interesting to most of us. Short description of Shinto shrine is very much interesting but I expect to know more about sushi. Though this topic generates hungriness to you, it will broaden our knowledge about this food.
Hi Simon¡, beautiful flowers, I´ve always heard about the charm japanese gardens, and the bonsai culture coming from this country or from Asia I´m not sure. What do you know about these bonsai? best wishes
Hi Simon, the picture reminded me of my old days at the university. My teachers, my classmates, many of them I never saw or heard of again. The staying awakes and the prayings before and after any exam, and the sense of relief when any of the exams was over...
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