Three young words

We were all children at some point in our lives, and often look back at that time fondly. Many of us who are lucky enough to work with children admire their fearlessness and honesty at the same time that we might be annoyed with their immaturity. So what do we call adults who sometimes remind us of children in either good or bad ways? Here are a few ideas:

For someone who is open and adventurous, with a sense of wonder about the world, you can use the world "childlike", as in "She has a childlike honesty with all the people she knows."

For someone who is a bit unruly, rude or even simple-minded, try the word "childish". For example, "I'm tired of listening to your childish jokes."

Last, to capture the same mood as "childish" but give yourself an even greater sense of authority and condescension, try "juvenile", like "I don't care for your juvenile attitude."

We all know some people like this, so give them a try!

How are you?

Upon their first real-world English experience, many English students are surprised by the variety of greetings people use. In the world of 英会話, the standard is "How are you?", but this is only the beginning.

Just by making a few small changes to "How are you?", you can make a great palette of greetings to choose from.

"How are you doing?" ("I'm great")
"How have you been?" ("I've been great")
"How are things?" ("They're fine")

If you want to be more casual, try one of the following.

"What's up?" ("Not much")
"How's it going?" ("Pretty well")
"What's happenin'?"

Among young people, you will also hear "Sup" often. This is short for "Wassup", which is short for "What's up". Give it a try if you want to sound like you're saying 「うっっっす」 in English. You probably shouldn't use this one at work!

What Japanese food do you like?

Since I get asked this question a lot, I'll put my answer up here for all to see:

I LOVE miso, soba, tofu, all kinds of sesame dressing, daifuku, and some kinds of ramen. I also love kimchee, but that's not technically Japanese food, is it?

I like houtou, udon, some Japanese curries, zenzai, Shingen mochi, and big pots of nabe. I also like American-style teppan yaki, but I've never eaten it in Japan.

I have mixed feelings about tsukemono, natto (though it's good with sauce and mustard), manjuu, onigiri or omusubi, and most kinds of seaweed. I also never eat rice unless it comes with something else - to me, it's a side dish. Plus, I like brown rice more than I like white.

Mistakes Natives Make

As an English teacher working with non-native speakers, I see more than my share of mistaken grammar, usage, and spelling - but you may be interested to know that native English speakers also make lots of mistakes. The difference is that because native speakers learned their first language in an environment where they use it every day, the types of mistakes they make tend to be more ones of habit and convenience than ones of misunderstanding. In fact, correcting a native speaker's technically mistaken grammar can be a good way to get you called a "pedant", or someone who obsesses over details and academic minutia.
I happen to be quite pedantic when it comes to language, so mistakes natives make concern me quite a bit - even more than mistakes from non-natives, since at least non-natives have a perfectly legitimate excuse not to know how the language works. Here are a few common errors native English speakers make that I rarely if ever see from non-natives:

"Everyone has their own problems"
The word "their" has to refer to two or more people, whereas "everyone" is grammatically singular. Natives quite commonly use "they", "their" and "them" when the subject of their pronoun is of unknown or undetermined gender, even if it is only one person. The correct form, however, is "Everyone has his or her own problems", using singular pronouns.

"Lady's clothing store, its a real bargain"
Grammatically correct use of the apostrophe trips up many people, and turns what used to be a simple printers' mark into a bone of contention among amateur and professional grammarians everywhere. The first word in the above sentence, "Lady's", should be "Ladies' ", since the store is presumably for more than one lady. The word "its", however, needs an apostrophe between the t and s to make it clear that this is an abbreviation of "it is", and not something that belongs to it. Most people can tell what these mean in context though, which is why efforts made to correct them so often fall on deaf ears.

Natives speakers learn their language descriptively, as a tool to explain and communicate, rather than prescriptively, as a system of unbreakable rules. While I believe describing and communicating are the primary functions and in fact the raison d'etre for language's existence itself, rules that sometimes seem arbitrary can say important things to other people who know the same rules - and that's why I try my best to protect them. They are one more tool of communication that I don't want to see dulled.

Spring waits to spring another day...

In one week, it will be spring. I'm definitely looking forward to not having to wear my jacket indoors anymore, but on the other hand, the warmer weather is sure to bring a fresh new batch of insects, too. I guess every silver lining has a cloud attached to it.

My brother in Washington, D.C. reports that the cherry blossoms there are supposed to bloom soon - let's hope we get some here soon, too!

Shizuoka

A friend asked me recently, "which is better, Hamamatsu or Shizuoka?" Since I lived in Hamamatsu for a little bit, I thought I knew enough to answer him. "I actually like Hamamatsu better than Shizuoka", I said, "because Hamamatsu has a stronger identity. Shizuoka has many nice stores and some decent sightseeing, but when I go there I don't feel like I'm someplace unique." Whether you like it or not, Hamamatsu definitely does have a unique identity. I feel the same about Fujinomiya, which is why I like living here.

Welcome!

This is the first post on the new OC English blog. Check up here every couple of days for news, random writings, or anything else we feel like posting here. That's all for now - but I promise, more will be coming!