Adventures and Accidents in Attempts to Articulate English and Japanese are very different. This we have established. Some words that sound like nonsense hold very potent meaning in the other language (the F--- word is a good example of this). Here are some, he hem, "incidents" I've been a part of in the last few weeks and months. I was trying to remember how to say the days of the month (like 1st, 2nd, 3rd,) etc., and remembered that most of the words ended with "ka". I was with a high school friend, and she was enthusiastically trying to jog my memory and encourage me that "I could do it!" So I began...Tsuitachi (first), Futsuka, (second), Mikka, (third) Yokka (fourth), Itsuka (fifth)...here I stopped. "I can't remember," I told her. "Muika. Sixth is muika." "Ok," I resumed, "Muika...." Now here I paused again, but only shortly, for something in the back of my head told me that the next one should start with "s". Every other language I've ever heard has a "seventh" that starts with "s." Spanish, English, Portuguese, German...and on and on. Unfortunately, Japanese is an exception, as I quickly found out when I blurted out, logically following the previous word's pattern, "Suika!" Yeah. Wrong. Not seventh. Watermelon. It means watermelon. On Saturday, one of my friends and her sister came over to my apartment to watch a movie. After it was over, her sister asked me if she could, "Borrow the toilet." That one doesn't translate so literally from Japanese... Two words that are very important to know when you are teaching junior high kids English are, "opposite" (hantai in Japanese) and "pervert"--they're junior high kids, remember (hentai in Japanese). A couple weeks ago, some of my ninth grade boys were working on a review sheet that included a bunch of opposites. I leaned down to tell him that all he needed to look for was "the word's opposite." I'll give you one guess as to what I actually said. Another important word to know is the Japanese word "chin chin" or "chim chim" (the equivalent of the English word "weiner"--and I don't mean hot dog). Unfortunately, this sometimes slips our minds when we're sorta "in teacher mode" in an elementary school class. We often teach parts of the face...and often say them twice, in funny voices, so the kids can remember them. The part below the mouth usually excites a barrage of giggles... There are other problems with this one, too, we've noticed. Again, in elementary schools. We often teach fun songs or English stories. Particular ones to avoid: Mary Poppins' chimney sweep song ("Chim chiminy, chim chiminy, chim chim cher ree...) And ESPECIALLY The Three Little Pigs ("Little pig, little pig, let me in!" "Not by the hair of my chinny chin chin!") Hey, I didn't make the language OR the story. Today I was grading tests in the teachers' (group) office, and I took a break for snack time. I was tasting some interesting jelly-type things made from bean curds when a teacher came up to me and asked "Dou desu ka?" (How are they?) "Oishii desu yo!" (They're delicious!) I replied. I didn't realize she was talking about the tests. And last but not least, though this is more cultural than language-oriented, while Tammy, Jeni, and I were on our evening run, one of the town's 4 cops (I'm serious) drove by. When he saw us, he picked up his microphone and blared over the loud speaker--for the whole town to hear--"Faito, Faito! Gambare!" A rough translation..."Looks like you're pushing it! Keep it up! Kick some butt!"