maiko-san

Last Tuesday I went to German cultural center. A young teacher assistent gave a presentation. The title is about various types of  book reading in Germany. The Germans are divided into four groups when it comes to book reading. 1) Book-resistant 9% of readers are allergic to reading books. Instead they like more watching  TV or surfing in internet than reading books 2) Normal  40% of the German people are classified as  normal readers who buy up to 9 books a year 3) Bookworm 27% of the Germans are classified into this group 4) Buy books but not read The rest of the Germans falls into this group. They just buy books and they stack up books against the wall What type of a book reader are you? -As for me, I buy strictly 5-6 German books a year. I don't care about Japanese books. I want to be immerged in the German language for the rest of my life. -I usually read Yomiuri Shimbun, novels and news in internet. -I read the German bo...

If you speak English, you'll have no problem travelling around Germany. The Germans speak normally good English. But if you knew greetings in German, they would of  help to you. So, today, I'd like to introduce five simple German greetings to you. 1. Guten Tag! It means "How do you do?", ""Hello or Hi!"  and "Good day!" 2. Entschuldigung! Excuse me or sorry. 3. Danke! Thank you! Thanks! 4. Bitte Don't mention it. Please. 5. Tschüss! Bye bye. See you. Talk to you later. In general German pronunciation is easier than English. When you say "Theater", you don't have to stick out your tongue to pronouce the "TH" sound. It's a little bit difficult to pronouce  the "Ü" sound, though. Its a combination of "U" and "E" sound. Last not but least, please look the Germans in the face, when you speak to them. Facing someone this way assures sincerity.

Earlier ths month I visited my sister in Tokyo. The weather was tropical. I almost blacked out when I got off a station on JR Yamonote Line. It was the the sultriest day in this summer. My Sis was doing great. It was a relief. This time she told me about an interesting story. In 1960 she took part in a student demonstration against the Japan- US Security Treaty. The demo was so radical that the police harshly clamped down university students. Yet it had two meanings: 1. Because of the demo, the US President Eisenhower's visit to Japan was canceled. 2. One coed who studied at Tokyo University was killed in the clash between the students and the police. My sister was two years older than the coed but she had never spoken to her. To my surprise her late husband was arrested by the police because he involved in organizing the demonstration. As a fiancee she went to the police and asked the officer whether she could hand him a bento. It was kind of h...

GRANT:　I met you once before, General Lee, while we were serving in Mexico, when we came over from General Scot's headquarters to visit Garland's brigade, to which I then belonged. I have always remembered your appearance, and I think I should have recognized you somewhere. LEE: Yes, I know I met you on that occasion and I have often thought of it and tried to recollect how you looked, but I have never been able to recall a single feature. (Some further brief mention of Mexico) I suppose, General Grant, that the object of our present meeting is fully understood. I asked you to ascertain upon what terms you would receive the surrender of our army. GRANT: The terms I propose are those stated substantially in my letter of yesterday, that is, the officers and men surrendered to be praoled and disqualified from taking up arms again until properly exchanged and all arms, ammunition, and supplies to be delivered up as captured property. LEE: Those are about the conditions which ...

We should understand seven important facts about American Civil War(1861-1865). 1. A shot at Fort Sumter (South Carolina) 2. The Union turned back the Confederates at Gettysburg (PA, July.1-3. 1863) 3. The Gettysburg Address by Lincoln(Nov.19, 1863) 4. General Sherman march to the sea 5. Grant took Richmond 6. General Lee surrendered to General Grant at Appomattox Courthouse (Virginia) 7. Abraham Lincoln assaisinated on April 14, 1865

The Civil War breaks out.(1861) The event: at 4:30 a.m. on April, 1861, hot-headed South Corolina rebels fired on Fort Sumter, beginning of four years of bloodshed and bitterness called the Civil War. While the Gentry of Charleston watched from the city's fashinable Battery, Confederate aritllery bombarded the fort until Sumter commandant Major Robert Anderson, his ammunition exhausted, surrendered. He and his garrison were permitted to withdraw with full military honors. The first shot can be dated precisely, and so the first battle, but the war really began decades earlier, as economic, social, political, and geographical differences between the people of  the North and those of the South heated to a boil. With each new state added to the Union, bitter debate ensued over whether the state would be admitted with or without slavery. Political compromises in 1820 (the Missouri Compromise) and 1850 only postponed the inevitable armed conflict. but nobody dreamed just how horri...

How nice of you to say so. Thank you. It's nice of you to say so. I'm glad you liked it. (I'm glad you like it) (Informal) Thank you. Oh, good, I'm glad you think so. Did you really like it? It's nothing special Oh, not really. There's nothing to it really. Flattery will get you nowhere. (Rather formal) It's very kind of you to say so. It's very good of you to say that. Thank you. I worked very hard on it. Well, you did a good job, too. I could have done better, but thanks for saying so. How kind of you to say so. I'm OK.

Only women of a certain era will fully appreciate this story.(if you don't undeerstand this, tell your mother, she'll get it) A Michigan woman and  her family were vacationing in a small New England town where Paul Newman and his family often visited. One Sunday morning, the woman got up early to take a long walk. After a brisk five-mile hike, she decided to treat herself to a double-dip chocolate ice cream cone. She hopped in the car, drove to the center of the village and went straight to the combination bakery/ice parlor. There was only one other patron in the store: Paul Newman, sitting at the counter having a doughnut and coffee. The woman's heart skipped a beat as her eyes made contact with those famous baby-blue eyes. The actor nodded graciously and the star struck,  the woman smiled demurely. Pull yourself together! She chides herself. You're a happily married woman with three children, you're forty-five years old, not a teenager! The clerk fille...

I subscribe to a German text book monthly which is edited by  National Radio Japan. In  the May issue there was a contest where we competed for the best email in German. Since I have much time to kill, I wrote email out of whim and sent it to the Radio Station. Last Friday I happened to buy the August issue. I thumbed through and I was astounded to find my name on page 117. They selected my email as the best answer. The next day I received a letter with a 500 Yen- book -coupon. My wife just smiled at me. But my daughter almost scooped up the coupon. I could have yelled at her, "Hey, Luder! Was denn? Das ist mein Schatz!" On second thought I thought it was childish. So I smiled at them by the same token. Anyway  I am sort of honoered. I'm happy that they made my name public. Incidentally this is the second time I saw my name in the same German textbook. Back in 1967 they printed my name in the text as I had evaluated the...