Thank you for visiting my blog. If you are not really familiar with the Japanese language, please go to "Diary" on the right column of the screen although those diaries are not always related to the main topic - learning English pronunciation from a Japanese perspective.
Banana Problema
When I watched the French Open, I learned one Spanish word: “plátano” which means “banana.”
Do you know Rafael Nadal, the world no.2 tennis player from Spain? He is only the one who can beat the world no.1 tennis player from Switzerland, Roger Federer. Actually Nadal has beaten Federer 6 times and only lost twice, but he is still no.2 for some reasons.
During his match in the French Open in 2006, Nadal ate a banana, which caused a pain in his throat. So, he called a trainer and spoke Spanish. I got only one word, “plátano.” I didn’t know the meaning but I guessed it. Afterwards, I made sure of the meaning by asking my Colombian friend. Thanks to Nadal’s banana problem, I learned one Spanish word. What is good is I got the sound L, which doesn’t exist in the Japanese language. It is because of my studying English!!
At my school festival, I sang a song called "I am hungry." This song was composed by my musical Canadian friend. The lyrics are only, "I am hungry. Feed me." There are both an English part and a Japanese part. The Japanese lyrics are simply translated from the same meaning: "Hara hetta. Meshi kure."
For this festival, I added nine more language parts--eleven languages in total: English, Japanese, German, Spanish, French, Korean, Arabic, Italian, Thai, Mandarin, and Croatian. Unlike Japan, there are many foreigners and bilinguals in Vancouver, so I asked native speakers for the translations and the proper pronunciation.
I noticed some languages are not so difficult to pronounce for Japanese people. On the other hand, I find it difficult, especially French, Korean, and Thai. Actually I'm not sure if natives can understand my pronunciation. (I have some Korean friends so hopefully my Korean pronunciation is not that bad.)
What is good is I could compare many language sounds and could hear the traits of each. Very interesting!