Formal or informal words

It's sunny day. Autumn has come. Happy! I like autumn best because of nice weather, beautiful sceneries, smell of air and... my birthday in October! (^.^)

I took a business conversation class in my English school yesterday as a substitute class.
I haven't missed a class so I can't take a substitute class but a girl who is a clerk of the school told me to take the substitute class. Maybe it was her mistake. Lucky!

Such being the case, I took a business class for the first time. And then I found that I had misunderstood some formal and informal words...
I often get worried about whether an English word I use is polite or not for business, because honorifics are very important in Japanese. I know using honorifics in English is not as strict as those in Japanese though.

Even if I use impolite words, many foreigners probably allow me because they know well that I speak very poor English. Am I easygoing too much?

The meaning of "haha"

Much onomatopoeia is different between English and Japanese. But it seems that there are a few same onomatopoeias. One of them is laughing "haha". I often write "haha" in my English writing for a long time. But! I found out a thing of shock. I looked up "haha" in the web dictionary the other day. It is the laughing with contempt. Really? I can't believe! I often write it, for example in mails to my friends...

I have heard that "LOL" means laughing out loud. I wonder what you write when you want to write normal laughing.

Skimming?

I went to Azabu police station to pick my wallet up yesterday.
(ref. My wallet story No.1, No.2)

As policeman said the other day on phone, there were not money and a credit card in it.

There were B/K cash cards but they are a bit strange. They have many unnatural scratches, especially at the top of the cards. Yes, it is a part of imprint. I guess a thief tried to do skimming? My wallet was turned in to the police one week after it was stolen. It is also strange. So I guess the thief did skimming and tried to access my banks during that. But he/she couldn't do because I had requested those blocking. So he/she maneuvered that the wallet was turned in to the police leaving cash cards inside, and then after I remove those blocking he/she intends to try again to access my banks. I have removed those blocking but balance of those accounts are 0! It must be disappointment to him/her. (^o^)v

There is one more my guess. Maybe the thief was a foreigner. He/she stole my credit card and all money, even small change. Despite this, he/she didn't stole coupon (credit note?). It is Takashimaya coupon and is written in Japanese. He/she couldn't read Japanese so didn't know it was coupon, I guess.

This has been sherlock Sand.

DRAGOSTEA DIN TEI

DRAGOSTEA DIN TEI (Japanese title is Koi no MA-I-A-HI. English title is Words of Love.) that O-ZONE sing has a huge hit in Japan now. Their songs have had big hit in Europe already.

Usually I don't listen to foreign songs because lyrics are most important in songs for me. I can't understand lyrics of foreign songs. But I was attracted to that song, I don't know why. So I downloaded that song to my cell phone and set it for alarm. I am woken by that song.

Mai a hi--, mai a fu--, mai a ho--, mai a hahha! Noma noma Yay!

I went to have Sushi and drank Japanese sake. I'm sleepy. Good night.

Go for it! Foreign rikishi!

Today was "senshuraku" (= last day of a Grand Sumo Tournament) and unfortunately Kotooshu who was a Bulgarian couldn't win the tournament, he battled with Yokozuna Asashoryu who was a Mongolian in a playoff though. But he is still 22 years old. Probably he will become a Yokozuna sometime.

Recently, there are many foreign rikishi (= sumo wrestler). Some people concern about it but I think it is good. Sumo world's globalization isn't so bad.

Foreign rikishi can speak Japanese soon. Because they are put in the strict sumo world without translators and other any help unlike other professional athletes. I think environment is very important for learning language. And I also think knowing culture of that language is also important.

But it is very hard situation for foreign rikishi. So I continue to cheer for them.

Movie "We were soldiers"

I watched the movie "We were soldiers" on TV today. I wanted to watch it. It's war movie so there were terrible scenes but I often watch war movies. I want many people to watch movies, documentaries and so on about war. And people should realize again horror of war, stupidity of war and that people should avoid the same mistake. (President Bush, Do I have your ear?)

By the way, Japanese title of that movie is "Once and forever". I thought it was original title. Foreign movies are sometimes translated into Japanese with different titles. But I think English to English is a rare case. I guess "Once and forever" is a bit better for Japanese culture.

Crossword puzzle in English

It took about more than three months since I changed my newspaper to English paper. I liked reading a newspaper very much so I didn't want to change but I thought it was useful for my English learning. But I don't use it effectively at all. Too bad.

I started to try to do crossword puzzle in English that is put on the newspaper everyday. It's too hard! The leading cause is my small vocabulary. But there are also some other reasons.
For example...

Case 1, "S" problem (It's main problem.)
Question: Sky sightings
I wondered it was "UFO". But there were four cells, hmm... Then answer was "UFOS". Huh?
There is few concept of plural in Japanese. "S" of the third person singular too.

Case 2, "Abbreviation" problem
Question: Fourth-yr. students
I wondered it was "SENIOR" or "SENIORS". But there were three cells. Answer was "SRS". What??
Quesiton: Apt. parts. Answer was "RMS". Gah!

It takes much time to do crossword puzzle so I can't do it everyday. But I try to do as much as I can and I hope I will be able to fill cells about 80% by the end of this year.

My favorite cafe

EXCELSIOR CAFFE was opened near my place about one month ago. I'm happy because I like EXCELSIOR CAFFE best among many cafes. So I often go there recently.

Unfortunately, staffs of the cafe lack finesse very much. So customers have very long wait. Ve--ry long! I think there are no cafes that make customers waiting so long. Haha. We Japanese wait patiently without complaining. (Oh, "We Tokyo people" is more like it. Probably Osaka people complain soon, and that loudly.) That cafe was just opened so most staffs are beginners so it can't be helped. But their skills don't improve although it took about one month after opening. I think that major cause is the responsible person of this cafe. He must conduct and train staffs. But he can't do at all. Terrible. I'm sure it is easy to solve that cafe's problem. Just the responsible person change. Customer service and customer satisfaction are very important for any business.

I can't help but see many things putting them into business. I'm a business person and have worked in business world of one field for a long time. I have a strict view of business person. I always think that I don't work with unskilled person. Like A Inc. is out of question.

Anyway, I go to the cafe. It is difficult to sit my favorite seat though. When I can sit it, I'm happy and I can have a relaxed time.

My wallet was found!

I received a call from police today. My lost wallet was turned in to the police. Of course there has been no money in my wallet. I guess one person who stole my wallet picked money from it and through away it. And then one kind person found and turned in it to the police. Thank you so much.

The policeman said that there were driver's license card, some cash cards and 10 yen in my wallet. But he didn't say there was credit card. I have already asked credit card company about card blocking though. I couldn't go to the police today, and it's three-day holiday from tomorrow. The police don't open the found article window on public holidays, Saturdays and Sundays. I can't believe!! It's the police! Don't close on holidays! It can't be helped. I will go the police next Monday.

My favorite wallet will come back. It is lucky it wasn't worse. I hope it isn't worn out.

By the way, why did the thief leave only 10 yen in my wallet?

Is A Inc. doing OK?

I wrote about A Inc. (tentative name) yesterday.
And there were some troubles again today. I'm a bit angry with A Inc. Or more like being fed up. I don't feel like writing today's affairs.

I sometimes do in an irresponsible fashion and am sloppy in my personal life. But in business, there shouldn't be these things.
And their actions are lack in common sense, not only in business but also in human life.

Distrust of one company

Recently, many headhunting companies and recruitment company contacted me, and I had interviews with some of them. And they introduced me some companies and I also had interviews with them.

Actually I have a distrust of one recruitment company. My friend's cousin introduced me the company. When I went to the office of the company, I already had felt a bit bad. I omit to write the detail of it here. But the president who is a foreigner looked like genial and affable.

Let's say the company name is A Inc. After a while, I received a mail from A Inc. and I was very surprised! A Inc. informed me that its client wanted to have an interview with me. What?? Usually, headhunting or recruitment companies tell me the information of company that is their client and job detail before they introduce my resume to their client. And after I say OK, they introduce my resume to their client. A Inc.'s way was depart from common sense. So I asked A Inc. to give me information before that. A Inc. gave me Word file of simple information about the company but they didn't ask me OK or not. A Inc. already decided that I had an interview.

I wonder if A Inc. usually does business like that way. If so, they must lose credibility. I wonder if their business is going well. I don't think it's due to difference between Japanese company and foreign company. Many foreign companies never do that way.

And by coincidence, my friend had worked for A Inc. But she had worked for only 3 months and quit it, because she also had distrust of A Inc. In her case, the problem was about payment.

Are those only problems of the person in charge? Or problems of A Inc.?

Poignant Mistake!

I found out that I had made a mistake in the interview in this evening.
The interviewer asked me about the budget, revenue, profit etc of one company I worked for as a manager. Always I'm not good at translate numbers to English soon. And I mixed up yen and dollar. And then I told him ridiculous number. Those numbers are... no way!

I wonder if I lost this job opportunity.

After the English interview on the phone

I have just finished an English interview on the telephone.
The interviewer struggled through my poor English patiently. But if I can speak English much better, he could have wanted to talk about more detail.

He had a generous view of my poor English. I think one of reason is that he isn't a native speaker. He is a German and lives in Germany. Of course he can speak English fluently and he works worldwide though. And he knows well that English level of most Japanese is much lower than other countries.

He said that managers of each region sometimes gather and discuss about business. Its role is impossible for me as the present my English skill. Hmm...

Preparation for an English interview on the phone

I have 2nd interview with one company tomorrow and it is a phone interview with person at headquarters abroad. Gloomy. Actually I really hate to talk on the telephone in English. So I always avoid talking on the telephone with even my foreign friends. It is much harder than direct talk. And an interviewer is a German. Some foreign friends asked me if I have ever heard German English. Never... I have heard that German English is very hard to hear. But thing I'm worried about isn't accent. I'm worried about just English.

I'm going to do preparation for the interview from now, I don't know what he will ask me though. But I used to guess right about what would be on the test when I was a student. I'm a good guesser. I believe my intuition.

Shock! My wallet is missing.

I went to drink with two ex-co-workers last night. At first, we were drinking at Tameike-sanno, and then we went to Roppongi. (Both of ex-co-workers are foreigners and many foreigners really like Roppongi. I think Roppingi isn't Japan.)

And I lost my wallet at one club, probably stolen. Shock! There are about 20, 30 thousand yen, driver's license card, credit card, some cash cards and so on in my wallet. I called card companies for cease and replacement although it was midnight. It takes much money for cards replacement. I lose money more than amount money that was in my wallet. Too bad!! I'm sure that my wallet won't be back. I am really depressed.

And I liked my wallet very much. It was a Chanel wallet so it was expensive. But I desperately wanted it and bought it. It was rare model so I can never get it again.

When I arrived at my place last night, I went to one convenience store and would buy juice, although I had no wallet. Haha, Stupid...

It's a small world.

I think there are many coincidences around me. Especially there are some things that happened by accident recently.

One of headhunters who contacted me sent me a mail at first. I thought his name was same one guy I met a few months ago as a language partner candidate. I met the language partner candidate just one time and he said that he was looking for a job of IT recruiter because he just came to Japan.

I exchanged mails with the headhunter about job and I was going to go to his office. Then I checked full name of the language exchange partner candidate on my address database... Oh, same name. So I sent the partner candidate a mail after a long time and asked him. Yes! He is him! (?) He was also surprised and he said he was thinking that he know my name. What a coincidence! And then I met him again after a long time at his office.

Lunch with my friend at Daikanyama

I went to have a lunch with my friend in Dailkanyama.

She said that she was worried about her present job. She just started the job but it seems that there are some problems. She is offered other jobs from some headhunting companies. She can speak English fluently so I think there are good job opportunities for her. Her TOEIC score is over 800!!

She hates foreign company so she decided to work for Japanese company this time. But that company is typical Japanese company and there are typical Japanese company's problems. I don't like the corporate culture of typical old Japanese company. But when I was working with foreigners, I really realized I was a Japanese and I thought I never want to work with foreigners again. Both Japanese company and foreign company have good and bad points.

My classmate was Komiya-san who is a comedian

I took last lesson at my English school with Komiya-san who is an ex-member of Konto Aka Shingo. He usually takes another class and he was absent from his class so he took my class instead of it. I was a bit surprised when I entered the classroom because he had sit there. He said he have gone to the school for no less than three years. Hmm... I see. I found out that's why there is his photo on web site of the school.

Job opportunity

I tried to register my resume on recruit web sites and many headhunting companies contacted me. It seeds that my job experience and skill are not so bad. And I had some interviews with some of them. Most of them were in ENGLISH. It was hard for me to have an interview in English. So I was very tired this week...

By the way, foreign companies pay salary much higher than Japanese companies. For example, one of jobs I was offered pay annual salary 10 million yen and over. What is this gap??

I have had a cold about for one week. It doesn't get well at all. This week was very tough for me.

Dear Pilarcita,
Thank you for your comment on my article on 4th Sep. I also put comments to you.

Bounceback

I heard taped English talking in last English lesson. I couldn't understand what he was talking AT ALL!! I can talk to some foreigners in English because they speak English using very easy words and sentence for me. But I can't understand foreign movies, English news programs and so on. I know my listening skill is terrible. It is one of causes that I can't catch correct pronunciations native speakers. But major cause is that I have too small vocabulary. I can't catch words I don't know. BUT! the taped English talking was for lesson for my skill level. And it was the first chapter of the textbook. I'm worried about the future.

So I'm discouraged about studying English.

I found one book at a bookstore. Title is "The improvement of English using NHK English programs.". I'm studying using one of NHK programs. Repeating, overlapping, shadowing, dictation... there wasn't any new things in the book. But I recovered from my discouragement a little.

I talked to a foreign headhunter BUT... 2

I heard about details of the job from the headhunter the other day. That job was manager position and required high skill. I was interested in that job because I thought I made use of my experience. BUT... fluent English was required...

I checked other jobs. Hmm... if I can speak English, I would be able to get the job that pays very large salaries use my experience. If I studied English harder and more seriously, I would have been able to speak English more by now... I am really lazy. I have known need for English though.

I had lunch with my friend who was a foreigner last Monday. He can speak several languages and he said English was very important and necessary for job. I know...