anmiblogger

Portal Page for ANMIWEB

anmi.eikaiwa@gmail.com (ANMI English Tools) — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 11:42:51 PST

I have created a portal page for the ANMI Group services. Feel free to visit the portal page at www.anmiweb.com. (Please let me know if you find any mistakes in my Japanese. Thanks!)

Echofon 3

anmi.eikaiwa@gmail.com (ANMI English Tools) — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 10:29:26 PST

TwitterFox: Echofon 3 now available with the latest Twitter features http://bit.ly/6YzDKA

Japanese is Tough

anmi.eikaiwa@gmail.com (ANMI English Tools) — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 13:16:57 PST

RT @google: Teaching a computer to understand Japanese: http://bit.ly/6MVDN3. Wow! I face the same issues in teaching myself Japanese!

anmiblogger by Chip Sorensen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 2.1 Japan License.

How to Change Your Firefox Location Bar Search Engine

anmi.eikaiwa@gmail.com (ANMI English Tools) — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 23:33:31 PST

I am a big fan of Firefox and tend to use it exclusively for work and play. One flaw, however, is that if you download and install certain programs, like Yahoo IM or McAfee SiteAdvisor, the default search engine for searches made from the Firefox location bar (address bar) can be switched to Yahoo without your consent. I prefer to perform such searches using Google and get quite peeved when the default search engine is switched without my permission.

If you want to restore the default search engine to Google, then perform these simple steps:

1. Type about:config in the Firefox location bar and press Enter.
2. Type keyword in Filter textbox. Under Preference Name you should see keyword.URL.
3. Double-click on keyword.URL and change the value to http://www.google.com/search?source=ig&hl=en&q= and click OK.
4. Restart Firefox and the next time you type a search entry in the location bar it should use Google as before.

P.S. (I found this tip in Google Groups in the mozilla.support.firefox discussion. Thanks to the user "007JVR" for posting this information!)
http://groups.google.com/group/mozilla.support.firefox/msg/4538dc582182a4ce?pli=1

anmiblogger by Chip Sorensen is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 2.1 Japan License.

Google Voice Search in Japanese

anmi.eikaiwa@gmail.com (ANMI English Tools) — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 04:30:01 PST

I have been using the Google voice search function in English ever since I got my iPhone earlier this year. Occasionally, I would try to search something in Japanese. Unfortunately, I got some very strange or sometimes humorous results.

Well, Google announced today (yesterday in the States) that Japanese users can take greater advantage of voice search in 日本語! I haven't had a chance to try it myself, but I think this will be extremely useful especially for us foreigners living in Japan who can speak a lot better than we can read or write! Plus, it's just a lot easier to search via voice!

Google Blog (English):
http://googlemobile.blogspot.com/2009/12/mobile-search-for-new-era-voice.html

音声で Google 検索 Blog:
http://googlejapan.blogspot.com/2009/12/google_07.html

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アンミ英会話教室
２３４－００５３神奈川県横浜市港南区日野中央２－６－３
パークサイド日野１０２号
http://www.anmi-eikaiwa.com/ | support@anmi-eikaiwa.com
Tel. 045-841-4218 | Fax 045-841-4288
携帯リンク http://www.anmiweb.com/mobile/

anmi.eikaiwa@gmail.com (ANMI English Tools) — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 10:21:58 PST

Check out the pictures and the movie trailer to Between the Folds at NPR. Origami: a ballet of science and art: http://ping.fm/InApk

English Central

anmi.eikaiwa@gmail.com (ANMI English Tools) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 10:08:55 PDT

Google Ventures, Atlas Ventures, and other investors founded English Central and hope to become the leading English language learning site on the Internet for both computer and mobile users. Enrollment is free. All you have to do is provide your name, email address, and make a password. (Enroll here: https://secure.englishcentral.com/ja/register)

You can also choose the level of difficulty: easy, medium, and hard. Each video shows the text of what's being spoken. You can also set the audio to play slower and/or repeat. After the video finishes, you can choose to check out other videos, try the video in Quiz Mode, or interact with the video by repeating each line. (You will need a microphone to fully interact with the videos.)

If you choose to interact with the video, it will check your English and give you some feedback. In quiz mode, some words will be hidden. You will need to speak the missing words. If you click on the blank space, the missing word will pop up and you can practice the pronunciation of the whole word or just the consonants and vowels that are used in the word. The pop-up also gives the meaning of the word and an example of usage.

The best thing about English Central is that if you change the language interface from English to Japanese, you can see a translation of the English text in Japanese. In the quiz mode, you can also choose to show only English, only Japanese, both English and Japanese, or show no text at all.

If you want some help on how to set up your own account with English Central, please ask me in class. I will be very happy to help you out! See you in class!

Chip

Disclaimer

This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.1 Japan License.

Toshiba Dynabook UX Netbook

anmi.eikaiwa@gmail.com (ANMI English Tools) — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 10:45:54 PDT

Have had some problems with my netbook these days. I bought in only three months ago, so this situation is extremely odd for me. Usually, I can keep a laptop for about 2 and a half years before I reach the limits of its memory or max out the HDD capacity. I even had a ThinkPad that kept working after I spilled beer on the keyboard, although during winter, I had to "melt" the sticky substance under the keys with a blow dryer before it let me type something in a normal fashion.

For the past couple of days, I turned on the computer. The HDD LED on the front edge of the body would light and then suddenly turn off. Normally, it flickers as Windows loads itself. Power LED was OK, but the HDD LED wouldn't flicker and I would be stuck with a silent machine that had a black screen. Nothing. Zilch. Nada.

I turned everything off and went to bed. The next morning, I went to work. Turned on the laptop in a dry, cool, air-conditioned office. Surprise! My computer was running again!

After work, I went back to the classroom and tried to boot the computer again. This time, the room was hot and humid. No response from the computer. A black screen, no HDD LED flickering, no fan blowing, nothing. "Hmm...," I thought to myself.

I popped the netbook in the fridge for about 10 minutes and took it out. The computer booted up just fine! I will feel "lonely" for maybe a week or two. This computer is compact, light, relatively responsive, and best of all, has an extremely nice keyboard that is easy to type on!

These users had similar problems with their laptops, too:

- http://www.daniweb.com/forums/thread120781.html#
- http://en.kioskea.net/forum/affich-6398-my-laptop-won-t-start
- http://www.techsupportforum.com/hardware-support/laptop-support/35971-toshiba-satellite-a30-wont-boot-blank-screen.html
- http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?s=b7b48e97e0c1015e71854de924f1ee1f&t=131894

Sunday morning, Toshiba will send a guy out to pick up the computer and hopefully they will be able to repair it without having to change hard drives. It took me three days to install all the programs, update all the various versions of software, set up the email accounts and passwords, copy all the documents files from a backup HDD, etc. I don't want to go through all of that again for at least a couple of years!

This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.1 Japan License.

Go! Shogo Go!

anmi.eikaiwa@gmail.com (ANMI English Tools) — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 08:34:23 PDT

Shogo visited Yokohama Stadium recently and won the chance to pitch a ball from the same pitching mound used by professionals of the Yokohama BayStars! I'm not into baseball myself, but if I were, I'd probably be in "dog heaven" if I had the chance to throw a ball to a professional catcher in a real stadium!

Anyway, I think Shogo had a good time. He's also a good student, so he deserves to have such a lucky chance!

By the way, Shogo said he threw the ball at 80 kph (49.7 mph)! Way to go, Shogo!

Disclaimer

This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.1 Japan License.

Ears and All

anmi.eikaiwa@gmail.com (ANMI English Tools) — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 10:15:41 PDT

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

Obama fans will love most of this video. Non-fans may interpret the video to be a validation of claims from those who resent Obama's polices.

Regardless, the graphics are amazing. JibJab painstakingly morphed Obama's image into the character--I first thought that maybe Obama was in cahoots in the development of this video--carefully watching a few scenes, though, make me believe this not to be the case.

In some scenes, the Obama character reminds me of some characters in the Japanese anime "One Piece" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Piece).

My favorites are how the Obama suit has cut-outs for his ears--I especially love the batman-like Obama search light--ears and all! :-)

What's your favorite part? If you are an English student at アンミ英会話教室, try to follow the subtitles and let me know what parts you couldn't understand in class. For advanced level students: Do you you understand why "Internet" was pluralized in the video? (Note: The word "Internet" is always a singular noun--there is no plural form in standard English.)

This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.1 Japan License.

Home - We are All Interlinked

anmi.eikaiwa@gmail.com (ANMI English Tools) — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 12:23:00 PDT

Beautiful aerial cinematography by Yann Arthus-Bertrand; taunting music from the world over by Armand Amar, the Budapest Symphony Orchestra, and the Shanghai Percussion Ensemble.

Ironically I found the cinematography of mankind's destruction to be eerily beautiful--the lighting and texture is a feast for the eyes. Armand Amar's work was both haunting and exhilarating. Although gloom and doom are at the core of the film, the final message of Home is that there still is hope.

Google will continue streaming this full-length movie (available in HD format) on YouTube until June 14th, 2009. Please watch it if you can.

As a side note, Google is now offering full-length movies and TV broadcasts on a new YouTube channel called Shows! Reuters reported yesterday that Google is moving towards greater monetization of YouTube. Although I am sure some programs or films will continue to be unavailable in Japan, it is nice to see such growth and trend towards maturation of YouTube as a viable challenger to the increasingly antiquated format called television.

YouTube has been a godsend for us expats living overseas. So far, I've enjoyed Lucille Ball, Dick Van Dyck, and the Beverly Hillbillies on the Show channel. Being able to watch a legitimate program in full-length is bloody sweet compared to the user-uploaded versions that cut off every 10 minutes. I hope more studios hop aboard in the future--I can't schedule my time around TV guide.

Home Project:
http://www.youtube.com/homeproject

Google Shows:
http://www.youtube.com/shows

Reuters:
YouTube to premiere movie to up ad revenues: report / Thu Jun 4, 2009 6:04pm EDT
http://tinyurl.com/p4m59r

Spider Claw

anmi.eikaiwa@gmail.com (ANMI English Tools) — Sun, 31 May 2009 08:56:55 PDT

The Museum of Science has a gallery of micrographs that were taken using a scanning electron microscope (SEM). Images range from a mosquito head to a Mascara brush.

Do you know of any other sites that show some cool micrographs? Post a comment to share the link or let me know in class.

Museum of Science SEM Image Gallery

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This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.1 Japan License.

Turn Off SoftBank's New Mail Announcement for iPhone

anmi.eikaiwa@gmail.com (ANMI English Tools) — Fri, 27 Mar 2009 10:26:19 PDT

One irritating thing of the iPhone sold by SoftBank is the announcement, "メールを受信しました You got a mail."

Unlike my standard cell phone or Windows SmartPhone, you cannot turn off this announcement directly in the handset. This announcement wouldn't be so bad, but it appears for every message that has arrived on the SoftBank mail server. I may get as many as 30 to 50 messages a day as different Gmail accounts forward mail to the iPhone. Then, if you want to actually check your email, you have to "dismiss" all 30-plus announcements before you can even get to the iPhone home page.

Unfortunately, the My SoftBank page does not give clear details on how to turn off the announcement. Worse, once you try to access the mail settings (メール設定) link from My SoftBank, the Login ID (phone number without hyphens) and Password (not clear which password is required) WILL NOT work!

I found a Japanese site (iPhone・iPod touch ラボ) that addressed a different issue, but served my purpose. So, follow along and use the screenshots to help you turn off those irritating announcements:

1. Turn on your iPhone and go to Home. (Click the image to enlarge.)

2. Tap the SMS app. (Click the image to enlarge.)

3. Tap the 157 message from SoftBank.

4. Scroll up (or down) until you find the message that shows your Login ID (ログインID), Password (パスワード), Outgoing Server (送信サーバ), and the Incoming Server (受信サーバ). (Click the image to enlarge.)

The Login ID may likely be a 9 digit, case-sensitive, alpha-numeric code. The Password may be an 8 digit, case-sensitive, alpha-numeric code. The incoming and outgoing servers will be smtp.softbank.jp and imap.softbank.jp respectively.

Write down the Password that you see right below the Login ID and right above the outgoing server. The password will likely look something like "7d2MgH8h"--remember that this password is case-sensitive so write it down exactly as it appears.

5. Now, on the same piece of paper, write down the part of your SoftBank iPhone email address before the "@" symbol. For example, if your email were whitedogfones@i.softbank.jp, then you need to record just the "whitedogfones" part.

6. Press your Home button and tap Safari. (Click the image to enlarge.)

Tap Bookmarks at the bottom of the screen and tap My SoftBank. (Click the image to enlarge.)

7. Tap the gold/orange square with the "@" symbol in the middle of it. (Click the image to enlarge.)

8. From the Login page, tap inside the Login ID text field and type your Login ID, which will be the first part of your email as discussed in part 5 above. (Click the image to enlarge.)

Tap Done. (Click the image to enlarge.)

9. Tap inside the Password text field and type your password as discussed part 4 above. (Remember, the password is case-sensitive!) Tap done. (Click the image to enlarge.)

10. Tap Login. (If you receive an error message, repeat steps 8 and 9. Make absolutely sure you spelled the Login ID exactly as it show in your email address. Make sure you typed the password exactly as it shows in step 4. Be careful with zeros "0" and ones "1" and the lowercase "o" and "l". (Click the image to enlarge.)

11. Tap [3] Newly arriving e-mail notification setting. (Click the image to enlarge.)

12. Tap Off and then tap Change. (Click the image to enlarge.)

13. You should see a message that says, "Setting is completed." (Click the image to enlarge.)

14. Tap [Logout]. You should see a message stating, "Log out." (Click the image to enlarge.)

You are finally done! If you are a student at アンミ英会話教室 and what some help with the above setting on your iPhone, feel free to ask before or after class!

Disclaimer

This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.1 Japan License.

Three Favorite Apps - iPhone

anmi.eikaiwa@gmail.com (ANMI English Tools) — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 08:34:43 PDT

Here is a list of my favorite free apps for the iPhone.

IDrive Lite:

http://www.idrive.com/idrive-lite.htm

Backup your contact info with IDrive Lite. Although I sync the phone with my computer every night, it's nice to know my data is still backed up somewhere else in case something happens to the phone and/or my computer.

TwitterFon:

http://twitterfon.net/

Clean and simple UI. I was able to get it up and running without referring to any how-to guide.

(If you have Google Desktop on you computer, you might also want to use the Twitter gadget. Another good tweeting tool.)

Kotoba! (Japanese Dictionary):

http://kotoba.pierrephi.net/

Great review with screen shots here, too: http://tinyurl.com/cpaxcv

I have tens of printed dictionaries, use numerous online dictionaries, and even bought an expensive electronic dictionary. Finally, I found a dictionary that offers meanings, examples, and my favorite--animated stroke order!

Pierre-Philippe de Costanzo deserves a Nobel prize for his hard work and clever assembly of open source and licensed info. ありがとう、コスタンゾさん！

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Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.1 Japan License.

New Stats Page at アンミ英会話教室

anmi.eikaiwa@gmail.com (ANMI English Tools) — Sun, 15 Mar 2009 07:21:33 PDT

Check out our newly added student statistics pages at www.anmi-eikaiwa.com! Here is a link to the new statistical graphics page:

http://sites.google.com/site/anmieikaiwa/stats

New iPod Shuffle

anmi.eikaiwa@gmail.com (ANMI English Tools) — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 08:00:50 PDT

Apple has done it again! Being a happy new owner of an iPhone (check out SoftBank's free iPhone campaign here), I was surprised with how heavy and big the iPhone is in comparison with typical Japanese cell phones. Unlike the sleek, but noticeably heavy iPhone, this new iPod is incredibly small!

If you are a student at アンミ英会話, please let me know if you happen to see any new iPod shuffle TV commercials since I don't get much of a chance to watch TV these days--the commercials are a great way to hear some of the latest hot tunes that make you want to jump up and dance!

iPhone for Everybody Campain: http://mb.softbank.jp/mb/iphone/everybody/
Apple iPod Shuffle: http://www.apple.com/jp/ipodshuffle/

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Chip @ Disney

anmi.eikaiwa@gmail.com (ANMI English Tools) — Sat, 14 Mar 2009 08:09:23 PDT

Akiko introduced an email to me, which she got from one of her friends in the States. The video above shows what you can do with a service provided at www.sun7news.com. You can add names of friends and family for creating "... a little Disney magic of your own."!

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New Version of アンミ英会話 on the Internet

anmi.eikaiwa@gmail.com (ANMI English Tools) — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 10:09:06 PST

I have created a new version of our website at the following address:

http://www.anmi-eikaiwa.com, which is being hosted at our new Google Sites:

http://sites.google.com/site/anmieikaiwa/

What do you think of the new version compared to our last version (at this address):

http://www.anmiweb.com/anmi-eikaiwa/

Let me know what you think!

Malware, Spyware, Trojans, and More

anmi.eikaiwa@gmail.com (ANMI English Tools) — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 08:30:52 PST

Those of you who came to class since Saturday may have noticed that I used the laptop in the classroom instead of the desktop computer sitting on the cart at the head of the table. The reason for the change has been due to the desktop not booting correctly.

Since Wednesday or Thursday, I thought that the computer wouldn't boot properly because of the classroom being so cold in the morning (for visitors to this blog who live outside of Japan, most Japanese apartments lack central heating, which accounts for the cold conditions). After the classroom warmed up, I was able to boot the computer. Another possible reason for the computer not booting properly might have been due to an infection. I scanned the hard drive for viruses and malware (spyware, Trojans, trackers, etc.).

All scans revealed no infection whatsoever. On Saturday morning, however, the computer failed to boot beyond the Windows XP logo. So, hopefully, I will be able to purchase a new computer for the classroom sometime this week or next week.

So, what software did I use to scan the hard drive? Although there are many programs to choose from, I have traditionally used programs that are available for free to home users. After evaluating the programs, I convert to a paid subscription for the programs that require paid subscriptions for company use.

My students, however, I think would benefit from the use of free programs that seem to work well for home use. Today, I want introduce some programs to you that I currently use on several of my Windows computers:

Anti-virus (Install ONLY ONE anti-virus program on your computer):

avast! Home Edition, Japanese version available, and free for home use.

http://www.avast.com/jpn/home-registration.php

AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition 8.0; Japanese version available; free for home use.

http://www.avgjapan.com/avgfree75-dl.html

Anti-spyware (Install at least two or three of these anti-spyware programs on your computer):

CA Anti-Spyware; Japanese version available; paid subscription required.

http://home2.ca.com/store/cajapan/ContentStore/pbPage.ASPY_2009

Windows Defender; Japanese version available; free.

http://www.microsoft.com/japan/athome/security/spyware/software/default.mspx

Ad-Aware; no Japanese version available; free for home use (This software is VERY good!).

http://www.lavasoft.com/single/trialpay.php

Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer (MBSA); Japanese version available; free.

http://www.microsoft.com/japan/technet/security/tools/mbsahome.mspx

Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal; no Japanese version available (?); free.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/890830

CCleaner: No Japanese version available; free

http://www.filehippo.com/download_ccleaner/

If you want to try to use any of these programs on your laptop, feel free to bring the computer to your next class and I will be happy to help you with installing the programs during our next class!

Disclaimer

This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.1 Japan License.

Toyota iQ

anmi.eikaiwa@gmail.com (ANMI English Tools) — Tue, 02 Dec 2008 09:33:55 PST

Read about this car at Nikkei.net several weeks ago. Looks like it's gonna be a hit among fellow urbanites. Don't think I'd want one, though--am quite satisfied with my Nissan Otti.

Toyota is leading the automotive industry with cars that customers need and want. Conversely, GM and Ford are asking for government loans after years pumping out Hummers and F-150 pickup trucks. American CEOs rake in millions in compensation while their companies lose billions. Is this what American capitalism is all about?

By the way, I wonder how they "un-parked" the two iQs that were in the first scene?

Enya - Trains And Winter Rains on J-Wave

anmi.eikaiwa@gmail.com (ANMI English Tools) — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 09:42:51 PST

Did anyone listen to the DJ interview of Enya on J-Wave yesterday? The DJ spoke excellent English with a slight British accent. It was refreshing to have a Japanese interviewer asking a star like Enya questions that were not embarrassing and belittling to the intelligence of the interviewee. The DJ asked questions like, "Enya, your music has a healing effect on many fans. What do you do when you seek tranquility or similar healing?" Thank God she didn't ask Enya something like, "Enya, can you use chopsticks? Do you like SMAP?"

Good job, J-Wave on FM 81.3 in Tokyo! Oh, and by the way, I have bought almost every Enya CD that she has released. I think this time, I'll download it into iTunes.

Do you like Enya? Do you remember Orinoco Flow from her 1988 debut album, Watermark? That song brings back so many memories and emotions. How I would love to go back to those days with knowledge of 20 years under my belt and make different decisions. How about you? Let me know in class which Enya song is your favorite and tell me why!

Disclaimer

This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.1 Japan License.

Gmail Themes

anmi.eikaiwa@gmail.com (ANMI English Tools) — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 08:25:36 PST

Are you a Gmail user? A couple of days ago, Google started offering users the opportunity to change the theme and colors of the graphical user interface (GUI) .

I chose the default theme--not because I am a boring person--because I prefer the clutter free, soft tones of that theme--as opposed to the obnoxious GUI of Yahoo email.

If you haven't tried out a new theme, just click Settings in the upper-right corner of the Gmail window and choose the Themes tab on the far right (see image above).

If you are an アンミ英会話教室 student, be sure to let me know in class what theme you chose and why. Try to express in English how the theme you chose makes you feel!

Disclaimer

This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.1 Japan License.

OpenOffice.org 3.0

anmi.eikaiwa@gmail.com (ANMI English Tools) — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 10:49:52 PDT

Although I don't usually get too excited about OpenOffice.org updates, the latest version of 3.0 has several noticeable changes that are aesthetically pleasing (美学的に/見て美しい).

The download file is about 140 MB, so it will take about 5 to 10 minutes to download on a broadband connection.

There are a few things I don't like about this latest version that you might want to be aware of:

1. Keyboard shortcuts are not migrated from your previous version of OpenOffice.
2. Any modifications you might have made to personalize your toolbars will also be lost.
3. A few keyboard shortcuts have been changed in the 3.0. I often used the clear format keyboard shortcut (Ctrl + Shift + Space bar), which no longer works. However, you can use Ctrl + M to get the same results.

Some improvements I have noticed include:

1. Cleaner user interface
2. Toolbar icons have a slightly more three-dimensional appearance when compared with previous versions of OpenOffice.
3. Saving a Calc file (spreadsheet) is a much quicker process compared to previous versions. (I have a spreadsheet file with 11,800 rows of data. This file opens and saves much quicker than before.)
4. The defaul layout of Impress (presentation) is much more user friendly. However, if you are using Impress on a ultramobile or laptop with a small screen (B4 size), you will be cramped for real estate. I think Microsoft PowerPoint still is superior compared to Impress.

If you have any questions about OpenOffice, feel free to ask me in class!

OpenOffice.org Download Links:

OpenOffice.org Websites:

Disclaimer

This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.1 Japan License.

Gyao Needs to Hire Writers with a Driver License

anmi.eikaiwa@gmail.com (ANMI English Tools) — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 10:22:35 PDT

(Click to enlarge image.)

Tokyo Headline published an article about the movie Next (ネクスト) back in April. When I got the publication with our Pizza-La order, I noticed something strange. Gyao wrote "時速８０キロだと・・・" (at a speed of 80 kph) above the upper image of a speedometer. Then Gyao wrote "時速１１０キロだと・・・" (at a speed of 110 kph) below the lower image of a speedometer.

What's wrong?

Most cars that are sold both in the United States and overseas have a speedometer that gives the car's speed in both miles per hour (mph) and in kilometers per hour (kph). In my experience, U.S. brands of automobiles will show the mph in larger sized numbers and kph in smaller sized numbers below the mph figures.

The Dodge Charger SRT8 that Cage's character drove in the move Next is an American car. So, the speedometer shows miles per hour (mph) in larger numbers and shows kilometers per hour (kph) in smaller numbers.

Obviously, Gyao made a mistake. The two captions should read:

時速８０マイルだと・・・
時速１１０マイルだと・・・

時速１２８キロだと・・・
時速１７７キロだと・・・

I wonder how Gyao made such a mistake? If the writer thought that "80" was kilometers, then what did he or she think the smaller number was? Centimeters? Inches? Millimeters? Feet?

Maybe the writer doesn't have a driver's license, so he or she knows nothing about cars? Maybe the writer has never driven a foreign car? Maybe the writer has never driven a rental car overseas? Maybe the writer thought that a kilometer is longer than a mile? Maybe the writer knows absolutely nothing about cars? Maybe the writer had a hangover and wasn't thinking clearly?

What do you think? Amazingly, this silly mistake was not caught by the original author, the proofreader, the editor, nor the publisher. Maybe there is another reason that Gayo/Tokyo Headline would print such material for thousands (hundreds of thousands?) of customers with such an obvious mistake? Did they do it on purpose because they thought Japanese readers were not smart enough to understand the difference between a mile and a kilometer?

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Liam Lynch: United States of Whatever

anmi.eikaiwa@gmail.com (ANMI English Tools) — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 10:04:47 PDT

I heard this song on the radio a couple of weeks ago and wondered why the DJ stopped playing the song half way through. Well, it turns out that the song really is that short--whatever!

As a side note, explaining the meaning of "whatever" in the context of the video's usage has got to be one of the most difficult things to explain to non-native English speakers.

Do you have any clever ideas on how to explain the meaning of "whatever" as Lynch uses it in each scene of the video?