New Year’s in Japan
[wpvideo YuDFiGx4]
Shot late night New Year’s Eve / New Year’s Day, 2010/2011.
January Prayer Letter
Hi everyone,
Happy New Year! I hope you all had a great holiday season, and thank you for your prayers and support this past month… and year! In December, I started taking private lessons at a new language school, which is going well so far. In addition to my usual English classes, on the 23rd I did some music and testimony at a Christmas event at Immanuel Numazu Church. It is a small church, but that day is was a full house (25+) including some visitors. On the 19th, I took part in the Nagoya Church’s Christmas event as one of the MCs. On that day there were about 141 people, 56 of whom were visitors, many of them non-Christians! Praise God that so many people got to hear about the true meaning of Christmas! I’d appreciate your continuing prayers this month as I get back into the routine of a new year, setting new goals and taking on new challenges. Please pray specifically for me as I lead worship at our prayer meeting on January 19th. Also pray for this month’s English Club, being held on the 16th. Pray that God will lead me and use me. Also, please keep praying for my Japanese studies, and that I can balance my studies, ministries, and personal life effectively. Again, thanks for being on my team through your prayers and giving! I wish you all the best in 2011. – Robin Robin WhiteGlobal Partners, Japan
January 4, 2011
Turn the corner and you’re in another world.
[wpvideo 1CcFQ9qy]
(Dec. 31, 2010 – that’s my friend Scot in the video)
Pronunciation Postulations
I recently learned an interesting thing about the English and Japanese languages: Japanese has only about 108 distinct sounds, while English has (are you ready?) over 1800!
I’d known for a long time that there were sounds in English that just don’t exist in Japanese, but I didn’t realize just there was that many. This gives me a lot more sympathy for my students as they try to wrap their mouths around the complexities of English pronunciation.
It also explains why so many Japanese words sound the same to me and are so hard to memorize. Or, at least, that’s my excuse now.
(posted Dec. 15 ‘10)
Pronunciation Postulations
I recently learned an interesting thing about the English and Japanese languages: Japanese has only about 108 distinct sounds, while English has (are you ready?) over 1800!
I’d known for a long time that there were sounds in English that just don’t exist in Japanese, but I didn’t realize just there was that many. This gives me a lot more sympathy for my students as they try to wrap their mouths around the complexities of English pronunciation.
It also explains why so many Japanese words sound the same to me and are so hard to memorize. Or, at least, that’s my excuse now.
(posted Dec. 15 ‘10)