2016-07-11 04:59 Homophone words
Y (Kuma's owner)
Long ago, my friend took a job interview in Tokyo. She said the company she had visited was creating new names for new products. What an interesting job! I had never thought that there's a company that creates new names. There are lots of companies that produce products and they have to name their products but it's not easy. They cannot use the same name that another company has already used. Therefore, some of them ask the company that my friend visited to create a new name. I heard that they find a name which has no bad meaning. There are so many kinds of language in the world and I think it would be so hard to find suitable words.
I sometimes notice that there are the same pronunciation words all over the world. One day, I was told that my twitter account name "Kuma" has a bad meaning in Swahili. A man who can understand Swahili told me that but it's too late to change my account name, so I still use the same name. In Japanese, Kuma means a bear.
There's an almost same pronunciation word between Aussie English and Japanese as well. It's "bugger". I sometimes hear my Aussie friends say "Bugger!" when they make mistakes or when things don't go as they expected.
The first time I heard "Bugger!" , I was surprised because this sounded almost the same as "Stupid!" in Japanese. I turned around and looked at my friend. He said "No, no. it's not you, I'm saying it to myself."
I think we should be careful with words that come out from our mouths unintentionally or instantly. If you have a habitual saying of "Bugger!" and you have a chance to go to Japan, you have be careful. I'm sure that Japanese who heard you saying "Bugger!" would misunderstand you.
There is also a partially common word between English, German and Japanese. It's the word "so". I don't think it's 100% the same but on some occasion it's used with nearly the same meaning.
Isn't it interesting? The world is so huge but people from different countries use the same pronunciation word.
2016-07-05 11:55 A Memorable Day
Y (Kuma's owner)
Today is a memorable day. A lawyer called me and said the application that my husband and I had sent for permanent residency was granted. It's finally granted!
I was so relieved to hear that news. That means my husband and I can stay in Australia and we are able to start our new puzzle business here.
I've been studying English and it worked for applying for permanent residency. I took an exam which is called IELTS. My result was not very good but good enough to get a discount of my visa application fee. (If you are not able to clear the lower score which the immigration office determined, you have to pay an extra fee.) There's four categories of IELTS, Listening, Writing, Speaking, and Reading. On my results, Speaking was the highest score. I think I've been trying to talk to people who I met at the local supermarket, local friends and the Red Cross where I was volunteering helped to improve my speaking skills. I really thank everyone.
Well, we have to get ready for our new life. The life we have been dreaming is coming.
I would like to say special thanks to my friends, Brian, Chatie, George, Jasmin, John, Matt, Ralf, Raza and Sue.
2016-07-04 02:50 Sniff-sniff
Y (Kuma's owner)
I had been taking a medical check-up every year when I worked for a company in Japan. There were several tests I had to take and they were chest X-rays, a blood test, an eye test, an audiometer and so on. I don't know why but there's no olfactory test in the medical check-up program. If I had a chance to take an olfactory test, I think I would get a good result.
It's rare to become aware in daily life whether or not your sense of smell is good. One day, I was in the kitchen and I slightly smelled some LP gas. I called the gas company and a man came to check the gas facility. He had a special tool to check the gas, and the hand of the meter of the tool moved a little. That meant gas was leaking. I was asked "Did you smell that?" and I said yes. He said that a very small amount of gas was leaking and he was amazed that I could smell it.
The other day, I was at the office where I worked. I belonged to the accounting section and the next room was a laboratory. I sometimes walked around the company for paying business trip expenses. When I entered the laboratory, I smelled a different smell from usual. I told a man in the laboratory that today's smell was different and he said he had overheated a chemical substance. He said he couldn't tell the difference of the smell.
Since these things have happened, I realised that my sense of smell seemed to be keen.
My eyes are nearsighted. I always wanted to have good eyes, eyes that don't need glasses. If I had good eyes instead of a good sense of smell, it would have been more convenient, I guess.
I know I cannot change the abilities of my eyes and nose. All right, I'll try to think positively. If I didn't have a good nose, I wouldn't have noticed the gas leaking. I think having a good sense of smell helps avoid danger.
I also had an interesting experience at my work. I worked for an American company that often had guests from overseas. One day, I needed to find Mr Ramos. He was a big guy and I thought I could find him easily but I couldn't. I asked my colleagues where he was but nobody knew. I was wondering how to find him, and suddenly I got it! Mr Ramos used pomade which had a strong smell. I walked around inside the company and my nose caught the smell of pomade. I followed the smell and finally I found him! It was like having a police dog. If I were a dog, I'm sure I would have succeeded on the job.
Now I think it's nice to have a good nose. I can catch the slight smell of flowers. It's my little happiness in my daily life.
