Sep 19, 2024 Salon
Guests:
M-san, A-san, A'chan
Discussion Content:
I was feeling a bit sick yesterday and N-sensei said try “Kakkontou” (葛根湯). We had some at home and I brought it to the salon and got the guests to read the box and tell me if there are any side-effects. I was worried it might give me a fever or make me feel hot. M was able to tell me there could be nausea, loss of appetite, and upset stomach.
I asked her how she knew those words and she said she used to do translation work, but with the increased improvement of AI and automatic translation software, her work dropped off. I also had a similar experience and said often technology replaces humans.
Translation software has improved amazingly in a short time, to the extent that it’s almost perfect now, but you still need a human who understands both languages to double-check everything. It’s possible for the translated language to appear correct, but the meaning to be very different from the original.
I talked about how Japanese doesn’t use spaces between words, and asked if even Japanese people find it hard to read if it’s all hiragana – as in children’s books. M said it can be, but usually children’s books are very simple words, so not much of a problem.
However, she said there was a newspaper called the “Hiragana Times”, which was designed for foreigners, and it was all in hiragana (with romaji furigana) and that was hard for her to read.
We talked about the medicine “Kakkontou” having a bad taste, and I said that helps by sub-consciously making you think it must be more powerful. M said that is a kind of subliminal effect, or a placebo-effect, which is true. However, in Kakkontou, there is also a slight nice taste mixed in with the bad taste, so it’s not all bad.
A’chan asked what it means when we say “Fingers crossed”, and hold up our hands with our two fingers crossed. M explained that it’s a way of saying “Good luck”. She said in Japan, kids will sometimes cross their fingers and say “engachou” when something is disgusting.
A’chan then also asked about the “air-quotes” gesture, where we mimic quotation marks using our fingers. M also explained that this is used when being sarcastic, which is true. I said they should check a video of Donald Trump’s son, Don Jr, where he uses the air quotes about ten times in a row.
I asked A about the English school near her called “Michiru”. She goes there, and also to another English lesson in addition to our salon, so she is doing English study 3 times a week. M said she was “diligent”.
Useful phrases:
Side-effects
nausea
loss of appetite
upset stomach
replace (technology replaces humans)
subliminal effect
placebo effect
It’s not all bad.
sub-conscious
fingers-crossed
air-quotes
diligent