A snapshot of quality assurance
Lately, our teams have been working hard on an extremely large collection of content for a high-profile client. With so many people involved on the same large project, our biggest priority is to have a...
View ArticleJapanese Quick Language Lesson Video
Glyph Language Services presents: Quick Language Lessons Glyph Language Services offers a wide spectrum of linguistic services, one of which is language teaching. In this video, one of our Japanese...
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It’s like eating a tiny rhinoceros
My car companion Moonraker and I were creeping up the freeway during San Francisco rush hour. For the zillionth time, I realized how much time Californians – possibly Americans in general – spend...
View ArticleJaywalking
When downtown goes vacant at certain times on the weekend, Spokanites have the leeway of the occasional jaywalk. Two thick slices: Sharing of space. The relationship between American jaywalker and...
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Delicious gatherings
Tomorrow would be epic. There will be 8 hours of uninterrupted scheming, cooking and family time for Thanksgiving, for which most families have traditions and quirks to make the holiday their own. My...
View ArticleWord geekery: What is a polyseme?
While trying to make sense of words that sound or are spelled the same (homophones, homographs, etc), I stumbled across something that only seemed obscure – polysemes. Are they actually metaphors? (No,...
View ArticleHouse Blessings
One of our favorite things to talk about at the lunch table is our fear of the undead, whether this means zombie invasions or haunted houses. Undead things give us the creeps but we talk about them...
View ArticleHyphens
A while back, a Glyph friend and I wrote to each other about hyphens and their proper usage. Two-hyphen terms are sensible enough – you add a hyphen when you're turning a two-word phrase into an...
View ArticleA lost potion, a fleeting flavor
My mother never believed much in Western medicine. Through the years, she would accumulate cabinet upon cabinet of herbal medicines and mystery tinctures, moving them with us to new homes, until I...
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Why We Learn
Have you studied or acquired a foreign language? What was your motivation? I decided to ask my fellow Glyphers what has motivated them. At Glyph, you might assume that since the art of foreign language...
View ArticleThe Giving Tree
Every experience provides a lesson… or two, or three. “The Giving Tree” is a book full of experiences and full of lessons. It is one of Shel Silverstein’s most well-known children’s stories and has...
View ArticleWhat should be taught in a language class?
Read this post in Japanese My career as a Japanese teacher began when I entered the United States. I was a graduate student, and was given an opportunity to teach Japanese classes at the university...
View ArticleBeef Stew
Listening to music is one of the best ways to learn a language. In the midst of conversation, you might hear part of a phrase you once heard in a song, and the tune in your head helps you complete it....
View ArticleWhat can you learn from observing yourself teach?
Read in Japanese If you are a language teacher, have you ever recorded your class while you are teaching and analyzed the video? The results can be surprising and enlightening! I recorded my Japanese...
View ArticleCulture and Classroom interaction
Read this entry in Japanese Do you have a favorite class you have taken? Do you remember a class that you really hated? There are probably many reasons behind your preference. But your impression of a...
View ArticleLanguage through Poetry
A few weeks ago, I wrote an article about learning language through music. Music does for us something we are naturally inclined to do, which is to make sense out of chaos through finding or creating...
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教えることは学ぶこと
Read this article in English 久しぶりにこの時期に日本に帰って参りました。山々が深緑に包まれて、とても生き生きしている様子が心を和ませてくれます。...
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Teaching will expand your knowledge as well as learners’
Read this article in Japanese Japan has a rainy season. It usually begins around June and ends in the middle of July. Some people are annoyed by its warm temperature and high humidity, but I like this...
View ArticleGray Areas: Where Real Intuition Lives
As many of you know, the Japanese writing system consists of three main components: ひらがな (Hiragana), カタカナ (Katakana), and 漢字 (Kanji). Each component has its main and specialized job, but there are...
View ArticleJapanese Seasons and Haiku
What do you hear as you close your eyes and go to sleep? I was born and grew up in the countryside. My house is located near mountains and a river. At this time of year, the night air is filled with...
View ArticleA Double-sided Coin
I suppose the antithesis of an endangered language is a brand new one: living within one’s means versus basking in the lap of luxury. Is there a need for reconciliation? I’d like to stop myself before...
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Birthdays in Japan
It was my daughter’s birthday last Sunday. As we just came back from Japan and had no time to arrange the birthday party, her friends are coming to celebrate with us this coming weekend. Last weekend,...
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