Lately I’ve found that Google’s Japanese< ->English machine translation is pretty impressive. In fact, I’ve discovered that one way I can verify that I’m typing a phrase with the right grammatical bits is to put it into Google translator. If it spits out the right English phrase, I know I’ve got it right. If it doesn’t, I know I’ve got some little bit wrong. I’m hoping for a day when machine translation can provide instant, accurate feedback like that for entire languages. It would make learning a lot faster.

That is so cool. There’s an exciting side benefit, too: with a bigger multilingual corpus, machine translation can get better and better (although never as good as expert human translation, naturally).

A while ago, Alex and I decided that we (well, mostly he; I don’t know how to do this stuff) want to develop a system that searches for and suggests cross-language puns! I’m not sure if there would be many practical applications, but it would be freakin’ sweet.

–mza.

(And really, what more does anyone need to know?)

Tell Sagara-sensei that I said hi! Or “Beginning-of-summer wa?” Or whatever seems appropriate!

Right?

I’m glad to hear things are looking up for you…winter is hard no matter where you are (well, unless it’s Florida, maybe…?), but I can’t imagine the added stress of being in a foreign country helps at all.

I’ve been interested in reading your posts (Electra’s, too). After I’m done with training I’m considering spending some time in Korea…I’ve started a Korean class, which has been really good for me. I love the challenge of learning a new language, and Korean is actually remarkably easy to learn, thanks to a completely phonetic alphabet!

Even with some basic language skills, though, I won’t really be adequately prepared for the culture shock of being in a completely different part of the world. Despite having read many memoirs of overseas adopted Koreans, there isn’t really any way to prepare emotionally for that kind of journey–from seeing Koreans as “Other” to being one of them. A part of me feels like I shouldn’t expect much from the experience unless I stay for a prolonged period of time–two weeks, or even a month, just doesn’t seem long enough.

But, who knows? I have a lot to get through before then. Not the least of which is another summer of intense training, then a final summer of wrap up and oral and written exams. By then you two should be back in the States!