I’ve mentioned this on the blog already, but I wanted to present you with a little teaser to encourage you to visit the site… I think it’s hilarious- it’s in my Daily links, because something new appears every few days…
I love this ongoing saga—it’s fun to read and realize how very different we (Japanese/Americans) are on many levels—but still, there are ways in which we are alike, even as the cultures are different. And there’s some darned funny stuff that has happened to this poor guy! Once you learn what a “kancho” is, you will NOT forget…
This is a link to the page you should bookmark, as opposed to the following link which points to the page the excerpt (well, okay, I quoted half of this one- sometimes they’re short, sometimes long) is from.
Outpost Nine :: Editorials :: I Am a Japanese School Teacher
Quote: In Japanese schools, bingo is a pretty popular game to play, especially among the younger students. Give them a blank grid, and let them fill in English words from a pre-selected list. Then read off the words in random order, and the first person to line up 4 or 5 words in a row is the winner. The winner gets stickers or extra class points or a tender loving kick to the ass, whatever strikes our fancy that day.
Whenever a student is one word away from hitting a bingo, he or she will call out “Bingo ichi!”, ichi in Japanese being “one”. Of course, the Japanese like to shorten as many things as humanly possible, so “Bingo ichi!” becomes “B-ichi”...if you don’t already see where the problem in this lies, try saying it out loud to yourself and with a Japanese accent.
I was playing bingo with Ms. Americanized in an ichinensei class. So of course, students were calling out “Sensei! B-ichi! B-ichi!” as victory drew closer. ...In the two plus years I’ve been here, I have not gotten used to that, and I don’t think I ever will. Realizing that Ms. Americanized is one of a select few of Japanese English teacher who would actually understand, I decided to talk to her after class about it…
Me: You know, everytime we play bingo I always get a little weirded out…”b-ichi” sounds a lot like “bitch”.
Her: (thinking about it) .....Yeah, it does, doesn’t it!
Me: Yeah, so I can never get used to hearing that, especially from 12-year old Japanese kids.
Her: “Teacher, I’ve got a bitch!”
Me: “Double bitch!”
Her: “Triple bitch!” ...I told you Japan was fucked up, didn’t I?
Really- go check it out. Click that top link and be prepared to spend an hour catching up, then wishing you hadn’t, but knowing you couldn’t stop reading once you got started.