That's What Yasashii Said (w/Ako Suzuki)

Ako Suzuki, our favorite online Japanese teacher, stops by to talk about Yasashii Nihongo: the effort to make Japanese "kinder" to foreigners. Time permitting, we'll also talk to a landlord, a cab driver, and an immigration official about why they don't care.

Ollie recommends a river cruise that initially sucks, but manages to seem like it sucks less by simply changing its surroundings. Not recommend for ALTs who appreciate analogies.

Topics discussed on this episode range from:

Misleading statistics about one of our favorite chemical substancesAko's Japanese teaching online platforms and how she used the pandemic to reinvent and increase her successOllie's inferiority complexYasashii Nihongo in the newsWhat is Yasashii Nihongo? How did it originate and who is it for?What does Yasashii mean hereWhy some of us bristle at the necessity of and benefits of this initiativeHow we've come across Yasashii Nihongo in our own livesMisconceptions about what it is versus how it actually worksWhy explanations of words in the target language are better than simply resorting to Google Translate Yasashii Nihongo satisfying a need for practice opportunities at tourist spotsThe limits of Yasashii Nihongo, and how at the end of the day, depending on your level, it might not matterThe precarious balance between communicating simply but also maintaining Japanese politenessHow fast food employees have REGULARLY OFFENDED USWhat Ako thinks about teaching Yasashii Japanese to Japanese people as a businessA new Artificial Intelligence Yasashii Nihongo plug-in, so even the robots can talk down to usSeriously though, how this word editor plug-in might really make things easier for foreigners to understandHow being able to parse a sentence visually affects reading comprehensionThe frustrating version of Yasashii Nihongo that every foreigner has been subjected to at least onceWhy Japanese attempts at simplification sometimes makes things harderA comparison of babies and foreignersHow Japanese teachers use their knowledge of grammar levels to create learnable sentencesThe disconnect between Japanese learners and the average Japanese person in a basic conversationA great piece of advice for people speaking to language learners AND short-tempered podcast hostsA mistake Ako thinks average Japanese people make when trying to simplify their speechWhy simple mistakes in your Japanese can sometimes render you completely incomprehensible to Japanese peopleWhy a big part of Yasashii Nihongo is Yasashii listening skills

There are some REALLY funny bits in the extras, including hilarious stories about our own Japanese mistakes. You can get access to them when they're released by supporting the podcast for less than $1 an episode. Become a member at http://buymeacoffee.com. 

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Content Links:
Yasashii Nihongo News Stories
 https://www.asahi.com/articles/ASN9M7DX2N9CONFB015.html

https://www.asahi.com/articles/ASN9H72W6N9CUTPB00P.html

https://prtimes.jp/main/html/rd/p/000000010.000041204.html

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Social Media Links:

Ako Suzuki: YouTube | Podcast | Twitter | Nihongo Lessons

Ollie Horn: Twitter | Instagram

Bobby Judo: Twitter | Instagram | YouTube

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