The difference between immigrants who can speak English and those who can not

I saw many immigrants in NYC through my internship. Some immigrants can speak English well, others can’t speak it well; some can’t speak even basic English even though they have lived here for a long time. I am going to write my theory about this difference.

It’s not easy and it takes a long time to learn a foreign language. People should be patient as possible as they can to study it; people always have to make mistakes while learning a language. The study sometimes makes people ashamed of their mistakes. In addition to this difficulty, immigrants live harshly; it’s difficult for them to have time to study English.

I know that almost all immigrants aren’t rich. However, some immigrants try to learn English. They spare no effort to educate themselves. Once people decide to study English, they can find some good opportunities in NYC. There are free English classes and chances of language exchange. Textbooks are not cheap, but not expensive. My guess is that immigrants, who have continued to study English and know the importance of learning, can speak English.

A review of “Lost in Translation”

My host family father lent me a movie, “Lost in Translation”. This movie is about two American people visiting Japan and they experienced culture shock.
In the movie, they looked confused; the characters couldn’t speak any Japanese; they couldn’t understand what Japanese people talked about; they couldn’t do what they can do easily in the US. The characters spent a lot of money to stay in Japan, but couldn’t enjoy their stay because they lack the knowledge of Japan.
I could understand what they felt because I had experienced same things in the US. When I came here, everything seemed different and difficult to do. I thought it’s a good to understand culture shock which people experience when they visit unknown countries.

PS
This movie interprets Japanese well. I saw many misinterpretation of Japan in the US. I saw a movie in the past. This movie’s actor is a Korean or Chinese and he acted Japanese, so it was quite odd for me.

Vendy Awards

There was a street vendor festival on September 26th. This eventwas a competition of street food vendors in New York City. I took partin this event as a volunteer; I was able to eat delicious street vendor’sfood there.

Street vendors’ food prices are very reasonable, which is why I alwaysgo to vendor stands to have lunch. Many Americans also eat streetvendors’ food. This event, the Vendy Awards, is a festival for thesevendors.
I thought that the participants were very different from most vendors;they looked rich and educated. They could pay 80 dollars for the entry fee.On one hand, most vendors are mainly immigrants, poor, and can't speakgood English.The founder of this event, Sean Basinski, aimed to linkvendors, who lived harshly, with New York citizens. “Vendy Award is oneway to do that to put vendors in the limelight for one day and it'salso just a lot of fun.” He said.

All tickets were sold out. SVP could raise money through the festival.This year’s Vendy Awards was a success.

Japanese Food in NY

I ate Ramen for lunch today. I spent 7 dollars for it. The ramen turnedout to be instant noodles; I was very disappointed with it.

Japanese food is very expensive in NY. Moreover, it's difficult tofind authentic ones. Most Japanese food have been cooked using Americancuisine.

091609

Bronx Zoo

I'm interested in Zoos, especially the breeding methods used there. I've read some books about zoos. Most Japanese zoos have copied the ideas of the US zoos. I wanted to go to Bronx zoo when I
lived in Japan. I recently went on the 20th, and had a valuable experience there.

One of my interests is “Enrichment”. I noticed some “Environmental Enrichment” there. The Bronx zoo is huge. The facilities try to keep a comfortable environment for the animals. Some animals here seem to live more comfortably than the ones in Japan. Another interesting note is that Bronx zoo has an emphasis on educating people. There are strong messages for visitors. You can learn about animal extinction because of environmental destruction.

Zoos used to be a show tent, and animals had to live in cages. It's completely different from present zoos. Zoos have progressed in this respect. I'd like to introduce my favorite message, learned from the Bronx zoo.

“In the end,
we will conserve only what we love,
we will love only what we understand,
we will understand only what we are taught
-Baba Dioum”

Link
Behavioral_enrichment

EVANGELION: 1.0 You are (not) alone.

I went to a movie with my host family's daughter on the 19th, and saw “EVANGELION: 1.0 You are (not) alone.” The movie is a Japanese film, yet voice actors were American. We saw the movie in English.

Their acting was good. My host family's daughter usually doesn't like American voice actors, but she liked this movie's acting. I thought that American actors seem older than Japanese actors. The reason is American voices aren't as high as Japanese ones, so it seems more mature.

The movie's translation was interesting; it was interpreted for the American audience. As you know, Japanese culture is completely different from U.S. culture; it was amusing for me. Even though I already watched this movie in Japan, it was really interesting because of the American actors and the translation.