A polite way of speaking

Hi viewers,
Right after I had posted my last updates, I managed to get a decent job.
Every time I take job training at the moment, it will last until the end of September. It’s far beyond my expectation as well.
Of course, I need to acquire some expert skills before run. What makes me most difficult is, how to use polite language accurately, even though Japanese is my native tongue.
When you talk with your friends, maybe you don’t take much care about the accuracy of language, but when it comes to speaking in public, especially when you talk with your customers, you can’t get away from the accurate terms.

On one hand, it is often said that communicating allows you to know each other, able to sympathize what other people discussing.
On the other hand, it often gets you into troubles unless you clarify your points, or heed someone’s voice at times during the formal conversations.
When you attend the social gatherings, you’ve got to be more tolerant than speaking in private of course. Also your language should be far more coherent all the times, no matter how it got you frustrated, even some disparaging comments were showered upon you from your opponents.

What makes me struggle so far is, I can’t get the hang of using the polite way of speaking while at work, because I seldom paid much attention to my then customers who were likely to go insolvency. I had to urge them to pay their debts immediately as well.
I regarded those customers as untrustworthy, so sometimes my utterance might sound so harsh to them, that they couldn’t catch up with.

As of today, I made up my mind to change my thoughts.
In order to put it more specific, I show my episode down below；

A few days ago, I met some of my then coworkers to reminisce about old times. But I ended up with discouraging in a certain way, due to their menial topics while having a chat with.
Take my friend’s case, for instance.

He is actually talkative, even eloquent enough to argue when casting his views to other parties involved. Yet it was unfortunate to know that he still contented with his current status, no matter how I encouraged him to foray into interacting non residents, namely Caucasians.
I know it’s far beyond his thoughts when he tries to be a reconnaissance while taking into further steps to it, no matter how he is extrovert enough to interact with.

What I’d like to explore from showing above is, interacting people living in a different culture, or society definitely allows you to broaden your thoughts. It helps discover a formal way of speaking by doing language exchange as well.
Sticking to your current status is of course one way to look at it, and I don’t intend to ignore the way people doing that kind of things.
But how come you obstinately shut your door especially to non Japanese from which you can learn a lot more?
In order to achieve this goal, I’ll occasionally try to head out for social gatherings to get acquainted with. After all, it enables me to activate myself for sure, where I can acquire some polite way of speaking as well which is quite apart from what I used to be.

Ok, catch you later!

take393

Honesty is the best bet...do you agree?

Hi viewers,
As Billy Joel sang back in 1980s, honesty is such a lonely word, I found that it was almost applicable to my circumstances such as having job interviews which were quite a lot recently.

Actually, um…I’m looking for a new job at the moment, after becoming jobless, and am forced to spend hard times, because of many tricky questions showers upon me from interviewers. Also those questions are so unrelenting which is pretty hard to get by as well. They turn out to be completely fiasco after all.

I of course tend to play the game whenever I am asked, but somehow it leads to misunderstand, finally they judge me as an unwanted person.

I discovered that being honest is not always good enough, sometimes playing the devil’s advocate really fits in to pass such job interviews.
I wonder if I pulled some strings, and of course it’s pretty much easier to come by.

But then again, honesty is my best policy…it’s really hard to change my thoughts. I know I’m kind of clumsy, but I need to be dishonest sometimes, in terms of getting a good job. In this society, I don’t agree with the term being said like honest is the best policy, maybe you should take advantage of being unusual from what you are.

To the contrary, such corruptions like embezzlement conducted by low makers or government officials can relate to the fact that they are voraciously honest enough to become riches.
But they are totally dishonest in terms of what the true politics are. As you know, they tend to be honest all the while, but it’s little more than a ploy to attract more people by casting their goodness in the guise of sobriety.

So which is your better bet, honesty or dishonesty?
Ok, talk to you later!

Take393

It's just an absurdity...what do you think?

Hi viewers,
To be honest...given my current unstable condition, I found myself in a quandary over whether to do whatever work is necessary to expedite my job hunting, or to seek a decent job as to settle in for the better future. All I can say is...you know I'll keep up with learning English or anything else, like Thai as my second and third language, even the worst comes to worst, and no matter how the situation changes, with the exemption of my sudden passing, I'm sure my determination shall not waver so easily.

Is it absurd of me to think that I'm not a daydreamer, only cheesed of remaining at the same place, just like seeking political asylum in some other nations...? Well, it's just a joke. Yet I believe whether my thoughts are hackneyed, or they are not figments of my imagination at all, even some people might be flabbergasted at them.

Oh…by the way, the English proficiency test what I was supposed to take was taken place last Sunday, and it turned out be completely debacle due to my lack of capability to succeed it.
It is said that a threshold of succeeding the test denotes at least 10,000 words and idioms, and it should be prerequisite as well when you go outside the country and wade through a lot of information and do whatever you want to, including business and so on.
Still, it sounds to me a formidable task being measured up to that level, whereas I’ll try to gear my ass and cram a lot of words, whenever I come off duty.

As for the job, well I’m kind of optimistic, so eventually I believe it gets me somewhere.
But then again, to me, it’s little more than a ploy to turn things around, and of course you’ve got to walk before run. I should think twice as to rally my circumstances as well, in order not to fall for their silly schemes, like some of the remainders of my current work place dissuade me from leaving. As it turned out, I cannot work on 2 things simultaneously after all. Only what I can do is something more dominant that lies right in front of me, so I’ll try to hit the books once again from scratch until at the last minute before starting anything else.

Ok, talk to you later.

Take393

A job interview

Hi viewers,
Here's a scenario of what I'm supposed to take as a job interview.

I (Interviewer):　So could you briefly describe your job careers after graduating school?

T(Take393) : I was joining a trading company for 10 years, where I was doing sales for 6 years. I was a person in charge of electronic appliances such as phone, fax, or computer, at the same time I was responsible for making business documents such as estimate or proposal.
Then I was transferred to merchandise department, where I engaged in ordering some commodities from the manufacturing companies, and I was responsible for managing some of its stocks as well.

I: What made you leave that company?

T: My then boss suddenly asked me to go to Sapporo branch for awhile, however it seemed nearly impossible to accept the offer for family reason.
I had to turn it down and ended up with leaving the office.

I: Then you joined the Airport Limousine service at Tokyo International Airport, so what were you doing there?

T: I was doing all kinds of stuff, like making departing announcement to each passenger for boarding, taking care of their baggage, often taking them to the vending machine or the counter for purchasing tickets.

I: So why did you quit it?

T: One thing is… you know it was really tough physically and mentally in terms of working over night, I mean 24 hours of working. As the bus terminal was just right down the airport, I was pretty hectic all the while even I had to sacrifice my holidays at times for my job. Of course our service is opening throughout the year, as long as the air flight has not been cancelled.
The other thing is, well I really wanted to brush up more on my English as to jump into another pond. I was also seeking daytime jobs to make up for studying on weekends.

I: I see. So you are currently working…um…what would you say…MTK Co Ltd, and you are about to leave that firm as well?

T:Yes.

I: So what have you been doing out there?

T:I’ve been working as a debt collector for about 3 years. At the time when I was joining the firm in 2003, there were quite a few of foreign customers, and we had a claim with their debts concerning the payment for their cell phones. My main job is to persuade those customers to pay their debts immediately. I was fortunate to know my English was useful in a certain way, because a lot of foreigners were having troubles with conducting Japanese.
But later on, after our Sapporo branch launching the next year, our obligation was taken over to it, so right after that I could seldom conduct English on the daily basis, and that was a real shame to me as well.
Also a year passed by, one group company where I was primarily belonging to as a temporary staff dissolved, and then I was reemployed from MTK Co. Ltd as a part timer, where I am currently working for a year or so.
But the company doesn’t seem to go well, because it is likely to downsize its scale by firing a few workers. It seems really hard to stick up for it any further. That probably explains it.

I: Thank you Mr. Take393. As you know…I’m very sorry to say in the first place, but I can’t offer you a teaching job at the moment.
So I wonder if you could count this in as well, right after you had heard the detailed explanation about a new kind of things.

T: Well…as long as I heard about a new job, I can honestly say that I’m so much intrigued with it. Actually I was originally seeking a job as a teacher, but I found that intercultural communication is always necessary whatever you start up new things, and your company is currently pursuing being a cutting edge of intercultural communication, and it’s a skill of what we need on the bottom line, I think.

I: So what is your goal for the future?

T: My dream is eventually you know…immersing myself in an environment where English is only available, where I can mingle with the local people and I can show them my language and culture, after familiarizing with my teaching skill here in Japan.

I: Well, Take393, thank you very much for coming here today, and I wish you a good luck.

T: I thank you very much for having me here.

take393

How you could get the hang of pronunciation?

This is translated version being originally written in Japanese.

Hi viewers,
Today, I’d like to refer to the English pronunciation.

It is one of the main problems that the bulk of Japanese are having troubles with, isn’t it?
Have you had any experiences with your bad pronunciation made foreigners feel awkward, whereas you had learned a lot of English words?
People around me are apt to think the way I pronounce English words is like those of native’s, since I was luckily enough to stay in the U.S.
In fact, it might be much closer to them―as long as comparing with other Japanese―still I can hardly say it is impeccable enough to conduct. Yet from the past to the present, there is a main reason why I focus too much on that.
Although it may sounds weird to you guys, the reason is very simple.

Before that, please allow me to go off on a tangent for awhile.
At the time when I was staying New York, so called Young Culture represented the movie, Grease, Disco Music―now that what we called The Club Music―, The Beatles who had already broken up was renowned throughout a whole world, or The Rolling Stones, who is well known as the biggest group still on active list supported by the widely ranged audiences.
It was the time when the computer games were still not put on the block. Juveniles were flocking to the record stores, where they could kick up their heels respectively.
I was not exempted. I would purchase the bunch of The Beatle’s LP, even single records, often listened to them, as well as the succeeding group The Wings, until my record player had been seriously damaged. Although I was listening to them millions of times, trying to copy the way they were singing, at the same time I was looking at each lyrics, somehow I found that I wasn’t able to adjust to the original. I was always behind their rhythms at least one tempo. For me as a perfectionist, it came to me as a shock when I wasn’t able to sing smoothly.

After I came back to Japan, I primarily listened to English songs. In the early 1980s, The American Pop Music featured the leading figure’s songs, like those from Lionel Ritchie’s, Billy Joel’s, and Stevie Wonder’s.
They were available at the countdown programs on TV’s or Radio’s and I often imitated their way of singing as well whenever I dubbed the tapes from the borrowed albums.

There comes a time when I can sing English songs naturally. I assume that it took me much length of times which is almost equivalent to those the newly born is becoming grownups.

You can acquire pronunciation by singing songs as well as you can portray your emotion in your comprehension of those lyrics by building up your own vocabularies.
As it is my way of learning English, there might be controversial, whether my proposal could be for it, or against it.
Conducting the authentic English always requires the accurate phone, thereby you can say in a way, it was not in vain to me at all, even though how much times I had spent in practicing the pronunciation.

take393