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Tuesday, April 6, 2010

TRAVEL: Expensive Language Lessons? Doesn't Translate

ChinesePod has language lessons for your iPod.Farah Nosh for The New York Times ChinesePod has language lessons for your iPod.

April 6, 2010, 11:00 pm

By MATT GROSS

At the beginning of this year, I made a resolution to learn to speak Spanish and Mandarin Chinese, two of the most commonly used languages on the planet and the keys to travel over a great swath of the world.

For a couple of weeks, I thought it might actually happen — I was going to San Francisco, after all, and staying in the heavily Latino Mission District. But since my traveling companion was my 1-year-old daughter, Sasha, conversation was generally pretty limited, and though I sang her nursery rhymes in Chinese, I can’t say my language abilities improved at all.

From there on, things have gone downhill. Next I went to Italy, where I had to dredge up all the Italian I’d forgotten in the year since I’d last been there, and as I write this I’m traveling through Austria, Slovakia and Hungary — countries where I hardly speak a single word of the local languages. For the first couple of days in Vienna, I answered everything with “Si” — yes in Italian. But by the time I started walking across the Slovak countryside, I found myself wishing everyone would speak German.

Sure, I have a phrasebook or two, not to mention access to Google Translate — which I’ve used in hotels to plan out phrases I might need later — but what I really need is a dedicated course of study, whether online or in person, to bring my tongue up to speed. Oh, and it has to be frugal, of course.

Unfortunately, learning a new language takes time and, usually, money. Classes, textbooks, tutoring — these add up quickly, and over the months it can take to achieve proficiency, you’ll spend even more. But there are a few ways to learn a language that can save you both time and money.

The most seemingly modern way to learn a language is through one of the CD- or software-based language courses, like Pimsleur, which was recommended by many of my readers, and probably the most famous, Rosetta Stone. They’re not necessarily frugal, but they are popular, so here’s a look at what they do.

The hook for Pimsleur’s CD-based audio courses in more than 40 languages is the so-called Pimsleur Method — the discovery that, according to Pimsleur.com:

“if his students were reminded of new words and information at gradually increasing intervals within a set amount of time, each time they would remember the word or information longer than the time before. Dr. Pimsleur documented that the word would actually move from short-term into long-term, or permanent, memory.”

In other words, while other methods also teach new foreign vocabulary, Pimsleur supposedly helps you remember it better.

I can’t say if this method is more effective than any other, but the prices seem fair enough. An introductory Hungarian course with 10 lessons costs a reasonable $24.95. Shorter courses in other languages can be $11.95, while comprehensive courses are a stretch at $345.

But why pay at all? There are hundreds of free language-lesson podcasts floating around the Internet. There are dozens on iTunes alone: Italian, Japanese, Arabic, Thai and so on. Of particular note is SurvivalPhrases, which offers 3- to 5-minute episodes that cover basics  like “Where is the bathroom?” in 19 languages, including Vietnamese, Russian, Greek and Brazilian Portuguese.

Of course, SurvivalPhrases’ free iTunes downloads, which offer 15 phrases, are there partly to hook you into paying $25 for 45 more at SurvivalPhrases.com.

Another podcast, the nearly five-year-old ChinesePod, has another, more innovative selling point. While many of its 1,300 podcasts are free, access to all of them costs $14 a month, and $249 gets you three months of access to all of them, plus a virtual classroom where you and three other students have — via Skype — weekly hourlong lessons with a Chinese teacher.

That price doesn’t sound too bad, since you’re interacting with someone who can listen to and correct your pronunciation, an aspect missing from most of the other online or audio-based language courses. Praxis Language, ChinesePod’s parent, offers similar courses in Spanish, French, Italian and English.

The close cousins of the language-lesson podcast are the iPhone-based phrasebooks and dictionaries. From Lonely Planet’s Mandarin ($9.99) to the 99-cent Klingon phrasebook, not to mention a ton of free versions, they help you through the basics of a new language, with sections on things like counting (yi, er, san  —1, 2, 3 in Mandarin) and food (“nuqDaq yuch Dapol?” is how a Klingon asks where you keep the chocolate). Often, they have audio components to aid you in pronunciation, and some of the Chinese dictionaries let you practice writing characters.

I’ve been traveling with a couple of these on my iPhone for a while, and frankly, I don’t use them all that often. It’s so much easier to whip out a real, printed phrasebook and flip through it for the words I need. Right now I’m carrying Lonely Planet’s German phrasebook and also its Czech one. (I wanted a proper Slovak one,  but Lonely Planet doesn’t produce one and I couldn’t find another at either my local Barnes & Noble or the independent book store.)

Why Lonely Planet when I could also have chosen Rough Guides or Berlitz? No particular reason. Most of them are pretty similar — they’re all covering the same details —and the prices are uniform, too.

Third graders in Ridgewood, N.J., learn Spanish using Rosetta Stone.

Third graders in Ridgewood, N.J., learn Spanish using Rosetta Stone.  Ozier Muhammad/The New York Times

Ideally, though, you’ll do your language study before you hit the road. And the biggest name in language learning these days is Rosetta Stone, which combines a unique educational philosophy (it purports to immerse you in a foreign tongue as if you were a child) with high-tech software. That is, its packages come equipped with a microphone headset that lets the program evaluate your pronunciation. Of course, this isn’t cheap. An elementary Spanish course is $229, while a full five-level course costs $699, so I haven’t tried it yet.

And for that amount of money, you could learn a language the old-fashioned way – by immersing yourself in a foreign county. For the price of Rosetta Stone’s five-level course, you could do two or three weeks of “super intensive” study at the Casa de Lenguas in Antigua, Guatemala, one of many schools around Latin America that arrange both language lessons and home stays with local families ($85 a week via Casa de Lenguas).

Still, frugal language travelers should pick their destinations wisely, as learning Italian in Florence, or Russian in Moscow, may not be quite so affordable. The Russian courses organized by places like Globus International and Liden & Denz run upward of 260 euros a  week, or about $345 at $1.32 to the euro, and that doesn’t even include accommodation, visa fees and the inevitably higher cost of getting to Moscow.

If you don’t want to travel, but are still seeking one-on-one language lessons, try Craigslist. A recent search on Craiglist’s New York City pages for “language exchange” pulled up a Taiwanese music student looking to trade Mandarin for Italian lessons, and a guy in Chelsea named Tino who wants to improve his heavy accent in exchange for Spanish lessons.

Just the other week, in fact, I found a woman — she teaches Chinese at CUNY, actually — who wants to exchange Mandarin instruction for help with her written English. Since I think I may know a thing or two about writing, I got  back to  her, and while we’re still working out the details, I have high hopes that I can fulfill my New Year’s resolution without spending a cent. Wish me luck — or, as they say in Chinese, 金榜提名!

View New York Times Article...

N. KOREA: North Korea Sentences American To 8 Years

April 6, 2010

by The Associated Press

North Korea said Wednesday it has sentenced an American man to eight years' hard labor and a fine equivalent to $700,000 for entering the country illegally and unspecified hostile acts.

Aijalon Mahli Gomes was fined 70 million won after acknowledging his wrongdoing during a court trial Tuesday, the North's official Korean Central News Agency said in a brief dispatch.

South Korea's Unification Ministry said the official exchange rate in North Korea is 100 North Korean won to $1, which means the fine would equal $700,000.

Representatives of the Swedish Embassy in North Korea, which looks after U.S. interests in the country, witnessed the trial at their request, it said.

The North said last month that it arrested Gomes, 30, of Boston on Jan. 25 for trespassing after he crossed into the country from China.

Gomes is the fourth American detained in communist North Korea on charges of illegal entry in little over 12 months.

Two American journalists, Laura Ling and Euna Lee, were arrested in March last year near the Chinese border and sentenced to 12 years of hard labor for illegal entry and engaging in hostile acts.

They were freed in August after former U.S. President Clinton made a high-profile humanitarian visit to Pyongyang to negotiate their release.

On Christmas, American missionary Robert Park strode into North Korea from China on a self-proclaimed mission to draw attention to North Korea's human rights record and to call for leader Kim Jong Il to step down. He was released in February after more than 40 days in custody.

It was not immediately clear why Gomes, a graduate of Bowdoin College in Maine who taught English in South Korea, went to the North.

The State Department has said the U.S. wants to make sure he is returned to the United States as soon as possible.

View NPR Article...

JAPAN: Japan Airlines to cut 16,500 jobs

A passenger (R) tries to use a Japan Airlines' ticket machine ...

A passenger (R) tries to use a Japan Airlines' ticket machine as an airlines employee assists him at New Chitose airport, northern Japan January 19, 2010. REUTERS/Issei Kato

Tue Apr 6, 1:56 pm ET

(Reuters) – Japan Airlines Corp (JALFQ.PK) plans to reduce its workforce by a third within the fiscal year to lower labor costs by 81.7 billion yen a year, the Nikkei business daily said.

The restructuring proposal compiled by the carrier and the state-backed Enterprise Turnaround Initiative Corp of Japan suggests to cut 16,500 jobs.

The proposed cuts include 5,405 workers from cargo and other peripheral operations, 2,460 flight attendants, 2,043 sales representatives and 775 pilots. Staffing at Kansai International Airport and Central Japan International Airport will be slashed 70 percent to 642 employees, reflecting reduced flight schedules, the Nikkei added.

Japan Airlines is currently soliciting 2,700 volunteers for early retirement, with two more rounds slated in the coming months, the newspaper said.

The airline had planned to cut 15,700 jobs over three years under the rehabilitation plan submitted with its bankruptcy filing in January. But operating losses of up to 1 billion yen a day have forced the faster restructuring, the Nikkei said.

(Reporting by Vinay Sarawagi in Bangalore; Editing by Don Sebastian)

View Reuters Article...

CHINA: A man's home is his castle-in-the-air in China

Created: 2010-4-7, Updated: 2010-4-6 22:34:04

Author:Jacob von Bisterfeld

"AN Englishman's home is his castle," or so the saying goes.  For many Chinese people, these days, their coveted future home appears to be priced like a castle, totally out of reach for most young people under their own steam.


Sure, some young couples do manage to move into new digs but more often than not with gargantuan efforts from both parents and/or grand parents who had been lucky enough to raise substantial mortgages on their continuously appreciating real estate.


In China, private property ownership became the norm, albeit hesitatingly, in the 1990s, when the majority of work unit-owned housing was sold for a token sum to all workers who had been employed for a lengthy period of time.


In 2002, it was possible to purchase a nice, new and modern 120-square-meter apartment at the perimeter of Century Park in Shanghai's Pudong for around 200,000 yuan (US$29,300). Newly built apartments in the same area of the same standard now cost easily 2 or 3 million yuan or more.


A more than 10-fold price increase in a mere eight years. Monthly salaries for most office workers in 2002 were about 2,500 yuan and are now, when pushing it a bit, 4,000 yuan.


A less than doubling of income and a 10-fold increase in apartment prices do not match. Building material increases amounted to about 30 percent in the same period. So, what went wrong? Well, a lot, actually.


The economy needed a boost, so bank loans became easy. Besides, there was quite a bit of cash sloshing around, both legitimate and money from the black and gray markets that was looking for investment projects.


And looking for investment projects they came, spearheaded by ultra-wealthy syndicates from the leather and shoe city of Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province, who bought up entire apartment blocks comprising 120 flats of 120 square meters in one fell swoop and, yes, with truckloads of 100 yuan notes (90 euro cents) which, much to many investor's chagrin, is still the largest currency note around.


A most appalling and sickening revelation in Shanghai Daily a few weeks ago showed a picture of some giant circular tower blocks with around 1,000 apartments standing empty since they were constructed in 2006. This calls into doubt that there actually IS a housing shortage. Far from it.


There may well be a frightening oversupply of apartments and houses. This abomination is repeated over and over again in most major cities in China. The result was (and still is) that the market is thus starved of new apartments for sale, driving up the market price beyond any investors' wildest dreams and becoming every prospective house buyer's nightmare.


Especially in the past five years, every man and his dog were buying new and second-hand real estate that was sure to double in price every three years or thereabouts. Several of my colleagues, and they are by no means wealthy people, own three or more (highly leveraged, with easy bank money) empty new houses, and they are awaiting the next doubling in property prices.
Is it thus more than likely that China is in for a repeat of the recent US burst housing bubble, probably only worse? Let's see.


In many Western countries, the income level of the average young couple is such that, with a minimal deposit, a mortgage and decorating loan can be paid off comfortably, within a period of 10 to 15 years.


In China, such repayments would not only consume the lion share of the couples' aggregate earnings, but also require a huge deposit and take 25 years or more to repay or, in many cases, beyond retirement age. China is a people's republic, but some real estate tycoons have spoken loudly that they will never build apartments for the ordinary people, they serve only the rich. What an irony.


No easy solution appears to be in sight yet. There are simply too many vested interests that would be hurt with any drastic change.
What can be done?


Clearly, the land-right sales price should be capped at 2002 levels or below. Taking cognizance of the fact that material prices and salaries have increased only moderately in the past eight years, new property prices resembling those of 2002 should be relatively easy to achieve.


Possessing more than one dwelling house or apartment, in most cases, is obviously for investment purposes and should be subject to progressive tax increases (the more properties, the higher the taxes). The tax structure should be such that affordable rental accommodation remains adequate.


Real estate profits, both for developers as well as individuals should be taxed at prohibitive rates to discourage speculation. En-block sales and sales of more that two units to the same buyer or extended family should be prohibited.


Banks should lower the minimum deposit rate for people with a steady job to 5 percent or 10 percent to make owning a property for most newly married couples a reality, rather than a pipe dream.

(The author is a freelancer in Shanghai. The views are his own.)

View Shanghai Daily Article...

JAPAN: Japan hoping 'endless discovery' catchphrase attracts foreign tourists

The government has decided on a new logo and catchphrase -- "Japan. Endless Discovery." -- to promote tourism in the country, with the aim of more than quadrupling the number of foreign tourists to 30 million at some point in the future, tourism minister said Tuesday. The slogan is aimed at encouraging repeat visitors, while the logo is a red-and-white design evoking the sun and cherry blossoms. The catchphrase replaces "Yokoso! Japan" which some said lacked sufficient impact, as the Japanese word for welcome is not widely recognized by non-Japanese speakers. (AP)

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TOKYO, JAPAN: Tuna auction at Tsukiji market to shut out sightseers for a month

Tokyo's Tsukiji fish market will shut out sightseers from its popular frozen tuna auction from April 8 to May 8 as the excessive numbers of visitors to the auction area obstruct business transactions, market officials said Tuesday. The touring section of the auction is scheduled to reopen on May 10, which falls on Monday. Wholesale sections and eating areas in the market will remain open, they said. On Monday, more than 500 sightseers, mostly foreign, swarmed the visitors' section which has a capacity of only 70 to 80 to see the tuna auction and the excessive numbers disrupted the hauling of tunas, according to the Tokyo metropolitan government. (AP)

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JAPAN & US: Japan says it has no plans to ease US beef restrictions

Japan said Tuesday it has no plans to ease long-standing trade restrictions on US beef imposed over mad cow disease, two days before talks in Tokyo between the two on the issue. US Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack was travelling to Japan Tuesday for a four-day visit in a renewed attempt to settle the long-running dispute that has created friction between the allies. But Japan's Agriculture Minister Hirotaka Akamatsu said he "has no plan to ask the government's food safety commission to review US beef", even if Vilsack demands it during their meeting scheduled for Thursday. (AFP)

JAPAN: Toyota Prius tops Japan's March auto sales

Toyota's Prius hybrid was Japan's top-selling car in March for an 11th straight month despite global recall woes, an industry group said Tuesday. Toyota Motor Corp., reeling after recalls over issues that included braking problems with the Prius, sold 35,546 units of the gas-electric vehicle in Japan last month, according to the Japan Automobile Dealers Association. Consumers were choosing the Prius with the help of tax breaks and government subsidies for environmentally friendly vehicles, Miyake said. (AP)

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