I'm moving!

Your humble webmaster is going to move house in a very near future, so unfortunately I won't have much time for Freelang. It means that some emails will probably be left unanswered, and that this blog won't be updated for some time. I apologize for any inconvenience!

AISHITEMASU!!!

This is "I love you" in Japanese, in case you wonder, and this is to follow up on our post yesterday. In Japan there is an organization called "Devoted Husband", which encourages men to express their love to their wives. They even organize events in which the men stand and shout their love to their wives who stand listening, some of them in tears.

In Japan, expressing love and appreciation is uncommon, especially among men. Even Valentine's Day is a time for women to give men gifts (isn't that great? ;-)). As a Japanese man put it: "If I said to my wife, 'I love you,' she would think I'm crazy."

So the goal of the organization is to teach men to appreciate their wives and express their feelings. They declared January 31 "Beloved Wives Day," a day during which a man is supposed to tell his wife how much he appreciates her for all that she does every day for him and their family. The date, read as "1-3-1" in Japanese, sounds like "aisai," which means "beloved wife."

And the organization has greater social goals in mind: "Husbands who take great care of their wife seem to care about those around them. So if there are more devoted husbands on earth, the world would become more peaceful."

So, if you are a married man, you know what you have to do to make the world a better place: stop reading this blog, go to your wife and shout AISHITEMASU!!!

Happy Valentine!

Freelang wishes you a happy Valentine day! And don't forget, we have ahuge collection of "I love you" in many languages.

Click here to say I love you in all languages!

Happy New Year once again!

This Thursday, February 7, Chinese New Year will be celebrated around the world. Freelang wishes you a happy and prosperous Year of the Rat!

Chinese people see the new year as a fresh start. They clean their homes to sweep away the bad luck of the preceding year, they purchase new clothing or receive a hair-cut. So, even if you were among those who celebrated the new year last January, why not seize the opportunity and make a fresh start too? You can even catch up on your New Year's resolutions... ;-)

Big Nose and Pretty Face

Samak Sundaravej is the current Prime Minister of Thailand and leader of the People Power Party (PPP). Abhisit Vejjajiva, leader of the Democrat Party, is his principal opponent. Deaf people refer to the former by touching their nose, and to the latter by moving their hand around their face and giving a thumbs up. So you could say that in Thai sign language, Abhisit is called Pretty Face (he is indeed good looking) and Samak Big Nose (his nose being indeed a prominent feature of his face). This doesn't please everybody, and a PPP member even asked if deaf people could change the way they refer to their leader.

"This is not to mock or to humiliate him. It's just the sign that deaf people can understand," said the chairman of the Council of Disabled People of Thailand. He also urged the party of the Prime Minister not to interfer in the way deaf people construct and communicate their sign language. But he said that the PPP was welcome to pay for the cost of holding a seminar attended by hundreds of people in a bid to determine how best to refer to Samak with another sign.

Are there any specialists of sign language among our readers? Did this kind of debate already take place in other countries? I can already think of a few signs I could do to refer to some politicians... ;-)