Alien Languages May Not Be Entirely Alien to Us

[Martin68]

23. Thanks for the thoughtful and understanding reply.

Yes, language must be related to "reality" and we assume must include something like nouns, verbs and adjectives because that is the only way WE know how to communicate our understanding of reality. I'm not sure we can get around that, but who knows? Maybe verbs are not essential?

I moved to Japan from my 2-year Peace Corps teaching assignment in Liberia, West Africa. I loved teaching English in Japan because the school where I taught was a two-year program with five hours a day, five days a week. The first 6 months were spent largely gaining the student's trust that they could speak English without being laughed at, and by the last 6 months we were discussing English short stories, current video news, and really interesting intercultural communication topics. I lived in downtown Tokyo, and after marrying a Japanese woman we lived in a Tokyo suburb 45 minutes by train from my school.

We moved back to the States in 1998, I got a Masters in science teaching at UVA, and ended up teaching conservation (my major was a biology) and then taking a position as a field technician in watershed management and water quality protection education. I retired in 2019.

Thanks for this dialog. Language will always be my primary interest.

By the way, Okinawa is an amazing island. My wife and I took a trip visiting Naha in Okinawa and then island hopping down the Ryukyu island chain that stretches almost all the way to Taiwan. A wonderful island culture and amazing coral reefs.