Spelling-Out English Words For Japanese People
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At yesterday's office drinking party, some Japanese coworkers told me they were amused as they overheard me on the phone struggling to spell-out my email address to an older Japanese woman. My mind flashed back to earlier that day: Wiping beads of sweat from my brow, it felt like 30 minutes passed as I grudgingly navigated shaky communication waters. In the end I was successful, but I vowed to drastically improve my workflow.
Indeed--I often grapple with spelling-out English words or names for Japanese people. The most common example is when I have to provide my email address or the romaji spelling of my name to a Japanese person over the phone. My long foreign name combined with my company's longer foreign name make this an (unwelcome) Japanese communication challenge. I wondered how Japanese people deal with this situation, and I discovered that they rely upon place names to clarify the letter they're spelling. For example, they'll say something like 「アメリカのA」.
Unfortunately since we Americans use uncommon words like "bravo" and "foxtrot," or person names like "Alex" or "Mike," the American approach doesn't function well in Japan. Therefore, working with some native Japanese speakers, I developed the following phonetic alphabet for spelling-out English words. This list is now posted next to my office phone, and I eagerly await the next time I have to spell-out my email address. がんばります！
I welcome feedback and suggestions. Enjoy!
Working Around the Limitations of the Sony a6300/a6500 Camera
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The Sony a6300 camera is an amazing little guy, and overall I've been fairly satisfied with its performance thus far. However, as is the case with small form-factor mirror-less cameras that feature big-ass sensors and 4K video recording, it's not without limitations. Below I list the a6300's limitations, along with how I've been working around them. As 4K video recording is the most intense shooting scenario for this diminutive camera, I primarily focus on that situation. Knock-on-wood--I have yet to suffer nearly as much when shooting stills or HD video.
Read more: Working Around the Limitations of the Sony a6300/a6500 Camera
The Hunt for the Ultimate VPS Cloud Servers in Japan
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If IT geek-dom were a crime, I'd be on death row by now. Fortunately, it is not; so I continue my dorky IT pursuits--the latest of which is finding a VPS cloud server provider that offers a Japan datacenter location. Let's see what we come up with...
Read more: The Hunt for the Ultimate VPS Cloud Servers in Japan
Sumida Hospital's Clinical Trials Program Seeks Participants in Tokyo
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Several years ago I enrolled in Sumida Hospital's clinical trials program, participating in one of their paid clinical trials. Despite the commitment, I found it a rewarding experience both in monetary value and blog-worthiness. I described the experience in detail here: The Clinical Trial
Since I'm on their mailing list, I receive occasional invitations and information regarding their other clinical trials. They currently seek Caucasian and Hispanic participants on an on-going basis for a number of well-compensated clinical trials. The requirements vary based on the specific trial.
GENERAL REQUIREMENTS
FYI ONLY - These are general requirements that seem to reverberate through most all the clinical trials.
- healthy person of Caucasian or Hispanic background (both parents must be Caucasian or Hispanic)
- age between 20 and 45
- weight between 40 kg and 90 kg
- able to refrain from smoking during the clinic stay
* Please note that these are just the major general requirements. There may be other requirements or conditions not listed here that could cause ineligibility for a particular trial.
Please contact Sumida Hospital through their website if interested. Please let them know that David Pavlina referred you, as this simple act helps to support my blogging efforts.
Here's the link to Sumida Hospital's site. Here you'll find a list of the current clinical trials open for application.
http://www.clinicaltrialstokyo.com
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