Japanese Scientists Make Verbal Translation Break-Thru

Boyé Lafayette De Mente

Throughout history languages have separated human beings into exclusive groups, making communication difficult or impossible, exacerbating their cultural differences and contributing to wars and other kinds of violence.

The primary reason for this linguistic plague is the fact that languages are the reservoir, the transmitter, and the controller of cultures. People who speak different languages have problems because they think and behave in different ways.

When working as a trade journalist in Asia in the 1950s and 60s I learned that the cultures of China, Korea and Japan were bound up in hundreds of key words in each of the three languages, and that you simply could not understand their respective ways of thinking and behaving without intimate knowledge of these key words—a fact that I subsequently used in a series of “cultural code word” books on these countries.

But technology is on the verge of eliminating some of the linguistic barriers that separate human beings—and much sooner than you might think.

Most of the world is familiar with the “universal language” devices used by the fictional Capt. James T. Kirk and the intrepid crew of Star Trek to communicate with the various life-forms they encountered during their travels around the galaxies.

Now, reality is rapidly catching up with fiction. Japan’s Council for Science and Technology Policy [CSTP] has challenged the country’s automated speech translation researchers to improve the present technology in the next five years to the point that automated translators will be a reality for Japanese who want to communicate with English and Mandarin speakers.

Prototypes of these translators have already been field-tested in China, and the word is that they worked perfectly as long as the conversations were simple. The process is based on storing hundreds of thousands of sentences and speech patterns into the devices that have exact equivalents in the target languages.

The goal of the CSTP is to have universal translators on the market for all of the world’s major languages within ten years!

The impact that this will have on the world is so potentially profound and broad that over a period of a few generations it will surely change the nature of human cultures.

This revolutionary change in the ability of human beings to communicate with each other across language barriers will inevitably increase the volume of conversations, since every word that is pregnant with cultural nuances and uses will have to be explained in detail to make the communication complete.

To fully explain the cultural content and role of the Spanish term macho (mah-choh), for example, requires several hundred words. To fully explain the Japanese term kaizen (kigh-zen), or “continuous improvement,” requires as many as a thousand words or more (there is a whole book on the subject).

If you think there is too much babble in today’s world, consider what it will be like when this is multiplied many times over by universal translation technology embedded in your cell phone!
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Boyé Lafayette De Mente is the author of more than 50 business, cultural and language books on Japan, China, Korea, Mexico, Hopi Land and Navajo Land. See his website: http://www.business-cultural-language-books-on-china-japan-korea-mexico.info/

Which Side of Your Brain Am I Talking To?

Why Men & Women Talk
Past Each Other!

Boyé Lafayette De Mente

It has been established beyond a reasonable doubt that the two sides of the human brain perform different functions, ranging from speech, emotional reactions, sexual pleasure, fear, and analytical thinking to the appreciation of beauty.

There is also growing evidence that one side of the brain is dominant in most people. This is of vital importance because left-brain oriented people think and behave differently from right-brain oriented people.

One noted authority on the function of the brain, Japan’s Dr. Tadanobu Tsunoda (author of The Japanese Brain and numerous other works), asserts that the language one first learns as a child is the deciding factor in which side of the brain is dominant for the rest of the person’s life.

Dr. Tsunoda has spent several decades studying the influence of languages on brain function, using electronic devices he developed to test thousands of people in his Tokyo laboratory—both Japanese and non-Japanese [I was one of his subjects]—with some amazing results.

He found that people whose native tongue is Japanese (or Polynesian!) are primarily right-brain oriented, while all other people are primarily left-brain oriented. (It’s the preponderance of vowels in these two languages!)

It seems that right-brain oriented people are primarily motivated by their emotions and a holistic approach to life, while left-brain oriented people are programmed to be logical and practical-minded, and to take a short-term approach to things.

I used Dr. Tsunoda’s theory as the basis for evaluating the differences between the mind-set and behavior of the right-brained oriented Japanese and the left-brain oriented rest of the world in a book entitled Which Side of Your Brain Am I Talking To?—The Advantages of Using Both Sides of Your Brain.

I believe that the right-brain orientation of the Japanese was one of the primary factors that made it possible for them to recover from the destruction of World War II and turn tiny Japan into the world’s second largest economy in less than thirty years.

All women in left-brain oriented cultures are forced to use right-brain thinking and behavior to survive in their male-dominated societies, while Japanese women, whose culture is primarily right-brain oriented, are forced to use left-brain thinking to cope with their male-dominated society—making them superior in many ways to the male side of the population...

The French and Italians and all Spanish and Portuguese speaking people are more right-brain oriented than Americans, Chinese, Germans, British and other people around the globe--making their cultures significantly more emotion-oriented.

Many of the problems that plague Western countries are caused by too much left-brain thinking and not enough right-brain thinking, and in Which Side of Your Brain Am I Talking To? I pinpoint many areas where business managers and people in general could benefit greatly from learning how and when to use the right side of their brains.

The book attributes the “irrational behavior” of both men and women to which side of their brain they use at a particular time, and provides insights for coping with the built-in gender programming of the brain.
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Copyright © 2007 by Boyé Lafayette De Mente.
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WHICH SIDE OF YOUR BRAIN AM I TALKING TO?—The Advantages of Using Both Sides of Your Brain (and Why Women Must Use the Less Dominant Side of Their Brains in Order to Survive!), by Boyé Lafayette De Mente. Phoenix Books/Publishers. 6x9 trade paperback. 108 pages. $9.95. ISBN: 0914778-95-1. Distributors to the trade: Ingram Book Company; Baker & Taylor. Consumer distribution: Amazon.com, Borders, Barns and Noble, etc.
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A full list of De Mente's books on China, Japan, Korea and Mexico can be seen on his personal website: http://www.phoenixbookspublishers.com/.

Samurai Principles & Practices that Could Change the World!

Cultures of the World Could be Transformed

By Simple, Proven Training Method

Boyé Lafayette De Mente

(BNS) -- I believe that modern-day samurai-type training should be introduced into all public educational systems worldwide, and have published a “samurai training manual” to help achieve that goal.

On the basis of personal experience in Japan since the late 1940's and having researched and written more than 30 cultural-insight books on Japan, I have identified the principles and practices that made up the educational and training process of samurai youths and published them in a book entitled: Samurai Principles & Practices That Will Help Preteens & Teens in School, Sports, Social Activities & Choosing Careers.

The book covers all of the basics of the samurai training—setting goals, discipline, diligence, perseverance, respect for others and one’s self, personal appearance, keeping things in order, living frugally, using intuitive and emotional intelligence, and tapping into cosmic power.

Japan’s famous samurai warriors ruled the country from 1192 until 1868. During the latter centuries of their reign their training went beyond martial arts to include such cultural pursuits as poetry, painting, calligraphy, history, philosophy and social behavior, making them one of the most remarkable groups of people the world has ever seen.

Schooling in the skills and knowledge necessary to produce a samurai began in early childhood, and was a lifelong effort--a concept that has just begun to emerge into the conscious of all people everywhere as the need for ongoing training and learning becomes more and more imperative.

Training in modern-day karate, kendo (“the way of the sword”) and meditation are paths to learning the skills, morality and motivation that made the samurai so successful, and I recommend that this training be incorporated into the educational systems of all countries around the world.

The present-day systems of parenting and educating in the U.S. and elsewhere obviously fail to provide the physical, intellectual and emotional framework that youths need to even approach their full potential—and that now includes Japan.

The introduction of American culture into Japan following the end of World War II in 1945 resulted in the virtual demise of samurai-type training of the young within a single generation. The negative effects of this cultural shift were painfully conspicuous by the 1980s, prompting a growing number of Japanese to individually take up training in karate and kendo and the practice of meditation to reintroduce a sense of order and spiritual power into their lives.

It was the spirit of the samurai that made it possible for tiny resource-poor Japan to become the world’s second largest economy in less than 30 years, and if that spirit is not retained, the country will eventually become just another kid on the block.

Parents and teachers must take the lead in creating the environment necessary to build positive samurai-like qualities into the mindset and behavior of students -- as is indicated in the "kicker head" on my samurai training manual: "For Parents, Teachers, Preteens & Teens."

The book should be especially interesting to the millions of students who are into Japanese-made manga (comics), video games, super secret agent ninjas, and samurai films.

Copyright © 2007 by Boyé Lafayette De Mente

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Samurai Principles & Practices that Will Help Preteens & Teens in School, Sports, Social Activities & Choosing Careers, by Boyé Lafayette De Mente. Trade paperback, 6x9, 84 pages. ISBN: 0-914778-99-4. $9.95. [Trade distributors: Ingram Book Company; Baker & Taylor. Direct to consumer: Amazon.com, etc.]

For a full list of titles by the author (each one with a link to Amazon.com's buy page) see his personal website: www.phoenixbookspublishers.com.