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Off topic: Japan Today article: Tokyo Gov Ishihara sued for insulting French language
Thread poster: Kelvin Wu
Kelvin Wu
Kelvin Wu
Local time: 05:05
Chinese to English
+ ...
Jul 15, 2005

This is what Ishihara said at a meeting: "I have to say that it should be no surprise that French is disqualified as an international language because French is a language which cannot count numbers."

Should we be alarmed or amused?

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TOKYO — A French language teacher and 20 other plaintiffs filed a damages suit Wednesday against Tokyo Gov Shintaro Ishihara for his insulting remarks against the French language las... See more
This is what Ishihara said at a meeting: "I have to say that it should be no surprise that French is disqualified as an international language because French is a language which cannot count numbers."

Should we be alarmed or amused?

===========================================

TOKYO — A French language teacher and 20 other plaintiffs filed a damages suit Wednesday against Tokyo Gov Shintaro Ishihara for his insulting remarks against the French language last year.

Malik Berkane, a 46-year-old principal of a French language school in Tokyo, filed the suit at the Tokyo District Court, together with 20 other French and Japanese people, demanding an apology over the remarks and 500,000 yen in compensation for each plaintiff.

Rest of the article is at http://www.japantoday.com/e/?content=news&id=343367 ▲ Collapse
 
NancyLynn
NancyLynn
Canada
Local time: 05:05
Member (2002)
French to English
+ ...

Moderator of this forum
According to the comments following this article, Jul 16, 2005

the statesman in question is the one who can't count in French (see the last comment at the bottom of the page).

I'm amused, not insulted, by this man's comments. So what? If he's willing to state publicly that the French can't count, and illustrates his point by being unable to count to ten in that language, it's his problem.

Nancy
 
Can Altinbay
Can Altinbay  Identity Verified
Local time: 05:05
Japanese to English
+ ...
In memoriam
Chronic Foot in Mouth Disease Jul 16, 2005

NancyLynn wrote:

the statesman in question is the one who can't count in French (see the last comment at the bottom of the page).

I'm amused, not insulted, by this man's comments. So what? If he's willing to state publicly that the French can't count, and illustrates his point by being unable to count to ten in that language, it's his problem.

Nancy


The statesman in question has the ailment specified in the title. e has little tact and will say things left and right that are similar to the one at hand. I wouldn't put too much into it.

He used to be a celebrated writer, by the way. I'm never sure if he's OK or not. Some of what he's done have been quite good. His younger brother was a pop diol/action movie star, really big in the 1950s.
 
sarahl (X)
sarahl (X)
Local time: 02:05
English to French
+ ...
Hilarious Jul 16, 2005

he may have a point, though, counting is more complicated in Japanese.

Ishihara and Edith Cresson should work together as stand-up comics, I wouldn't miss any of their shows.
 


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Japan Today article: Tokyo Gov Ishihara sued for insulting French language






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