Quote:
There was one letter though that really threw everyone for a loop, including the teacher. The American student was talking about his favorite holidays, and he wrote something to the extent of "My favorite holidays are Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter, which is the resurrection of Jesus."
I'm sure most if not all of you reading have had some experience studying at least a second language. Now, try to think about how to say "resurrection of Jesus" in your non-native language. ...Kinda hard, isn't it? Now imagine a Japanese schoolboy trying to make sense of this sentence, when just a few weeks ago he was working on "I have many comic books." And THEN factor in that Japan isn't really a Christian society*, and there's no reason why they'd even know who Jesus is.
...Yeah.
*There is Christianity in Japan, but it's by no means the norm.
Even the teacher was baffled by this, so they called me over to help. "Well, resurrection means when someone who's died comes back to life." I explained to the student. He nods in understanding. "Okay," he says, "now, who's this Jesus character?" Again, Christmas in Japan is all about the man in the big red suit. "Well, Jesus was a man..." I start to say. Before I can even finish my sentence, the boy looks up and me and says "Oh! So, Jesus was a zombie then?"
I'm sure most if not all of you reading have had some experience studying at least a second language. Now, try to think about how to say "resurrection of Jesus" in your non-native language. ...Kinda hard, isn't it? Now imagine a Japanese schoolboy trying to make sense of this sentence, when just a few weeks ago he was working on "I have many comic books." And THEN factor in that Japan isn't really a Christian society*, and there's no reason why they'd even know who Jesus is.
...Yeah.
*There is Christianity in Japan, but it's by no means the norm.
Even the teacher was baffled by this, so they called me over to help. "Well, resurrection means when someone who's died comes back to life." I explained to the student. He nods in understanding. "Okay," he says, "now, who's this Jesus character?" Again, Christmas in Japan is all about the man in the big red suit. "Well, Jesus was a man..." I start to say. Before I can even finish my sentence, the boy looks up and me and says "Oh! So, Jesus was a zombie then?"
The original website can be found here:
http://www.outpostnine.com/editorials/teacher.html
