Show 322 Wednesday 21 March

Watch today’s show at YouTube or BlipTV.

Hi, I’m Sarah. Welcome to The Daily English Show.

I just wanted to say thanks again to Miho for being on Monday’s show.
It was really interesting hearing about her experience learning English in England.

I’m planning to have guests every Monday. And I’d especially like to ask people about their language learning experiences and also to ask native English speakers to teach us a bit of their dialect.

I think the next guest is going to be Mike. He’s from Scotland so he can teach us some Scottish English. I haven’t actually asked him yet, but I’m sure he’ll say yes.

If anyone is watching this that lives around here and would like to be a guest – then please send me an email or just turn up here anytime from Monday to Friday from 2pm to 6pm.

STICK NEWS

Kia ora in Stick News today the governor of Tokyo is being sued for his rude remarks about the French language.

Ishihara Shintaro was born in Kobe in 1932.
Ishihara has had many jobs including novelist, playwright, director, and reporter.
In 1956 he won a prestigious literary prize for his novel Seasons in the Sun.
From 1968 to 1995 he was a national politician with the LDP.
In 1999, he was elected governor of Tokyo and is now serving his second term.
He’s a very popular governor – in 2003 he got 70% of the vote.
He’s also famous for his racism, sexism and nationalism. He often says nasty things such as:
Old women who live after they have lost their reproductive function are useless and are committing a sin.”
文明がもたらしたもっとも悪しき有害なる物はババアなんだそうだ。女が生殖能力を失っても生きてるってのは、無駄で罪。男は８０、９０才でも生殖能力があるけど、女は閉経してしまったら子供を生む力はない。そんな人間が、きんさん、ぎんさんの年まで生きてるってのは、地球にとって非常に悪しき弊害。
In 2005 thirty-five French speaking people filed a lawsuit against Ishihara following this comment made in October 2004: "French is disqualified as an international language because it is a language that cannot count numbers."
「フランス語は数を勘定できない言葉で、国際語として失格しているのはむべなるかなという気がする」
The plaintiffs asked for 500,000 yen each plus an apology.
Then in 2006 – before the case was resolved – Ishihara suddenly changed his mind and said his comments were made as the governor of Tokyo rather than as an individual.
Now 74 people – including French-speaking professors and translators and 16 people from the first lawsuit – have filed a new suit.
They say Ishihara’s comment was appalling and they want 50,000 yen each as well as a public apology from the metropolitan government.

Next month Ishihara is hoping to be elected for his third term as Tokyo governor. And that was Stick News for Wednesday the 21st of March. Kia Ora.

conversations with sarah
#198 What do you think about Ishihara?

Step 1: Repeat Sam’s lines.
Step 2: Read Sam’s lines and talk to Sarah.

Sam What do you think about Ishihara?

Sarah He has said so many nasty things that I think it’s pretty scary that he’s so popular.

Sam Are there politicians like that in New Zealand?

Sarah Yeah, there’s a guy called Winston Peters.

Sam Who’s he?

Sarah He’s a politician. And he often says things against immigration. I think he tries to appeal to people’s dislike of foreigners – especially against immigrants from Asia or the middle east.

Sam Sounds like Ishihara. Is he very popular?

Sarah I think he’s less popular than he used to be. He lost his seat in the last election, but he got in as a list MP.

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