I Hit One-Third Mark of My French Dictionary!

A few days ago, I finally hit the one-third mark in my studying of French vocabulary from the Larousse French-Chinese dictionary. It took me 127 days to reach this point—if I extrapolate from this learning speed, it will take me roughly a year to finish the entire dictionary.

Studying a dictionary in its entirety is not a completely new undertaking for me. As far as French goes, I’ve done it twice already, each time resulting in a significant boost in my knowledge of vocabulary. However, as I have quickly forgotten most of the words I had learned, my vocabulary is still not sizable enough for me to read through French novels with ease, hence my decision to study numerous French words again from yet another dictionary.

By the way, during my first attempt, I created physical flashcards to study thousands of words, leaving piles and piles of cards stacking up in my living room. It was effective to some extent, but it was very time-consuming and labor-intensive, leaving me with relatively little time and energy to actually study what was written on those cards. Essentially, I was exhausted and close to burning out.

So, for my second attempt, I completely did away with flashcards, and focused instead on loosely glancing at the dictionary entries multiple times each day. It was a significant improvement on my previous attempt, and my knowledge of vocabulary expanded substantially. However, what’s truly regrettable is that I got complacent after this, and didn’t follow up with more studying, leaving my vocabulary to level off and stagnate over the next few years.

This time, I am determined to see my vocab learning through to the very end—when I finish studying my current dictionary, I won’t stop learning French words right then and there; instead, I’ll most probably switch to another dictionary and go over its contents from beginning to end. I’ll repeat the same process indefinitely until I get truly comfortable reading French novels, in the same way I feel reading Japanese and English books.

Incidentally, I am not focusing on growing my ability to express myself in French yet, whether it’s speaking or writing. As my ultimate goal is to become fluent in spoken French, I’ll need to tackle these aspects of language learning sooner or later.

Having said that, I’m not in a hurry at all—I believe that there will come a time when I feel compelled to start practicing speaking and writing, as well as improving my French accent. I won’t forcibly initiate some action before it’s suitable to do so; instead, I’ll let nature run its course through my language learning journey and develop my knowledge in a way that I feel most comfortable with.

My Thoughts on Hiring Domestic Helpers

It’s Sunday afternoon again. I am having my cleaning lady help me do some housework now while I try to write this journal entry as quickly as possible. For the past 10 years, I have hired a part-time domestic helper to tidy up my apartment for three hours on a biweekly basis. She helps me iron my clothes and clean my bathroom, kitchen and living room.

For three hours’ worth of housework, I pay the domestic help agency SGD 83 (approximately USD 61), which I find quite reasonable. The lady who currently services my house is from Myanmar. Although her knowledge of English is somewhat limited, it’s sufficient for her to understand the tasks that need to get done, so overall I’m quite happy with her level of service.

Here in Singapore, hiring a domestic helper is a very common practice, due to the prevalence of double-income households and an aging population. Most domestic helpers are from the Philippines, Indonesia, and Myanmar. They are attracted to Singapore for the higher wages compared to their home countries, and the relatively low language barrier to overcome as people here speak English.

When I was in Japan more than 20 years ago, it was very rare for Japanese households to hire domestic helpers, as it was taken for granted that each person should take care of their own housework and paying someone else to do their domestic chores was generally frowned upon as a sign of laziness.

However, these days, things are slowly changing in Japan. A few weeks ago, I read a report on a Japanese news site that in big cities like Tokyo and Osaka, there has been a significant increase in demand for domestic help in normal middle-income households as people experience more pressure at work.

I think it’s a good change, because paying others to do your housework is not something that you should be ashamed of. I believe that lack of open-mindedness is holding back Japan’s economic development, and it’s high time that Japanese people started changing their mindsets.

Given its shrinking population, Japan should also consider allowing more immigrants to settle in the country. The language barrier is a major impediment, as Japanese people generally aren’t fluent in English.

For immigrants to adapt successfully to their new environment, the government should provide more support for immigrants, including helping them learn the Japanese language and local customs. Granted, it’s an expensive and time-consuming undertaking, but it needs to be done as Japan’s very survival as a nation is at stake.

Watched "18x2 Beyond Youthful Days"

I have a busy day planned for today. First, I need to write this journal entry and have it proofread by ChatGPT in preparation for my online English lesson on Tuesday; then, I need to go to Farrer Park for grocery shopping for the upcoming week. In the afternoon, I am going to the nearby cinema to catch “Article 20,” the latest film directed by Zhang Yimou, one of my favorite directors; after that, I am going to the gym across the street for a one-hour workout. When it’s done, I’ll finally come home to cook dinner.

Speaking of films, last night I went to the movie theater in my neighborhood and watched “18x2 Beyond Youthful Days,” a Japanese-Taiwanese co-production directed by Michihito Fujii. This is a love story between Ami, a young Japanese female backpacker in Taiwan, and Jimmy, a Taiwanese boy whom she meets locally. It depicts their encounter, their interactions during Ami’s short stay in Taiwan, and Jimmy’s railway journey in Japan 18 years later where he reminisces about their fleeting but happy days together.

As this film opened only a few days ago, I can’t give any spoilers in this journal entry, but I can say that it was enjoyable and worth watching. The dialogues were in Japanese and Mandarin, both of which I speak and understand, affording me a deeper level of appreciation for this touching story.

Due to historical reasons, I feel that Japan and Taiwan share many commonalities in terms of culture and the general ways in which people think and behave, in a way that feels much closer than the relationship between Japan and Mainland China.

Many Taiwanese grow up reading Japanese comic books and watching Japanese cartoons and television series; Japan is also their favorite travel destination, where they enjoy exquisite local food, well-maintained cultural sites, and spectacular nature. Both peoples savor each other’s cuisines, which tend to be more lightly yet subtly flavored compared to food from other Asian countries, like Mainland China or Korea.

I traveled to Taipei on a company trip last October and enjoyed myself to the utmost. Given my very short stay in the city, I focused on visiting local bookstores, one of my favorite things to do wherever I travel. I ended up buying a few Japanese comic books translated into Chinese. As I’m focusing on learning French now, I still haven’t gotten around to opening them. However, whenever I get tired of French and feel like a change of pace, I’ll definitely binge-read those beautifully drawn comic books and get my fill of the Chinese language.