Thursday, January 05, 2006

The New International Language

Back in the day, everyone who was educated studied Latin and Greek, because it was the common language of learning.

Later, French became the international language of diplomacy--and they are waiting for it to become that again. It's gonna be a looooooong wait, guys.

But now, there is a new international language. No, it isn't English, and while international conversations have happened in C++, that's actually a rather limited language.

No, the new international language is.....Disney.

We spent some time this Christmas with my 6 year old niece from Japan. Her mother is Japanese, and her father is my brother-in-law, so she is exposed to both languages. In the US, however, she has to quickly pick up a lot of English, since none of us speak Japanese.

Fortunately, she watches the Disney Channel, even in Japan, and she could talk to the kidlets about that. "Kim Possible!" she cries, and friendship is immediate and fast.

There is a song from Kim Possible that the Niece wanted to sing with the Bunny and Pony. "Naka Mol Lap" she said, and the Pony simply couldn't translate.

"Naka Mol Lap. Naka Mol Lap!" Still no comprehension.

"You know--'yo, yo, yo?'"

"Oh. Naked Mole Rap!"

There is nothing funnier than a six year old Japanese girl rapping. Yo, yo, yo!

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