Language expert finds Japanese people 'hilarious'

Article title:Language expert finds Japanese people 'hilarious'
Journal: Kyodo news
published:Friday, July 19, 2007
Downloaded from:http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20070719f3.html
Jul,21,at17:07

It's about Japanese language and culture.
Matthew Fargo, a language expert, says "I think Japanese people have a wonderful sense of humor, so I don't know why people think Japanese people are serious. I think Japanese people are hilarious. They're making me laugh more than anybody".
At first he was interested in japanese literature and now his works cover the fields of translation of writen Japanese, spoken Japanese and even the explaning japanese new words such as "akibakei".

He mentioned about Japanese culture, and there are remarkable comments.
"The Japanese language is open to homonyms and puns. Japanese people love words, so they always play with them and make new words. "
"Japan is often seen as a rigid society, where social pressures deny people their full range of expression. This is not true. What is acceptable to say depends on who's around,"