Tham khảo tài liệu 'japanese beyond words how to walk and talk like a native speaker phần 7', ngoại ngữ, nhật - pháp - hoa- others phục vụ nhu cầu học tập, nghiên cứu và làm việc hiệu quả | 160 JAPANESE BEYOND WORDS Similarly fa is an alternate pronunciation of 2 and ro is the first syllable of roku 6 . Lately even English pronunciations of numbers have been mobilized for advertising. For example a Tokyo-based chain of apartment hotels has managed to provide all its outlets with phone numbers that end in 111. In a massive TV advertising campaign an actor and a dog face the camera and nod while the announcer reads out the eight digits of the apartment chain s Tokyo phone number. The first five are read in Japanese but the last three are read out as one one one. Pronounced Japanese style these come out as wan wan wan which is Japanese for bow wow. Though these puns may seem to lose something in translation the custom of linking phone numbers to words is a highly effective marketing tool in Japanese. From proverbs to promissory notes the past casts a huge shadow on modern-day Japanese usage You are in a restaurant where the waitress insists she cannot speak English but you sense that she is merely being polite and is afraid to show her skill lest she be perceived as being too forward. You encourage her but she is still hesitant. At this point you say I think there is a proverb in Japanese about a hawk that hides its claws. Suddenly the waitress s face lights up. Yes that s right she says Noo aru taka tsume kakusu The clever hawk hides its talons . The effect of a proverb is immediate. The usual tension that accompanies contact between foreigner and native speaker gives way to a feeling of trust. The waitress or landlord or corporate executive has the impression that this foreigner is in full command of Japanese language and culture. Unlike in the West where the proverb is often seen as a poor relative of serious thought old sayings are revered as gems of wisdom handed down through the ages. No self-respecting bookstore in Japan will be without at least half a dozen collections of kotowaxa proverbs . A leading businessman the heir to a pulp and paper .
