For most of those who haven't probably spent enough time about the subject, It might be understood by one simple word: Millionaire!!
Exciting word, isn't! it rings; success, freedom, power, influence, pleasure, possibility and benevolence. Sure, being millionare is not a bad mental imagen to hold.
But the word wealth embodies more than economic concepts. It can also be used as the wealth of experience, the wealth of friendship, the wealth of love, the wealth of family and the wealth of culture, and because it brings to mind a wide variety of imagines and sometimes different concepts, it is a very controvertial word and yet..Everybody loves it!
Specially the kind of wealth that brings you financial freedom. The Wealth that comes from the conversion of effort and enterprise into currency and equity.
Are you wealthy? and if so, in what kind?!
See you next time!
Economy.
A number of students have asked me to explain the word “economy”.
Maybe the reason is because the economy in Japan is improving even in the adversity. That’s good news for all of us.
One of the meanings of the noun “economy” is the “careful, thrifty use of money and resources.”If you follow a household budget, economy is your goal. “Thrifty” is a good word to remember. The connotation, the feeling of “thrifty” is very positive. A thrifty person uses money very carefully, wisely. Words like “stingy” , “tight” or “cheapskate”have a very negative connotation.
Stingy (tight), or “cheap” are for people who never want to use money.
Another meaning to “economy”, the one in the fist paragraph, the economy in Japan. Notice how it uses “the”. When you talk about the general business situation, make sure to say “the” economy”.
The scientific study of economy is called economies. (Don’t forget the –s) I took some economies courses in the collage. The people who are trained in this science are called economist.
There’re three different adjective forms of “economy”, so it can be a little confusing. One of them is the same as the noun. It often refers to classes or types. I went to the USA over the New Year’s holyday. I flew Economy Class. It was the lowest price, but not very comfortable. I rented an Economy car when I was there.The last adjective form “economical” refers to saving money. The car I rented was small; I got good gas mileage. It was more economical to drive than a larger car. New air-conditioners are economical than older ones: they use less electricity. The adjective “economic” usually refers to things related to economics or money in general. GDP (gross domestic product) is an economic term. At last, we are seeing economic grow in Japan however on my next trip I can’t fly business class for economic reasons, and not because I might be“thrifty” or “cheap”.
Are you "Mame" ?
That’s the case of the Word “mame” in Japanese, of course anyone who has some knowledge of Japanese would know that the meaning is “bean” however the word “mame” is used by the Japanese with another very different intention, which we foreigners would never figure up because we don’t know the very background of the word.
I’m very interesting in that kind of words and expressions, because in those words is show up the culture and behavior of Japanese people, which we know are certainly different from ours.
The first time I heard the word “mame” in such terms, it attracted my interest, and almost instantly I asked about it, both of my friend that were with me that time (one of them pronounced the word) couldn’t give me a good example of how to understand the real meaning of this word.
Later I try to find out this meaning at the dictionary, but of course, it doesn’t appear more than “bean” meaning (maybe my dictionary wasn't that good, but any way), so I asked again to one of my Japanese friends, and finally after gave me series of examples that clarified my doubts I came to this conclusion.For me the most closed translation and use of the word “mame” in English would be “meticulous person”, certainly not quite used in the English daily talk and it sounds "wordy" but this is the word, so I Think that it works better to say that someone "cling on to something" or "keep grasping on something" but I like better just to simply say that someone "gets into something" too much.
Of course the meaning of each expression change according to the context of of what someone want to say, and it can be take it positively or negatively and the same happens when we use the word "mame" as an adjective to someone in Japanese. Living in Japan has taught me that every expression or word has a matching one on the other language of course it has some difference nuance, but I think it gets by to comprehend the second real meaning of this word.
