Quote:
Originally Posted by GloucesterChief
He may be fluent but may have a heavy accent. Ichiro still has a accent despite living in the US for decades and it can be lead to some embarrassment. For example many Japanese tend to turn si into shi since si is not a sound in Japanese but shi is. So sit often becomes shit. So he may speak without a translator to his friends, managers, and teammates. To the media or when doing business he uses a translator.
Remember a translator not only translates but also put things in cultural context. Not really a problem with English as English speakers tend to be very blunt and straight forward but Japanese are usually more vague particularly when it comes to speaking with people who you are not friends with.
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The best quote of all time was a Costas interview where he asked ichiro about the best American phrase he ever learned. He said in Kansas city he learned the phrase "it's hotter than 2 rats ****ing in a wool sock"