About

This blog evolved out of my efforts to learn Japanese and Chinese over the last few years. I read other languages, with a concentration on Classical Persian and the medieval Arabic of The Thousand and One Nights (كتاب ألف ليلة وليلة). A friend and I have read Persian and Arabic together for many years, and a few years ago we added Japanese to our routine by reading a bit of Snow Country (雪国), by Yasunari Kawabata (川端 康成), every day. My wife and I began to study Chinese a little more than a year ago due to our interest in tai chi and qigong. Writing this blog seemed like a good way to get a grip on the written characters of Japanese and Chinese.