3 ms·

There's no language barrier Mochizuki is completely fluent in English.

by throwlaplace 7y ago

mellosouls 7y ago
He seems to insist on only communicating his ideas in Japanese though.
- throwlaplace 7y ago
  The paper is written in English and scholz for example traveled to Japan and communicated with him in English
  - mellosouls 7y ago
    Although if you look at his rather colourful webpage, the strong, almost defensive, warning that Japanese will be the language used (at a Japanese institution of course) doesn't detract from the anecdotal suggestions that have dogged the saga of a reluctance to engage more fully with the world beyond his local region. Scholze and Stix had to go to him. http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~motizuki/students-english.html http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~motizuki/students-english.h...
    - throwlaplace 7y ago
      I'm not argusing that he's not cagey. Simply that there is no issues of a language barrier (instruction in Japanese at Japanese university is a complete red herring when talking about what language he engages with the international mathematical community in).
    - knolax 7y ago
      I would be pissed too if I were a professor and some undergrads insisted on speaking about mathematics to me in Japanese simply because they view it as a "lingua franca". The argument that "English is the lingua franca" is akin to "let's use Electron because web is the most cross-platform".
      - mellosouls 7y ago
        I agree. I'm just noting a certain pre-emptive antsiness there that is consistent with the allegedly defensive tone of his general approach to engagement with his peers. Of course, it could be coincidental, and he could also have been unfairly represented in his willingness to engage.
      - olodus 7y ago
        That is true. It is sometimes annoying that English speakers so often never tries to learn a new language and just expects everyone else to use theirs. However, one could view it as the only common language between you and someone else and use it for that reason. In my mind the one that know more languages are able to more easily communicate with more people more accurately, and as such have a leg up on teaching and learning from others. These ideas might be able to travel faster since they can travel by English and Japanese. Though maybe that is just wishful thinking from my side.
        knolax 7y ago
        In my experience monolingual people underestimate the effort it takes to use your non-dominant language(s). For example, I could theoretically communicate in Spanish, but the effort it takes to deal with romance language conjugation is a legitimately unpleasant experience for me. Mochizuki might know English, but it might be the case that using it is an unpleasant experience to him. In addition, just as there are English proficiency requirements for international students in the US, I feel it would be unreasonable to pursue higher education in Japan without even knowing enough Japanese to talk about math.
  - knolax 7y ago
    Is there a Japanese version fo the paper available?

There's no language barrier Mochizuki is completely fluent in English.

mellosouls 7y ago

He seems to insist on only communicating his ideas in Japanese though.

throwlaplace 7y ago
The paper is written in English and scholz for example traveled to Japan and communicated with him in English
- mellosouls 7y ago
  Although if you look at his rather colourful webpage, the strong, almost defensive, warning that Japanese will be the language used (at a Japanese institution of course) doesn't detract from the anecdotal suggestions that have dogged the saga of a reluctance to engage more fully with the world beyond his local region. Scholze and Stix had to go to him. http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~motizuki/students-english.html http://www.kurims.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~motizuki/students-english.h...
  - throwlaplace 7y ago
    I'm not argusing that he's not cagey. Simply that there is no issues of a language barrier (instruction in Japanese at Japanese university is a complete red herring when talking about what language he engages with the international mathematical community in).
  - knolax 7y ago
    I would be pissed too if I were a professor and some undergrads insisted on speaking about mathematics to me in Japanese simply because they view it as a "lingua franca". The argument that "English is the lingua franca" is akin to "let's use Electron because web is the most cross-platform".
    - mellosouls 7y ago
      I agree. I'm just noting a certain pre-emptive antsiness there that is consistent with the allegedly defensive tone of his general approach to engagement with his peers. Of course, it could be coincidental, and he could also have been unfairly represented in his willingness to engage.
    - olodus 7y ago
      That is true. It is sometimes annoying that English speakers so often never tries to learn a new language and just expects everyone else to use theirs. However, one could view it as the only common language between you and someone else and use it for that reason. In my mind the one that know more languages are able to more easily communicate with more people more accurately, and as such have a leg up on teaching and learning from others. These ideas might be able to travel faster since they can travel by English and Japanese. Though maybe that is just wishful thinking from my side.
      - knolax 7y ago
        In my experience monolingual people underestimate the effort it takes to use your non-dominant language(s). For example, I could theoretically communicate in Spanish, but the effort it takes to deal with romance language conjugation is a legitimately unpleasant experience for me. Mochizuki might know English, but it might be the case that using it is an unpleasant experience to him. In addition, just as there are English proficiency requirements for international students in the US, I feel it would be unreasonable to pursue higher education in Japan without even knowing enough Japanese to talk about math.
- knolax 7y ago
  Is there a Japanese version fo the paper available?