GSL Words

I bought an English words book based on the General Service List. The General Service List is originally a list of 2,000 English wards published in 1953. The author has replaced dead words for newly frequent words. I can learn the 2,000 words with quiz type problems. 

Ninety percent of spoken English and 80 percent of written English were based on the 2,000 words, so it's very important to learn the words in the General Service List. I shouldn't be lazy to do so. 

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Norwegian Wood

I'm reading Norwegian Wood in English. I'm a big fan of Haruki Murakami, so I have read it as soon as it was published. But that was a long time ago and I forgot about the details. I feel it's a new novel for me. 

Thanks to kindle, I can look up unfamiliar words immediately and review these words easily. 

I'm not reading only that book, but some other books. That is because I'm losing interest in books quite easily. That's not bad for English learners. 

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VOA Special English

VOA has been broadcasting some programs in Special English since 1959. VOA Special English uses only 1,500 limited words. The words are quite common. There are no difficulty words in the Special English programs, but they can describe everything in the limited words. 

As a English learner, I should learn these fundamental words deeply and use them correctly. It's easy to say, but it might be most difficult thing for learners. 

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Committed Suicide or Ending One's Own Life

Shimane Prefectural government officially ended to use a word 自殺 or suicide in their documents in 2013. Since then the government began to use 自死 instead of 自殺. It's hard to translate into English, but someone tried to do it like "ending one's own life". Let me know any good ideas for it. 

Anyway, that was because a mother who has a son died by suicide in Shimane requested to the government to change the word 自殺 to 自死. She had been suffering to say 自殺 or killed oneself for her son's death. She preferred to say 自死 because it sounds kind to her. 

Some people have agreed with the idea. They say the word 自殺 sound hurt the relatives' mind because of the caracter "殺" that means kill. 

On the other hand, some people have opposed it because the word 殺 might prevent someone to commit suicide. 

I think the changing is ucceptabl because 自死 is not a new word but a common Japanese for a long time. And I don't think the word 殺 can prevent suicide. What do you think of it? 

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Old Fashioned Words

I'm reading a book titled Twelve Years a Slave. It was first published in 1853, one year after Uncle Tom's Cabin was published. 

I've found lots of unfamiliar words in the book and I look up these words in the dictionary. Many of them are said as old fashioned words. 

Thinking of 1853, it was Edo era in Japan. Words can change in such a long period of time. I shouldn't spend a long time to check those old words so I'll guess the meaning while I read the novel.