Obama's choice

I have learned about Obama's choice for the top members of his economic team from newspaper and VOA. The articles have left something interested in my mind.

Asahi shimbun explained that Timothy Geithner can speak Japanese very well by using Japanese word "tannou"（堪能）. And it said that he can read "Izakaya"（居酒屋）'s menu.

But, it is very difficult for foreigners to speak Japanese very well because of its difference from languages based on alphabet, I think. "Tannou" should be used for very skilled speaker in Japanese. I hope to see his speaking Japanese on TV program in the future.

And Barak Obama selected Christina Romer to lead the Council of Economic Advisor. She is an economist and an economic historian at the University of California, Berkeley. One of her major is about how the American government dealt with economic crisis during the Great Depression. But, I doubt that her knowledge about those day's issues can be useful to solve difficult economic problems in this time when the globalization of economic have improved and the information by Internet can be spread widely and faster.

I am looking forward to seeing following news about these issues.

P.S. Later, I used a big dictionary named "Koujien"（広辞苑） to comfirm the usage and meaning of "tannou". But, I was a little bit surprised with the result. Because, the correct pronunciation of the word "堪能" is "kannou", not "tannou". (But, many people pronounce it "tannou", so it is not wrong.) Japanese is no walk in the park, for natives. (Thanks, Jon-san!!)