Dynax

Hi!

I'm from Germany and I applied for an internship in Hong Kong. The company is very small (15-20 people) and the CEO is Australian.

He very soon replied and invited me to an Skype interview. In his reply, he has addressed me by my first name and ended his letter with his first name as well. In general it was a very casual-styled email.

Now I wonder how to reply. In Germany, we usually address our boss or higher rank employees by their last name (as in "Mr ----"), unless he or she offers to go by his/her first name. It's also rather uncommon for a lower rank employee or applicant to ask.

Since I haven't got any business experience in an international company, it's really hard for me to get a feeling about this situation :)

So I would like to ask if I should just go on with "Mr-----" unless he offers me to address him differently?

Thanks a lot!

Please see this file http://dl.dropbox.com/u/22165386/FHL%202.pdf

Now I don't really understand when and when not to use 了 in this phrases. I know it also indicates that some action has finished but there are rules, right?

Looking for some help :) Thank you!

There's this part of a text titled "have you been googled?". I'm having a hard time to understand what is meant in the following phrases:

_________

"The area of cyberspace where most false personas are consciously created is online dating. Online daters face trial on google even before the first meeting: A duff photo posted online may mean you're stood up. So fiction and the airbrush are rampant. One 31-year old single woman from London pointed up the advantages, however: "I once googled a friend of a friend before going on a date with him, to find he had been arrested for violence at a football match and was married with a 12-year old son.""

_________

I apprecciate any help to tell me details about this paragraph. For example, I wonder how this paragraph is stressing it's statement in the beginning (that false personas are consciosly created on online dating).

What is meant by "fiction and the airbrush are rampant"?

Also, Am I right to assume that the last phrase is pointing out the disadvantages in googling people up? (of course he is not married to a 12 year old son?).

Thanks for any help!!

There's this part of a text about Shakespeare.

____

Shakespeare was everywhere, and everywhere beloved, because he had not yet been sanctified as Art. His plays were sliced and diced and often followed by an easy-to-swallow farce. By such means of mingling high with low, Levine notes, "shakespeare was not only domesticated; he was humanized."

Gentility abounds. But during the closing decades of the last century, things began to change. Arbiters of politeness and gentility built fences around the"classics", insisting upon purity of handling and presentation. Folks with dirt under their nails started to look elsewhere for their entertainment.

___

Now I have to analize what exactly is meant by "Folks with dirt under their nails". Am I right to suggest its the people who made fun of his works? (those who made "easy-to-swallow" farces?)

Why would you say the have dirt under their nails? Is it from those "Arbiters" point of view?

Thanks in advance!

I need some help in order to understand the following part of a text titled "Why do we need a global language"

This is just a small part of the whole text!

(...) But trimming a translation budget is never easy, as obviously no country likes the thought of its language being given a reduced international standing. Language choice is always one of the most sensitive issues facing a planning committee.

The common situation is one where a committee does not have to be involved - where all the participants at an international meeting automatically use a single language, as a utilitarian measure (a 'working language'), because it is one which they have all come to learn separate reasons. This situation seems to be slowly becoming a reality in meetings around the world, as general competence in English grows.

(...)

Now my question is, what is meant by "common situation"? Is it already happening or an idea how to realize a global language? Because at the and it says "this situation seems to be slowly becoming a reality in meetings around the world...".

I'm not really sure whether I understand the difference between the "common" situation and the one which is supposed to become reality?

I'm really confused. I'm grateful for any helpful explanation.

I'm native in German but I wonder and I wanna ask everyone who is studying German: Why do you study German?

Is it because...

- You have to, because of school?

or

- You are interested in German / Germany?

If you're interested in it, what made you being interested in Germany or German?

I'd like to know, so lots of answers are welcome.

NO TRANSLATION NEEDED. I just wanna know how to write it in romaji. Its part of an adress.

So here's the thing. If somebody would google my full name, he'd find me on facebook. He would not be able to access my profile, but he can still see my friends and my picture.

Is it possible to block everything? I just want them to see my name and maybe pic is also fine but not my friends.