I’m sitting in my kitchen in London, trying to figure out a text message from my brother. He lives in our home country of Germany. We speak German to each other, a language that's rich in strange words, but I've never heard this one before: fremdschämen.

The experience gets me to consider: can we lose our mother language? Most immigrants (移民)know what it’s like to be not as good at their mother language as before. The process seems obvious: the longer you are away, the more your language suffers. But it’s not quite so straightforward. It turns out that how long you've been away doesn't always matter. Socializing with other native speakers abroad can worsen your own native skills. And emotional factors like trauma(精神创伤) can be the biggest factor of all.

In children, the phenomenon of language attrition (语言磨蚀)is somewhat easier to explain since their brains are generally more flexible and adaptable. Until the age of about 12, a person’s language skills are relatively easy to change. Studies on international adopters have found that even nine-year-olds can almost completely forget their first language when they are removed from their country of birth.

But in adults, the first language is unlikely to disappear entirely except in extreme circumstances. For example, Monika Schmid analyzed the German of elderly German-Jewish wartime refugees(难民) in the UK and the US. The main factor that influenced their language skills wasn't how long they had been abroad or how old they were when they left. It was how much trauma they had experienced as victims. Those who left Germany in the early days of Nazi occupation, before the worst violence, tended to speak better German – despite having been abroad the longest. Those who left later, tended to speak German with difficulty or not at all.

“It seemed very clearly a result of this trauma”, says Schmid. “Even though German was the language of childhood, home and family, it was also the language of painful memories”. The most traumatized refugees had held them back. As one of them said: “I feel that Germany betrayed me. America is my country, and English is my language.”

Japan has long been regarded as having one of the strongest economies in the world, but according to recent reports this could be set to change. The nation’s increasingly strict immigration policies, low birth rates, and aging society means that Japan’s population is said to decrease by 500,000 a year over the next few decades, which could mean life in Japan could dramatically change. But what does daily life look like for those who live in Japan today?

In Japan, more than 126 million people live in 145,000 square miles — that make for pretty tight living places. Many Japanese are packed together on crowded sidewalks or are pushed into subway cars like sardines. Thus, personal space is hard to find and the concept of privacy has been more of a state of mind rather than actually being alone.

From an early age the people of Japan are known to be very hard workers. If you work in a company, you can expect to work long hours on top of overtime, which is usually unpaid. But it is usually considered normal to stand this stress in hopes of getting promoted. And believe it or not, part of getting promoted means drinking alcohol — a lot of alcohol. Here, having beers with your boss may seem an essential way to build trust within the office.

While men in Japan usually work and play hard, life can be very different if you are a woman. Traditionally women have stayed at home and though many want to get out to work, limited childcare facilities, a lack of career support and the prejudice against women has kept them at home. But this could be about to change, as the government has pushed for more child care centers and better working conditions for women. But there’s still a long way to go. Many pregnant working women experience improper treatment from their bosses or their co-workers who imply think that they should be fired.

Buying books on the Internet is a great way to save time and money. Online bookstores offer new books and used books that can save you lots of money. They are far better compared to traditional bookstores as they offer much more kinds of books. Another advantage of shopping online is that you can also read the book reviews as well as readers’ reviews to get an idea whether the book is worth buying. Online bookstores offer great discounts (折扣) to regular customers, which is a big attraction for book lovers.

For book lovers, the most important thing is to get books on time. Therefore, you need to find a reliable online bookstore that will be able to provide fast deliveries (递送).

Here are some tips to use when you are choosing an online bookstore. Some online bookstores are popular for fiction books; some are for non-fiction books or novels, etc. Understanding their specialization will help you get the right kind of book in time. Check whether you will buy the books from a third party seller or directly from the website. Although he online bookstore could be reputable (声誉好的), third party sellers advertised on its site may not have a good reputation. Never jump at stores that offer super cheap prices, as books sold at such low prices could be in very bad condition.

Most of the popular online bookstores offer useful tools. One tool is a wish list tool on the website. You can change the list of books you wish to buy in the future. The bookstore will know what you want and will e-mail you immediately when the book of your choice is available.