Typhoon #22 or Ma-on?

Tyhpoon Names

In Japan, the media uses numbers when referring to typhoons; typhoon #22, for example. But when communicating with your non-Japanese friends or colleagues, they may not know which typhoon you are talking about. Are you talking about #22 in 2004? #22 in 1998, or #22 in Heisei 9? The reason they may not know what you are talking about is that the international media has adopted the practice of using typhoon names as published by the Sweden-based World Meteorological Organization (WMO). The WMO is a special agency of the United Nations. They don't use numbers, but rather use names. The purpose is to hopefully raise awareness and prompt people to listen to warnings about typhoons.

Confusion can arise when numbering typhoons because different international, government, and military agencies use different numbering systems for different kinds of storms. This can be very confusing if you are at sea on a ship, or in a location with limited access to information. To help avoid confusion, the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Air Force started using names of the typhoons from their bases in Hawaii (since 1945). The purpose was to help save lives, and to avoid confusion. However, the names the U.S. chose were meaningless and foreign to the residents of Asia. Maybe that is why Japan developed a numbering system for domestic (in-country) purposes?

Fortunately, from the year 2000, it was changed and now all the Asian countries that are members of the WMO's Typhoon Committee (including Japan) use names. The new Asian names are easier for people in Asia to remember and will hopefully help people to be better aware of the status of each typhoon and how it might affect their region.

When a new storm is developing into a typhoon, the Tokyo Typhoon Centre of the Japanese Meteorological Agency will assign the next name from the WMO list. You can see a list of the names at this link: Tokyo Typhoon Centre

Do you know what the name of the next typhoon will be? Do you know how to spell the name of the typhoon correctly? This list shows the names of typhoons submitted by each country, the correct spelling, and the English meaning of each name. I like the fact that the spelling is also decided by the country that submitted the name of the typhoon. Truly, these names are of Asian origin, which is the way it should be, don't you think?

The list at this link in Hong Kong tells the meaning and spelling of the typhoon names submitted by each country: United Nations' ESCAP/WMO Typhoon Committee

It is also very interesting to see what kinds of names the different countries decided on. Japan has chosen names for many different things. I wonder if some of the names have a historical meaning for Japan. If you know how Japan chose her 10 names, please let me know. I am curious to know!

Let's hope that the WMO will be successful in helping people to become more aware of the a storm's status and make preparations to protect themselves and their families! Also, next time you start up a conversation with your non-Japanese friend, ask them if they know what Ma-on (#22?) means or what Tokage (#23?) means. This is a great way to start up a conversation in English!

┘┘┘┘┘┘┘┘┘┘┘┘┘┘┘┘┘┘┘┘┘┘┘┘┘┘
アンミ英会話教室
〒234-0053横浜市港南区日野中央2-6-3
パークサイド日野102号室

tel 045-841-4218
fax 045-841-4288
cell 070-5084-9592
www.anmi-eikaiwa.com
┘┘┘┘┘┘┘┘┘┘┘┘┘┘┘┘┘┘┘┘┘┘┘┘┘┘