1+1 = ?

It has been my great pleasure to volunteer to be a translator between a Japanese artisan Tohta Mizuguchi and some local volunteers at the Lawai International Center which has been building its temple hall.   Yesterday was my last day as an interpreter there because a Japanese carpenter is leaving soon. 

I think it is not so difficult to express my ideas and thoughts freely in English, but I knew translating somebody's ideas, thoughts and explanations was a different story.   Especially, there were many technical terms of the construction that I didn't know, I needed to understand what it meant before translating.   That was both hard part and good part, too, because I got lots of information from both English and Japanese.   Though my translation was not good, but I'm thinking to do a good job in the  future by sharing what I learned there with you.  

According to the science, the answer for the question "1+1" has to be 2.   "One plus one"  cannot be three nor four.  One plus one always equals two.  But Iknew "1+1" could be more than two by experiencing a translator.   "One Japanese language + One English Language " is not two languages, but much more.     I think it could be true to the religions.  If you study more than two religions, you will know lots about religions....I wonder did I make sense?