How sweet!
 

How sweet!

thank you!

Im going to try my best and come back here with smile!
(I haven't been smiling for a while... sigh!)

The closest revision I can made is an expression in English that is near what you wrote. It's encouraging to see how well expressing yourself in English is going :)

Best wishes with your continued work. I'm sure it will work out well by the end through your efforts and dedication :vsign:

Have a great week!

I'm so.......
 

I am sooooooooo moved... touched? I don't know the best word for this!
はげましのおことばありがとう！とっても勇気づけられ ました！感動～☆

I was about to log out and found your lovely message...Koir...

oh...I really have to go to bed soon, cos I have lots and lots things to do tomorrow...

I really miss you all !!!

night night!

Hi I am back
 

Hello again!
Im back! because I really wanted to come back ...well, I think I really needed to come back here to meet you all kind people!

My business (small school) isnt going very well.
My partner and I put an advertisement on a local paper, paid like $400 for it, but all I got was a call from 65 years old man.

The city I live is one of the worst cities in Japan... about the condition of the economy,
so, many people are telling me that I should move to the bigger and better city but I don't want to give up yet.

but through all this advertisement stuff, I met a very nice press person (how do you call someone work for the news paper or magazine who does design,write and all? ) and when he heard what and how we teach the kids, he seemed impressed and said he wanted to help us more!

I am doing a volunteer work, helping Japanese kids and mothers who don't have much money to learn basic English.
and now Ive got another offer from the manager of one of the biggest department stores.He said I can use the big stage to do some lessons (lots of games and crafts) to present our school. To use that stage, we are supposed to pay a lot of money, but he offered me to use it for free! He just asked me to make the kids in this city happy and smile!He knows that the economy has been pretty bad here, so he said he always wanted to do something to make the kids happy.
I promised him that we will make the kids happy and laugh a lot!

The press person told some of his press friends about it and now they are going to come and see what we are doing and put it on the news paper!

So hopefully we can have some more new students to run the school a little bit easier.

I went to Karakura and took some pictures to show you, but I don't know how to connect my new camera to the PC properly! I am not good at this computer things... but I will try!

Oh now I remember I had a question !

This is how Japanese learn about "! sentenses".

My teacher said


What a "adjective"+ "noun"+ "subject"+ "verb" !
eg.What a lovely person you are!

equals

How "adjective"+"subject"+"verb"
eg.How lovely you are!

When my teacher said they were the same,
I didn't really get it..

Is there any other better way to show my surprised feelings?

Oopsie, I have to go to bed now...

We will have a hanami party on Saturday.
今の時期はさくらがとてもきれいです。
I will show you the photo too!

Have a lovely day!:ywave:

Both sentences have the same essential meaning (the beauty of the person being addressed). However, the first sentence is a declaration by the speaker. The second sentence expresses the same concept but also functions as a way for the speaker to explain in detail the beauty (in appearance, behaviour, or both) of the person being addressed.

Another way to express surprised feelings would be:

"You're lovely!"

Good to see you back YYTT-san :) The press guy really seems to be rooting for you and your school. I hope the event is a hit. Sounds like it will really help your school.

I'd love to see your photos if you manage to upload them. Actually, I just got back from a hill-walking holiday. Maybe I should post some pictures too~

Hello!
 

I see.

Can I use both styles when I get impressed by someone's something (hope you get what I am trying to say here...)?

When a kid gave up on his toy for other kid...
Wow you are so kind!
or
How kind you are! Does this sound natural ?


Can you teach me when and how to use "What a...."?

Can I say "What a great people (they are)!" or if it's plural,
Does it have to be like "! What great people!"

and one more silly question may I ask?

Which XXXX
XXXX could be plural?

This is the situation,

there are 5 yellow buses, and 5 red buses and 5 blue ones too.
and I am supposed to take a bus to go to The Magical town.
These buses leave at the same time, because there are so many passengers.
Different colours different directions...
then when I want to ask....
"Which buses go to the Magical Town?" is right?
or
"Which bus goes to the M T?" is right?

For me, a Japanese native... singular and plural are so confusing!

Hi Columbine san
 

Yes, Id love to see your photo too!

Yes the press guy came and joined our Hanami Party yesterday afternoon.
He talked to the mothers and the kids
and he offered us to make a big sign (I don't know how you call this... the name of your shop or school on that board or something and put it outside... is that a sign?)

and also I met some lovely ladies who lived in the USA for a while, and we kind of hit it off (is this right English?)

I believe in There are not always bad things but good things coming after if you keep doing the right things!

oops I am not doing the right thing right now...
it's 3:15 am! going to bed long time ago was the right thing...

have a lovely weekend!
:ywave:

Yes. :)

Also yes. :)

Ouch! :eek:
Only 2:40 PM here, though I know what you mean. Last night I fell asleep just in time to see the sun come up. :D

We sometimes call those signs "billboards" if they have an advertisement on them :)
Sounds great though; I'm glad things are looking up for you.

I'll try and post some pictures soon!

I'd rather have said "it's not going very well", "I'm under a lot of pressure", ("sense"), "took some photos".

For the next sentence, starting with "so" sounds weird. I'd just have said "When I have some time to sit down and relax, I'll show you the pictures."

I also think you might be using the exclamation mark a bit too much.

but the first way has a dual meaning
so you are either saying bye to someone who you are going to see on Wednesday

or

you are saying bye to someone who is called Wednesday and you have no clue when you are going to see him again

just wanted to bring in a bit of fun ;)

"Wow, you are so kind!" is the natural sounding, correct expression in this case.

"What great people!" would be the right thing to say, as you're making a declaration about a group of people and not a single person. The particle "a" is used mainly before a single item.

The second sentence ("Which bus goes to the Magical Town?") is correct. It is possible that more than one bus will have the same destination, but taking a different route. Especially if the buses are colour-coded as in the given example. However, since there is only one of you, one bus going to the destination you want is all you want to know.

After you do find out which bus (or buses sharing a colour and possibly the same route) is correct, all that remains to be found out is which bus is closest to you that isn't driving away. :)

It will come with practice and experience, YYTT. I will try my best to help you. :vsign:

thank you:)
 

right... so people actually rearly use "How XXX or "What XXX"?

I see.

I wasn't sure about that because
in the TV or movie... I hear a lot of
"What a....."
or
"What the...."
but not plural ones... maybe I couldn't catch it...

but now I understand thank you!
I see:)

so "which" is only used for singular? or grammartically OK to say Which+Plural?

The reason why I am so confused of this thing is...
when we are supporse to pick 1 when 2 things are there,
we say どちら（どっち） but when there are more than 3
we say どれ and
どっち rhymes with Which so it makes me more confused!

oh by the way,
"more than 2" means including 2 ? or has to be bigger than 2?
oh so confusing!
and how about
"over 18 years old" and "under 18 years old"? 18 years old belongs to both group?


Thank you so much Koir san,
I will try!

It's sunday afternoon here now and I am a bit hangover and tired...
that's not a healthy way to enjoy Sunday isn't it?
oh well...

Enjoy YOUR Sunday!!!

:ywave:

I think you can, but only in cases where you have several of the same sort of item. Like say I have 20 cakes and I'm giving 6 to my friend, i might ask "Which cakes did you want?". Or say there's a pile of black coats and I'm trying to pick out my two friend's coats, i might ask "Which coats were yours again?". I'm not 100% sure if it's ~grammatically~ correct, but you definitely hear it in common language. Perhaps it's more correct to add "of these" to the sentence, EG: "Which of these plants are weeds?" but then it's just as easy to say "Which are weeds?"


More than 2 = 3 and all numbers higher than 3.
2 or more = all numbers higher than 2, INCLUDING 2
Similarly:
Less than 5 = 0,1,2, 3 or 4
5 or less =0,1,2,3,5 or 5

The "Over 18 years old" thing is trickier, because of age. 18 years and one day is technically 'over 18 years old'. So to me;

"Over 18 years old" = People who have had their 18th birthday, including people who are still 18. It's usually more clearly expressed as:
"18's and over" = 18 year olds and people aged 19 or more.
"Under 18 years old"= People who have NOT had their 18th birthday = 17 years old and younger. So 18 year olds are NOT included in this group.

Let me know if that explains things!

*nitpick mode off* :P

They do, but it's up to the context and what emphasis the speaker wants to put on the person or thing they see.

I agree with Columbine's explanation in her earlier post.

Not if you view Sundays as a time to regret what you did Saturday night ;)

*see above post*

はじめましてrobhol san
 

Thank you for your help robhol san:)

May I ask you some questions?


right....
I've heard the expression "not going very well", but I wanted to use "perfect" there, Does that sound too bad and people might think I don't know English at all so shouldn't use ?

I could be under a lot of pressure sometimes, but this time the puressuer was much "heavier" than usual, so I wanted to explain it, so I just mede it up a sentense. How can I explain it properly in English ?

sense... right, thank you
I always get confused and not sure xxxce and xxxse... like practice or practise... and sense and sence, sentense or sentence... and all that.

All I need is to "practice" right?

I see.

Oh I have a question about "sit",
when the chair is very "tall", then can I say sit up?
I mean like... the bus seats at the back, sometimes there is a step to go up and sit, especially for the kids?
or when the kids sitting on the floor but the mom wants him to sit on the chair, then "sit up on the chair" make sense?

Oh do I use too many exclamation marks!?
I think it's because I speak like that;) but I will be careful!

Thank you and have a good day!
:ywave:

こんにちは～
 

wow, thank you Columbine san
I understand now! clearly! thank you!
(oops I maybe used too many exclamation marks again, sorry robhol san!)

One of my teacher friends told me
that some people in Canada say "Where is your shoes?" instead of " Where ARE your shoes?" or "Where is your pair of shoes?"
but is he right?

I see. 日本語のほうがシンプルかな。以上と以下や未満という 漢字が使えます。

maybe there is a line there? as soon as you touch the line of 18, you are over 18? even 18 years and 1 socond old?
mmm, yes it's tricky!

mmm? so more than 2 could be 2.0001 right?

なるほど～。
Yes, I understand!
but one thing, can you teach me?
this "18's" means "18 yearS" old ?
and
Can I ask you some more questions about the ages?
how about
ある特定の20代の男性/（一般的に）40代前半の女性/50代後半の男女　
How can I expalin them?
man in his 20's/women in their early 40's/men and women in their late 50's

An Aussie lady told me once
"don't say HOW OLD ARE YOU? when you want to ask someone's age, say HOW YOUNG ARE YOU?" I know she was joking, but is it actually good to use when I "need" to ask someone elder about her age?

and is this OK?
"I went to Hawaii for a skydiving" 30 years old teacher said to his student in the 1st grade of elementary school.
"I like it too" the student said.
"Have you done that before?"the teacher said.
"yep, when I was a kid"
"You ARE a kid." then... this teacher could say
" How young were you then?" ?

hello hadron
 

Yep, you are right, so I just wanted to make sure about that.

cos I thought "See you Wednesday" is a mistake just like
"Look Mum!" when I actually wanted to say "Look at Mum!" ,
but I learnt it's OK without "on".

Do you speak Japanese too Hadron san?

hello Koir san how are you?
 

I see. cos someone told me that "How adjective subject verb" is an old way and not many people would use now.
hahaha. you are right!
do you view Sundays that way?

When I was a junior high school and high school student, I hated Sunday nights cos that Monday is coming soon and the school starts again.

Do you know Japanese anime called "Chibi Maruko-chan" and "Sazae-san"?
both animes were (and are) on TV starts from 18:00~18:30~19:00, so for me (and I guess for quite a few Japanese) these anime means Sunday nights.

Ive been having a really busy days for the past few weeks but my long holidays are coming soon! The Golden Week! but I am not going to travel much, cos there will be too many people anywhere. I hate to be in a long que... so instead of holidayING, Im going to do some casual job! Something fun and weird.

Have a good day Koir san:)
:ywave:

I have no idea. *laughs* Koirrrrr~ we need your input. You do hear people in the UK say "Where's your shoes" or "Where's my keys", quite often. And of course, if you were to correct the apostrophe, it would read "Where is your shoes" and "where is my keys", but we never say it like that. It's always "Where are XXX" or "Where's XXX".


Hmm, it's difficult because ages are treated slightly differently than numbers in English. Mostly when we say "more than 2" we're dealing with whole numbers. "More than 2 people," "more than 2 apples" "more than 2 cars". And you can't have 2.0001 apples or 2.0001 people, because you can only count them in wholes. 2.0001 people would be like 2 people and a finger, but you can't call a finger a person. The same with apples. 2.0001 apples might be 2 whole apples plus a fragment more apple, but again, you can't call just a fragment of apple "An apple". So we'd use something like weight to express what 2 and a bit apples is instead, for example, 100g of apple.

But ages are more like times. You can say "over 2.0001 seconds" and it still makes sense because seconds can also be counted in milliseconds. Basically
1 hour = 60 minutes = 3600 seconds but there's no valid way of counting people or objects based on the parts they are made up of.

Particularly with the age 18, once you turn 18, your papers (driving license, passport etc) become valid ID to enter bars and pubs, so definitely the date of your birthday is like a line.

Yes, 18's means 18 years old. It also has the nuance of 'more than one 18 year old person'.

Your explanation sounds perfect to me.

I wouldn't use "how young are you" to an older person, unless I knew their personality, but then I'm just a kid still really and that sort of joking from people my age can come across as cheeky; like I'm highlighting their age and making fun of it. However, I think from you, it would be much more acceptable.

*laughs* I think your skydiving scenario is OK. A lot of people might still ask "How old were you then?" but for the situation "how young were you" would fit; because the stress of the conversation is that the kid was exceptionally young to be going skydiving!

またまたこんにちは
 

Sorry...I will come back soon!
How are you columbine san?

hello again:)
 

I see.

I heard an american man said the other day
"She go...and He go..." instead of S/he goes/

I just laught when I read the finger part, I loved it!

I see... so the word "more" can be used for counting numbers?
so if I want to use 5.5 % or something like that kind of number I should use "over" ?

Yes you are right.
It will highlight their age and some wouldn't like it.

Thank you Columbine san:)
:ywave:

I would have to say "Where is your shoes" and similar expressions are a result of understood grammatical errors. That is, it's more important to get the person to perform the action (looking for shoes) than phrasing it in proper English.

Actually, because shoes is plural, are is the proper verb for the question.
Had the question been "Where is your shoe?"

My post was explaining the presence of "understood grammatical errors" when speaking. Yes, the sentence is grammatically incorrect, but it's phrased that way due to the understood context.

tl;dr It's right, but wrong.

what's よゆう　in English?
 

Hi;)

Can any one tell me how to say "気持ちに余裕がなかった" in English?

I wanted to say this when I...

I had a few demanding customers and I was very upset and tired and all...
so I was totally stressed out and could get angry so easily.
I am usually a happy person but at that time, I was not smiling much...

A friend of mine mentioned about it so I wanted to tell her「あの時は気持ちに余裕がなかったんだよね～」but I couldn't !

English is not easy!


I learnt new words today.
"cob" and "cod"
but easily forget which is which...
which is fish!?

"Cod" is a fish. "Cob" is most often used when describing corn (eg. a cob of corn).

Hope that helps :)

And "CoD" is a first person shooter series. :)

cob question again and one more!
 

thank you:)

can I use the word cob like this?

This boy, likes corns, especially grilled ones with the cobs(or on the cobs?)...

"He likes to eat corns on the cobs."
or can I say
"He likes to eat corn on the cob?"

hope someone can manage to understand what Im trying to say here!

oh and I have one more question!

When you explain what you like to do in general, maybe as a hobby or something...

"I like to play tennis."
but how about
"I like playing tennis."

any difference there?

"I like to play tennis" also means that you want to play tennis?

"to do" and "doing" are confusing.
like...
I stopped smoking.
I stopped to smoke.



have a good day everyone:ywave:

The second statement is correct. "Corn on the cob" is a distinctive way of describing a food item that, to my knowledge, isn't used elsewhere in the English language. For example, you don't hear "ice cream on the cone" instead of "ice cream cone" in English speaking.

To my thinking, it differs in verb tense and context. The first sentence is used in conversation when the idea of hobbies is being discussed. I can see the second sentence being spoken by a person in a gym or other sports setting when discussing a choice of activity at the location.

If the verb is changed to "would like", that interpretation is correct. It demonstrates the speaker's desire to play tennis at that point in time.

In context, the first sentence is a declaration that the speaker has quite smoking as an activity. The second sentence describes a person who has stopped doing one activity (for example, walking) and begun another activity (smoking).

Hope this is of some use, yumyumtimtam! :ywave:

Hi,I was reading a text book about teaching Young Learners and I've got some questions.

Is anyone interested in teaching children(English or Japanese)?
I would love to exchange information and idea with you as well as
to help learning Japanese/English each other.

If you are a teacher (for young learners) or interested in teaching kids (Japanese/English), join me here!

"Communication skills are so important to children.
Without language and speech, they can't let others know what they want and need, and what's important to them.

But there's another reason why communicating is so critical to a growing child's development. There's more and more evidence suggesting that having a good command of language goes hand-in-hand with the ability to imagine and think up new ideas."

1) Is this "," necessary?
2)Is it OK to start a sentence with "But"? I remember my English teacher told us to use "However" instead of "But" unless it's a casual writing.

Im looking forward to talking with teachers (for young learners) here:)
If you are teaching Japanese and have got some questions, you are more than welcome! Please leave your questions!

It is generally pronounced "He likes to eat corn on the cob". Or "He enjoys eating corn on the cob."

Here are a few other examples:

My mom bought five ears of corn at the market. (When you want to say a certain number or amount of corn on the cob you would say "ears of corn" instead of corn on the cob or corns of cobs)

We are going to have corn on the cob for dinner. (Even though we are cooking more than one ear of corn we still say "corn on the cob".)


Now as for the tennis question.

Both "I like to play tennis" and "I like playing tennis" are correct.

If you want to play tennis right now or in the future you would say "I would like to play tennis."

Some other examples-

"I am going to play tennis this afternoon."

"Would you like to play tennis?" or "Do you want to play tennis?"

"I played tennis yesterday."

"Were you playing tennis earlier?" or "Did you play tennis earlier?"


I hope this is helpful! I'll keep checking back for more questions :D

Thank you, AwakenxBenihime.

Are these basically the same?

He likes to eat corn on the cob.
He likes eating corn on the cob.
He enjoys eating corn on the cob.

wow! ear??
Do you count anything else with ear?
Can I say
I want to have some corn on the cob. ?

mmm can I ask you some more?
It may sound like I am a big corn lover or something...to keep asking about corn!


Let's say...
There are 100 ears of corn to eat for 5 people.
One of them is going to cook and ask others

"How would you like your corn?"

" I like my corn on the cob boiled."

" I want my corn cut in 5 grilled."

make sense???

Can I call it "corns" when they are separated I mean like....
"corn" you can buy at KFC!?


Thank you. I think I understand them.

AwakenxBenihime,can you give me some more good examples of how to count vegetables and fruits?

grapes
cherries
bananas
spinach
orange

Do you have any questions about Japanese?

Do you think English grammar is similar with Japanese grammar?
How about Vietnamese grammar?

Good luck with your Japanese:)

What "Thank you" in VNese?

久しぶり、YYTT−さん！お元気ですか？
If you don't mind me jumping in :)

The first two are the same; they generally imply a habit. The third is very similar, but simply says that he likes eating corn, but doesn't say how often he does so.


Sure do! Almost all cereals (こくもつ?) are counted in ears.
Ears of wheat, ears of barley, ears of rice etc.

Yes you can :)

100 ears is a lot! One or two is usually enough for most people, but otherwise, your dialogue is fine. I would say "I want my corn cut into 5 and grilled" though.

Corn doesn't have a plural, so we don't say 'corns'. One corn-on-the-cob, 5 corn-on-the-cob, 100 corn-on-the-cob etc. When it's 'off the cob', all in little bits, then it's just called 'sweet corn'. Take a look at this;

The edible, yellow bit is the 'corn'. The hard, middle bit that you can't eat is the 'cob'. The whole thing is called the 'ear'. An individual piece of corn is called a 'kernel', which does have a plural. One kernel, 5 kernels, 100 kernels. Or just "some sweet corn". Actually, I never realized how complicated corn is! It's different to other cereals; with wheat, for example, you only have ears and grains. And then the bit you can't eat (asides from the stalk) is called 'chaff'.

This type of word is a 'collective noun'. English has hundreds of them! You can tell it's a collective noun because it's almost always followed by 'of' and then whatever it is that's is being counted, like "ears of corn".

asparagus=bundle (individual stems of asparagus are called 'spears')
bananas= hand or bunch
barley= crop
corn= sheaf
flowers= bouquet
garlic = bulb (individual bits of garlic are called 'cloves')
grapes= bunch or cluster
grass = tuft (individiual stems of grass are called 'blades')
leaves= pile
onions= rope or bunch
plums= basket
strawberries= punnet
trees= grove or copse or stand or thicket

Are there collective nouns in Japanese too? I know there are lots of different counters for things, like 羽 and 匹 and 台 but do you have words for groups of things like this?

You're welcome, I'm so glad I could help. ^^

Yes, all these sentences have the same meaning and are all correct.


Well what Columbine said is true, however in everyday language I've never heard the word ear used to count or describe anything else. I'm not sure if it's different in the U.K. than in the U.S. From what I understand it seems that with wheat for instance when it's being grown it's referred to as ears but the only measurement I've heard after it's harvested is "bails of wheat". Even then unless you're the person that grows the wheat on your farm or buys and sells large amounts of wheat for your job, you won't come across this term in everyday conversation.

Yes :D
"I want to have some corn on the cob"
"Do you want some corn on the cob?"
"I only want one ear of corn."
"Would you like to share some corn on the cob?"


Yes! Please do ^^

Oh yeah, guess what I had for dinner tonight? I had corn on the cob! haha :)


I would say "I want my corn cut in five pieces and grilled."

You never call it corns. Even when you have a bowl of corn in kernel form you still say corn.

"I had corn for dinner tonight." or "Would you like some corn with dinner?"
"Corn is my favorite vegetable!"




You're very welcome! I'm actually having so much fun explaining it. :D

Let's see:
grapes - The only time you don't add the "s" to the end is if you're talking about a single grape.
"I can fit five grapes in my mouth!" "My mom told me to always eat only one grape at a time." "Would you like some grapes?" "I had grapes with breakfast today."

cherries and bananas - Actually the same as grapes.

"Did you eat any cherries today?" "I like ice cream with a cherry on top." "How many cherries did you eat?" "I only ate one cherry."
"I try to eat a banana every day." "I bought some bananas at the store today."

orange- Okay now for oranges it depends on if you're talking about a whole orange or an orange cut in slices. (Which is common especially with children). I'll give examples of both ^^

"I bought a bag of oranges today." "I ate an orange for snack."

Now when you're talking about slices the "slices" are plural the "orange" is not. "Did you eat all of your orange slices?" "Yes, I finished my orange slices." You could say the same thing for apple slices or banana slices. "Did you see the apple slices I put in your lunch bag?" "The apples slices were sweet and juicy." "I like to put banana slices on my cereal." If you have only one apple slice then there is no plural either. "I have one apple slice left."

(I added this one myself)
With watermelon-
"My favorite fruit is watermelon." "Would you like some watermelon?" "I ate three slices of watermelon."

However, when you're talking about counting whole watermelons you would use the "s".
"There are five watermelons growing in my garden."

(oh boy, now I'm craving watermelon!) ^^;

Almost forgot, spinach.
No matter how much you are talking about it's always "spinach".
"Did you finish all your spinach?" "I don't like the taste of spinach." "Spinach is good for you!" "I bought a bag of spinach." "I found a piece of spinach on the ground."

I hope all that helps :happypika:


Probably a million.. Actually my fiance and I just started attempting to learn it last night! I found what seems to be a great website and we just started learning pronunciation. But thanks so much for the offer! I will probably take you up on that in the future if you don't mind. ^^

Wheat's a really complicated example because it has different collective nouns depending on what ~part~ of the plant you're talking about. The 'ears' are just the top bit where the grain grows; you might count up to 10 ears, but above that, you'll likely use the collective noun for the whole plant, which is 'sheaves' here, or in your locality, 'bails'.