Teaching English, seeking Japanese tuition

[yumyumtimtam]

覚さん

すみません　m(_ _)m

さいきん　しごとが　いそがしいので

なかなか　インターネットが　できません



おへんじ　ありがとうございました！
とても　うれしかったです。

また　のちほど！
Have a lovely day!

[YuriTokoro]

Originally Posted by sarvodaya

こんにちは。 I think this is what we call the gerund in English. It is the noun formed from the verb.

覚さん、こんにちは。
Yes. 名詞節 may be similar to the gerund in English.
English also has the infinitive. You use the gerund and the infinitive as the situation demands.
You need to use “verb＋こと” and“ verb＋の”as the situation demands, too.

It does seem very different generally; it will take some time to get used to it.

Yes, it is very different.
Please finish learning Japanese soon, and tell me the difference and how to say things in English in Japanese!!!

Yes, I understand. I don't think we have a single word for it in English, but probably the most accurate single word to describe it is "training".

“Training” is translated as トレーニング. The Japanese word “トレーニング” is only a part of 修行.
“トレーニング” might be a little different from “Training”.

ありがとうございました。 You have explained it well, and I like it all the more now.

Thank you for having the name.

Oh, I see. In that case you can just say "One of the Japanese TV stations broadcast a Harvard University course in philosophy from April to June."
For added qualification, you might say "One of the Japanese TV stations broadcast a Harvard University course in philosophy from April to June just gone."
The latter is slightly more colloquial, though.

Thank you. Just “from April to June”. I will remember.
May I use the composition corrected by you in my blog?

"It was a thorough correction, thank you kindly."

This expression is very useful. Thank you!

Here I write some expressions in Japanese in return.
Japanese people say 「行ってきます(いって　きます)」when you leave your home and leave your office for a short time.
行ってis from　行く ≒go
きます is from　来る(くる)≒come
So this expression implies “I will come back.”

Have you seen an anime film titled “Mobile Suit Gundam”?
This is about a war. When the soldiers are making sorties and leave their base, they say 「行きます（いきます）≒I’m going.」.
They don’t say 「行ってきます(いって　きます)」in the situation, because they imply they may die. This might be from the spirits of the old Japanese suicide mission which was called Kamikaze.
Anyway, don’t say just 「行きます」when you leave your home in the morning. You should say 「行ってきます」. I don’t think you should say 「行きます」except when you leave your family eternally.

When you say 「行ってきます」, your family at your house say 「行ってらっしゃい」.
This is fixed and kind of ritual.
The Japanese language has many expressions of this sort.
I will write some other expressions next time.
Maybe how to say when you get home.

Do you have any expressions you want to know?
I don’t know what you know already.
If you know 「行ってきます」, I’m sorry!

Oh, I almost forgot!
About the first line of your signature.
「覚さんです」sounds a little odd.
You don’t say your name with a title or さん in Japanese.
For example; I say わたしは、ゆりです。
I’ve never say わたしは、ゆりさんです。

I think this would be more natural:
ニックネームは「覚醒（sarvodaya）」からとって「覚（か く）」です。
(My nickname is Kaku from Kakusei.)

It is late now, but I must write something about multiculturalism tomorrow.

おやすみなさい。

おやすみなさい。

[sarvodaya]

Originally Posted by yumyumtimtam

覚さん

"Kakusan"

すみません　m(_ _)m

"My apologies."

さいきん　しごとが　いそがしいので

"Nowadays my job is hectic, and so..."

なかなか　インターネットが　できません

"...I will hardly be in a position to use the internet at all."

おへんじ　ありがとうございました！

"Thank you kindly for your thoughts!"

とても　うれしかったです。

"They were really nice."

また　のちほど！

"Let's carry on later!"

Have a lovely day!

ヤムさん、こんばんは。

No worries! I too enjoyed our brief exchange and hope we can resume soon! Is it a new job? If so good luck! If not, good luck anyway!

See you soon!
覚

[sarvodaya]

Originally Posted by YuriTokoro

覚さん、こんにちは。

ゆりさん、こんばんは。

Please finish learning Japanese soon, and tell me the difference and how to say things in English in Japanese!!!

I promise I'll try ゆりさん!

忍耐が重要です!

(にんたいがじゆうようです!)

Did that make sense?

“Training” is translated as トレーニング. The Japanese word “トレーニング” is only a part of 修行.
“トレーニング” might be a little different from “Training”.

I chose training because it entails a sort of self-improvement, usually towards a specific goal. It isn't exactly the same, but I thought it was the closest single word.

In my secondary school days I was a cadet in the RAF section of the Combined Cadet Force (CCF). This is something that we have in British schools in part to introduce us to military life should we want to join the forces and in part just as a good activity for building skills such as leadership and teamwork and things like flying in the case of the RAF. We used to go on week-long camps on RAF bases where we would mix both with servicemen and women and with cadets from other schools. On one occasion there was a boy from another school who was very enthusiastic and took everything very seriously. Apparently he wanted to join the Royal Marines as soon as he left school. His colleagues, perhaps feeling that he thought he was better than them, would tease him about how seriously he took it all. They used to say sarcsastically "He's 'in training'!" and "Are you 'in training'!". So that's not a very nice example, but I think it shows quite well how there is a dividing line between things like playing, practising or enjoying and training.

Thank you for having the name.

どう致しまして!

Thank you. Just “from April to June”. I will remember.
May I use the composition corrected by you in my blog?

Of course ゆりさん. In fact, I will write my comment on multiculturalism as a response on your blog. I see it is "Yuri's report", so I'll post a comment; it looks very interesting.

That's a lovely photo!

This expression is very useful. Thank you!

どういたしまして。I'm glad it was useful.

Here I write some expressions in Japanese in return.
Japanese people say 「行ってきます(いって　きます)」when you leave your home and leave your office for a short time.
行ってis from　行く ≒go
きます is from　来る(くる)≒come
So this expression implies “I will come back.”

Have you seen an anime film titled “Mobile Suit Gundam”?
This is about a war. When the soldiers are making sorties and leave their base, they say 「行きます（いきます）≒I’m going.」.
They don’t say 「行ってきます(いって　きます)」in the situation, because they imply they may die. This might be from the spirits of the old Japanese suicide mission which was called Kamikaze.
Anyway, don’t say just 「行きます」when you leave your home in the morning. You should say 「行ってきます」. I don’t think you should say 「行きます」except when you leave your family eternally.

Wow. Ok, so I must remember to avoid saying いきます! At least not for a very good reason. I will remember this; thank you Yuri San!

When you say 「行ってきます」, your family at your house say 「行ってらっしゃい」.

Ok, so is 行ってらっしゃい literally something like "go well" or something? I know what you mean that it's a fixed ritual, although these are quite fragmented in western culture. The only modern one that springs to mind is the typical 50s U.S. "Honey, I'm home!" for when the husband returns from work!

This is fixed and kind of ritual.
The Japanese language has many expressions of this sort.
I will write some other expressions next time.
Maybe how to say when you get home.

Do you have any expressions you want to know?
I don’t know what you know already.
If you know 「行ってきます」, I’m sorry!

I don't know where to start; I think we are doing well at this pace! I didn't know 「行ってきます」, but now I do! ありがとうございました。I'm at the office until 1800 most days and so I learn most at the weekend.

Oh, I almost forgot!
About the first line of your signature.
「覚さんです」sounds a little odd.
You don’t say your name with a title or さん in Japanese.
For example; I say わたしは、ゆりです。
I’ve never say わたしは、ゆりさんです。

I think this would be more natural:
ニックネームは「覚醒（sarvodaya）」からとって「覚（か く）」です。
(My nickname is Kaku from Kakusei.)

I think I can see why it would sound odd. Apart from anything I didn't even say 「わたし」. I have changed it to your suggestion. I can see that it looks better now.

I'm looking forward to seeing your new blog entry and posting my response. I think multiculturalism is an interesting issue, and I would like to know more about the background to the 'average' Japanese opinion on the matter.

おやすみなさい。
覚

[yumyumtimtam]

Originally Posted by sarvodaya

ヤムさん、こんばんは。

カクさん、こんばんは。

ヤムさん　カクさん　と　きくと、　日本（にほん）の 　おもしろい　昔話（むかしばなし）の本（ほん）を　 思（おも）いだします。

やじさん　きたさん　と　いう　男性（だんせい）二人 （ふたり）が　旅（たび）をする お話（はなし）です。

This book was one of my favourite when I was a child like... 10 years old.

No worries! I too enjoyed our brief exchange and hope we can resume soon! Is it a new job? If so good luck! If not, good luck anyway!

See you soon!
覚

(I just loved what you've just said... (I just used "just" too many!?) ありがとう　覚さん You made me smile! really!)

It's not my new job, but I need a new idea for this summer school activity to make my students really happy!
and also I've got some difficult customers to deal with right now... honestly I don't mind they leave my school, but
their children don't want to leave and I love the kids too...

私（わたし）は、長野県（ながのけん）の　小（ちい） さな町で、小さな小さな　英語（えいご）教室（きょう しつ）を　経営（けいえい）しています。
毎週（まいしゅう）　水（すい）曜日（ようび）　から 　金（きん）曜日　の夕方（ゆうがた）　だけです。
生徒（せいと）は　4歳（さい）～10歳です。
みんな　英語（えいご）を　遊（あそ）びながら　学（ まな）んでいます。
公園（こうえん）に　行（い）ったり、絵（え）を描（ か）いたり・・・。　その他（ほか）には　粘土（ねん ど）　や　色々（いろいろ）な　工作（こうさく）を　 します。
まるで　体育（たいいく）　や　美術（びじゅつ）の　 教室　みたいです。
でも　こどもたちは　外国人（がいこくじん）の先生（ せんせい）が　英語だけで話（はな）しても　ほとんど 　理解（りかい）できるんですよ！

Sorry...was it too long???
すみません...長（なが）すぎましたか？？？

Well... I think I shold go back to work now.

覚さん　Have a lovely day!

[sarvodaya]

こんにちは。

ゆりさん, I have posted the following to your blog:

Yuri's Report: How I was astonished recently.

Hi Yurisan!

I found your observation very interesting. I grew up in the UK in a very multicultural background, and I think I can understand the reasons behind this premise that ethnic diversity is beneficial. So I have put together a few of my own thoughts on the matter below.

My grandmother came from Ireland. You may have heard of the Irish Potato Famine. This was a terrible time of starvation and poverty in Irish history, during which around a million people died and a similar number left the country in order to survive. What caused this was, in part, what we call a monoculture. This is when a farmer, or a whole agricultural sector, becomes dependent upon one variety of crop for survival. It is typified by enormous plantations of one type of crop, stretching as far as the eye can see. The problem is that, if there is one parasite or pest to which this crop is susceptible and this pest happens upon one of these plantations, then the entire sector will fall at once. This will result in mass poverty and starvation, precisely as in the Irish Potato Famine where Irish farmers became overly dependent upon the potato. One way to avoid this is to grow different strains of a crop, or different crops entirely, such that one avoids "putting all one's eggs in one basket". In this way, when a parasite comes along, it will only destroy those sectors of the crops that are susceptible, and the farmers will still have a proportion of their produce left to rely upon. Thus famine will be prevented. Of course in the case of the Potato Famine, there were many other historical factors that induced the dependence upon potatoes, but when one has the choice it is certainly preferable not to rely upon a single variety of crops.

In genetics, too, we see that if we have two specimens that are weak due to high homozygosity, but they are highly heterozygous with respect to one another, so to speak, their offspring will be much stronger, larger and healthier. This has been confirmed by observations in both plants and animals, and even in humans, for example in Sickle-Cell Anaemia. (Heterozygot Advantage) This is commonly called hybrid vigour or heterosis. The simplest examples of the converse of this are things like the health problems found in historically in-bred families of the European aristocracy. Here, it is clear that there is strength in diversity.

The proposal is that a parallel can be drawn with human culture. There is strength in ethnic diversity.

In a society, when a new difficulty arises, there may not be an effective launching-point into dealing with that difficulty contained within all cultures. In other words, some groups may be culturally better equipped to deal with, say, social revolution, war or poverty, than others. However, if one society comprises many cultures rather than just one, then it is much more likely that the society as a whole will be able to find within itself those cultural resources with which to equip itself against the new difficulty. In this way, we can learn from those who are different from us how best to cope with unfamiliar situations. Thus, we can pool the experience of millennia of life on this planet, rather than excluding ourselves from one sector or another of that information, and so be better equipped to deal with life.

In my personal experience, I grew up around other children, particularly at secondary school, who came from different backgrounds or were second or even first generation immigrants. It was fascinating for me to discover different perspectives in my peers, and most importantly this experience enabled me to be objectively critical of my own pre-conceived notions. This stimulus was already around me as I grew up and began to formulate my own way of thinking. One can read about other cultures ad infinitum, but there is no replacement for this personal experience. Moreover, one finds that, when children are exposed to variety in this way, even if there is bigotry in the parents, very often the children will be much more tolerant of different cultures, backgrounds and points of view. In turn this eventually leads to a more peaceful society.

People will always find reasons to hate one another. Whether they be religion, culture or skin colour, we must not allow this to contaminate those purported reasons themselves. I believe that there is strength in cultural diversity, and great potential both for personal growth by exposure to it and for development of society by implementing it.

I understand what you are saying about "reading between the lines" and hearing what is left unsaid. However, when we have to learn how to do this with a new group of people with different mores, we leave our "comfort zone" and both exercise a new area of our brain and learn something about ourselves which could not have otherwise been revealed.

I also think I have some idea as to why the Japanese may be cautious about multiculturalism. Obviously there is the long-term history of the "Bamboo Curtain", but also in more recent history Japanese people were not always welcome in western cultures such as North America, despite the U.S. cultural bombardment of Japan in the post-war relationship. I understand also that in the late 19th and early 20th century Japan was keen to demonstrate her ability to maintain an empire to rival any European colonial power, and that sentiments like this led to Japan's involvement in WWI on the side of the Allies, but ultimately in WWII on the side of the Axis powers, which obviously led to the final conclusion. So, to take a very broad, overall message from history, one could get the impression that Japanese interactions with the "outside" have had a tremendously unfortunate negative tendency. Having said that, of course, the post-war period has seen unimaginable growth and prosperity through international trade and very selective adoption of certain features of foreign cultures. This really is a dramatic reversal in my eyes (although I do not wish at all to downplay the effect of the admirable Japanese work ethic and many other excellent native cultural features), and in some sense suggests that Japan is much more multicultural on the level of ideas, although clearly not on the level of individuals actually living in Japan, than one might think. In this sense, it seems to me, and correct me if I'm wrong, that Japan has benefited from an exclusive kind of "multiculturalism of ideas" in a way that few other nations can claim to have done.

So, what do you think Yurisan? I hope I have been able to explain a little where this position is coming from and how I think it relates to "the Japanese way" of looking at multiculturalism, so to speak, without rambling on too much!

Yuri's Report: How I was astonished recently.

I look forward to hearing your thoughts!

I have had very little time this weekend, and ヤムさん, you have posted a meaty, long and difficult-looking post for me to devour; so I promise I will respond to that soon, but I cannot respond yet! I am sorry.

ヤムさん、I know I can say this much: I am glad I made you smile! I would, and I'm sure ゆりさん would, love to hear any thoughts if you have time on Yuri's blog by posting comments there.

Oh, and I almost forgot, ゆりさん, I think there has been some problem in transferring over the text of your composition to blogspot, and they have published one of my editorial comments in the text of the blog.

覚

[yumyumtimtam]

I have had very little time this weekend, and ヤムさん, you have posted a meaty, long and difficult-looking post for me to devour; so I promise I will respond to that soon, but I cannot respond yet! I am sorry.

oh I am sorry for not replying to the great one you wrote for me.

It has been taking me a bit longer time to finish because I don't want to make too many mistakes here to make you or .

Honestly, when I post at JF... Im usually having a little bit of お酒（さけ）and I just write whatvever comes up in my mind without deep thinking, and without a dictionary.

When Im sober, I do deep thinking and it makes me a bit afraid of saying wrong things by mistakes.

Now I realized how I have been lazy not using a dictionary properly to write better English.
I remember when I was a full time student, my dictionaries and I were like best friends! My favourite was OALD recommended by my favourite teacher from Manchester.
I used it not only for looking up words, but for browsing and really enjoyed it. (Im not sure if browse is the right word...)

Now I decided to buy me a new dictionary!
My favourite OALD is now 10 years old and actually it's missing right now in my messy class room.

覚さん、Would you give me advice?
I was going to buy the latest OALD, but do you think I should choose one a bit easier? like "Oxford Wordpower Dictionary"?

I thought I needed a bilingual one too so I looked for it
Oxford University Press
I just wonder why there is Korean-English dictionary but not Japanese-English one...because less and less people are interested in Japanese?

ヤムさん、I know I can say this much: I am glad I made you smile! I would, and I'm sure ゆりさん would, love to hear any thoughts if you have time on Yuri's blog by posting comments there.

Thank you, yes you made me smile

ゆりさん's blog was interesting!I read some and I wanted to post what I thought, but I think I need some time too,to write proper one because I don't want to ruin her blog with my wrong English! It looks like she has been working hard!

Now I have to go back to work!
I started renovating my class room from Saturday but haven't finished yet so it's very messy here.

Do you enjoy DIY work? ("Do you do DIY work?" is proper here?)
I do and I like breaking things in parts and using them to make something different, recycling!
So my carpenter friend gave me an electric drill! Cool!

I will be back when I finished my DIY work.


覚さん　Have a lovely day!

[Sashimister]

@yt & Yytt

そろそろ日本語レッスン始めないと逃げられちゃうぞ～ 。もう二度と来ないからね、こういう人。

チャットに走り過ぎではないかなと、老婆心ながら危惧 する次第です。とにかく、ドカンと一度始めないと、こ のままダラダラいきそうでおっかない。

（いっそのこと乗っ取っちゃおうかな、スレごと・・・ ・なーんて、ウソ。でもそう考える人がもし入ってきた ら、マジで簡単に乗っ取られるよ。まだ、日本語レッス ンは始まってもいないんだから。）

[Sashimister]

@OP

Excuse my butting in. In case you were wondering what I had stated above, I was merely nudging the girls in the ribs so they could get the Japanese lessons started at last. Not that we are Charlie's Angels or anything, though, mind you.

Bonne chance à vous tout de même !

[YuriTokoro]

Originally Posted by sarvodaya

ゆりさん、こんばんは。

覚さん、こんばんは。

I promise I'll try ゆりさん!

It’s promise!

忍耐が重要です!

(にんたいがじゆうようです!)

Did that make sense?

Yes, but Japanese people would say 「頑張ります（がんばります）≒I will try hard.」.
「頑張ります」is a politer version of 「頑張る（がんばる）」.
“頑張る”の検索結果（72 件）：英辞郎 on the Web：スペースアルク
When you try something, you say 「頑張ります」to somebody.
When your friend is trying something, you say「頑張ってください（がんばってください）≒Good luck! Or Give it your all.」to the friend. The casual saying of this is 「頑張って」and「頑張れ」. (Women would say 「頑張ってね」)

Do you know the Japanese language has men’s way and Women’s way?
When men would say 「頑張れ」, women would say 「頑張ってね」meaning Good luck.
Many women speak like men when they speak casually, but if you(a man) say something like women, you would sound like gender identity disorder.
However, don’t worry. Polite expressions are same between men and women. Men and women say 「頑張ります」and 「頑張ってください」.

I chose training because it entails a sort of self-improvement, usually towards a specific goal. It isn't exactly the same, but I thought it was the closest single word.

Yes, training seems to be closest. I didn’t know the word entails a sort of self-improvement.

In my secondary school days I was a cadet in the RAF section of the Combined Cadet Force (CCF). This is something that we have in British schools in part to introduce us to military life should we want to join the forces and in part just as a good activity for building skills such as leadership and teamwork and things like flying in the case of the RAF. We used to go on week-long camps on RAF bases where we would mix both with servicemen and women and with cadets from other schools. On one occasion there was a boy from another school who was very enthusiastic and took everything very seriously. Apparently he wanted to join the Royal Marines as soon as he left school. His colleagues, perhaps feeling that he thought he was better than them, would tease him about how seriously he took it all. They used to say sarcsastically "He's 'in training'!" and "Are you 'in training'!". So that's not a very nice example, but I think it shows quite well how there is a dividing line between things like playing, practising or enjoying and training.

I see. Thank you for your interesting story. In training seems to mean 修行中（しゅぎょうちゅう）.

In that situation, Japanese people would say 「頑張れ～!!　頑張れ～!!」 to him teasing him.

Ok, so is 行ってらっしゃい literally something like "go well" or something? I know what you mean that it's a fixed ritual, although these are quite fragmented in western culture. The only modern one that springs to mind is the typical 50s U.S. "Honey, I'm home!" for when the husband returns from work!

I believe that 行ってらっしゃい was originally 気をつけて行ってらっしゃい。This means like Go well or Go carefully.
Nowadays some people say 「行ってらっしゃい。気をつけて。」

I’m home is 「ただいま」.
We say it every time we get home.
The literal translation is “just now”.
The original and polite expression of「ただいま」 is「只今（ただいま）戻りました（もどりました）≒I’ m back now.」
When you returned to your office (after going out), you say 只今戻りました to your co-workers and your boss.

When you get home and say 「ただいま」, your family say 「お帰りなさい（おかえりなさい）」
I know that you say “Welcome back” when someone return from a long absence, but we say 「ただいま」when I was out only for 30 min and my family say 「お帰りなさい」.
The casual version is 「お帰り（おかえり）」.

So, we say these words every day.
「行ってきます」「行ってらっしゃい」
「ただいま」「お帰りなさい」

I don't know where to start; I think we are doing well at this pace! I didn't know 「行ってきます」, but now I do! ありがとうございました。I'm at the office until 1800 most days and so I learn most at the weekend.

I will tell you some expressions you say when you start eating next time.

This is your home work.
This is a very popular Japanese song.
Almost all Japanese people know this.
When you go to Karaoke with Japanese people, sing this song!


Title:ああ人生に涙あり (ああじんせいになみだあり)

人生　楽ありゃ　苦もあるさ　（じんせい　らくありゃ 　くもあるさ）
涙のあとには　虹も出る　　（なみだのあとには　にじ もでる）
歩いてゆくんだ　しっかりと　　（あるいてゆくんだ　 しっかりと）
自分の道を　ふみしめて　　（じぶんのみちを　ふみし めて）

人生　勇気が必要だ　　（じんせい　ゆうきがひつよう だ）
くじけりゃ　誰かが先に行く　（くじけりゃ　だれかが さきにゆく）
あとから来たのに　追い越され　　（あとからきたのに 　おいこされ）
泣くのが嫌なら　さあ歩け　　（なくのがいやなら　さ ああるけ）

人生　涙と笑顔あり
そんなに悪くは　ないもんだ
なんにもしないで　生きるより
何かを求めて　生きようよ

ゆりさん, I have posted the following to your blog:

I look forward to hearing your thoughts!

覚さん、thank you very much!
I’m writing my answer, but I need a lot of time.
Please wait.

Oh, and I almost forgot, ゆりさん, I think there has been some problem in transferring over the text of your composition to blogspot, and they have published one of my editorial comments in the text of the blog.

I have posted your comment. Now you see it properly.

I will finish my answer soon! Wait, please!


Oh! I almost forgot again!
Do you have a dictionary of kanji? I don’t mean a Japanese dictionary. It’s kanji dictionary or kanwa dictionary.
Amazon.co.jp： ベネッセ新修漢和辞&#x 5178;: 新田 大作, 福井 文雅: 本