Students want to feel confident about their English as a second language
…want to improve their comprehension
…want to speak faster
…want to learn more English vocabulary and slang
…and they want to have fun with you too!
If you can provide the above, you’ll do great! So being on online English teacher (like with Skype) will make it possible for the student to speak with the folks they want…like you!
:)

Strange, I live in the U.S. as well but I have heard this word used this way plenty of times. :confused:

Really?? What else have you heard people count with the word ear? :confused:

Well I do live over 3,000 miles away. :D

But I've mostly heard the word 'ear' used in the same context as Columbine described, although it's still more common to hear it used in terms of corn.

Columbine san!
 

ひさしぶり！Columbineちゃん！
ありがとう、とってもうれしいよ！

今ちょっと公私共にバタバタしていて
なかなか時間がとれないの・・・

またすぐにお返事させてね！

ありがとう!:ywave:

どうも！

忙しいんだったら、暇時にお返事していいよ。時間をか けて、心配しないでね。いつでも、私も他のJF者も、YYTT さんのポストを読む

では、まったね〜

Columbine AwakenxBenihime Klint

ほんとうに　ありがとう　Thank you so much!
I really enjoyed reding all of your lectures;)

Sorry if I made you thinking about corn and ear and all that too much and you might have had a dream about it???
I actually had a strange dream last night.
I met a cat the size of my pinky, and she was eating a tiny corn on the cob!
A family wanted to have the tiny cat as their pet cat, but it was first time for them to have any pet.So I was telling them what to be careful with.
In my dream I was sooooooo serious and telling them to hold her gentle and not to squeez her... I don't know why I didn't realize it was just a dream!
pinky size cat? no way! but I didn't think no way but yes way...
You know what? Im gonna try to have that same dream again tonight, then meet the cat and make the cat talk to me! just like Jiji and Kiki!

oops i really really have to go now.

I will come back to join you guys as soon as I finish my job!

I just wanted to say thank you but I talked too much...

have a wonderful day everyone!:ywave:

Summber Wars
 

Hi everyone:)
☆おひさしぶりです☆

Well...I know I've got some pictures I promised to show you before and
some more messages I should write to thank your help and everything, but
can I start it all new again here??? will you forgive me?

Cos I've got a big plan now, and I really want you guys to help me (us) with it!


Here is my plan.....

well.... first of all,
Do you know this anime movie called "Summer Wars"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Wi2lb1sVk8http

I haven't watched it properly yet, but I happend to live in the city where you can see in this movie, so I thought this is a great way for us to show what our city is like to many many people in the world!
Well, of course the story is fiction but if you come this town, you can see some sceneries and things you saw in the movie.
just like this!
YouTube - HD サマーウォーズの聖地 上田市

So...I 'm thinking of making a promotional kind of video for this city including this movie sceneries.
I'd like to make one with my friends and students for fun(and also educational)!
We all will try to speak in English in this video and there will be subtitles in Japanese(hopefully).

So, I (we) need your help pleeeeez!

It will take a long time to finish it cos I am hopeless with compurter thingy... and have no idea how to edit the video...but I will try my best!(or find someone clever!)

I want my students 4-11 years old and their families to say something in English and also we want the kids in Japan and other countries to watch that , so
we need simple but natural and attractive lines (sentences) in English.

some idea for a start....
for 9-11 years old girls and boys:
and maybe after that,
the kids will go and find some tourists (look like tourists) and ask some question in English eg.if Summer wars was the reason why they came to Ueda or if they have seen the movie or where they were from or things like that.
What question would you like to be asked if you were there?

I did the similar thing with my students before (no video recording though) and we met 2 girls from US and we did a little tour together.
And also when I was with the little kids a kid found a 50 yen coin on the street, so we all went to the police station to give it to them. The police were amazed cos the kids were talking to me in English and they asked the kids some questions in English, like how old are you? We had fun with the police!(but I had to fill in a form about finding the money...too much work for a 50 yen coin!)

Here are some pictures: one with the girls from US and the local train you can see in the movie!

here is another little pic
 

this is the pic of the train you can see in the movie:)

久しぶり！

yyttさんのアイデアは面白そうと思います。

I think if I were a tourist in Nagano, you could ask me where I was from, where I had ~been~ in Nagano during my stay, what I thought of it. On the train 5 mins is actually quite long for filming, but you could point out things out the window, perhaps talk about Nagano and it's history, or what YOU like best about it. But pointing things out with the japanese words would be interesting too! Or you could maybe talk to other people on the train, if they don't mind.


If you like, you could just do a demo of how to use the machine. "Put the money in here" (put the coins/note in) "push this button" (pushes the button) "And the ticket comes out!"

Nagano is a City, even if it's small, you still use 市 right?

thank you yuko81!

Sorry for not writing you back to your email!
I talked with the mother about your offer before, but
some of them simply didn't like their kids pictures on the web.
but some liked this idea about this video thing!

It's summer holidays here, so we will be back on the 1st of September and start working on it.

Please ask me your question about Japanese too!
Let me help you with something, otherwise I feel bad!

またね　:ywave:

columbineさん　ありがとう～！
私も　面白そうだ　と　思うの！
　応援してね！

OK, so when the kids see the tourists (or anyone)
they could ask them like...
1)Where are you from?
2)Where have you visited in Nagano already?
3)Where else are you going to visit during your stay?
4)What did you think of XXX?

on the train...
1)Look at the XXX. That's xxx.
2)Here is called XXX and there was a big battle called XXX in xxxx.
(actually 30 second walk from our school there is a place like that)
3)Can you see the building over there? That's my favourite sweet shop.
like these? ;)

Oh yes, we will try to talk to the people on the train.
(Maybe I should go and talk to the manager of the railway company first to get a permission and also I will tell all the people who kindly talking to us about the video thing to make sure if it's ok to have their faces in it or just their voices...)

I love to have local people as many as possible to help us,
but I don't want to do it in an ordinary way... like puting up some paper saying "Join us if you are interested in making a video in English!" , because then we will have people who ARE already interested in English and oversas... and for sure they will be very helpful but this time, I really want more people who don't really care about English or overseas to join us,
in order to make tiny bit of a change for this "too conservative" town!

People say Japanese are basically shy (maybe not in Osaka!) but I don't think they are really really shy...
I think that they are just too afraid of being "disliked" or making "a scean" in public, in spite of the fact that they'd love to be helpful and friendly and I think they are secretly;) waiting for being asked for help!
So I'm going to go out there with the kids and try to see if my method works;) , asking questions about this city and whatever
and tell them what we are doing and ask them to join us if they are interested.

Well Im going to talk about all this with the kids before hand, and make them understand being polite + friendly is very very important when we want to talk to the strangers.

Thank you, how about this?

Let's take a train to go to the city!
(my "city" means around the main staion, is "the city" OK to use here?)

walking to the staion...

This is the vending machine for the train tickets.
(I was so stupid to say "bending" ! I was drunk too, but I realized that Im a real Japanese to make that mistake!)

You can put the coins in here... and the note in here...
and push this button....
then the ticket comes out!


I meant that "Nagano" as a 県 (prefecture you call?)
Nagano city is in it as well as our city Ueda.
Nagano city looks big enough to me to call it a city, but
Ueda isn't really... it is 市 but it's very quiet and small...


thanks Columbine さん
have a happy day!:ywave:

Hello, I am Australian and English is my native language, I have never before heard of this tradition. Quite odd, certainly nobody I know practices this..

G'day from Japan
 

Hi toastyzeus, how are you going?
Wow you are from Australia?
I just came back from there a month ago.
I visited my friends and had a wonderful time.

Maybe you can read more of the comments in this thread.
And the reason why you never heard of the oyster story
cos Australia is in Southern Hemispher and different condition, I mean seasons things and all.

anyway thanks for the post.
have a good day mate;)

lol Think harder. You being from Australia is the exact reason that you haven't heard it. Your native language has little to do with it.

Hint: Seasons in Northern vs. Southern hemispheres.

EDIT: yytt beat me to it.

hahaha I won! :vsign:

I type with two fingers, mate. Bloody slow.

fair dinkum!

you mean 2 bloody middle fingers???

hiya:)

That's what I was wondering when I was in Australia.
I think I heard "brochures" more than "catalogues"...
maybe just a coincient?

but for Japanese, at least for me...
カタログandパンフレット will do.

maybe it depends on what the contents in it.
カタログis more like... a list of something in it
パンフレット doesn't matter if the list there or not.

Anyone can help me with better explanation?!

仕上げたヴィデオを見えるの楽しみにしてるよ！W〜　� �っぱり、最近よくNHKWorldを見て、色々な小さい町に着い て習っています。


Right! Those all sound great :)

That's a really good idea. I think on a lot of 'let's see Japan' programs, they focus too much on what people who don't live there think of the place! I'd always like to know more about what the local people think of where they live. After all, they know it best!


Yes, 'the city' is fine, because that can mean the central area. Haha, I thought 'bending machine' sounded very Japanese too, but I didn't like to say :3

[quote=yumyumtimtam;824527 I meant that "Nagano" as a 県 (prefecture you call?)
Nagano city is in it as well as our city Ueda.
Nagano city looks big enough to me to call it a city, but
Ueda isn't really... it is 市 but it's very quiet and small...
[/QUOTE]

It's hard to say for sure, because in the UK, a city is any 'town' that has a cathedral in it. That's why Oxford is a city, even though it's really quite small. For Japanese places, I think we tend to follow the clues given by Kanji, so 市is always city and 町 is town, and 村 of course is a village. Wikipedia calls Ueda a city, and the population is quite high, so i'd say it's a city.

仕上がったビデオが見られるのを～　or 仕上がったビデオを見るのを～　sounds a bit better I think:)
「やっぱり？」
you meant
recently I learn about the small towns in Japan through watching NHK?
習っていますsounds like there is/are someone telling/teaching you... so
maybe 学んでいます　better maybe.

thanks!
Cool! I want more and more local people to get involved in this and finally we will have a lot of visiters from Ueda to come to JF!haha
oh, thanks for being so polite. but you know,I wouldn't mind!
I will probablly laugh about it together!
That's very interesting! because of the cathedrals?! I didn't know that.
Thank you!
Ueda used to be smaller, but they swallowed up the few villages and towns around to make it look bigger! That idea didn't go well... so the city is very quiet. This afternoon I was chatting with a manager of a big chinese restaurant, he said he can't see any possibilities for this city to get any better, cos the people don't get paid well so they don't pay well... like my school... there are always people trying to avoid paying the school fee... I feel like quiting everytime I have to listen to their excuses... The restaurant owner was so mad when he heard my story about them, he said he hates that kind of people and it's just like they didn't pay for what they ate at his restaurant.
He is right... If they don't stop acting like that... I might quit this whole school thing by the end of the school year which is March in 2011, so this video project might be the last big work... mmm why am I whining now?

Thank u Columbine, I enjoy talking with you everytime;)
Have a good night!:ywave:

Yup, i meant やっぱり＝＿＝；。Hmm, I've never seen 学んで before. 読み方は何ですか？


Strange, isn't it? I don't know why; I guess because the cathedrals used to be powerful and important. :/

That's kind of sad. If you can't afford to do something, you shouldn't do it. Trying to wriggle out of paying is just wrong. >/

学ぶ（まなぶ）だよ

「やっぱり」は英語ではどういう意味でつかったのかな ？

yeah sound like it. you know cathedral is another difficult word for Japanese to pronunce it!
you know what?
Their case, I think they can afford it,
but they just simply don't want to pay in time.

It's so strange but people in this city... there are more than average numbers of people have that attitude... maybe they think it's cool? To be allowed to pay after (not really allowed though) means because you are special or something? I have nooooooooo idea.

A long time ago though I had a worst customer,
I used to teach 3 jr high school boys. One of them,well his mum　went like... ,
"oh Im sorry I can't afford to pay this month I'm so sorry, can I pay you next month?"
she did it for 6 months...no paid at all... I was so tired, and actually hurt.
I told one of the mothers that I wanted to quit, cos of that.
and the mother got shocked and said " Oh they are rich! they just bought the brand new house about a few months ago. I can ask her to pay for you" but you know what? I was totally hurt when I heard that, then quit next week.
I felt so sorry for the boys, cos they enjoy exchaning letters with kids in USA cos they all play baseball, so we had a lot to talk about in common...
The other mothers called me many times to come back, but I couldn't.

sorry another whining.

tell me the kiddy languages!
 

Hi there, I have another question!

I don't know if you called them the kiddy languages or kiddy words or baby languages... but hope you know what I'm trying to say.

here is some Japanes ones
幼児語（ようじご）:
ありがとう≒　あんがと/あんと
くるま≒ブーブー
いぬ≒わんわん/わんちゃん
ねこ=にゃんにゃん
（お）そと≒おんも
きたない≒ばっちい
かたづける≒ないない（する）
はなをかむ≒チ～ンする


I heard British/Australian "ta" is a kiddy way of saying Thank you(that's what my dictionary told me), but the adult use them very often right? I used to love saying "ta" and "no worries" but I don't hear them anymore... here in Japan.

and other words I heard:
Kindergarten= kindy
Bird=birdy
Chocolate=chocky
Biscuit=bikkie

Can you tell me more of the kiddy languages please?



and please tell me your way of "Eeny meeny miney moe"?

you keep going like...
....Catch a tiger by the toe,
If he hollers, let him go,
Eeny meeny miney moe!

Oh and one more question,
Which is right ?
"you are it! " or "you are the it!"?

Do we need "the" for IT?

Here is a Japanese one, I'm sure there are various ways.
but this is one of them from Yokohama.
どれにしようかなてんのかみさまのいうとおりなのなの な
てっぽううってばんばんばんどちらのたまごがわれたか な
hope you enjoy it!

ありがとう、YYTTさん~<3

言い難しいわね『やっぱり』は英語でなんか”actually"と いう意味で使ったと思います。ところが、新しい事を紹 介したので前に「実は』の方がいいでしょう。んんん〜 そして、「やっぱりね」は『そうと思った！』の感じが あるんですね。8/ もしかして、ずっと『やっぱり』を間違えで使ったかな 。

ひどいですよね！Man, I'm a little cross on your behalf YYTT-san! I should send you my sister's boss. He's very good at chasing up unpaid bills. Www But your right though, it's worse because if the parents cause trouble, it's really the children who end up loosing out.

haha, hello again!

It's often called "baby talk" here. Is そと here like 外？ haha, 「ないない」はかわいいね〜

'Ta' is used by grownups too as far as I know, so I'm not sure it's baby talk. I sure use it! haha, no one's ever accused me of sounding babyish, so I think you're safe. "fank you" or "sank you" is a baby pronunciation of "thank you".

Here are some I remember from when I was a kid:

Dog=doggy or (sometimes) woof-woof
Cat=kitty or pussy-cat or puddy-tat (second one not so popular nowadays!)
Horse= Gee-gee
Cow= Moo-cow
sheep= baa-lambs
bedtime= sleepy-byes or beddy-byes
Banana= 'nana
pajamas= jim-jams or jammies

Then some which were probably unique to my house/local area:
Jam sandwich: Jammy sams
Tortoise= Tor-tor (my grandmother had three!)
knobbly= knucky
little= diddle
hands= nans (when I was little) or nies (which was my sister's word for it. We think it might have come from ナイジェリア語, cause my family lived out there for a while and my sister started to pick it up.）
Bird= ga-ga (definitely came from ナイジェリア語)
Stork/crane= "ga-ga de knucky knees" A bird with knobbly knees!

I used to chant:
Eenie Meenie Miney Moe
Catch a rabbit by the toe,
if he hollars let him go,
eenie meenie miney moe.
So exactly the same except I had rabbits, not tigers for some reason. My cousins used 'tiger' though. We also used to use;

"Ip dip dip, my little ship,
sailing on the water,
like a cup and saucer,
O.U.T spells 'out'!"

and one that makes even less sense:

"ibble-obble black bobble,
ibble-obble out,
turn the dirty dish-cloth inside-out
mother doesn't like it,
turn it back in,
ibble-obble black bobble
ibble-obble OUT!"

and a naughty one:

"Mickey-mouse in his house,
pulling down his trousers,
quick mum, smack his bum,
what colour did it turn?"
then someone would shout "blue" or something, and you'd count round
"B. L. U. E" and whoever was the last letter was 'out'.

and of course, the 'potato' rhyme where everyone holds up two fists and someone 'counts' by bumping the fists going round the circle chanting,
"one potato, two potato,
three potato, four,
five potato, six potato,
seven potato more,
one big black potato splits in HALF!" and on 'half', the person whose fist is bumped gets to put that hand down behind their back. If you get both hands out, then you're safe.

we just say "you're It".

Hee~ I like it!

I love you Columbine!
 

You just made me smile and laugh again at 2am in Japan!

It's so amazing isn't it ? to be able to make some one (almost) the other side of the earth laugh!? you know what? you did it!


やっぱり　is one of the very Japaneasy (oops Japan_easy no!? how should I spell it? Japanesy? Japanesie?) words I think.

Do you know this website?
“やっぱり”の検索結果（88 件）：英辞郎 on the Web：スペースアルク

they have the better explanation, but let me try too:)

『ColumbineちゃんとSashimisterくん　つきあってるらしいよ� ��』
「やっぱりね。前からあやしいと思ってたんだ！」

after a looooooooong trip with your heavy backpack,
you just got home and sit down on the very confortable sofa and say
『やっぱり　自分のうちが一番！』

The other day, after saying bye bye to my friend (how should I say this in proper and mature way here?), I was wondering
if I should go home or go to one of the onsen. I was a bit tired.
but I decided to go to the onsen which I never tried before.
The staffs were very friendly and there is no one in that onsen... yes it was all mine! When I put myself in the onsen tub (it's not a tub....? what is tub anyway?) it was sooooooooooo good. and I said
『やっぱ　おんせんっしょ～！（やっぱり　おんせんで しょう！）』

I heard people saying "actually" quite often when I was in Australia.
and I use actually often too, maybe too often.

Have you heard of 　「っていうか」
I think this is more like "actually"
but I don't think it's a good idea for you to use this often.
Cos I haven't met you but I bet you are very very mature girl (or boy?) for your age... I don't know your age, but I have this feelings that you are young but mature. tell me if Im wrong and if you were a boy and immature;)

I only use っていうか　when I get drunk (means when my brains don't really work), or only when Im with very very close friends or family.Or when I have to show my anger to say things back at him/her. hahaha
In a proper way of this must be 「というか」or「といいますか」、
Wow this is too hard for a person half sleeping to explain.
forgive me.
Yes! I needed your sister's boss. What's his name? What's his number?
Please say どうも! to your sister and her boss for me. haha

Thanks for being cross for me, but don't worry,
I have got another person really cross and sent her an official letter after I left and she paid it finally. you know what? When I saw the money transered in my bank account, I just withdrawn all of them, 30000yen and used it within a day, I don't remember what I spent for.
yes it's 外
as you know we usually add お to make the word sounds politer or nicer,
but this case, this is for kids.
　
I would say to the children
『じゃあ、次はお外であそぼっか？』
and this おis for kids too.
『あ、あそこに　おうまさんがいるよ！』


Thanks, Columbine, I just had a good time talking with you here.
but now I really have to go to bed... it's almost 3 am!

night night:ywave:

続き・・・
 

かわいいよね～。

How about the mums in UK?

like...
"say bye bye to your pooh bear,darling" ?

『プーさん　ないない（しましょうねぇ～）』 in Japanese maybe;)
You know many Japanese say "sank you",
so to you they sound like babies!

Wow, "fank you" sounds quite dangerous doesn't it?!
but I like it.
How cute, thank you !!

How do you pronunce gee-gee? like GG?
Do you grown-ups call Pyjamas "PJ" in UK?

Oh I remeber in Australia,
Kangaroo = roo
toilet= loo
koala= koala bear (even koalas arent bears at all)
Interesting!
I like
little=diddle
and it happens when I've got stuffed nose.

Our family had our original verb
『ガッチャンする』
we used to say like...
『ＸＸは　ガッチャンするだけでいいからね～　すぐで かけるから～』
『ガッチャンしておいてよ～　ＸＸが風で開いちゃうじ ゃ～ん』
Can you guess?
Oh rabbits hollar too?
Ip dip dip one chants like Eenie Menie?

yeah mothers wouldn't like it:D
mmm my students will love it!
They love using bad and naughty words,
they are learning new ones like every day at their kinder
and every week they want to tell me all that.

I remember a naughty one when I was a elementary school kid!
Boys say "パン　２　Ｏ　みえ!" when they saw girl's underpants!
They had some hand gesture too.
clap your hands once
show your pointer and middle finger
make a circle with your thumb and pointer
put your hand (horizontal) on your forehead

I will do this with my students after the holidays!
Thanks!
thanks, cos I saw a book written by a Japanese English teacher who lives in Canada, she said " you are the it"
but as long as I remember the kids were saying "you are it!" in Australia.
Do you call it play tag or tig?

I can't remember what my parents used to say. Probably something pretty normal actually like "Go put Pooh away now," or something. haha, only I had a penguin, not a Pooh bear.

haha, that's true, i hadn't thought of that. But when Japanese people say it, it just sounds kind of cute, not really babyish. Though it's a little bit odd to hear an ojisan use it!


Yes, Gee-gee is pronounced G-G. PJ's is pretty common amongst all ages, but for some reason, Pajamas aren't too popular any more. I guess because everyone has central heating, they don't like wearing as much as pajamas to sleep. Or they'd rather not have to buy pajamas, so just wear old t-shirts and tracksuit trousers or something. Lots of guys don't wear anything at all! ;)

Koalas in our house were always called 'kuggie bears'. 'kug' was local slang for 'hug' or 'cuddle', and koalas always look like they're hugging the trees, so 'kuggie bears!"


oh wow! does it mean 'to close' or something? ガッチャン sounds like a door closing or something. :)


驚いたことに、ウサギは時々うるさいです。子どもごろ 、ある農場でうちの馬を飼いました。田も馬屋もを貸す の事ですよ。とにかく、ある夏ホルピン農さんはトラベ ラーズ（ギルシ）でこまっていました。よくトラベラー ズは農さんの田に不法侵入していて、ウサギの罠をおい ていました。馬の田にも、罠を見つけました。では、私 と姉は田に掃除しながら、突然変な音を聞こえる。大き くひどい音でした。姉は、「あれ、誰か、叫んでいるの ？」といいました。狐は秋でよく叫んでいるけど、それ は違いです。これは本当に生け垣子どもの叫び声でした 。もちろん、罠にかかったウサギでした。

Ip dip dip chants just like eenie-meenie (slightly different rhythm), only we used to count it over feet, not just pointing at the people. We had another one that went "Ip dip, sky blue, you stepped in dog poo!"

Haha, that's hilarious.

My cousins and I all called it 'tag', but oddly, our parents all called it 'tig'. I think 'tig' seems to be more common, but I still prefer tag.

cute! a penguin?
my favuorite one was a cat, but I remember I used to pad all the stuffed toys and dolls I had before going to bed, cos I didn't want any of them to think "I wasn't chosen, she didn't like me".
Do you call them(ぬいぐるみ) stuffed toys?
hahaha! now in my head, a group of おじさん　keep saying it and bowing each other.

I think it's almost the same here.
but as you know there are many places you can find very かわいい pjs for girls at the reasonable prices like 1000-2000yen... so I know many girls have a lot of them, like they buy a new one almost monthly.
I have a few cute ones, but they were from my sister who is very girly girl loves flowers and frills and all that, so actually they are too cute for me but I wear them anyway. I basically like those guys who don't care what to wear to sleep and sometimes wearing nothing especially when I get drunk in summer hahaha.

how cute... you know what's in my head now?
the group of おじさん all left (they had to go home, cos their angry wives told them to come home), then now a cute kuggie bear wearing a "huggies",
is hugging a tree!
yep! our door was very heavy and we had to push a little bit hard to close it properly, so we call it がっちゃんする.


columbine ちゃん
I am writing this at an internet cafe in 青森.
I have been travelling north part of Japan for 7days now.
Have you been 北海道 or　青森?

I enjoy it too much and don't want to go home.
Sometimes it's hard to understand what 青森people are saying, cos their 津軽弁　but it sounds nice and soft which I really like it.

When I travell, I enjoy meeting local people, sometimes I have to try a little hard to break the ice (well there is no ice cos basically they don't have to talk to me...but anyway), but here in 青森 and 函館... they are very easy to talk to.

I met a lovely lady on a tram in Hakodate.
I was looking at a little map to check where to get off, and the lady in her 60s sitting next to me said 「ちょっとお節介してもいいかしら？ご旅行？どこにい らっしゃるの？」
and we started talking...then she got off at the same stop with me, and silly me walking the wrong direction, so she came to grabbed my hand and said　『そっちじゃないわよ　こっち　こっち。おばさ� �　用事がなかったら一緒にまわってあげるんだけどね� �』

and yesterday, I asked a lady in the late 60's or early 70s, the direction, but ended up she asking me if I was interested in meeting a man who work for the phone company in Sendai who is a son of her friend. She wasn't joking!
Did I look so needy!? Maybe;)

I will come back to your intersting rabbit story next time:)

Have a good day:ywave:

Hi:)
Can anyone help me with this ?

I'm writing about my students in English,and this is one of them.
I'd like to make it sounds simple but natural for my students (10-15 years old) to read.

Can anyone correct this for for me?

Minori is a 7 years old girl and she loves drawing.
She gave me a lot of her work (I mean her drawing and painting work)
and this is one of them (the pic below) , she said this was her favourite.
Now she has to leave the school, because her family is moving to Tokyo this month.She was almost crying when her mother was telling me about that.
She stopped drawing since. She said it's because she didn't feel like it anymore.I was so sad too.
I actually put her drawing here.(She said it's OK)
I love kids drawing, they are amazing and give me a smile always.
I hope you enjoy it too.

I need another help!
 

Can you tell me the difference between "be" and "become" ?

She wants to be a teacher.
She wants to become a teacher.


and plus "will" and "be going to" ?

He's going to be a doctor.
?He's going to become a doctor.
He will be a doctor.
?He will become a doctor.

The difference is mainly in the sense of time. "Be" implies that the person is the occupation stated in the sentence (a doctor). "Become" implies that the person's occupation stated in the sentence will be truthful in the future.

For "will" and "be going to", they add a sense of certainty to the statement in the context. The person's occupation in the future will be what is stated in sentence.

My observations are based mainly on the context, and may not be entirely correct. Still, I hope they are of some use, yumyumtimtam. :)

sorry, I don't get it...
the person is the occupation stated?

and I don't know the meaning of "will be truthful in the future"

mmm so confusing...

I didn't understand what you meant... sorry, but thanks for your time.

I think I need a lot of examples of the situation or something...

How about this?

A boy is studying at a medical school to be("become" fits better here?) a doctor:
So in this case...
Should I say
"He is going to be(become) a doctor" or "He will be(become) a doctor"

A boy hates studying, not interested in anything, but he's clever.
and all of his family members are doctors and own a huge hospital.

so in this case...
Can I say
"He will be a doctor."

oh, it's so confusing!

Don't worry about me, I am not so clever.
Your explanations sound too "smart" for me to understand....

but thanks for your time :ywave:

Hi!

I suggest you registering to this site (if you havent yet):

Lang-8

It is very very useful if you have some basic or intermediate knowledge about a foreign language and you wanna check it with native speakers :)

Kampai!

Thanks for the info.
I think I heard of this website before, but I prefer here JF;)
I think it's not easy to find the right person(teacher) to learn the language.

Im a Japanese native speaker but I DON'T think my opinion about Japanese is always right,

(well... I want to believe it's right;) though)

so I want other people to see and read what I said and give me(us) their own opinion or suggestions and all that, so everyone can learn better and more!

So, the same with learning English for me too.

I hope more people to join here!

you meant "cheers"?!


well... here the answer to your PMquestion.
I went to Australia to learn (Aussie)English just after finishing my college in Japan. I was going to stay only for 6 months to have a look, but I just loved it there, actually loved it too much, so I couldn't leave!
I came back to Japan to work and save money and went back to Australia, I did this back and forth for a few times... so in total I spent time in Aust nearly for 4 years.
I was too lazy, so I wouldn't be able to speak English if I didn't go to Australia, and now I have been lazy again since I came back, so my English skills haven't changed, no improved much.
so I am always looking for a very very strict teacher to make me study harder;)

well, I have a question for you.
What made you bring here, I mean to Japan Nyago?:ywave:

Hey Yum-chan :)

Now I understand! Your English skills (at least written ones) are better than those of probably 99% of the Japanese :) VERY GOOD JOB!

I am here because I found an internship to Japan and one of my dreams was to visit your country! Actually, my dream is to visit all the countries in the world but I think its a bit difficult... Anyway I have visited 5% of the world up to now! I have been to Bulgaria (of course), Turkey, Portugal, Spain, Morocco, Japan, Singapore and Malaysia :) And I have lived in Portugal for 1 year, and I am for 3 months in Japan and plan to live in Malaysia in future!

And when have u visited Europe? And what other countries except Australia?

Kampai! (yep, cheers haha)

何キャラで説明しようかなあ～。じゃあ、やったことな いけど、アドリブで河村名古屋市長キャラ！

おっ、ヤムやん、やっとかめだぎゃ～。最近どーしとり ゃーす？名古屋はどえりゃー暑いでいかんわあ～。とい ってもワシは市役所の涼しい個室で快適（きゃーてき） にカキコしとるがね。今度いっぺん彼氏と遊びに来てち ょ。噂によると相当なイケメンらしーね。ヤムやんだけ は隅に置けんわなも。

まずは最初のツー・センテンスだわなも。これは未来の 事を言っとるのなら、意味に違いはにゃーわなも。少な くとも米国では”ＢＥ”の方がはるかに頻繁に使われと るわな。”ＢＥＣＯＭＥ”を使われると、教師になるた めに何かが障壁になっているような印象を与え兼んな。 しかし、基本はあくまでも同じ意味やな。

ただし、"She wants to be a teacher." の方には別の意味があるので注意しときゃーよ。これが あのイニシャル・ケイ氏が言っとった、「教師でありた い。」という意味なんだわ。つまり職業として教師でな い人が、誰かに対して、あるいは仕事以外の場面で「教 師」でありたいという意味で使ってもいい文なんだわ。 わかるきゃーも？多少きびしく言えば、ヤムやんの質問 の仕方が甘かったわな。恐らくは「両方とも未来の事を 言ってる」という条件で違いが知りたかったんでにゃー の？

次のツー・センテンスの方が内容のある質問だわな。こ れは互換性がないとは言わんが、薄いわな。どういう状 況にある人がそれぞれのブンを使うかだわね。"Be going to" を使うのが自然なのは、すでに医者になるためのレール の上におる人だわ。要するに医科大生とかだわなも。つ まり、普通に（まじめに）やってれば医者になるのが見 えとるわけだわね。「夢」じゃにゃーんだわ。

ところが、"will be/become" と言いそうな人は、すくなくとも現段階では医科大生で はにゃーわな。高校生かも知れんし、小学生かも知れん 。医者になることがあくまでもまだ「希望」の段階（だ んきゃー）なんだわ。また、その希望が非常に強いんだ わな。しかし、そのための「レール」にはまだ乗ってに ゃーんだわ。わかるか、ヤムやん？

ワシに英語習うと、英語より名古屋弁の方が得意になる ゆーウワサもあるでよ。この間（こにゃーだ）河合塾の 幹部にからかわれたわ。ヤムやんも気をつけてちょ（き ょーつけてちょ）。

99%????
How many Japanese you know? 3? (hahaha)
My English isn't that good at all!!!
My writing skill is pretty bad, this is how I speak!
internship?! good job! So what do you do?
You know one of my dreams was to get out from Japan for a while!

Yeah, I understand that.I don't think I want to visit every single countries, but I really want to see and feel how the people live in the foreign countries, so that's why I went backpacking in Europe.
I don't know how many countries...let me count now...
I arrived at the Heathrow Airport... London, England
(France: for 1 day doesn't really count...)
Germany,Austria,Switzerland,Croatia,Italy,Greece... I think that's it.
I had friends there or made friends while travelling...so I had a wonderful time!

So you are from Bulgaria, right? So...how many Japanese people have asked you about "Yogult"? hahaha.
I haven't been there yet, but one of my backpacker friends, a japanese girl loved it and told me that I was wrong didn't go there.

So how long are you going to stay in Japan for?
It was 16 years ago! How old were you then?
So you can guess my age huh?
Except Europe and Australia, no, I haven't visited any other countries...
oh wait wait! Yes Japan! of course ;)
mmm I don't have any drink here...

cheers!

Wow... I'm so xxxx....
Thank you very much!
You are the best teacher ever!

きゃんっ:rheart:

横浜弁に訳しま～す☆
よっ、ヤムちゃん、ひさしぶりじゃ～ん。

最近ど～してる？
名古屋はめちゃくちゃ暑くてだめだよ～。
といっても私は市役所の涼しい個室でかいてきにカキコ してるけどね。
今度いちど彼氏と遊びに来てよ。
噂によると相当イケメンらしいね。
ヤムちゃんは隅に置けないな～。
まずは最初のトゥー・センテンスだな。
これは未来のことを言ってるんなら、意味に違いはない んだよ。
少なくとも米国では”ＢＥ”の方がはるかに頻繁に使わ れてるな。
”BECOME”を使われると、教師になるために何かが障壁に なっているような印象を与え兼ねないな。
しかし、基本はあくまでも同じ意味だな。

ただし、"She wants to be a teacher"のほうには別の意味があるので注意しなね。
これがあのイニシャル・ケイ氏が言ってた、「教師であ りたい。」という意味なんだよ。
つまり職業として教師でない人が、誰かに対して、ある いは仕事以外の場面で「教師で」ありたいという意味で 使ってもいい文なんだよ。
わかるかなぁ。

※例えば ある女性が私の友人の彼氏を好きだったとして、その友 人に私が話題の中で　She wants to be you　というのと同じようなかんじですか？
※知人の米国人男性が今小学校で英語を教えていますが 、かなり大変みたいなんです・・・他の日本人の先生は 助けてくれないらしく・・・そこで私は　I want to be a teacher there って言えますか？the teacherっていっちゃうと彼のポジションをやりたいって� �味になりますか？

・・・というような、本当になりたいwant to be　ではなくて　だったらな～的なwant to be って理解して良いでしょうか？


多少きびしく言えば、ヤムちゃんの質問の仕方が甘かっ たな。
恐らくは「両方とも未来の事を言ってる」という条件で 違いが知りたかったんじゃないの？

※甘かったか～っ、チッ。

次のトゥー・センテンスのほうが内容のある質問だな。
これは互換性がないとはいわないけど、薄いな。
どういう状況にある人がそれそれの文を使うかだよね。
"Be going to" を使うのが自然なのは、すでに医者になるためのレール の上にいる人だよ。
要するに医科大生とかだよ。
つまり、普通に（まじめに）やってれば医者になるのが 見えてるわけだよね。
「夢」じゃないんだよ。
ところが、"will be/become”と言いそうな人は、すくなくとも現段階では医科 大生ではないね。
高校生かもしれないし、小学生かも知れない。
医者になることがあくまでもまだ「希望」のだんかいな んだよ。
また、その希望が非常に強いんだね。
しかし、そのための「レール」にはまだ乗ってないんだ よ。
わかるかな　ヤムちゃん？
私に英語習うと、英語よりも名古屋弁のほうが得意にな るっていうウワサもあるからさ。このあいだ、河合塾の 幹部にからかわれたよ。ヤムちゃんも気をつけてね。


ふ～っ（汗）あ～えら。
よ～わからんところは　ちょ～らかしてみましたなもっ ！

（↑ここでは「なも」使うのは無理？）

「なも」が、「よ」なのか「ね」なのか難しかったです 。



教授、その「レール」って　医大生になってなくても　 お医者ファミリーのバックアップがあるとわかっている ような男の子の事を話題にしているシーンの場合は他人 が 『今はあの男の子遊んでるけど He's going to be a doctor anyway』 って言えますか？その男の子は医者になりたいとはとう てい思っていないように見えるんだけど・・・。

名古屋弁めちゃめちゃ好き！
大阪弁よりマイルドで東京弁よりフレンドリーってかん じかな～私には:rheart:
広島弁も好きです。青森もよかったな～。九州は全般好 きだし～。
そういう地域の人たちと喋った後、（しゃべってる最中 　自分の言葉が）東京・神奈川の言葉が冷たく感じちゃ います・・・。

あ～、めちゃめちゃおもしろかったです☆
ありがとうございました:rheart:

みゃーど、再び河村だがね。

意味わっかーへん！:p 　ほんだけど、こういうとこがヤムやんのかわいいラン ダムさだわな。モテ方をよー知っとる。横浜の女性の特 徴だわな。ワシも東京におった時、よう同僚議員たちか ら「横浜の女には手を出すな」とバドワイザーされとっ たわ。あれっ、アドバイス？まあどっちでもええわ。ワ シが横文字弱いの知っとりゃーせるやろ。

例えがエロいけど、まあそう意味だわな。

言える。ただし、資格的な事が満たされとれば、あるい は今後そういう資格が得られる可能性があるのならそう 言える。

ＴＨＥをつけるとそう言う意味に取られ兼ねんな。しか し言語っちゅうもんは文脈の中で表現の意味が常に変化 していくもんだでよー。こういう言葉数の少ない質問に 対し簡単にイエスかノーかとか答えられんな。

「だったらな～」的な意味なら使わん方がええぞ。Would love to be, would like to be あたりを選択しといたほうがはるかに無難だな。Want to be を使うと、相手は「ああ、その可能性があるんだ。」と 思うでな。

英語は動詞の言語だでよ。そこに気付いて対処せんヤツ はいつまでたっても「翻訳英語」の使い手のままで終わ るで。今度市役所で個別レッスンしたるわっ。

あ～えらって、フツーの名古屋のおばさんだがね！

なんでそんな表現まで知っとんの？

「なも」の使い方は複雑だぞ。フランス語の n'est-ce pas と基本的に同じ意味だな。つまりワシの言葉で言う「半 疑問文」だな。形式的/文法的には疑問文だけど、話しては聞き手が同意してく れるという確信のもとに訊いとる訳だ。英語で言う tag questions　の中で、下がり調子に発音されるものがこれに 相当するな。

もし分かりにくかったら今度市役所でな。手取り足取り でレッスンさせてちょ。

教授って、ワシは市長だ。そう、それは言える。その人 の状況を知っとる人には通じる訳だ。
だから言語は奥が深いんだわな。人間関係、その場での 文脈、抑揚、本気か冗談か・・・などの全ての条件が関 係してくるから奥が深い。ほんだでワシみたいな能天気 な男には言語は向いとらんっちゅー事だわな。グワッ、 ハッ、ハッハ。

デャージョーブだて、ヤムやん。英語なんか知らんでも 国会議員にも大都市の市長にもなれるんだで。