The most and most...

Ok, I just thought I would explain the difference in meaning between "most" and "the most".

most

Most is used to talk about the majority of something. Think of percentages(%), most is 50% or more.

most people= 51% or more of people

most of the time= more than half of the time

most likely=very likely to happen

Examples sentences:

I like most kinds of ice cream.

Most people I know like pizza.

Most Japanese people have a cellphone.

Do you have any questions about how to use most?

the most

This is used with superlative adjectives like the best. When you want to make a comparative adjective using a long adjective you use more ...than. For example, "A BMW is more expensive than a Honda". To create the superlative form of expensive you use the most+expensive.
So, "The most expensive car in the world is the Bugatti Veyron".(http://www.thesupercars.org/top-cars/most-expensive-cars-in-the-world-top-10-list-2007-2008/)

the most beautiful woman=the number 1 beautiful woman

the most horrible food=the number 1 horrible food(really REALLY bad food)

the most difficult test=the hardest test or the number 1 difficult test

Example sentences:

I think that the most difficult thing about learning Japanese is kanji.

The most famous painting in the world is the Mona Lisa by Leonardo Da Vinci.

So as you can see the most means the number 1 something.

English proverbs

Hi everyone, today I will show you four Japanese proverbs
(日本のことわざ) and how to say them in English.

The first one is great because it is EXACTLY the same in Japanese and in English. I hear it is probably a translation from English which is why they are the same ^^

一石二鳥 isseki nichō

Literally: one stone, two birds
Meaning:　Killing two birds with one stone; Doing 2 things with one action.

言わぬが花　Iwanu ga hana

Literally: Not-speaking is the flower.
Meaning: Silence is golden; some things are better left unsaid.

十人十色 jūnin toiro

Literally: ten persons, ten colors
Meaning:　To each his own.

水に流す mizu ni nagasu

Literally: let flow in the water
Meaning: I like "Forgive and forget" but "It's water under the bridge" is closer to the Japanese I think.

If you want more information about Japanese proverbs in English check out:

http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/5623/kotowaza.html

and

http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Japanese_proverbs

Steps and stairs...

OK here is a quick lesson to cover the difference between stairs and steps. Here goes...



stairs: a flight of steps connecting two levels or floors, usually indoors.



steps: usually 2-4 small ledges for going up or down (indoors), or it can be many more if it is outside. The big difference is it DOES NOT connect two floors, mostly it connects levels where you can SEE from one to the other. So from the top you can see the bottom and vice-versa.



The most famous steps in the world would be the Spanish Steps in Rome. You can see them here:




from: http://mosquito.homeip.net/collection/scenaries/Paradise/

I'm gonna throw up...

OK, today I am gonna talk about feeling sick and wanting to vomit. There are many many words for this in English and I will just cover some of the most popular...

vomit: this is a MEDICAL term, you will most often hear it in hospitals or from doctors.

Saying "I'm gonna vomit" sounds pretty strange.

puke or barf: instead you'd say "I'm gonna puke" or "I'm gonna barf".

These are both casual English but barf is a little childish.

throw up: "I'm gonna throw up" is the most popular phrase for vomit.

Now, before you get sick you might want to warn people. So here are some more useful words:

nauseous: causing nausea, sickening. It means you feel sick to the stomach and want to vomit.

ex: That roller coaster made me nauseous.

queasy: the same as nauseous but more casual.

ex: The sight of blood makes me queasy.

Many times we feel sick to our stomach because of a car, plane or boat. So we have some special words that cover motion sickness.

carsick: to throw up because of a car's motion

airsick: to throw up because of a plane's motion

seasick: to throw up because of a boat or ship's motion

You will notice that I often said sick, in English if you say "I'm gonna be sick" it means "I'm gonna throw up"!

I have black eyes... huh???

In English speaking countries, people have only a few eye colors:



brown, sometimes called hazel, light brown, dark brown



blue, blue-grey, grey, light blue



green, dark green, light green



So our eyes are not the same colors as asian eyes. This is why many asian people say



"I have black eyes."



Unfortunately, in English we have an idiom "I have a black eye" which means; someone punched you in the eye or you hurt your eye and it is now bruised and became black.









This is why asian people should say:



"I have dark brown eyes."

Amazing, Excellent, Great!

Today, I will answer Sawako's question about the differences between amazing, excellent and great.

AMAZING: It comes from the verb to amaze which is a positive way to say to surprise. Other words are astonish, astound and dazzle. So it means to make you feel awe, wonder or admiration, to create a strong impression. Basically, you use amazing for things that look or sound really cool. For example:

An amazing view.

An amazing movie.

An amazing song.

These all show that you think the view, song or movie was really good, so good that you were surprised and amazed.

EXCELLENT: It comes from the verb to excel which is a way of saying to be better than others. To excel at something means to be good at something. So it means, to be of the highest quality. Excellent is a bit more formal than amazing or great. The important thing to remember here is excellent comes from excel so it needs to be used with things that are MADE, they are not natural. Excellent is usually used when talking about school. It is often used in writing but not used so often when speaking because it sounds so formal. For example:

An excellent restaurant.

An excellent student.

An excellent view...XXX no! views are not made, they are natural.

GREAT: This is the most useful and commonly used of the three. It is the superlative form of good and means VERY GOOD. It is more casual and can be used about anything. For example:

A great view.

A great movie.

A great book.

A great student.

So I recommend you use great 80% of the time, amazing for things you see and, excellent when talking about education and school.

Pronounciation...

Hey everyone, recently I came up with a few tricky phrases that can help Japanese people practice some difficult sounds.

"Shi"exists in Japanese but "si" does not, so many people have a hard time with the "si" sound.

These sentences might help you:

Six sick Santa Clauses sounded sad.

She shipped her sister a silver spoon by ship.

Then there is "work" pronounced "were-k(u)" and "walk" pronounced wa-k(u).

We worked while walking to work with Wally Walker who is always working wonders.

I'm as hungry as a horse!

Today, I will teach you how to make your own idioms. There is a really popular structure that is often used to make idioms:

as (adjective) as (noun or noun phrase)

= very (adjective)

For example:

as hungry as a horse = very hungry

Some idioms we use because they sound nice and rhyme:

as drunk as a skunk = very drunk

as hungry as a horse = very hungry

Some idioms make sense:

as brave as a lion = very brave, courageous

as stubborn as a mule = very stubborn

as strong as an ox = very strong

Some make no sense and are just funny:

as happy as a clam = very happy

But basically you can always understand the meaning, when using this
"as * as *" structure it simply means "very (adjective)".
Now let's try to make our own:

He's as ugly as a rotten tomato. (very ugly)

She's as pretty as a pink butterfly. (very pretty)

That movie was as boring as doing taxes. (very boring)

Now you try!