Christmas Songs/Carols

Hey everyone, at the moment I am in Holland enjoying my winter holidays so today I will just be showing you some videos of famous English Christmas carols from youtube. Enjoy and:

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year~!

Jingle Bells, popular with kids



Silent Night, a mellow Christmas classic plus We Wish you a Merry Christmas and Joy to the World... a bit long




Bing Crosby singing White Christmas, another classic




Dean Martin singing Let it Snow, winter song~!




Elvis Presley singing the mellow, Silent Night

Do you go to cram school?

In Japan, many children go to juku, 塾 (じゅく), to prepare for entrance exams for High School, University, etc. These kinds of schools don't really exist in Canada or the U.S., if we feel our kids need to study more we hire a tutor to come to our homes and help them study. Usually, the teacher will contact the parents saying their kid needs help and will recommend a student of a higher grade to tutor them.

In English, we translate juku as cram school. This comes from the verb to cram which means to force something into a space which is too small for it. For example:

The pushers on the yamanote line crammed the people into the train.

Wow~! Did you see they crammed 15 clowns into that tiny car!

Be careful, in English pusher means (illegal) drug dealer but in Japanese it is someone who pushes people onto crowded trains during rush hour!!!

Now, from that meaning students started to use it to talk about last minute studying because they have a lot of information to cram into their brains in a short amount of time. For example:

Man, I'm not ready for tomorrow's final... I'm really gonna have to cram tonight!

I had to cram all weekend to pass my history midterm.

Often when students have to study hard they pull an all-nighter. This means that they study all night without sleeping!

My teacher is crazy~! I had to pull an all-nighter just to read this week's material!!!

Hmm, that's it for now, have a great weekend,

Phil

Do Japanese people have...?

So time for another mini-lesson, as it is the holiday season I am pretty busy doing Christmas shopping and packing for my upcoming trip to Europe so I don't have as much free time to write longer posts. Sorry about that, but I hope you still enjoy these shorter lessons ^_-



Today, I will be talking about some rooms and places you fill find in a house in the West. I wonder if Japanese homes also have these? Maybe you can post a comment and let me know~!



So the typical rooms in a house are:

• an attic アティック or 屋根裏 (やねうら)
• a pantry パントリー or 配膳室 (はいぜんしつ)
• a living room 居間 (いま)
• a dining room ダイニングルーム
• a kitchen キッチン or 台所 (だいどころ)
• a bedroom 寝室 (しんしつ)
• a bathroom (which usually also has a toilet)
• a garage ガレージ
• a basement 地下室 ( ちかしつ) or 地階 (ちかい)
• a hallway 廊下 (ろうか)

You might also hear about some other places in a western home. For example at my house we had:

a den, this was our TV room we also had a living room for special occasions

a linen closet in the hallway where we kept linens like; sheets, blankets, towels, etc.

a junk drawer in the kitchen, where we would keep all kinds of junk like; rubber bands, twist ties, staplers, scissors, string, glue, etc.

So do Japanese homes have linen closets, dens or junk drawers?

Phil

I have a real sweet tooth ^_-

Hey everyone, today we will have a quick lesson of a noun that I think is fun and interesting to know. I wrote it down on a scrap of paper a long time ago and came across it now so decided it was time to write about it~!

a sweet tooth (n)

Now we use this noun in the same way as "I have a book" or "I have a bad back" so it's used with the verb to have + a sweet tooth. This means that you REALLY love sweets. It means that you often eat sweet foods and that you psychologically feel an urge to eat sweets as often as you can. In Japanese, you might use:

甘いもの好き (あまいものずき)

Since it is the Christmas season, many people are eating sweet foods like pies, cakes and pastries so you might hear someone say:

"I have a real sweet tooth."

or when shopping you might ask:

"What gift do you recommend for someone with a sweet tooth?"

Have a good week,

Phil

What can you do in Montreal?

Hey everyone, how's everything with you? Today, we are gonna have a quick pronounciation lesson. In English, when you have a word which finishes in O followed by a word which starts in I it becomes a WI sound.

O + I = WI

So here are a few example sentences to help you sound more like a native English speaker.

What are you doing? (formal)

Whad R U do-wing? (normal)

Whacha do-win? (casual)

Here you can see that "What are you" becomes "Whacha" in very casual English. You will often hear kids asking this questions~!

What is going on this weekend? (formal)

What's go-wing on this weekend? (normal)

What's go-win-non this weekend? (casual)

You can notice that in casual English the final g in words is often dropped:

going -----> goin'

doing -----> doin'

Also notice that the N connects to the following vowel. Just like you get:

an apple ----> an-Napple

an orange -----> an-Norange

and so when you drop the final G you get:

going on -----> go-win-Non

Here's my final example:

What can you do in Montreal? (formal)

What can you do-win Montreal? (normal)

What can ya do-win Montreal? (casual)

Alright, that's it for now have a good weekend~!

Phil

Ummm, food...

Hey everyone, it's now the Holiday season and so many people will be going to Christmas parties, End-of-the-year parties (bou-nen-kai) and then New Year's Eve parties ^_^ so I decided to talk about a really popular kind of party in the West these days:

a potluck

This is a party where everyone brings a dish (a pot) to share. So when you eat some food you are taking a chance(luck) on if the food is good or not. ^_- hahaha

This kind of party is really popular these days because many people in Canada & the U.S. have different kinds of dietary restrictions. This means that there are things they CAN'T EAT, for example Hindus can't eat beef, Jews and Muslims can't eat pork, vegetarians can't eat meat, etc.

So by having a potluck everyone will bring a dish they can eat, it is much simpler than asking every guests "Do you have any dietary restrictions?" and then trying to make a menu that everyone can eat.

Also, students often have potlucks because they aren't so expensive to host. You just have to pay for one dish and maybe some snacks. So during the current recession it is an affordable way to have a party.

At a party people often serve finger food. This is a more casual way of saying hors d'ouevres. It simply means small snacks you eat with your fingers. So finger foods are things like chips & dip, vegetable sticks & dip, cocktail wieners, crackers with fois gras, cold cuts, etc.

Well guys, have fun at your parties this year~! Don't eat too much!

Phil

Opposites...

Hey everyone, sorry I haven't updated my blog so often this month but I had a fever recently and so have been resting for the last week. I am feeling better now so I decided to post this months list of opposites before the month ended~! Today, we will look at a list of words you can use to describe people...

fat 太い (ふとい) < ------- > thin 細い (ほそい)

Now both of these adjectives are NEGATIVE and not very nice. If you want to be more gentle and less direct you should use:

chubby < -------- > slim

Chubby sounds very cute and we usually say something like "He's a little chubby", whereas slim sounds healthy with no excess fat like a swimmer, thin sounds like you weigh TOO little.
Or you could use:

heavy < ------ > slender

These words sound even more formal and polite, I rarely hear people use them in casual conversations between friends. You are more likely to hear them used between people who don't know each other well. Now onto some words to describe someones personality~!

shy 恥ずかしい (はずかしい) < ------ > outgoing 外向的 (がいこうてき)

Now these are pretty casual adjectives, if you want to use something of a higher level try these:

introverted < ------- > extroverted

Introverted means that your mind focuses inward and so you are a bit shy, extroverted means your mind focuses outward and so you are outgoing. These are psychological terms that entered the general language in the 1970s or 1980s. Remember, these are adjectives so:

He's introverted so he has a hard time making friends.

She's really extroverted so she always joins activities at school.

You don't need to use an! If you want to use a noun try:

introvert < ------- > extrovert

He's an introvert.

She's an extrovert.

Ok that is all for this month, time to rest and I hope to post something again soon~!

Phil

僕は悠々自適に過ごしている。

Hey everyone, this Friday I was studying some Japanese yojijukugo(四字熟語) or 4-kanji idiomatic phrases through Japanesepod101.com and came accross an expression I really liked so I decided to share it with you. I have used that site to study Japanese for awhile and if you want you can check out their sister site, for Japanese learners of English, Englishpod101.com or sign up for their free podcasts via iTunes.

Anyways, I learned the cool phrase:

僕は悠々自適に過ごしている。

Boku wa yuuyuujiteki ni sugoshite iru.

Where 悠々自適 means living a life of leisure. In Japanese, it has the added connotation of having the financial means (i.e. the money) to do what you want. Because of this, it is most often used by retirees...

The whole sentence would translate as:

I'm living a life of leisure.

This is the most formal sounding translation but probably also the closest in meaning to the Japanese. This says you are living a life where you relax and do what you want with total freedom.

I'm living a leisurely life.

This still sounds kind of formal in English and has the similar (well maybe it has a bit stronger connotation of having lots of free time) meaning as:

I'm living a relaxing life.

This is much more casual and natural sounding in North American English.

I'm living a carefree life.

This means you are living a life free of worries. ^_^ In which case you are pretty lucky~!

I really like all the nuances of the Japanese expression and that's how I feel about my life these days so I will finish this post by saying:

僕は悠々自適に過ごしている。

Phil

Have you ever been abroad?

Hey everyone, today we will be talking about the word abroad. This word simply means out of your own country or in a foreign country. Now, many Japanese English speakers often say:

I went to abroad.

BUT this is INCORRECT~! We used to when talking about a SPECIFIC PLACE. Abroad is anywhere outside your own country, it is NOT a specific place.

I went to (a specific place).

I went to Tokyo.

I went to Isetan.

I went to the post office.

BUT

I went abroad.

Without to~! Also because abroad is not a specific place you CAN'T use it with the adverb THERE.

A: Have you lived in Korea?
B: Yeah, I have.
A: When did you live there?
B: I lived there 3 years ago.

Here the adverb there specifies the action(to live) took place in Korea. There is used to show an action took place in/at a specific place or, to/towards a specific place.

A: Have you been abroad?
B: Yeah, I have.
A: When did you go abroad?
B: I went abroad last month.

So because abroad is NOT a specific place it is VERY strange to use it with to or there.

Have a nice week,

Phil

The L sound...

Hey everyone, it has been quite awhile since I did a pronunciation lesson so today I will give you a sentence to help you practice the L sound:



Now to make the L sound you put the tip of the tongue touching the top of your mouth behind your teeth and then move the tongue downwards.




This graphic came from the site Upgrade English: http://upgradeenglish.blogspot.com/2009/10/lr.html

As you can see with R the tongue is raised but NOT TOUCHING the top of your mouth behind your teeth.

A good site explaining how to pronounce the L sound is: http://www.learnenglish.de/pronunciation/lvsr.htm

Now let's practice the L sound~!

easy:

Lex likes lemons.

medium:

Laura laughs like a lunatic. (lunatic = crazy person)

difficult:

Little Lucy Loon likes to lick lime lollipops a lot.

More difficult:

Larry, Lois, Len and Linda left London to liquidate their lemon-lime soda business.

Ok that's all for today, have a good week!

Phil

I was framed~!

Sorry guys, I caught a cold and this means I don't have the energy to write a big post... so instead I will continue the crime theme with a new verb: to frame (someone).

You will often hear this word in crime dramas and movies. It means that you didn't do the crime but someone is making it LOOK like you did. The verb comes from the noun a picture frame, which is the (usually wooden) picture holder that you put a picture in. In Japanese a picture frame is 額縁 (がくぶち).

Basically, someone is making a frame (situation where you look guilty) to go around someone. So they frame you by making you look guilty.

For example:

Police: So you killed her, right?
Suspect: No, no, it wasn't me! I loved her!!
Police: We have evidence which puts you at the scene of the crime...
Suspect: It must have been planted(put there on purpose), I was framed!!

Ok, I will throw in a few more useful crime words:

a witness: someone who sees something happen, usually a crime,
参考人 (さんこうにん)

an alibi: proof that it was impossible for you to commit the crime,
アリバイ or 不在証明 (ふざいしょうめい)

I think that is it for now, let's hope I get better soon. Have a nice week,

Phil

That's his M.O.

Hey everyone, I hope you all had a wonderful Halloween! Today, we will have a quick vocabulary lesson which will help you understand crime dramas and movies.

What's his M.O.?

M.O. stands for Modus Operandi which is Latin for way to work or in Japanese, 仕方 (しかた). It is usually used by the police when talking about criminals and what their patterns are. For example:

The arsonists M.O. is to burn warehouses late Friday nights.

Meaning that the person who likes to start fires and burn buildings down(arsonist) always sets warehouses on fire late at night and always on Fridays. It is his pattern, the way he works, hi modus operandi, his M.O.

Well, I hope you enjoyed today's mini-lesson and I hope to post something longer soon, have a fun week!

Phil

Happy Halloween!

Hey everyone, I just want to wish you all a

Happy Halloween~!

Today, I am going to have a quick culture lesson about popular western horror movie characters.

Classic Movie Monsters

Frankenstein

Actually, the monster had NO NAME! The name of the doctor who made the monster was Dr. Frankenstein~! But in popular culture the doctor and the monster got mixed up so everyone calls the monster Frankenstein...

The Mummy

This is from the classic monster movies in black and white where an Egyptian mummy returns to life and starts killing the people who disturbed it's rest. Because of the famous mummy's curse.

Dracula

The most famous vampire story which has been made into many many movies since the black and white film Nosferatu.

The Wolfman

The original werewolf movie monster. A werewolf is a human being who becomes a wolf when there is a full moon.

The Swamp Thing

This is a kind of fish like monster man who lives in a swamp.

The Blob

This is a big jelly like blob that eats everyone and just keeps growing bigger and bigger...

Modern Movie Monsters

These days we don't really have many monsters most of them are killers that are in some way superhuman but let's start with the monsters~!

Alien(s)

The 1970s science-fiction/horror movie starring Sigourney Weaver. The most famous scene in this series is when the baby alien explodes out of someones chest...

Predator

This is an alien who comes to Earth to hunt human beings. The first movie starred Arnold Schwartznegger and the second Daniel Glover. It is not really a horror movie but more of an action/sci-fi movie.

And now onto the famous killers~!

Freddy Krueger

This is the star of the Nightmare on Elm Street movies who was played by Robert Englund. It is a story about a man killed by the adults on Elm St. who then returns in their kid's dreams and starts killing them one by one. He has a special metal glove with long knives as claws. As a kid, he was my favorite horror movie character!

Jason Voorhees

This is Jason the star of the series Friday the 13th where a killer wearing a hockey mask kills people camping in the woods and people at summer camp.

Michael Myers

This is the killer in a white rubber mask that goes around killing people with a big kitchen knife on Halloween. He is the star of the Halloween series of horror movies.

Alright I hope you enjoyed this Halloween lesson, have fun Trick-or-treating~!

Phil

Opposites...

It's time for another installment in my vocabulary series about opposites~!

big <-----> little or small

I wanted to start with something easy big is 大きい and little/small is 小さい.

male <------> female

This is the scientific term used when talking about men and women.

The male lion has a large mane while the female does not.

In Japanese, male is 雄; 牡 ( おす) and female is 雌 (めす).

man <-------> woman WO -man (singular)
men <----------> women wi-min (plural)

You will often find men/women written on the doors of toilets in English speaking countries.

Excuse me where is the men's room?

gentleman <-----------> lady (singular)
gentlemen <------------> ladies (plural)

In Japanese, gentlemen/gentleman is 紳士 (しんし) and lady/ladies is 嬢さん (じょうさん).

Now be careful, for some reason you NEVER hear women ask "Where's the women's room?" instead they use the more polite "Where's the ladies room?". Whereas men will NEVER say "Where's the gentlemen's room?".

Have a nice week,

Phil

Stop hogging the remote~!

Hey everyone, today I will be talking about the verb to hog. Now the noun hog means pig or in casual English it can mean motorcycle(usually like a Harley Davidson).

The verb to hog means that you are NOT sharing, you are being selfish and keeping something for yourself. It is often used among family members, young people and close friends.

It's early in the morning and your house has only one bathroom, your sister has been inside for 30 minutes so you bang on the door and say:

"Stop hogging the bathroom~! I gotta get ready for work!"

You are watching TV and your brother has had the remote (in Japanese, rimocon) for over one hour so you yell:

Philip: Mom, Marc's hogging the remote!

Mom: Give your brother the remote Marc, you have to share.

Marc: Oh OK, here you go...

Well I hope you enjoyed this mini-lesson, have a nice week,

Phil

Watch out for her she's a total cougar!

Today we are going to talk about a pretty new slang word: a cougar. This is a pretty popular new word and there is even a new sitcom (situational comedy - a 30 minute comedy show) on TV called Cougar Town.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HLhOrQuy9U


A cougar is an older woman who dates younger men often to use them for sex. I heard that the word started in Canada(maybe Calgary?) but I am not sure if that is true. Some young guys like to go to "cougar bars" to meet older women for sex and not have to think of the complications you get from relationships...

...it is an interesting phenomenon because when older men date younger women people are not so surprised and consider it normal but when older women date younger women it is still considered a bit shocking. This is what we call a double standard, meaning one thing is ok but the opposite isn't.

Hope you enjoyed this mini-lesson on recent slang~!

Phil

P.S. slang is what we call a very casual form of speech for example gyakunan is slang for gyanku nanpa or reverse picking up in Japanese ^_-

It's a needle in a haystack...

Hey everyone, today I will talk about a very common idiom we use when we are looking for something but we feel it is very hard to find. In that kind of situation we say:

It's like looking for a needle in a haystack.

Meaning it is almost impossible to find~! We say it when we are discouraged and think we won't find what we are looking for...

A haystack is a big pile of hay, you often see them on farms in the fall. See them in Monet's painting ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Wheatstacks_(End_of_Summer),_1890-91_(190_Kb);_Oil_on_canvas,_60_x_100_cm_(23_5-8_x_39_3-8_in),_The_Art_Institute_of_Chicago.jpg)

A needle is what you use to sew clothing. It is very small and would be REALLY hard to find in a haystack~!

A: Where did you put that bill again?
B: I don't remember... just keep looking.
A: We've been looking for hours~! It's like looking for a needle in a haystack!
B: Don't worry we'll find it.

Have a nice sunny Wednesday,

Phil

I'm just giving you a heads up...

Hey everyone, today I am doing another short lesson. Recently I've been a bit busy traveling and also showing people around Kyoto so I haven't had as much free time as I usually do. Anyways, today we will be looking at a useful idiom/expression:

Heads up

Now the first meaning of this is literally "Heads up" meaning lift your head up or look up~!

This is used when you want someone to look up for example if you throw something at someone and they are not looking...

A: Heads up!
B: What? Whoa! (catches a basketball) What are you doing?
A: Nice catch! Wanna play some b-ball?

The second meaning is to give someone advance warning about something. This means that something is going to happen, usually surprising or bad, and you don't want to help them get ready for the news.

A: Hey man, just giving you a heads up, they announced a new round of lay-offs.
B: Ouch! Thanks for the heads up, I'll watch my back.

or

A: If you hear anything about my transfer be sure to give me a heads up.
B: Sure, no problem.

So if you hear about any bad news be sure to give your friends a heads up!


Phil

Adjective word order

Hey everyone, I have been meaning to write about this for awhile now but it is a bit of a long grammar lesson so I have not felt motivated enough to do it. But today is the day I will talk about the correct adjective word order. In Japanese, you can put adjectives in any order but in English there is a standard order you must follow. Grammatically, it doesn't matter but in terms of usage if you don't follow this order then it sounds VERY WEIRD~!

1. Opinion: lovely, beautiful, smart, perfect
2. Size: big, small, little, tall, long, short
3. Other: angry, cold, dry, firm, disgusting
4. Age: new, old, young, 40-year-old
5. Color: blue, black, yellow, green
6. Origin: American, Japanese, Dutch
7. Material: silk, cotton, wood, metal, plastic
8. Type/Purpose: running shoes, hiking boots

So for example:

She's wearing a beautiful red Vietnamese dress.

I like to drink delicious Jamaican coffee.

It is an ugly big old grey American concrete research library.

It is kind of strange to use adjectives from each group, usually we just use a maximum of 3 or 4 adjectives:

It was a terrific fast-paced 1980s action movie.

I just bought a new green summer dress.

My friend moved into a wonderful big old apartment.

But most people rarely use more than 2 adjectives at once:

My office is in the tall yellow building.

Wow, those are sexy black pants~! Are they new?

REMEMBER adjective order in English is important so:

My office is in the yellow tall building. X

Wow, those are black sexy pants~! Are they new? X

THIS SOUNDS WRONG!!! It sounds funny and strange, unnatural.

Be Careful everyone and enjoy speaking English,

Phil

I'm between a rock and a hard place...

Hey everyone, sorry about only posting 6 times last month but the Japanese silver week holidays took me to Tokyo where I had a nice time. So today I will be doing a short lesson about a common idiom I taught last week. 


between a rock and a hard place


I have seen this in many English textbooks in Japan and it is a pretty common English idiom. It means that you are in a difficult situation or an impossible situation...


A: What's up?


B: I promised my friend I would go out with him for his birthday but now my girlfriend wants me to go to her friend's birthday on the same day~!


A: Ouch, it sounds like you're between a rock and a hard place.


B: I know, it sucks.


----------------------------


These days I'm between a rock and a hard place at work, my boss is really mean but I need the money so I can't quit...


So when you are in a situation when you don't know what to do, all your 
choices seem bad you can say:


"I'm between a rock and a hard place."

Opposites

Ok everyone, today is the second part in my new series about opposites. This week I will talk about simple adjective pairs.

big おおきい <------> small ちいさい

I wanna buy a big house.

I'd like to order a small pizza.

fast はやい <-------> slow おそい

You're too slow~! Hurry up!!!

I love fast cars and fast women ^_-

strong つよい <--------> weak よわい

My friend is really strong.

You shouldn't ask Tim to help you move, he's pretty weak.

tiny ちっちゃい <-------> huge でかい

Tiny means very very small.

Man you live in a tiny apartment~!

Huge means very very big.

Oh my god, this hamburger's HUGE!!!

soft やわらかい <------> hard かたい

This bread is so soft and delicious.

Ouch! This bread is stale, it's too hard to eat!

Hmmm, I guess that is all for now. I hope you enjoyed this mini-lesson and I will introduce more opposites next month!

Phil

Enough~!

Today, I will talk about how to use the word enough correctly. In Japanese, enough is usually translated as "juubun" (十分, じゅうぶん).

Now one of the most common ways to use enough is when someone is serving you food(like in a cafeteria) or pouring you a drink. When they have given you enough food or drink you can say:

"That's enough."

You might also hear this when someone is pouring you a drink:

A: Say when.
B: That's enough.

or

A: Say when.
B: When. (as a joke^_-)

The grammatically correct way to use enough is

-BEFORE nouns and

-AFTER adjectives

For example:

I don't have enough money.

Money is a noun and so enough comes BEFORE money.

She was not pretty enough for me so I broke up with her.

Pretty is an adjective so it comes AFTER enough.

Does everyone understand? If you have any questions or want to try and write some example sentences please post them on my message board on the left side of the screen!

Phil

When I was young I was a total tomboy!

Hey everybody, just a really quick lesson to teach a fun word:

Tomboy

A tomboy is a girl who dresses or acts like a boy. She plays with guns not dolls, she likes to do sports, most of her friends are boys, she likes to play outside, etc.

My sister is such tomboy! She never wears skirts and is always playing baseball!

Can you believe she used to be a tomboy??? Now she's a supermodel!

This is only used to talk about YOUNG GIRLS you CAN'T use it to talk about adult women!

A word you can use to talk about men who act in a feminine way is "effeminate" and this can be used for men or boys but probably is most often used for adults.

For a boy you would just say "He acts like a girl" and probably his father would say "Be a man! Don't cry!" or "Stop acting like a girl!". Bad words for men or boys that are effeminate are pansy (old fashioned) and among kids/teenagers if a boy/guy is not being brave enough or he is being cowardly you might hear "Don't be such a wuss!" or "Stop being such a sissy!"(a bit old fashioned).

You will often hear those expressions in movies where some boys are going to do something stupid(like hit a beehive with a bat) and one boy doesn't want to do it because he thinks it is a bad idea. The other boys will accuse him of being a wuss to make him do it...

Actually, wuss is also old fashioned these days you would probably hear "Stop being such a pussy!" but this is REALLY vulgar and so it is virtually always used by guys.

OK that is it for now, have a great weekend!

Phil

Does that strike you as a good idea?

I recently taught an idioms lesson to one of my more advanced students and I really enjoyed one idiom so I decided to talk about it on my blog ^_^

to strike (someone) as (something)

So this is used when you want to say something seems to be something. It is used to talk about your opinion about something.

Does anything strike your fancy?

This is an old expression meaning do you see anything you like? You might have a shop clerk ask you this question.

Sally: Does Elaine strike you as a bit stressed out today?
Ruby: Yeah, she has a big project due tomorrow.

Your friend is asking for your opinion about someone else. So Sally is asking Ruby if she thinks Elaine looks stressed out today.

He strikes me as a bad guy.

So I think that he is a bad guy. Be careful, the structure:

He/She/person's name strikes me as ----------.

is used to talk about acquaintances and people you DON'T know well. It would be VERY strange to use it to talk about family members or your close friends. You can use it for people you are close to by adding the word "today" at the end of the sentence.

Jill strikes me as really tired today.

OK, if you have any questions just ask!

Phil

I'm just pulling your leg~!

Hey everyone, I had a lovely course last Friday night where I learned some Japanese idioms like "Te ga denai" which literally means I can't put out my hand but has the meaning "I wanna buy it but I can't afford it"...

I also liked the idiom "sune wo kanjiru" which means "mooch off of" or "sponge off of" the image here is someone is bitting my ankle and it is used when kids are bleeding their parents dry, always asking for money.

"Mimi ga itai" literally means my ears hurt but has the meaning "Stop nagging me!" or "Get off my back~!".

But the idiom I found really interesting was "ashi wo hipparu" which literally means "pulling my leg" but the idiomatic meaning is " holding me back". This is when someone is dragging you down and preventing you from succeeding.

Now the reason I found this idiom so interesting is that in English we also have the idiom "to pull (someone's) leg" but the meaning is COMPLETELY different! It means I was just joking, don't believe what I said.

A: My wife is having triplets!
B: What?!?! Three babies! Congratulations, but won't it be tough?
A: Hahaha, I'm just pulling your leg! She's pregnant but with just one baby.
B: Ah ok. Is it a boy or a girl?
A: We don't know yet...

That is it for now, have a good one people,

Phil

I'm really into it~!

Hey everyone to start off the month of September I will have a quick lesson of a popular expression in casual English:

"be into"

This is a casual way of saying "be interested in". For example:

I am really interested in photography.

becomes

I'm really into photography.

I am interested in thai massage.

becomes

I'm into thai massage.

You can also use "be into" to talk about liking someone romantically or being physically attracted to someone.

That girl over there is totally into you, she's been looking at you for 5 minutes~!

Joe is really into you, he's always spending time with you.

There is also a famous book that was made into a movie recently called "He's just not that into you" meaning he just doesn't like you so much, he's just not so interested in you... the Japanese name of the book and movie is そんな彼なら捨てちゃえば?

Ok that is it for now, have a nice day,

Phil

Thailish or Tinglish

Hey everyone, sorry for not posting in awhile but I was in Thailand where I took a thai massage course and relaxed on my summer vacation. So, today's lesson will talk about Thailish or Tinglish which is the English dialect(ben, like Kansai-ben) spoken in Thailand.

Probably the most famous example of Tinglish is:

Same Same

This means "onaji" in Japanese. It just means that two things or situations are similar. Then there is the related expression:

Same Same but Different

This means that two things are a bit similar but also different in some way.

ex: Mandarins (mikans) and oranges are same same but different.

Khun or k

This is the same as san in Japanese but instead of Philip-san you would say Khun Philip or K Philip.

la

This is the same as the Japanese question particle ka.

ex: Where did you go la?

Kha and Krub

This is a particle used to be more polite and is added at the end of the sentence.

Hello kha (women)
Hello khrub (men)

no have

This is broken English but in Thailish it means "I don't have".

High-so and Low-so

This is Thailish slang meaning High society, upper class type person and Low society which means a lower class type person.

sleep

When getting a massage they might say "sleep" but they really mean "lie down".

Alright, now you know a few expressions in Thailish. If you want to know more check out these links:

wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tinglish

Thai food and stuff website:
http://thaifoodandstuff.com/index1.html

And here you can read some sample dialogs in Thailish:
http://forbescomm.wordpress.com/the-tinglish-files/tinglish-for-room-service/

Say it ain't so~!

Hey everyone, today I will talk about a nonstandard contraction. This contraction is not widely accepted and is seen as REALLY LOW CLASS. It is often heard in movies or TV shows but is usually spoken by uneducated characters, really countryside people, etc. I did some research on ain't and it has been around for 200 years~! But it is still not accepted by teachers and by people studying the English language... but it is VERY common in CASUAL English.

ain't

This is a contraction that is used to replace:

am not

I am not hungry.
I'm not hungry.

I ain't hungry.

is not

He is not here.
He isn't here.

He ain't here.

are not

They are not coming.
They aren't coming.

They ain't coming.

has not

He has not done his homework yet.
He hasn't done his homework yet.

He ain't done his homework yet.

have not

They have not started the test yet.
They haven't started the test yet.

They ain't started the test yet.

The fact that it is used for so many different words is why it is not accepted by people who teach English grammar. If you use ain't regularly when speaking English you will give the impression you are poor, uneducated, stupid, etc. So while I think you should know ain't for watching movies, TV shows, traveling in the US and Canada, it isn't something you should use often when speaking English.

I hope you found this lesson interesting, have a nice week~!

Phil

Opposites

Hey everyone, I decided to start a new monthly series about opposites! Opposites are two words with mirrored meanings. One is completely different from the other and they are seen as two sides of the same coin.

This will be a short lesson that you can use to help build up your vocabulary and organize words you already know in your mind. Each lesson I will present 5 sets of opposites. I hope you enjoy it!

Today I will look at noun pairs:

heads <-----> tails

The two opposite sides of a coin.

A: Call it, heads or tails?
(flips the coin)

B: Heads
(coin lands on tails)

A: Tails, you lose.

black <-------> white

Two colors, in English we always say black & white but in Japanese you say the opposite "白黒".

right <---------> left

These are the two sides of your body, the right "右" and the left "左".

right <-------> wrong

This is right meaning correct and good, in Japanese "正しい " and wrong meaning incorrect and bad, in Japanese "違う".

Do you know the difference between right and wrong?

cat <--------> dog

Now in western countries we see cats & dogs as opposites, always fighting and never getting along. In Japan, people see dogs and MONKEYS as opposites~! I find that really interesting and a funny cultural difference. Here's an idiom talking about this opposite pair:

They get along like cats and dogs.

This means they fight A LOT! They don't get along at all...

Hmmm, that is it for now, have a good weekend,

Phil

Are you seeing someone?

Hey everyone, this is a common question you ask when you want to know if someone is dating someone. You might also hear:

"Are you married?"

This also sounds like you are interested in the person you are asking... so be careful~!

"Are you single?"

Now, this question can lead to cultural miscommunications in Asia. When I lived in Korea I was really surprised to find out that single for Korean people it means "not married" and then when I moved to Japan I was surprised to find out that single (独身の) also means "not married".

This can leads to a case of cultural miscommunication, because for western people single means that you are not married and have no boyfriend or girlfriend. You are completely alone and free to date anyone you want.

So often western guys in Korea ask a girl "Are you single?" and she says "Yes, I am." so they start to date... and months later he finds out she has another boyfriend~! Then they break up... this kind of thing happens pretty often and it is because of a cultural miscommunication caused by two different interpretations of the word single!

So sometimes people have problems because words have different meanings in different languages. It is important to try and learn about these differences to avoid problems when communicating.

I hope you enjoyed this lesson, it is August now and I am enjoying my summer holidays so I will only be posting 4 blogs this month instead of the usual 8.

Enjoy your summer vacation~!

Phil

In the last few years...

....cellphones have become very popular.

So today, we will have a small lesson covering the difference between two grammatical structures:

in a few...

This structure is used to talk about the FUTURE.

I will be with you in a few minutes.
Please wait a little bit.

I am going to Thailand in a few weeks.
In 1-2 weeks I will go to Thailand.

In a few days, the weekend will be here again~!
Soon the weekend will arrive again.

in the last few...

This is used to talk about the recent PAST.

In the last few weeks, magazines have been talking about funemployment.
Recently, magazines have been talking about funemployment.

He left a few minutes ago.
He just left 1 or 2 minutes ago.

In the last few years, computers have become smaller, cheaper and more powerful.
In the last couple of years, computers have become smaller, cheaper and more powerful.

You can also use:

in a couple of (past)

in the last couple of (future)

in the same way. A couple of is usually pronounced "acupula" in North American English.

Alright, that is all for now. Have a good week,

Phil