Hi everyone, just a quick lesson today to talk about the difference between borrow and rent. In Japanese you often use 借る karu for both BUT in English there is a difference.
When you borrow something it is FREE, you don't have to pay any fee. The only exception is when you borrow money and you have to pay interest.
When you rent something you MUST pay a FEE. You CANNOT rent money~! You can only rent THINGS, objects.
図書館で本を借りました。
I borrowed a book from the library.
ビデオ屋でビデオを借りました。
I rented a video from the video store.
So remember if you get to use something for a few days for free then you are borrowing it~! If you have to pay then you are renting it~!
Have a nice weekend,
Phil
Saturday, May 30, 2009
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Electric vs. electronic
Hi everyone, this is something I have explained to students many times in my lessons but for those of you who missed it I will now talk about it online ^_^
In Japanese, denki 電気 is often used to mean electronic or electric. But in English there IS a difference between the two~!
electric: Of, relating to, producing, or operated by electricity meaning it is powered by electricity.
electronic: (of a device, circuit, or system) containing transistors, silicon chips, etc., which control the current passing through it meaning it has a computer in it.
So for example a denki jisho 電気辞書, is NOT an electric dictionary~!
An electric dictionary would be a dictionary that has a motor, you push a button and it opens automatically. It is an ELECTRONIC dictionary meaning it is a dictionary on a mini-computer.
To help you remember think of electric as older technology, 1970s style. An electric organ, an electric blanket, an electric keyboard, an electric guitar, etc. They USE electricity but are pretty simple devices with no high tech features.
Electronic is newer technology, it is high tech and with a computer inside it it can have many many features. An electronic keyboard, an electronic lock, an electronic dictionary, an electronic organizer, etc.
Two good examples are:
An electric clock, this means a battery powers the clock but it is the simple two hands clock.
An electronic clock, this means there is a computer inside. It is usually called a digital clock because it has a digital display.
An electric keyboard, this was invented in the 1970s and was a piano keyboard that was easy to bring with you, you plug it in, connect the speakers and play. That's it, there were no other functions.
An electronic keyboard, in the 1980s they added a computer to the keyboard giving them many new features, pre-programmed beats, recording functions, etc.
I hope this helped~!
I work for an electronicS company.
Means my company makes electronic goods.
I work for the electric company.
Means I work for the power company, we make electricity~!
Phil
In Japanese, denki 電気 is often used to mean electronic or electric. But in English there IS a difference between the two~!
electric: Of, relating to, producing, or operated by electricity meaning it is powered by electricity.
electronic: (of a device, circuit, or system) containing transistors, silicon chips, etc., which control the current passing through it meaning it has a computer in it.
So for example a denki jisho 電気辞書, is NOT an electric dictionary~!
An electric dictionary would be a dictionary that has a motor, you push a button and it opens automatically. It is an ELECTRONIC dictionary meaning it is a dictionary on a mini-computer.
To help you remember think of electric as older technology, 1970s style. An electric organ, an electric blanket, an electric keyboard, an electric guitar, etc. They USE electricity but are pretty simple devices with no high tech features.
Electronic is newer technology, it is high tech and with a computer inside it it can have many many features. An electronic keyboard, an electronic lock, an electronic dictionary, an electronic organizer, etc.
Two good examples are:
An electric clock, this means a battery powers the clock but it is the simple two hands clock.
An electronic clock, this means there is a computer inside. It is usually called a digital clock because it has a digital display.
An electric keyboard, this was invented in the 1970s and was a piano keyboard that was easy to bring with you, you plug it in, connect the speakers and play. That's it, there were no other functions.
An electronic keyboard, in the 1980s they added a computer to the keyboard giving them many new features, pre-programmed beats, recording functions, etc.
I hope this helped~!
I work for an electronicS company.
Means my company makes electronic goods.
I work for the electric company.
Means I work for the power company, we make electricity~!
Phil
Saturday, May 23, 2009
What day is it?
Hey everyone, this weekend I decide to talk about two more questions that often lead to Cultural Miscommunications in Japan.
What day is it?
In Japanese, this is:
何曜日ですか？Nanyoubi desuka?
So the meaning is what day of the week is it?
A: What day is it?
B: It's January 30th. XXX No~!
A: What day is it?
B: It's Sunday. ^_^ YES
What's the date?
In Japanese, this is:
何日ですか？Nan nichi desuka?
So, the meaning is what day of the month is it?
A: What's the date?
B: It's Friday. XXX No~!
A: What's the date?
B: It's May 24th. YES! ^_^
楽しかった？I hope you enjoyed this Sunday mini-lesson and have a great weekend!
Phil
What day is it?
In Japanese, this is:
何曜日ですか？Nanyoubi desuka?
So the meaning is what day of the week is it?
A: What day is it?
B: It's January 30th. XXX No~!
A: What day is it?
B: It's Sunday. ^_^ YES
What's the date?
In Japanese, this is:
何日ですか？Nan nichi desuka?
So, the meaning is what day of the month is it?
A: What's the date?
B: It's Friday. XXX No~!
A: What's the date?
B: It's May 24th. YES! ^_^
楽しかった？I hope you enjoyed this Sunday mini-lesson and have a great weekend!
Phil
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Cultural Miscommunications...
Hi everyone, Cultural Miscommunications are when people have trouble understanding each other even though they are speaking the same language. For example:
A: Where do you work?
B: I work in Osaka.
A: Um, I mean what company do you work for?
B: I work for Omron.
Here the native English speak(A) wanted to know the COMPANY the Japanese English speaker (B) works for. But B focuses on WHERE and so misunderstood A. When native English speakers want to know about the LOCATION where you work we say:
Where's your office?
and when we want to know your COMPANY we say:
Where do you work? (company)
Today, I will talk about the difference between these two questions:
Where are you from?
and
Where do you come from?
-------------------------------------------------------------
Where do you come from?
This question has a negative connotation~! The feeling of this sentence is why are you here? Go back where you came from... This can be emphasized using word stress:
Where do YOU come from?
(meaning you are strange so what planet are you from weirdo?)
Where do you COME from?
(meaning I don't want you here so please go back where you came from)
Also please be careful with:
Why are you here?
(very strong, very negative, TOO direct)
Why did you come to Japan?
(too direct, it feels like you don't want me here)
Instead say:
Why did you decide to come to Japan?
(by adding decide you make the question less direct and so more positive)
What brings you to Japan?
(this is old fashioned but really polite and sounds very nice, please use it! ^_^) This question is great as you can switch Japan for any location:
What brings you to Tokyo?
What brings you to Canada?
What brings you here?
Where are you from?
This is a great question, it asks about where you are from but, without using the word come, loses all it's negative connotations. This is the best and safest way to ask people what country or city they are from.
So please try this conversation the next time you want to speak to a foreigner in Japan~!
Japanese: Where are you from?
Foreigner : I'm from New York.
Japanese: What brings you to Japan?
Foreigner: I'm here on business.
Japanese: Oh? What do you do?
Foreigner: I'm an software engineer.
Japanese: Where do you work?
Foreigner: I work at IBM.
I hope you enjoyed today's lesson, have a nice week!
Phil
A: Where do you work?
B: I work in Osaka.
A: Um, I mean what company do you work for?
B: I work for Omron.
Here the native English speak(A) wanted to know the COMPANY the Japanese English speaker (B) works for. But B focuses on WHERE and so misunderstood A. When native English speakers want to know about the LOCATION where you work we say:
Where's your office?
and when we want to know your COMPANY we say:
Where do you work? (company)
Today, I will talk about the difference between these two questions:
Where are you from?
and
Where do you come from?
-------------------------------------------------------------
Where do you come from?
This question has a negative connotation~! The feeling of this sentence is why are you here? Go back where you came from... This can be emphasized using word stress:
Where do YOU come from?
(meaning you are strange so what planet are you from weirdo?)
Where do you COME from?
(meaning I don't want you here so please go back where you came from)
Also please be careful with:
Why are you here?
(very strong, very negative, TOO direct)
Why did you come to Japan?
(too direct, it feels like you don't want me here)
Instead say:
Why did you decide to come to Japan?
(by adding decide you make the question less direct and so more positive)
What brings you to Japan?
(this is old fashioned but really polite and sounds very nice, please use it! ^_^) This question is great as you can switch Japan for any location:
What brings you to Tokyo?
What brings you to Canada?
What brings you here?
Where are you from?
This is a great question, it asks about where you are from but, without using the word come, loses all it's negative connotations. This is the best and safest way to ask people what country or city they are from.
So please try this conversation the next time you want to speak to a foreigner in Japan~!
Japanese: Where are you from?
Foreigner : I'm from New York.
Japanese: What brings you to Japan?
Foreigner: I'm here on business.
Japanese: Oh? What do you do?
Foreigner: I'm an software engineer.
Japanese: Where do you work?
Foreigner: I work at IBM.
I hope you enjoyed today's lesson, have a nice week!
Phil
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Was it worth it?
Today, I am going to talk about VALUE. Today we will look at: rip off(used as a verb or noun), worth it(noun only), and a good deal.
When I go shopping I want to pay a reasonable price for something of ok quality. If that happens then it is worth it. But if I pay a lot of money for something and it is bad quality then it is a rip off-I feel like they have tricked me and stolen my money. I didn't get what I paid for...
If I feel like I paid a good price for something and got great value then, I got a good deal. Here are some example dialogues:
A: So, how was the concert yesterday? Was it worth it?
B: Yeah, it was totally worth it~! It was amazing!
So maybe, the concert was kind of expensive so B decided not to go but A went. Now, B wants to check if the high price was matched with a high value performance.
A: Wow, nice jacket~!
B: Thanks, I got a good deal on it. It was on sale. ^_^
B paid a good price for a great jacket, high value for a low cost.
A: Hey, buddy watch where you're going!
B: You got a problem, jerk?!?!
C: Dude, it's not worth it let it go.
B: Yeah, you're right let's get out of here.
In this situation, A & C are walking together down the street and B bumps into A. B is angry and maybe wants to fight A but C tells him "It's not worth it" meaning the fight will cause a big problem and won't give him anything of value...
A: How was the movie festival?
B: What a rip off! Tickets were 5000 yen and it was super crowded and noisy!
A: Really? Man that sucks.
B: Yeah, you shouldn't go- it's not worth it at all.
So he paid a lot of money but only got something of very low value so it's a rip off.
A: What's wrong?
B: That guy ripped me off~! He sold me a ticket to yesterday's concert!
B paid a lot of money for a concert that is already finished, he was ripped off.
Alright, I hope that helps everyone talk about restaurants, tourist attractions, movies, shows etc. If you want to know if something is good even though it is expensive just ask:
Is it worth it?
Have a nice weekend,
Phil
When I go shopping I want to pay a reasonable price for something of ok quality. If that happens then it is worth it. But if I pay a lot of money for something and it is bad quality then it is a rip off-I feel like they have tricked me and stolen my money. I didn't get what I paid for...
If I feel like I paid a good price for something and got great value then, I got a good deal. Here are some example dialogues:
A: So, how was the concert yesterday? Was it worth it?
B: Yeah, it was totally worth it~! It was amazing!
So maybe, the concert was kind of expensive so B decided not to go but A went. Now, B wants to check if the high price was matched with a high value performance.
A: Wow, nice jacket~!
B: Thanks, I got a good deal on it. It was on sale. ^_^
B paid a good price for a great jacket, high value for a low cost.
A: Hey, buddy watch where you're going!
B: You got a problem, jerk?!?!
C: Dude, it's not worth it let it go.
B: Yeah, you're right let's get out of here.
In this situation, A & C are walking together down the street and B bumps into A. B is angry and maybe wants to fight A but C tells him "It's not worth it" meaning the fight will cause a big problem and won't give him anything of value...
A: How was the movie festival?
B: What a rip off! Tickets were 5000 yen and it was super crowded and noisy!
A: Really? Man that sucks.
B: Yeah, you shouldn't go- it's not worth it at all.
So he paid a lot of money but only got something of very low value so it's a rip off.
A: What's wrong?
B: That guy ripped me off~! He sold me a ticket to yesterday's concert!
B paid a lot of money for a concert that is already finished, he was ripped off.
Alright, I hope that helps everyone talk about restaurants, tourist attractions, movies, shows etc. If you want to know if something is good even though it is expensive just ask:
Is it worth it?
Have a nice weekend,
Phil
Monday, May 11, 2009
Even if...
Wow, today is my hundredth post~! Amazing! I hope you are enjoying my blog and I would love to hear from you any questions or comments you might have. I really love hearing from my readers ^_^
So last Sunday, I was teaching a private lesson and my student asked me:
"What does even if mean?"
Well, I did my best to explain but I am not quite sure I was clear so I am going to try and explain in more detail on my blog. Wish me luck!
Even if is an adverb which according to thefreedictionary.com means:
"Used preceding a hypothesis to emphasize that whether or not the condition is fulfilled, the statement remains valid. ex: The remark didn't call for an answer, even if he could have thought of one."
What does that mean? It means that if A happens or not, B will still be true! It is used for EMPHASIS to strengthen a sentence.
Even if you win a million dollars, I still won't marry you!
meaning
I will never marry you, even if you are rich.
So basically, if you are rich or not my answer is still no.
I like hiking even if I feel tired the next day.
meaning
Hiking makes me feel tired the next day BUT I still like it.
Ok I think that is pretty clear...
I will continue writing this blog even if no one reads it~!
Phil
So last Sunday, I was teaching a private lesson and my student asked me:
"What does even if mean?"
Well, I did my best to explain but I am not quite sure I was clear so I am going to try and explain in more detail on my blog. Wish me luck!
Even if is an adverb which according to thefreedictionary.com means:
"Used preceding a hypothesis to emphasize that whether or not the condition is fulfilled, the statement remains valid. ex: The remark didn't call for an answer, even if he could have thought of one."
What does that mean? It means that if A happens or not, B will still be true! It is used for EMPHASIS to strengthen a sentence.
Even if you win a million dollars, I still won't marry you!
meaning
I will never marry you, even if you are rich.
So basically, if you are rich or not my answer is still no.
I like hiking even if I feel tired the next day.
meaning
Hiking makes me feel tired the next day BUT I still like it.
Ok I think that is pretty clear...
I will continue writing this blog even if no one reads it~!
Phil
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Bar, pub, tavern...?
Hi everyone~! I hope you are enjoying the holidays in Japan and taking advantage of this free time to study a bit of English ^_- Today, we will be looking at the difference in meaning between bar, pub and tavern.
a bar: this is a place that sells alcohol, there is NO kitchen so they only have bar snacks like pretzels, peanuts, potato chips, etc. Also a bar will have a bar, meaning a long counter with many seats where the bartender serves drinks.
a pub: this is like a bar but it HAS a kitchen and so they also serve food. In Montreal, the kitchen closes at around 10pm(last order for food 9:45pm) but the bar stay open till 3pm(last drink order 2:45pm). Very common in British and Australian English where the pub in your area will often be called a local.
a tavern: this is an old-fashioned word for pub so they serve food and alcoholic drinks. You don't hear this so much in spoken English in Canada anymore but you might see it as a PLACE NAME, for example: Moe's Tavern. You may hear taverna which is Italian for tavern and is simply a restaurant where you can also drink alcohol.
Ok, a quick simple lesson I hope you enjoyed it~!
Phil
a bar: this is a place that sells alcohol, there is NO kitchen so they only have bar snacks like pretzels, peanuts, potato chips, etc. Also a bar will have a bar, meaning a long counter with many seats where the bartender serves drinks.
a pub: this is like a bar but it HAS a kitchen and so they also serve food. In Montreal, the kitchen closes at around 10pm(last order for food 9:45pm) but the bar stay open till 3pm(last drink order 2:45pm). Very common in British and Australian English where the pub in your area will often be called a local.
a tavern: this is an old-fashioned word for pub so they serve food and alcoholic drinks. You don't hear this so much in spoken English in Canada anymore but you might see it as a PLACE NAME, for example: Moe's Tavern. You may hear taverna which is Italian for tavern and is simply a restaurant where you can also drink alcohol.
Ok, a quick simple lesson I hope you enjoyed it~!
Phil
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Really, very, pretty...
Hey everyone, sorry for not posting in awhile but I was enjoying my Golden Week in Kagoshima. It was nice and sunny there and I got a bit of a tan ^_-
So, before the holidays I was at work reading where I thought it was interesting to get a bit of an explanation on how to use these modifiers. I had never really thought about it before...
Really is used more often than very in positive sentences (+'ve).
That girl is really beautiful.
I'm really hungry.
I'm very hungry. (grammatically ok but sounds unnatural)
Pretty is also often used in positive sentences, it is NOT very strong. It's used in casual English to soften sentences.
That girl is pretty beautiful. (not that beautiful)
I'm pretty hungry. (not so hungry)
Very is used to soften negative sentences (-'ve) and it used more often than really. It sounds more formal to me.
That girl isn't very beautiful.
That girl's not very beautiful.
I'm not very hungry.
These next sentences are much more casual, some are even kind of mean...
That girl isn't really beautiful. (kind of mean and not so natural)
That girl's not really beautiful. (kind of mean)
I'm not really hungry. (casual, normal to me)
I usually use 's not more than isn't so it sounds more casual and natural to me but other people may think the opposite. It is a difference in dialect I guess, like the difference between Osaka-ben and Tokyo-ben.
I hope you are all enjoying your holidays~!
Phil
So, before the holidays I was at work reading where I thought it was interesting to get a bit of an explanation on how to use these modifiers. I had never really thought about it before...
Really is used more often than very in positive sentences (+'ve).
That girl is really beautiful.
I'm really hungry.
I'm very hungry. (grammatically ok but sounds unnatural)
Pretty is also often used in positive sentences, it is NOT very strong. It's used in casual English to soften sentences.
That girl is pretty beautiful. (not that beautiful)
I'm pretty hungry. (not so hungry)
Very is used to soften negative sentences (-'ve) and it used more often than really. It sounds more formal to me.
That girl isn't very beautiful.
That girl's not very beautiful.
I'm not very hungry.
These next sentences are much more casual, some are even kind of mean...
That girl isn't really beautiful. (kind of mean and not so natural)
That girl's not really beautiful. (kind of mean)
I'm not really hungry. (casual, normal to me)
I usually use 's not more than isn't so it sounds more casual and natural to me but other people may think the opposite. It is a difference in dialect I guess, like the difference between Osaka-ben and Tokyo-ben.
I hope you are all enjoying your holidays~!
Phil
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