It's time consuming...

Hey guys, do you know what this expression means? It means that something takes too much time.

I don't like making pasta from scratch it's too time consuming. That's why I use instant pasta from Italy.

To make from scratch = homemade, in this case out of flour, eggs, water, etc.

Time consuming comes from the verb to consume which means to eat or use up. This is also where we get the term consumption tax (消費税 - しょうひぜい) and consumer (消費者 - しょうひしゃ).

Driving to work is so time consuming with all the traffic jams, I am thinking of moving closer to my office...

This sounds a bit more high level or formal than:

Driving to work takes too much time with all the traffic jams, I'm thinking of moving closer to my office...

 So time consuming is a great phrase to sound smart, to use at work or even whenever you want to complain about something taking too long.


Have a nice day,


Phil

I insist.

Do you know the meaning of the above sentence? It means to not take no for an answer! When someone insists it means they push until you accept. It is a fairly polite word. If you insist you are demanding something persistently, you won't give up until it happens.

My boss insisted I work overtime...

I insist we investigate the accident.

The most often usage is when giving something:

Harry: This is for you!

Jill: A Rolex? That's too much, I can't accept such an extravagant gift.

Harry: I insist, please accept it. I think it would suit you perfectly.

Jill: Well, if you insist. Thanks for the wonderful gift.

Harry: It's nothing. I am glad you like it.

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

Philip: I'll pick up the check. It's my treat.

Bill: Are you sure?

Philip: Of course, I insist.

Bill: Thanks!

Have a nice week,

Phil

Speak vs. Talk

In response to Akiko's question, I decided to explain a bit about the difference between these two verbs. Generally speaking, there isn't such a big difference between them.

A) I talked to my friend
B) I spoke to my friend.

Both of these are correct but B) spoke sounds more formal/serious and if you say "I spoke with my friend", it sounds like you are angry about something.

So, talk is most often used for informal and casual speech whereas speak is used for formal situations.

Be careful~! Talk is a noun AND a verb BUT speak is ONLY a verb, the noun form is speech.

I gave a talk at work.
An informal presentation.

I gave a speech at work.
A formal presentation, this sounds like a much bigger deal.

The president gave a speech.
A formal presentation.

I had a talk with him about it.
A casual chat.

So let's recap:

Talk - more casual, not so serious, communication between two people or a group, exchanging or sharing information.

Speak - more formal/serious, it usually places emphasis on ONE person communicating, it isn't so much two way communication.

That being said there are many cases where speak or talk are more appropriate based on common usage.

I speak Spanish.
Speak is used for LANGUAGES.

I was talking on the phone.
Talk is usually used with PHONE. Using speak makes it sound formal/angry/serious.

Here are some links with more explanations:

English Spark

SpeakSpeak

Washington Faculty Say/Speak/Tell/Talk

Using English's online quiz

I hope that helped a bit Akiko, have a good weekend!

Phil

Mr. Miss Mrs. Ms ...?

These days, North America is becoming more and more casual so for many young people we have never used the terms Mr. Ms Miss and Mrs. They only time they are still used are in very formal situations or in business settings. I think they are more common in the UK, in Canada and the US people usually say something like:

I'm Robert Smith, but you can call me Bob.

People prefer to quickly establish a casual relationship. So the other week, I was reading a lesson and a woman was called Ms Yamada... and I wasn't sure exactly how to pronounce it-this kind of thing is really not important in North American society outside of a business environment. Anyways, I decided to do some research and find out how to pronounce all these honorifics(terms like -san, -sensei, -sama).

Mr. or Mister used for men.

Miss is used for unmarried women.

Mrs. or Missus is for married women, pronounced Missez.

Ms is pronounced Miz and was created in the 1960s by feminists who thought it was unfair that women were identified by their marital status and men were not.

All of these terms can be used on their own or with someones FAMILY NAME. Like, Mr. Smith or Ms Simpson. Do NOT use it with FIRST names--Mr. Philip, sounds very strange.

We also have the terms Sir and Madam which is sometimes pronounced ma'am. Now, these terms are usually used ON THEIR OWN, without family names. Sir Smith(last name) sounds very weird while Sir Philip(first name) means the knight Philip. Madam Julie(first name) sounds weird while Madam Smith(last name) is ok in British English but strange in North American English.

In North America, we use sir and ma'am when we want to be polite but don't know the persons name. So staff in nice hotels or restaurants will often use these terms. You might also see it in business letters when you don't know if a man or woman will receive the letter:

Dear Sir or Madam,

This sounds very polite and formal, more casual but still very businesslike is:

To whom it may concern,

Personally, I think Dear Sir or Madam sounds nicer. To whom it may concern sounds a bit cold.

Well, I hope you enjoyed today's lesson. Have a good week~!

Phil

Different kinds of English...

Ok, this week I was reminded of all the levels of politeness in Japanese and that in English it is not really the same.

In English, we don't have special pronouns(watakushi, sama, ore, kimi, anata, etc.) to show levels of politeness. I think it is a bit less complicated in English but it is still a bit tough. What happens in English when people want to be more polite or formal is that they stop using contractions(It's==> It is), start using bigger words and more old fashioned styles of speaking.

Wanna go out for dinner tonight?

becomes

I would be honored if you would accompany me to dinner this evening.

In the formal example, it is not even a question but a statement and it is up to the person being invited to say(I would love to or I would be delighted).

So in today's lesson I would like to present a list of synonyms, words with similar meanings which I feel change how formal or polite you are speaking.

Formal -----------------------> Casual

challenging ----> difficult ----> hard ------> tough

tedious --------------> dull ---------------> boring

entertaining -------> enjoyable -----------> fun

fascinating --------------------------------> interesting

costly ---------------> expensive ----------> pricey

gorgeous ------- ----> beautiful ------------> pretty
(this can also show how strong the adjective is)

disheartening(adj) --> depressing (adj) ---> a downer (n)

revolting ---> disgusting -----> gross ------>yucky (kid's English)

frightening -----------> terrifying ----------> scary

delectable -----> delicious -----> tasty ----> yummy (kid's English)

So this will give you an idea of how using these different words will change the level of formality or politeness when you are speaking.

This apple is delectable~! (formal)

This apple's delicious~! (normal)

This apple's tasty~! (casual)

This apple's yummy~! (really casual and a bit childish)

Notice the use of contractions.

That movie was entertaining. (very formal)

That movie was enjoyable. (formal)

That movie was fun. (normal/casual)

In this case, the situation is casual so using a more formal adjective makes them WEAKER. It is strange to speak formally about a movie with your friends so it sounds like you didn't like the movie so much...

You also have certain phrases which may change like:

I don't understand. (normal)

becomes

I don't get it. (casual)

Ok, that is it for today. I hope you enjoyed the lesson if you have any questions just ask~~!

Phil