Quit Subscribing to English Newspaper

[Notice:注意]
The English edition doesn't necessarily correspond to the Japanese one.
必ずしも英語版と日本語版は、一致しません。(^^♪

Since I'm very busy at work these days, I don't have enough spare time weekdays. So, I can't help but to cut down the time to study English everyday, but I'll NEVER cut down the time to drink. Honestly, I like study English, but doing something too much is stressful even though I like it, especially when I'm busy at work.
I mean, I've just decided to call off subscribing to a weekly English newspaper, which is called "Weekly ST." Plus, I changed my this year's aim to focusing on conversation skills, especially fluency. Let me write my diary colloquially as far as possible this year, most of the contents were already written that way though. :p

By the way, I don't know why I can't fall asleep tonight. As a matter of fact, I often don't have a good sleep after I became 40 years old. I really don't know why... However, I'm used to working with lack of sleep, so I think it's OK. Speaking of "lack", it's quite difficult for me to pronounce "lack", "luck" and "rack" correctly. There are also so many tough words in English to pronounce correctly - such as "low", "law", "raw", "row" and "roe." X(


この頃、仕事がすごく忙しいので、平日に十分な自由時間が無い。それで、毎日の英語の勉強時間を減らすことにした。でも、酒を飲む時間を減らすつもりは無い！(笑) 英語を勉強するのは、好きなのだが、たとえ好きなことでも、やりすぎるのはストレスが溜まる。とくに仕事が忙しい時は。
つまり、英字新聞(週間ST)を購読するのをやめることにした。さらに、今年の目標を、会話スキル(特に流暢さ)に集中することに変更。今年は、できるだけ口語調で日記を書いていこうと思う。既にほとんどの日記は、その方法で書かれているけどね。(^^♪

ところで、今夜は何故か眠れない。実際、40歳を超えてから、熟睡できないことが多い。何故だろ？ でも、寝不足で働くことには慣れているから、大丈夫だろう。"lack"と言えば、"lack", "luck", "rack"を正確に発音するのは、すごく難しい。英語にはたくさんの発音が難しい単語がある。例えば、"low", "law", "raw", "row" "roe"など。(ToT)

Correcting My Diary

[Notice:注意]
The English edition doesn't necessarily correspond to the Japanese one.
必ずしも英語版と日本語版は、一致しません。(^^♪

I went to NOVA to take four regular lessons yesterday. Actually, all of them are lucky one-on-one lessons! I'm sooooo lucky! I asked the first two teachers to give me ZONE-F lessons, which I took when I was a level-4 student.(I'm a level-3 student now, therefore basically I can take only ZONE-G lessons.) Since I had to work 14 hours the day before yesterday, it was very tough for me to take four lessons in a row because of the fatigue. After I took the first lessons, I decided to ask the other teachers to correct my English diary whether or not the journals are grammatically correct. Speaking of "correct", it's quite difficult for me to pronounce "correct" and "collect" correctly. (^^; Anyway, two teachers corrected them and told me that my diary is 90% correct. Can I have confidence? When they were correcting them, I found out some mistakes by myself after I read them aloud. One of the teachers recommended that I read them aloud because it's a good way to find mistakes out by myself.

To change the subject, after I ate out last night with my family, I went to the bar I often go get a drink. After I left the bar, I ran into a young girl who used to be a NOVA student. Of course I let her know about the private VOICE lessons I sometimes host. I'm so lucky!

昨日は、NOVAで４レッスン。全て、ラッキーマンツーマン！ツイてるなぁ、俺。(^^♪ 最初の二つは、ZONE-Fレッスンを御願いしました。(今は、レベル３なので、基本的にはZONE-Gしか取れない) 一昨日は14時間働いたので、4レッスン続けてとるのは、きつかったです。なので、残りの二つのレッスンは、先生に、私の英語日記の添削(correct)を御願いしました。"correct"と言えば、"correct"と"collect"を正しく発音するのは、難しい。(ToT)先生が言うには、90%正しいとのことです。自信持っていいのかな？先生が添削しているとき、自分で声を出して日記を読んでいたら、いくつかの間違いを自分自身で発見しました。先生が言うには、音読するのは、自分で間違いに気付く良い方法らしいです。

話は変わって、家族と一緒に夕食を外で食べたあと、いつも行くバーへ。そのバーからの帰り道、バッタリと昔の勉強仲間(若い女性の元NOVAの生徒さん) もちろん、英会話喫茶のことを伝えました。ツイてるなぁ、俺。(^^♪

Unhappy day

[Notice:注意]
The English edition doesn't necessarily correspond to the Japanese one.
必ずしも英語版と日本語版は、一致しません。(^^♪

I'm so tired that I could sleep for a month... Honestly, I'm really "beat" because of the long holiday. As anyone who took a long vacation for the New Year, it's quite tough for me to work very hard this week. I'm worn out, exhausted, wiped out, super tired, and "dead beat". haha... Actually I just wanted to use the adjective "beat", that I've studied recently on the Internet. According to my dictionary, that's an informal word that has the same meaning as "exhausted."
By the way, do you know what day today is? A super great Japanese guy was born 45 years ago today! So he had been said that he was already on the wrong side of 40, but he will have to say like, "I'm on the right side of 50.", from now on. X(

めっちゃ疲れてます・・・ほんまに、長い休みの後の仕事はキツイわ。まぁ、誰でもそうでしょうけど。しんどい、疲れた、だるい、けだるい、どえらい疲れてる・・・(笑) 実は、ネットで知った新しい単語(形容詞)"beat"を使って日記を書きたかっただけ。(^^♪ 私の辞書によれば、非公式な単語(スラング？)で、"exhausted"と同じ意味らしいです。
ところで、今日って何の日か知ってます？超偉大なる日本人が、45年前の今日に生まれました。(爆) 今まで、彼は『40歳過ぎてます』と言ってましたが、これからは『50歳前です』と言わなくちゃいけませんねぇ。(>_<)

Fixed Charge for i-mode

[Notice:注意]
The English edition doesn't necessarily correspond to the Japanese one.
必ずしも英語版と日本語版は、一致しません。(^^♪

As some of my friends know, I often host private English conversation classes, like NOVA's VOICE, from the end of last year. For that purpose, I have to use my cell phone more often than before, especially i-mode, which is the packet-switching service presented by NTT-Docomo and which allows users to connect the Web.
This month I decided to change my way of payment to fixed charge, that's called "Pake Hodai" and that costs about 4000 yen, in order to surf the Internet anytime anywhere without worrying about the charge. Since I bought the current cell phone about two years ago, it might be about time to get a new one.

Speaking of my cell phone, I saw a new word for me, that didn't look a new word at first, in an email newsletter with the gadget when working in my factory yesterday. The word is "stationary", that's an adjective. I knew a noun similar to it, that's "stationery". Then I emailed my PC's email address about those words to check them out after I get home. Actually, I often send emails to myself with the phone while I'm out, so that I don't forget things to do later. Anyway, I studied them with my dictionary after yesterday's dinner. Holy cow! The pronunciations of those words sound exactly the same, but the meanings are totally different! (ToT)


友人の何人かは、ご承知でしょうけど、昨年末から、英会話喫茶(NOVEのVOICEのようなもの)を開催しております。そのため、以前よりも携帯電話を使うことが多いです、特にiモードを。
今月あら、支払いプランを『パケホーダイ』に変更しました。これで、料金を気にすることなく、いつでもどこでも、ネットに接続することができます。(^^♪ そういや、携帯電話も2年前に買ったのだから、そろそろ変え時かな？最近、調子悪いし・・・・

携帯電話と言えば、昨日仕事している時に、新しい単語(というか、最初は新しい単語とは思えなかった)を携帯電話で読んでいるメールマガジンで見ました。それは、"stationary"という形容詞。それによく似た"stationery"という名詞は知っていたのですが・・・帰宅してから、ゆっくり調べようと思って、それらの単語について、私のパソコンのメールアドレスに、携帯電話からメール送信。実は、後でやらなくちゃいけないことを忘れないように、外出先で自分自身に、しばしばメールを送るんです。とにかく、昨日の夕食の後、それらの単語を辞書で調べてみました。なにぃ！発音は全く同じやんけぇ！！！でも、意味は全く違う。(ToT)

Lessons at New NOVA

This morning I took a couple of English lessons at NOVA for the first time in about two months. As of now, the school doesn't have so many students because almost all old NOVA's student have to take an interview to renew their contracts actually. However, so many old student came to the branch at once, so it's quite tough for the staff to deal with such a large number of customers at a time. So they have to make a reservation to take their interviews. In my case, I went there on the first day and it wasn't so crowded there, therefore I was able to take an interview as soon as I got there. How lucky I am!
One of the lesson I took today is how to make a speech(propose a toast) with a nice Japanese lady. :D And the other is luckily one-on-one lesson, so I asked the teacher to give me a ZONE-F lesson if he doesn't mind. Actually I can take only ZONE-G lessons because of my level(level-3), but I was eager to take an easier lesson as I wanted to review old lessons I've taken before through real lessons. The teacher was surprisingly from the place IRON MAIDEN was born in! We both had a great time through a lesson about important status symbols for some kinds of people-such as young guys, high money earners, retirees. After the lesson, I asked him whether or not he gave me a recommendation for becoming a level-3 student if I had been a level-4 student. He replied to me like, "Why not? You are a real level-3 student." Can I have a strong confidence?:D

今朝、約二ヶ月振りにNOVAで２つのレッスンを受けてきました。今のところ、そんなに多くの生徒さんがいないんです。なぜなら、前のNOVAの生徒さんたちは、契約を更改するには、面談を受けなくちゃいけないから。でも、非常に多くの生徒さんたちが、一度にそのブランチにやってきたんですねぇ。でもスタッフが一度に、彼らに対応することはできません。だから、彼らは面談の予約をしなくちゃいないんです。私の場合、開校初日に行ったときそんなに混んでいなかったので、着いたらすぐに面談を受けることができたんです。俺って、ツイてるなぁ！(^○^)
今日受けたレッスンのうちの一つは、スピーチの仕方(乾杯の音頭)で、素敵な日本人女性と一緒でした。(^^ゞ　もう一つは、ラッキーマンツーマンだったので、先生に、もしかまわないなら、ZONE-Fのレッスンをしてくれないか？と頼みました。私は今はレベル３なので、ZONE-Gのレッスンしか受けられないのですが、以前に受けたレッスンを、実際のレッスンを通して復習したかったんです。驚くべきことに、その先生はIRON MAIDENが誕生した町の出身でした。私たちは、ステータスシンボルについてのレッスン(たとえば、若い人たちにとって重要なもの、お金を沢山稼ぐ人、定年退職した人など)を通して、楽しい時間を持てました。レッスンの後、その先生に『もし、私がレベル４の生徒だったら、レベルアップの推薦状をくれますか？』と質問したら・・・『もちろん！君は本当のレベル３だよ』と言ってくれました。俺・・・強い自信を持っていいのかな？(^^ゞ


P.S.
先に英語を書いて、後から日本語に翻訳していると、なぜか不自然な日本語になってしまいます。(笑)

うんざり(I'm tired of ...)

Tuesday, November sixth, two thousand and seven

日本語と同様、英語にも似たような表現が沢山あります。どうも、私の悪い癖なんでしょうけど、似たような表現・単語があると、『どう違うねんっ！？』と悩んでしまう。まだまだ初心者の私の場合、こんなことに悩む必要はないのでしょうねぇ、きっと。(>_<)
ちなみに、今日悩んでいるのは、次の表現・・・

• be tired of something
• be sick of something
• be fed up with something
• be weary of something
  

English language has a lot of similar expressions as well as Japanese. I know it could be my bad habit to bother with similar expressions and words like, "What's the difference!?". In the case of beginners like me, it's not necessary to worry about such kind of questions, I bet. :<
Incidentally, the following terms bother me today.

• be tired of something
• be sick of something
• be fed up with something
• be weary of something
  

incidentally: ところで、ちなみに(情報を付け加えるときに使う。by the wayと同じ)
[sentence adverb]
used to add more information to what you have just said, or to introduce a new subject that you have just thought of [= by the way]

Yen Doen't Make Sense

Sunday, October twenty first, two thousand and seven

Although I had booked a couple of lessons at NOVA for yesterday, one of them was canceled because many teachers didn't come to the school due to its recent bad financial situation that the company hasn't paid them the paycheck yet. Besides, there weren't enough substitute teachers, so it can't be helped... However, I went out with some teachers last night actually. One of my study buddies, who is 65-year-old Japanese guy and has studied English for nearly 10 years, invited them and me to his house, which is very close to the school, because some of them are going to get back to their respective countries soon. It's kind of his tradition to invite them over before teachers' leaving Japan. After that, some teachers and I hit a bar near his house without him as he had to work in the night. Since I made a pun with the word "yen" yesterday, I asked the native English speakers if the sentence makes sense or not. According to them, they have never used the word "yen" as "a strong desire" before and didn't know the meaning. So I realized that the word "yen" is a correct English word because it's contained in my dictionary, but that's not to say it's used by native speakers. I mean, all words in dictionaries of any language aren't necessarily used in real life. At the end of the conversation they taught me another word that has the similar meaning of "yen". The word was.... "yearn".

yearn: 熱望する

Pun with Yen

Saturday, October twentieth, two thousand and seven

Since I'm Japanese, I've thought "yen" only means the currency in Japan for years. However, I found out another meaning of the word "yen" the other day.
As far as I know, there are many expressions that means "to hope strongly" in English - such as "be eager to", "be keen to", "be anxious to", "crave" and "long" etc. I saw an article written about "yen" has the same meaning as those words last week. That's interesting! Let me make a pun with "yen".

I have a yen to earn a huge amount of yen! :D

Why don't I quit NOVA?

Wednesday, October seventeenth, two thousand and seven

Many NOVA students are eager to quit NOVA and be refunded their lesson fees, but apparently the stupid president's company cannot afford to pay them back the money so far. Some friends asked me why I don't quit NOVA soon actually. However, I won't quite it as long as the school exists. One of the reasons is that there are many nice teachers at the branch I belong to now, and another one is that I tend to behave differently from other people, that's to say, I'm sort of perverse. (^_^) The other one is that I'd like to observe how NOVA would get through the recent tough business situation if the airhead could. Actually, I'm in charge of my factory's business management, so I might have such kind of serious circumstance someday, I mean, I'd like to learn lots of ways to get by in poor business environment. I must be lucky that I'm a NOVA student now, because I can study not only English but also how important corporate managements are!


perverse: ひねくれた、あまのじゃくな

Using English-English Dictionary

Wednesday, September fifth, two thousand and seven

These days I'm into using the English-English dictionary made from paper as the following picture actually. I know one of my weak points in my English skills is the poor vocabulary, so I had been looking for a good way to increase it. As a result, I realized that it could be a good way using dictionaries made from paper, especially English-English ones. Electronic ones are so useful that I can check out any word's meaning quickly, but the way tends not to be memorable through my experience. Honestly, one of my study buddies, who is a female high school student and who passed an exam of a high level English test in Japan which is called "英検準1級(Eiken Jun Ikkyuu)", recommended me that way. On the way, I'll be able to understand all new words in English, not translated in Japanese. If there're some words I don't know in the explanation of the word I want to know the meaning, I would have to check it out to find out the exact meaning of them on the other pages. Anyway, Let me resume writing my English diary from now on. The contents aren't interested for anyone though. :p

Wonder If Taking TOEIC Again

Sunday, June tenth, two thousand and seven

Now that I'm a factory worker, I don't have to get any qualifications and good scores of English tests. To be honest, the purpose I study English is to have a lot of good times with interesting people, not for my work. However, I took a TOEIC last summer in order to know how bad my skills are. The score was six hundred and forty, which was better than I had expected, actually. Since one of my Australian friends presented me a study tool for TOEIC the other day, I want to use it and give it a try again this year. So far I haven't decided when I'm going to take it, but it will be this September or so if my job isn't killing me. There's just one thing that must be true. I mean, it's certain that I'll never study too hard. :) Anyhow, let me try it at my own pace. That way is the most important for anything I try to do.

Manner an Manners

Tuesday, June fifth, two thousand and seven

I hadn't known the difference between "manner" and "manners" until I read this week's newspaper issued for English study. I'm so ashamed of my lack of knowledge. When the word is used as a singular, it means similar to "way". But on the other hand, when it's used as a plural, it means similar to "behavior" as far as I've understood.

I've actually subscribed to a newspaper published by The Japan Times, Ltd. since this week. The paper teaches me a lot of new knowledge, therefore I would be able to learn much more from now on. But most of the contents seem to be more than I can handle. haha. Since I can bring it everywhere easily, I expect that I can kill time with it anyway and ask my teachers about the articles from now as well. Let me give them the third degree! (^^;


"quotes from LONGMAN Dictionary of Contemporary English"
give somebody the third degree:(informal) to ask someone a lot of questions in order to get information from them

Best Way To Study English

Wednesday, May thirtieth, two thousand and seven

I don't mean to brag, but I can speak English a little bit actually. Therefore some of my acquaintances sometimes ask me what the best way to learn English is.

I personally think the method would depend on the person because everyone has different circumstances, such as school days and occupations. Since there are tons of private schools, books or something like those related to English study in Japan, it's quite difficult to choose the best one for everyone. To be honest, there's no way I can select it for those who want to improve their English skills. I mean, they have to find out the best way by themselves. In my case, I sometimes make English conversations in my mind when I don't have things to do, such as on a train and a bus. To tell the truth, I was practicing my English in my mind on a train the other day when I made a sound loudly and got attention from other passengers. Of course I didn't mean to do that, needless to say, I was extremely embarrassed then. X(

Subscribe To English Newspaper

Thursday, May twenty fourth, two thousand and seven

When it comes to casual talking, I'm kind of good at speaking English. But, on the other hand, it's quite tough for me to talk about difficult topics such as politics and economy due to my poor vocabulary. Some teachers recommended me to read English news the other day to improve it. Since then, I sometimes try to read English news on the Internet, for instance, BBC or TIMES. However, I suppose reading newspapers written in English could look cool when I'm on a train or somewhere. So I couldn't help but subscribe to a newspaper published by The Japan Times, Ltd. I'm looking forward to receiving it for the first time now. Needless to say, I'll take great pains to read it though.


"quotes from LONGMAN Dictionary of Contemporary English"
take/go to (great) pains to do something(also: take pains with/over something): to make a special effort to do something

Finished ZONE-E

Sunday, May twentieth, two thousand and seven

The review of all ZONE-E lessons, which I took at NOVA two years ago and last year, has just been over as the following picture. But I haven't put all of the contents into my mind yet actually.
Let me start brushing up them from the beginning again with reviewing ZONE-F lessons, which I took last year and this year. I also have to take ZONE-G lessons now and review them but I can't start reviewing them unless I haven't finished ZONE-F lessons' review. It looks so far to finish it because I'm no spring chicken. :)


"quotes from LONGMAN Dictionary of Contemporary English"
no spring chicken: used to say that someone is no longer young - used humorously

37 people

Tuesday, May fifteenth, two thousand and seven

Ten days has passed since I started providing email newsletters related to English study, but the number of the readers are only thirty seven people so far. (^^; The purpose I decided to do that is to review the English lessons I've ever taken before actually. I'd just like to share interesting topics with them. It's fun for me to make such contents on the Internet. I might be able to be an English teacher for Japanese someday as well. Eh? It's impossible? I think so, too. :p

E-Mail Newsletter

Tuesday, May first, two thousand and seven

I've just decided to start providing an email newsletter for English study. Since there are so many such kind of newsletters in Japan, it must be tough that the emails become popular. But I've wanted to make a challenge to something new recently, that's why I'm going to begin the thing. Actually, a friend of mine has offered some email newsletters since last year, her effort has motivated me a lot.

I've been considering what kind of email is appropriate as my new service for a couple of months. I really hate to see too many advertisements in emails, therefore in the end(finally) I decided to offer the service over mobile phone networks and with almost no ads. In Japan, "Mini Mag" is the most famous and popular emailing service as many Japanese people know. I applied for an account so that I can provide email newsletters on the web site last night but haven't gotten the identification yet. I'd probably make short topics and put some links in them, which links some comparatively long sentences in my Japanese blog. Because the length of mobile email newsletters are limited, it must be up to one hundred two-bytes characters to support all cell phone carriers in Japan. Anyway I want as many people as possible to read my new one. I don't have the confidence that it becomes popular at all, though. :)

Last Person

Monday, April twenty third, two thousand and seven

To be honest, I prefer learning interesting English phrases to learning difficult new words. it's rather boring for me to study new words that are hard to remember and that don't have any relationship with my real life. I could be the last person to memorize new words at NOVA. haha. Since I have some foreign friends, some people recommend me to take advantage of every opportunity that I talk with them, in order to learn new words. To tell the truth, I just want to have a lot of good times with them, I didn't make friends with them to take free English lessons. Of course, I ask them once in a while about what they said in English, but it's not for my study, for going on the conversation. As for them, they sometimes ask me about Japanese culture and custom instead. Once I start having a drink, a BBQ, or something like that, I often forget that I'm an English learner and get drunk heavily. I would be also the last person to be good at taking advantage of good chance.

I just wanted to write down this article with the two phrases below. :)


"quoted from LONGMAN Dictionary of Contemporary English"
the last person/thing: used to make a strong negative statement about someone or something
take advantage of something (to do something): to use a particular situation to do or get what you want

Looks So Far

Monday, March nineteenth, two thousand and seven

I've just reviewed 60 percent of the ZONE-E lessons I studied two years ago, when I was a level-5 student at NOVA. Now that I'm a level-3 student, I might not need to do that, but I'd like to speak at least ZONE-E-level English fluently, in order to become a real high level student. Besides, I have to review all of the ZONE-F lessons I took last year, when I was a level-4 student. I tend to procrastinate about review of the lessons I took at NOVA, actually. That would be why I'm really worried about my poor skills.
Some NOVA staff often tell me that I should do best to become a level-2 student. To be honest, I'm not in a rush to level up. When I finish the review of all the lessons I've taken before, I'll think about the next step. Let me concentrate on the review at my own pace for a while. So far the day I finish all of the review looks so far. :) Ah... today's article isn't interesting as usual....orz


"quoted from LONGMAN Dictionary of Contemporary English"
procrastinate [intransitive]: to delay doing something that you ought to do, usually because you do not want to do it [= put off]

Asking Difficult Question

Saturday, March seventeenth, two thousand and seven

Many similar English words often drive me nuts these days, actually. So I asked an American teacher a question in a free talk English lesson today because the teacher usually tend to be quiet and not to prepare interesting topics. I asked him the following question:

"I'd like to know the differences between these words - appropriate, suitable, proper and fit. Because the meanings sound very similar to me, according to my English-Japanese dictionary."

He wasn't able to answer exactly how different they are. To tell the truth, a young Japanese boy asked me the same question the other day, of course I couldn't explain the differences at all. I just advised him like this - "Don't worry about making mistakes. I think most native English speakers don't care if you can't use appropriate words in your English. If you want to master the correct usages, it would be the best way to read a lot of correct example sentences and try to use those sentences in your English even if you might make some mistakes. As you gain your experience, you'll be able to learn what you want to know. Anyway, the only way to gain experience is to make mistakes." haha... The last one is what I mentioned yesterday on this blog space. :)

After the lessons, I realized it can be a good way for learning the usages of appropriate words to use English-English dictionary. Let me quote the meanings of the above words from my dictionary below... Umm... I'm confused again. X(


"quoted from LONGMAN Dictionary of Contemporary English"
appropriate : correct or suitable for a particular time, situation, or purpose
suitable : having the right qualities for a particular person, purpose, or situation
proper : right, suitable, or correct / socially or legally correct and acceptable
fit : suitable or good enough for something