« 2008年09月 | Main | 2008年11月 »

Halloween (2)

[2008年10月31日(金) ]


Clock your reading speed!

　　2. Halloween

Who can claim he or she has never heard of Halloween, when children big and small dressed as monsters, mummies, ghosts or witches visit their neighborhoods, singing “trick or treat”, and Jack-o’-lanterns are on display?
Halloween is originally a Celtic festival at the end of the summer, called “All Hallows Even(ing)”, in contrast with May Day, the festival at the beginning of the summer. There were only two main seasons in the Celtic year.
October 31st used to be the eve of New Year in Celtic (6th & 5th centuries B.C.) and Anglo-Saxon times (from the 9th century A.D.) Since November ushers in the darkest and most barren half of the year, the autumnal festival acquired sinister significance with ghosts, witches, hobgoblins, fairies and demons.
Old year’s night meant the night of the witches. It was on this day that souls visited their homes, and fire festivals could commonly be seen. The festivals, including fire rites, fortunetelling and masquerades, partly serious and partly frivolous, were organized out of the belief that they would protect from evil and demons the fresh harvest and the return of the herds to their stables. It was the only day of the year when the help from the devil was invoked for such purposes as divinations of marriage, luck and health.
Only the more frivolous masquerades remained as Halloween passed into the realm of folk observations. Introduced by Irish immigrants, Halloween became popular in the USA in the 19th century.

245 words
Reading speed: … words/min

Halloween (1)

[2008年10月31日(金) ]






今回ハロウイーンの由来に関する２話です。

第一話は割と簡単で高校生向け。

第二話はもう少し別な説明も含まれてますが、

基本さえ分かれば．．．


　Don’t forget to check your reading speed!

　1. Halloween

Everyone knows Halloween!
Children dress like monsters, mummies, ghosts or witches and visit their neighborhoods. Many Jack-o’-lanterns are displayed in front of the houses. Children sing “Trick or treat” and get candy.
Who started the first Halloween?
About 2500 years ago, people called “Celts” lived in Ireland, Wales and Scotland. They had only two seasons: summer and winter. At the beginning of the summer, on May 1st, they had a festival called “May Day”.
On October 31st, they celebrated “All Hallows Evening”. October 31st was the last day of the Celtic year. For them, November 1st was New Year’s day .
Halloween was held just before the winter. It is much colder in Scotland and Ireland than in Japan. The days are very short, and the nights are long. There were not many vegetables and there was not much fruit in winter. The cows, sheep and goats came back to the small towns after spending the summer outside in the fields near the towns. It was also the end of the harvest season, so they thought Halloween would protect the harvest, cows, sheep and goats from evil and bad luck in winter. Imagine: in winter it is dark and cold. Ugly spiders enter the houses. Bats fly outside. It is the season of witches, ghosts and monsters.
　　　　　　
On old year’s day, souls visited their homes. They made fires to guide their souls . They used turnips (かぶ) as Jack-o-lanterns. It was an important festival. They decided who would marry in the next year.
Irish immigrants introduced Halloween to the USA, where it became popular in the 19th century. There were more pumpkins than turnips in the USA, so they used pumpkins instead.

283 words
Time: … words/minute

The ambulance

[2008年10月30日(木) ]


　The ambulance　


簡単な日本語訳は本文の下


Doctor helicopter: the only fast means of transportation?

It strikes me how slow the ambulance service can be here in Japan.
Many words have been written on why so much precious time was (and so many precious lives were) wasted in the aftermath of the terrible accident in Akihabara earlier this year (June 8). Slow follow-up, seemingly useless “tagging” of victims (= ranking them in 4 categories depending on the acuteness of their injuries), a practice deemed unnecessary unless there are more injured than the ambulances can transport.

My view, however, is down to earth.
In my eyes, slow has another meaning. It seems that an ambulance with its sirens
ringing has the power of stopping the traffic
supposedly running in front of it.
On a two-lane road, for example, cars in the left lane would move to the left side (the left shoulder) of their lane, and slow down. Upon seeing this, the drivers in the right lane would imitate this conduct, moving to the right side. The purpose is clear: opening the middle of the road, creating a third center lane to allow the ambulance to pass.
Under such circumstances, traffic often comes to a complete standstill near an intersection even after the traffic light has turned green again.
Reality very often turns out to be the antithesis of what were supposed to be sincere intentions. Failure of our goal may very well become fatal for the person in need ― the helpless individual lying down on a stretcher in the ambulance.

Wouldn’t it be a lot more productive if motorists just continued to drive and didn’t slow down and end up hindering everything behind them?


　救急車は意外とゆっくり。
秋葉事件のタッギング（怪我の状態に軽い〜重体のランキングを付けること）という意味ではなく、普通自動車は救急車を止めている（ふさいでいる）ように感じる。
例え片側二車線の道路にサイレンを鳴らしている救急車が現れると、多くの場合、左側を走っている運転手は左の路肩へ、右側を走っている運転手はより右側へ移動する。目的は、真ん中にもうひとつの車線を「作る」。残念ながら、救急車が通れないときも多く、逆に渋滞を起こす原因となる。
自分より後ろに救急車は走っていれば、赤信号や安全のため以外止まるの？







Surprise, surprise!

[2008年10月30日(木) ]



Surprise, surprise


All of a sudden,

the day before Halloween,

"zoo" no longer looks like a zoo.

Away with the animals,

no more nature.

"Maybe Patrick has finally decided

to change for the better?",


as a sensei might / may / will / is likely to think

or

has certainly already thought and said.

No doubt!



Anyway, here's the reason.

Depending on the browser, some readers have experienced

"strange spellings" at the end of each line.

Words were cut of like this:

"experience" might have been read as

"experienc

e"

or as

"exp

erience".

I had to choose a different "skin" or

background to solve the problem.

Personally, I loved the previous skin.

It was a perfect match for "zoo",

but the new one is, well, say, "sunny",

fit for daydreaming,

so why not?



英文ブログ不調が原因で、スキン（背景）を変えることになりました。

ブラウザーによって、英語の文字が途中で変な場所で切られることが
あったらしい。
　ご迷惑をおかけしました

動物園を思い浮かばせる背景じゃなくなったが、
まあ、良いだろう。



turtles

[2008年10月29日(水) ]



亀は万年


Turtles live to be 10,000 years

I 'm pretty sure I will never know for sure.

Look at this:



It's the turtle I started keeping when I was a child,

and it's still alive and healthy!

PS This turtle is living overseas!










Help!!!

[2008年10月28日(火) ]




「 HELP 」

や

「部分的にもう少し説明や日本語訳を足してくれ〜！」

と言う意見を最近何回か耳にした。

「エーッどこなんで5W1H!」

と最初思ったが、

自分の家までの道順を説明するのと一緒で、
そこに住んでいる人にとって
当たり前、
説明不要、
視野に入っていない重要なこともあるが、
探している人は迷う一方。
執筆者にしか分からない点は、
英語にすれば、読者にとって余計にムズい。


大体 pinpoint （＝正確に指摘）できたつもりで、

Yumi 11b と　Yumi 12b

の下手な日本語訳を追加。

出来るだけ情報を落とさないように
文章毎
英語　＋　日本語　にした。

これなら、大丈夫。

　勉強にもなる。

でも、やはり、難しいかも！





Can you be more specific?

[2008年10月27日(月) ]




particular

or

specific?



Yesterday one of my students, Koh, asked me about
the difference between particular and specific.

That's a difficult question!
Both words have similar and differing meanings.

1. meaning both words have in common　（共通の意味）
Both words can refer to one individual thing, person, place, situation etc,
distancing it from other things, people, places or situations.
=特定の、特有の、独特の、他と違う

　　　examples:
■ a specific / particular age group
■ a specific / particular case　その場合は（他と違って）
■ a specific / particular day その日に限って
■ for no specific / particular reason これという理由もないのに
■ specific / particular posts 個々の部署への割り当て
■ this specific / particular book 他ならぬこの本
■ specific / particular treatment　特別な治療法（特定の病気にしか効かない治療）
■ a specific / particular problem 他と異なる問題


2. differing meanings

　★　particular:
special, greater than usual 格別な、特別な
pay particular attention to the problem

fussy, very definite about what you choose
be particular about clothes 好みがうるさい、気難しい


　★　specific:
precise, detailed, exact 明確な、はっきりした、具体的な
specific instructions / rules / needs / details / characteristics
a specific aim / task
Can you be more specific? =Tell me what you want.

The choice of the correct word can be confusing but
I hope this will clear up the mystery a bit.





recycling of words

[2008年10月26日(日) ]



★　Comeback　★
recycling words



日本語版


The news about the dangers of the sea in Kashiwazaki (Niigata) in today’s first edition of The Japan Times is saddening. It seems as if the world has become a lot more gloomy with the advent of print news ― which was long before I came into this world. Maybe the media want to keep to the proverb “no news is good news”, meaning they can only report bad news.

Anyway, that very article surprised me at the same time, because of the vocabulary that had kept me concerned (Yumi 1), and it even gave me the impression that the journalist had read my blog!
The title makes clear that the accident involved only amateurs, not professionals: “Wave-swept anglers...”, and abides by gender-equality rules. Nice!

The second paragraph, however, thrilled me. “The fishers escaped with slight injuries, police said.”
Yes, fishers.
However gender-equal the term may be, most of the dictionaries I checked claim it is archaic (=old) English.
It also dodges the question as to what the plural of the newest term “fisherperson” is supposed to be.

One person, two people, or (formal) two persons.

One fisherperson, many fisherpeople?
Fisherpersons?
Fisher folk?

Never would I use the term fisher folk myself, which, as far as I know, denotes only professionals, nor do I intend to show myself off as conservative, but I hope this is a welcome case of a lexicological revival, read: recycling of words.

Welcome back, “fishers”!




日本語版


復帰・復活・再流行・言葉のリサイクリング



本日のThe Japan Times　に載っている
ある記事のニュースは残念で、海の危険性を強調する。
記者たちは　No news is good news （便りのないことはいいたよりだ）を
逆に解釈しているかと思うくらい暗いニュースばかり。

その記事を読んでいる途中、「アレッ！」　と思った。
これを書いた記者は．．．もしかして、
このブログを読んだのでは？？？

タイトルからプロの漁師ではなく、
アマチュアの釣り人 (anglers)　は
高波に襲われたことが明白になった。
Anglers とは、男女平等の術後で、申し分ない！
第２パラグラフは興奮させるもので、
古語として複数の辞典に掲載されている fisher　を使う。
このzoo で提案した通り！WOW!

今まで fisherman と言っていたけど、
fisherperson の方が好ましいらしい。
ただし、その複数は不自然！
Fisherpeople も　fisherpersons も、

「なにそれ？」



くらいの返事しかもらえない。
伝統主義だと思われたくないけど、
この術語は言葉の復活・リサイクリングとして

大歓迎！



Sign of the times

[2008年10月25日(土) ]




Sign of the times


日本語版


The other day, one of my students, Toshiyuki, told me something I had never thought of before. He explained that many English textbooks used in the first grade of junior high schools in Japan some 20 or 30 years ago all started with the same sentence,

This is a pen,


which has led some people to claim that this has distracted them from the ultimate goal of all languages, being communication. Therefore, more recently English textbooks focus on conversation, and the first lesson starts with

“Hello. How are you? My name is ...”


or something similar, and for that reason young people possess better conversational skills.

To tell the truth, I think that a basis or a foundation is necessary to develop linguistic skills (to build speaking skills on), and that a lot depends on the daily effort of each of the students and on their actual needs. Someone who really wants to use English ― or any language ― is likely to remember the very words he or she deems necessary.

Toshiyuki also wondered how I studied Japanese. He asked me to check the first sentences in my first Japanese textbook. Here are the first 3 sentences:

　　これ　は　テーブル　です。
　　これ　は　テーブル　では　ありません。
　　これ　は　テーブル　ですか。

Surprisingly very similar to what many people here used to study English so many years ago!

In order to avoid becoming a “passive” learner (=someone who lacks conversational abilities) I suggest the following:

1. Making a diary. Use words of objects around you, try to express what you have done or experienced. This constitutes the basis for further communition. Writing will help you remember.

2. Reading. Though very difficult at first, many basic grammatical structures and expressions are learned by reading just because they are so common. Start with short stories (you wouldn’t want to tackle a thick book you aren’t interested in) and you will see that after a couple of months not only your reading speed will have improved but also more content will be absorbed.

3. Repeating. Go over short dialogues (or things you might say) over and over again, until you know them by heart.

4. Speaking. Try using phrases from the dialogues you remember. Do not be afraid of making mistakes. Which is better: remaining tight-lipped, making no mistakes but failing to get through, or making mistakes but being understood? The latter, I guess!


英語版に戻る

２０−３０年前、中学１年生が使っていた英語の教科書のレッスン１は

This is a pen.


から始まった、とトシユキさんが教えてくれた。これが原因で、現在４０−５０代の日本人は英会話が苦手と言う声も。「最近」の教科書は最初から会話を中心にするので、現代人は得をする。
個人的に自分の努力次第にしか思わない。必要でしたら、または好きなら、その分だけ覚えるのも早いはず。
ちなみに、大昔母国で日本語を習った教科書のレッスン１も似たようなもの：

　　これ　は　テーブル　です。
　　これ　は　テーブル　では　ありません。
　　これ　は　テーブル　ですか。


最後にいくつか提案。

日記をつけることによって、身の回りのものを描写し、思ったことを言葉にする。書くことによって覚えやすくなる。

どの言葉も同じだろうが、読めば文法の基礎を自然に吸収する。言語特有の言い回しもあちらこちらで何度も読んで、自分のものにする。

簡単な会話や自分が使えそうな会話分を丸ごと覚える。

それから実際に喋る。間違えても良いから、通じることは大事！



 　　　

Aya

[2008年10月23日(木) ]



Aya is one of my English
students in the Thursday evening
class for adults.
She was very busy at work
3 weeks ago, so she couldn’t
make it to class.

She sent me a short email message
saying she was busy in her bank.
After the class, I replied the following
message to her.

　Hi!
　We finished Unit 52 (a stolen car)
　& will take the rest next week.
　Bye,
　P

She didn’t show up last week,
and didn’t even contact me,
so I thought she was just very
busy at work.

Today she asked me
why there was a day off last week.
All the other students were
very surprised, they said they had
come to class last Thursday,
and we asked her why she thought so.
Aya told me I had mentioned
in my email that there wouldn’t be
a class last week.

Surprise!
Maybe I had made a mistake,
so I asked her to show me
my message again.
She had read it as follows:

...& will take A rest next week.

Indeed!
To take A rest means
to take a day off,
to take a short vacation

BUT

To take THE rest means (in this case)
to continue with the rest
(=the remainder, what is left over)
of the lesson (unit or book).

　She made me promise
to never ever use
any ambiguous English expressions
in email again.


ambiguous = 曖昧な（言い方）


　　　
| 次へ