Show 155 Thursday 5 October

Watch today's show at YouTube.

Intro

Hi, I’m Sarah. Welcome to The Daily English Show.

The conversation today is about energy drinks.
One of the random things that I noticed when I came to Japan in 2001, was that there was no Red Bull.
I was a bartender before I came to Japan and Red Bull and vodka is popular in New Zealand so I was used to opening cans of Red Bull every day.

Then I came to Japan, and no Red Bull.

The energy drink market in Japan is a bit different than in New Zealand – instead of coming in a can or a clear bottle they come in these small brown bottles. They look kind of like medicine. And they’re called genki drinks.

This is one of the popular drinks ... and it has a popular TV commercial. So these two guys are rock climbing and one of them slips and his friend grabs hold of him and pulls him up with his great strength after drinking this energy drink and then somebody says faito and ippatsu!

ファイト comes from the English “fight” but it doesn’t mean like: “fight, fight, fight” encouraging people to have a fight like it does in English. In Japanese it’s just used to encourage people in sport.
In English you might say: Come on! Give it heaps! You can do it! Dig it in! Or Kia kaha in New Zealand.

So that’s what “faito” means... I’m not too sure about “ippatsu”...

Anyway, anyway a few months ago, I suddenly noticed something in the fridge at a convenience store: Red Bull. So now you can buy Red Bull in Japan.
But I don’t know if it’s doing too well ... I noticed that there was some in some convenience stores and then they stopped selling it so ... maybe it’s just a failed test.

STICK NEWS

Kia Ora, in Stick News today, Lesotho has a new flag. The new flag is the third design since the country’s first flag was hoisted in 1966.

Lesotho is a land-locked country in Africa with a population of 1.8 million.
In 1966 the country gained independence from the United Kingdom and raised its first flag. The flag featured a hat.
The hat was missing from the second flag design which was adopted after a military coup in 1986.
Now the hat has made a comeback on the county’s third flag design.

BBC News reported that Lesotho says its new flag shows it "at peace with itself and its neighbours".
And that was Stick News for Thursday the 5th of October.
Kia Ora.

conversations with sarah
# 103 Where is Red Bull from?

Sarah and Mana talk about energy drinks.
Step 1: Repeat Mana’s lines.
Step 2: Read Mana’s lines on the screen and talk to Sarah.

Sarah Do you drink energy drinks?

Mana No, I don’t. How about you?

Sarah I used to in New Zealand.

Mana What kind of energy drinks are there in New Zealand?

Sarah Red Bull is popular, and v.

Mana V? Is that the name of a drink.

Sarah Yeah, I just looked it up on the net actually and apparently V has a 60 percent market share in New Zealand.

Mana Is it made by a New Zealand company?

Sarah Yeah, it is.

Mana Where is Red Bull from?

Sarah Um, it’s made by an Austrian company. They adapted a drink from Thailand. The original drink looks like a Japanese genki drink.

Notes

Music on the show used with permission from jamendo.com
Today's questionanswer music:
Artist: NeXuS
Album: Trance Planet
Track: Trance Planet
site
music at jamendo

Today's news. Or here.

V
Red Bull

Show 154 Wednesday 4 October

Watch today's show at YouTube.

Intro

Hi, I’m Sarah. Welcome to The Daily English Show. So I’m not going to ramble on about any grammar today. Sometimes you need to just stop and smell the flowers.

So, yesterday I did just that. I was driving along and I decided to stop and investigate this field of yellow things... and it turned out they were flowers.

Aren’t these just the craziest flowers you’ve ever seen? They look kind of like lemons or pumpkins or yellow peppers with things growing out of them.
But no, they’re flowers. I have no idea what they’re called... I can’t even remember what they’re called in Japanese, let alone English.

So, if you know, please tell me. But, I love them. They’re very cool.

STICK NEWS

Kia Ora, in Stick News today, the health ministry in Japan has decided to revise the dog tag rules. Currently many dogs don’t wear the tags because their owners say they don’t look good.

All dogs in Japan are supposed to wear dog tags. But recently many dogs are breaking the rules. Their owners say the tags are too big, or don’t look good.
The ministry is worried about this trend and has decided to change the rules in an attempt to get more dogs to wear tags.
The new rules would make it possible for local governments to choose their own dog tag designs.

The ministry hasn’t yet announced whether new would allow popular brands such as Louis Vitton to submit their dog tag designs to local governments.
And that was Stick News for Wednesday 4th of October.
Kia Ora.

conversations with sarah
# 102 Where did you get them?

Sarah shows Kazuya her strange flowers.
Step 1: Repeat Kazuya’s lines.
Step 2: Read Kazuya’s lines on the screen and talk to Sarah.

Sarah Check out these flowers.

Kazuya Are they flowers?

Sarah Yeah.

Kazuya Where did you get them?

Sarah Um, I kept seeing these yellow things in a field on the way to the beach so finally yesterday I stopped and checked them out and it turns out that they are flowers.

Kazuya So you stole some?!

Sarah No, I didn’t steal them! There was a woman working in the field and she gave me some.

Kazuya Oh, OK. They’re pretty unusual flowers.

Sarah Yeah, they are aren’t they. The woman asked me if I was a celebrity too, which was pretty funny ...

Kazuya Really, why did she think that?

Sarah I don’t know. I guess randomly walking into a flower field wearing a wetsuit and a bikini top is pretty strange ... so maybe she thought a normal person wouldn’t do that ...

Notes

Music on the show used with permission from jamendo.com

Today's questionanswer music:
Artist: Activ-System
From: France
Album: Babylon
Track: Elsewhere
site
music at jamendo

Songoku
Today's news

I found out what the yellow "flower" is
In Japanese