Show 485 Friday 31 August

Watch today's show at YouTube or BlipTV.

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

Today I’m going to talk about transcripts. Sometimes people leave comments like, “What was that word you said at 1:32?” And I think, “Hmm, they mustn’t know that there’s a transcript.”

If you go to http://thedailyenglishshow.blogspot.com/ – you can see a transcript for every show.

This is one of the key ideas of The Daily English Show – the idea is that I talk in a reasonably natural way – I do grade my language to a certain extent, but not much, it’s fairly natural – and then for every show there’s a transcript.
So what you can do is, perhaps watch the show first and then go and check the script for any words that you didn’t catch or that you want to look up.
Or you can cut and paste the script into a translator if you think that helps or you can use one of those programs where you run the mouse over a word and the meaning pops up in your language – like rikai.com.

The transcripts are all free to use at home or in class. If you’re a teacher, you can print them out and give them out to your students. No problem.

A lot of language learning podcasts make their money by charging people to use the transcripts – but The Daily English Show transcripts are free. And they’ll stay that way too because I think it’s an important part of The Daily English Show philosophy.
This is a non-commercial show, so the purpose is not to make money. So we don’t have any money, surprise, surprise. But we would like to find a way to get some money eventually, to cover some expenses – buy some equipment, that kind of thing. But we won’t do it by charging for transcripts, that’s for sure. Or by getting sponsored by a nasty company like McDonalds. But anyway, that’s another story.

Today I just wanted to make sure that everybody knows that there is a script for every video. And if you’re watching this on YouTube there is a link to the script next to every video. So the script is just a click away.
And if this is a YouTube video you’re watching, but it’s on another site, and you want to find the script easily, then all you have to do is click on the video and it will take you to the original place on YouTube where the video is and then you’ll see the link to the script next to the video.

Also, not only are there transcripts for the show – there are translations in Japanese and German.

Thomas - this guy - is an absolute legend and he has been translating the scripts into German ... and pointing out the mistakes too, which is great. Every script there are a couple of mistakes so it’s really good to have someone to point them out.

Today’s joke was sent to me a couple of days ago by someone called Robert on MySpace. And I thought today is very good timing for this joke – people have been talking about stupid Americans a lot recently. So I thought it was about time we start talking about stupid Australians.

Robert says:
As an Aussie I have always liked this one. I thought you may like to add it to your collection.

Q. How do you tell the difference between a kangaroo and an Australian?
A. The intelligent look in the kangaroo's eyes .

STICK NEWS

Kia Ora, in Stick News today, a thief in New Zealand returned to the house he burgled the same day because he felt guilty about the burglary.

On Tuesday a person broke into a house near Queenstown in New Zealand.
They smashed a window to get inside then stole a laptop, a camera and a wallet with a credit card inside.
The burglar then went shopping and bought a basketball and two pairs of gloves using the stolen credit card.
At some point, the thief started feeling guilty. He or she went back to the house to return the stolen goods. They also left a full-page apology note.
The owner of the house said he was more "bewildered" than angry.
Police are now searching for the offender. They said the change of heart would be taken into account.

And that was Stick News for Friday the 31st of August.
Kia Ora.

conversations with sarah
#300 What does “grade your language” mean?

Step 1: Repeat Brad’s lines.
Step 2: Read Brad’s lines and talk to Sarah.

Brad What does “grade your language” mean?

Sarah It means to simplify your language so it’s easier to understand.

Brad Is that easy to do?

Sarah It’s, it’s easy for me now because I’ve been teaching for a while, but for some people – especially if they’ve never taught English – they have no idea how to do it.

Brad How do you do it?

Sarah Well, one thing you can do is avoid using idioms or phrasal verbs. So, for example, instead of saying, I’m going to hit the sack you could say, I’m going to go to bed. Or you might say visit instead of drop in on.

Brad And you would avoid difficult words?

Sarah Yeah. If there is an easier word that means the same thing, use that. Like instead of strenuous say hard.

Brad Do you always do that?

Sarah No, not always. Well, I try and judge the students level – and then use language appropriate for that level. So I think it’s good to use some words and expressions that you think they probably won’t know – so that they can learn something new. But just don’t use too many, or they’ll get discouraged.

links

today's news
today's STICK NEWS pictures

music

show start, cws start, qa start
artist: Matthew Tyas
album: Music for the movies vol1
tracks: Superheros, Intellectuel, Three ways to run away
from: Oloron Sainte-Marie, France
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site

qa bgm
artist: San Sebastian
track: Capo 6
artist site

Did you notice a mistake in this script? Please leave us a comment and tell us! We really appreciate people pointing out our mistakes.Thank you.

Have you have translated this script - or part of it - into your language for English practice and published it on your blog? Please leave a comment and a link so other people can read your translation. Thank you.

Show 484 Thursday 30 August

Watch today’s show at YouTube or BlipTV.

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

The video I’m going to talk about today is the famous clip of Miss South Carolina.
This video clip is very funny. Well, I think it is, and millions of other people seem to find it entertaining too. But I think some English students might not understand why it’s funny – so I thought I’d explain it.

She was asked this question:
Recent polls have shown a fifth of Americans can’t locate the US on a world map. Why do you think this is?

Her Answer:

I personally believe ... that US Americans are unable to do so, because ah, some people out there in our nation don’t have maps. And I believe that our ed, education like such as in South Africa and the Iraq everywhere like, such as. And ... I believe that they should ... our education over here in the US should help the US or, or should help South Africa. And should help the Iraq and the Asian countries so we will be able to build up our future for our children.

The first funny thing she said was: US Americans. There is no such thing as US Americans – because all Americans come from the US. You can say things like Canadian-Americans – like Jim Carrey who has dual citizenship. Or African Americans, people who were born in America but whose ancestors come from Africa. But US Americans ... no, you can’t say that.

Then she says the reason why some people can’t locate the US on a world map is because they don’t have maps. Which is grammatically correct – but it’s a silly answer, so it’s funny too.

Then she says "our education like such as in South Africa ...", which doesn’t make sense because American education has nothing to do with South Africa.

Also, she says, like, such as ..., which mean the same thing, so you don’t need to use both of them together. But you can if you want, so it’s not such a huge mistake.
But she ends a sentence with such as, which is very strange. You should use such as before an example.

She also says the Iraq – which is strange. You don’t use the before Iraq. You shouldn’t use the in front of most countries actually. But you can in front of some. For example: the Netherlands, the Philippines, the Dominican Republic, the United States

She also says the Asian countries, which is odd in this context. She should say: America should help Iraq and Asian countries. But then that would still be funny because it doesn’t have anything to do with the question.

It’s also funny how she started randomly talking about Iraq and South Africa. Iraq is in the news a lot at the moment, so maybe that country just popped into her head, but South Africa – what has that got to do with anything?

And overall, I think the funniest part, is that: with her voice, and the way she is standing, and her big smile at the end - she looks like she’s really confident and she’s making perfect sense. But she isn’t.
I think she might have the potential to be the next Paris Hilton.

STICK NEWS

Kia Ora, in Stick News today, David Beckham has hurt his knee.

David Beckham is an English soccer player.
Since July this year, he’s been playing for an American team called Los Angeles Galaxy.
His team played a game yesterday and, in the 30th minute, Beckham hurt his knee.
CNN reported he suffered a sprained medial collateral ligament in his right knee which will sideline him for six weeks.

And that was Stick News for Thursday the 30th of August.
Kia Ora.

conversations with sarah
#299 There are hundreds of countries in the world

Step 1: Repeat Brad’s lines.
Step 2: Read Brad’s lines and talk to Sarah.

Brad Speaking of maps, do you think you could name all the countries in the world on a map?

Sarah Hell, no. There are hundreds of countries in the world.

Brad How many are there?

Sarah I don’t know. Hang on, I’ll check. Mmm it says here there are 244 countries ... but it sounds confusing, depends on what you include in the list. Anyway a few hundred.

Brad How many do you think you could point out on a map?

Sarah Maybe twenty or thirty.

Brad That’s all?

Sarah Yeah. But who cares ... if I want to know where something is I’ll just look it up. I don’t need to have all that information in my head.

Brad Fair enough.

Sarah That’s what I learnt in school anyway. It’s more important to know how to look things up that to remember facts.

links

today's news

today's STICK NEWS pictures

music

show start, cws start, qa start
artist: Matthew Tyas
album: Music for the movies vol1
tracks: Superheros, Intellectuel, Three ways to run away
from: Oloron Sainte-Marie, France
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site

cws bgm
artist: San Sebastian
track: mellow
artist site

Did you notice a mistake in this script? Please leave us a comment and tell us! We really appreciate people pointing out our mistakes.Thank you.

Have you have translated this script - or part of it - into your language for English practice and published it on your blog? Please leave a comment and a link so other people can read your translation. Thank you.

Show 483 Wednesday 29 August

Watch today’s show at YouTube or BlipTV.

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

Today I’m going to talk about different than.

The other day someone left a comment after I said different than.
I said: Is it different than your accent?

And this person said that’s wrong. It should be different from.

The person writing that said they felt quite strongly about that too, which I think is interesting.

I’d never really thought about different than and different from before. So I looked it up and it turns out that different from is Standard English – but a lot of people say different than. So, it’s not really wrong, it’s just non-standard English.

So, I would say, if you’re learning English, you might as well go with the standard way of saying it. But if you want to say it the non-standard way, then I think that’s fine too.
Just be aware that some people will that tell you it’s wrong.

Personally, I don’t really have a problem with non-standard English - depending on the circumstances of course. If you’re writing an essay for school then you should definitely use Standard English and follow the style guide for your school or university.

But if you’re writing a poem or writing in your diary or writing an email to a friend and you want to use non-standard English, then, go ahead, I say.

And I think it’s important to remember that there a two different kinds of “mistakes”.
First there are actual mistakes, things that native English speakers never say, like: Can you borrow me the book? I think these are the kind of mistakes that you should be focusing on. And the other kind of “mistakes”, I wouldn’t even call them mistakes - just non-standard English.
And whether or not these non-standard English expressions are right or wrong ... I would just leave that to the native speakers to worry about.

STICK NEWS

Kia Ora, in Stick News today, Jim Carrey is starring in an online video to help free a woman in Myanmar.

Jim Carrey is a Canadian-American actor. He’s famous for being funny.
But his latest role isn’t funny.
He is starring in a video on behalf of the Human Rights Action Center and the U.S. Campaign for Burma.
They aim to help free a woman who is being held captive by the government in Myanmar, also known as Burma.
CNN reported Aung San Suu Kyi received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 for her nonviolent efforts to bring down the oppressive military regime in Myanmar.
She is now under long-term house arrest.

And that was Stick News for Wednesday the 29th of August.
Kia Ora.

conversations with sarah
#298 Do you use non-standard English?

Step 1: Repeat Tom’s lines.
Step 2: Read Tom’s lines and talk to Sarah.

Tom Do you use non-standard English?

Sarah Yip.

Tom For example?

Sarah Ah, like saying yip. That’s not standard. Standard English is yes.

Tom So, is it better to say yes?

Sarah No, I don’t think so. Not necessarily. Depends on the situation. If you want to be formal, you should say yes rather than yip or yeah.

Tom What kind of situations?

Sarah Ah, maybe at a job interview. But then it would depend on the job as well. Also, like at school, the school I went to, when the teacher called the roll, most of the students just answered yip or yi – but if it was a different kind of school, like a private school, then I think the teachers might make the students say yes.

Tom What’s another example?

Sarah Ah, double negatives, like, I don’t have no money. Ah, that’s non-standard English. Standard English would be, I don’t have any money.

Tom Do you use double negatives?

Sarah No. But some native speakers do.

links

today's news

today's STICK NEWS pictures

the video
Jim Carrey at Wikipedia
Aung San Suu Kyu at Wikipedia

Different from vs different than

music

show start, cws start, qa start
artist: Matthew Tyas
album: Music for the movies vol1
tracks: Superheros, Intellectuel, Three ways to run away
from: Oloron Sainte-Marie, France
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site

cws bgm
artist: San Sebastian
track: mellow
artist site

Did you notice a mistake in this script? Please leave us a comment and tell us! We really appreciate people pointing out our mistakes.Thank you.

Have you have translated this script - or part of it - into your language for English practice and published it on your blog? Please leave a comment and a link so other people can read your translation. Thank you.

Show 482 Tuesday 28 August

Watch today’s show at YouTube or BlipTV.

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

Last Tuesday I answered a question from someone wanting to know if it was a good idea to do a teaching course before going to teach English in Japan.
They actually asked two questions, and their second question was:

Are schools such as Nova total scams or are they reasonable ways of getting started?

Well, when I first went to Japan, I worked at a language school called ECC, which is similar to Nova. And no, I didn’t think it was a total scam. I enjoyed working there. Of course like, like anywhere that you work, there were things that weren’t so great about it. And for me, after a year, I thought I’d had enough and it was time to move on and do something else.

What I enjoyed about it was ... I had a lot of different kinds of classes, so I learnt a lot from that. I was mostly teaching conversation classes – which they called “Free Time Lessons” – which meant that they weren’t regular classes. Students could book a lesson when they wanted to take one, kind of like getting a haircut or going to the dentist or something.

And that is quite challenging because you’re getting different students all the time ... and yeah, maybe it’s not quite the best system for students perhaps. But I learnt a lot from meeting hundreds of different students and all kinds of people and trying out different things and seeing what worked.

One more thing that I really enjoyed was that I worked at four different schools. So almost every day I’d go to a different school. And that was really interesting, seeing how the different schools worked. They were all part of the same company, but depending on the staff, the atmosphere was completely different.

As for Nova, well, I’ve never worked there, so I don’t really know. But I have a friend that worked there for several years and he seemed to enjoy it.
But, they don’t have a very good reputation and I’ve heard a few bad stories from students who have studied there.
Also, I think the company is in ... not great financial shape ... so mmm, maybe that particular company is not such a great choice.
But, language schools in Japan, in general, I think they’re good places to work. And at the end of the day, whether you have a good experience or not is going to depend more on you and what you make of it.

STICK NEWS

Kia Ora, in Stick News today, an American teenager entered a beauty contest and is now enjoying 15 minutes of world fame thanks to her answer to a question in the contest.

Miss Teen USA is an annual beauty pageant.
This year’s contest was held in California on the 24th of August.
This year’s event is now most famous for Miss South Carolina’s response during the question and answer portion of the show.
The video of her rambling answer has been viewed millions of times on the internet.
Thousands of people on YouTube commented on her performance.

And that was Stick News for Tuesday the 28th of August.
Kia Ora.

conversations with sarah
#297 That’s so funny.

Step 1: Repeat Lisa’s lines.
Step 2: Read Lisa’s lines and talk to Sarah.

Sarah That’s so funny.

Lisa Don’t you think it’s mean though? Everyone laughing at her.

Sarah No. Not at all. She went in the contest.

Lisa How would you have answered the question?

Sarah Um ... well I think I’d say, I think the results of the survey are probably wrong and the survey must have been flawed.

Lisa What do you mean?

Sarah One fifth of Americans can’t locate the US on a map. Yeah, right. Whatever, that’s ridiculous. It’s not possible.

Lisa How would you know? You’ve never even been to the United States.

Sarah Yeah, but ... anyway, I don’t think it’s possible. They probably surveyed babies or something. Or maybe they just questioned five people and one of them was drunk or had bad eyesight.

Question for Miss South Carolina:

Recent polls have shown a fifth of Americans can’t locate the US on a world map. Why do you think this is?

Miss South Carolina's answer:

I personally believe ... that US Americans are unable to do so, because ah, some people out there in our nation don’t have maps. And I believe that our ed, education like such as in South Africa and the Iraq everywhere like, such as. And ... I believe that they should ... our education over here in the US should help the US or, or should help South Africa. And should help the Iraq and the Asian countries so we will be able to build up our future for our children.

links

Miss South Carolina's famous answer
today's STICK NEWS pictures

music

show start, cws start, qa start
artist: Matthew Tyas
album: Music for the movies vol1
tracks: Superheros, Intellectuel, Three ways to run away
from: Oloron Sainte-Marie, France
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site

qa bgm
artist: San Sebastian
track: mellow
artist site

Did you notice a mistake in this script? Please leave us a comment and tell us! We really appreciate people pointing out our mistakes.Thank you.

Have you have translated this script - or part of it - into your language for English practice and published it on your blog? Please leave a comment and a link so other people can read your translation. Thank you.

Show 481 Monday 27 August

Watch today's show at YouTube or BlipTV.

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

Today’s guest is Josh. You may know him as AdviceToMyClones.
And today’s show is very exciting because this is the first time I have interviewed someone that I have never actually met. Well, we’ve met online – but not actually in person.
So I just sent him the questions and he answered them on video and then sent me the video.
Josh is a musician and he’s really good. At least I think so. You should check out his music ... especially this one, I think, is excellent. And it’s great for studying English because you can read along.
My first question for Josh was: Why do you put videos on YouTube?

:44
I think the interactivity is really the main thing that has really hooked me in. There’s lots of little reasons, ah, behind all the, the individual videos and all that kind of stuff. But, um, really just the people ah, that you can meet and talk to and interact with and communicate with over YouTube is the strength of the whole system.

STICK NEWS

Kia Ora, this is Stick News. Greece has declared a state of emergency. More than 60 people have died in the last three days in forest fires.

Wikipedia says Greece is regarded as the cradle of western civilization.
It is also the birthplace of democracy, Western philosophy, the Olympic Games, Western literature, political science, major scientific principles and drama.
Right now Greece is also famous for its forest fires.
Since June, there have been over 3,000 forest fires in Greece.
And 72 people have died.
According to CNN, the Greece government has said some of fires may have been caused by arson. But environmental experts have expressed skepticism.
The Greek Prime Minister declared a state of emergency.

And that was Stick News for Monday the 27th of August.
Kia Ora.

conversations with sarah
#296 What is your dream with music?

Step 1: Repeat Sarah’s lines.
Step 2: Read Sarah’s lines and talk to Josh.

Sarah How long have you been playing the guitar?

Josh About 12 years. I played piano before that. Ah, I bought a guitar at a pawn shop in Iowa, ah, while I was visiting relatives. And beat the heck out of my fingers learning to play guitar on this beat up ah, used guitar. Um, but it was well worth it. I no longer have that guitar which was rather viscous to play. Um, but I love, love, love the guitars I have now. It’s very hard for me to go a couple of days without playing them. In fact, if I walk by them and see them, I’m always tempted to pick them up and just start playing. So, occasionally makes me late for things I shouldn’t be late for.

Sarah How long does it usually take to write a song?

3:44

Josh That really varies. Ahh, usually, I’m going to guess about two hours. That’d be about how long it takes from start to finish. And that can be spread out over one night, or a week, or months sometimes. I’ve had songs that I’ve been working on for years and just they didn’t quite come together yet. But I’ll keep at it.

Sarah What is your dream with music?

4:02

Josh Um, I think my number one dream is just to get better at it. Ah, song writing’s definitely my favorite part of the whole process.
So any time I can figure out a way to, you know, wind a melody through ah, chord changes in some new way, is always, ah, spectacular for, for me to do. I just love that part of it. Um, but it would be nice to get better at the instruments or to get better at singing would actually really make me very, very happy, if I could somehow figure out how to do that.

Sarah Are you a full-time musician? If not, would you like to be?

Josh Ah, I’m not a full-time musician and I would love to be. Ah, music is the most fun thing I have ah, found to spend my time doing. And so if I could do it all the time, you’d better believe I would do it.

Sarah Do you also perform live?

Josh I used to. I have not performed live in quite a while. Ah, but now that some of my friends here in Los Angeles have figured out what I’m up to with the YouTube music stuff, they are definitely putting the pressure on to do a live performance. So I’m pretty sure I’ll do it. I’m pretty shy about getting started with that stuff. But ah, I’ll do it. And you can believe that I’ll take my camera along with me. So if you start seeing videos on the channel with me, it looks like I’m in a coffee shop or something, I’ve finally got the courage up to ah, to do some more live shows.

Sarah How different is the feedback you get performing live and the feedback you get on YouTube?

5:17

Josh Ah, yeah, it’s actually, the actual feedback you get is very similar, it’s just the, ah, rate you get it back at. Ah, when you’re performing live, you know, if you do something, do a vocal section that’s really great, or you do a wrong note on the guitar, like the feedback you get’s right then and there. You can, you know, watch the reaction of the audience and know right away how it’s working out.
Um, and sometimes that’s good because you can play into the stuff that the specific audience like. Like every audience is different because everybody likes different things. So, you can use that sometimes to improve the show. Um, YouTube, a little different in that you go ahead and record a performance and then you just put it out there. Um, so you’re still going to get the feedback. But the feedback might come a day later, it might come a week later, months later. Um, and it might even be more detailed because the people can go back and watch it a couple of times and tell you: “Hey, you know, first time through I liked this, second and third time through, actually this part of it stood out more to me.” Ah, stuff like that. So, both different, but both very useful.

Sarah Have you ever sold your music? If not, would you like to?

6:17

Josh I’ve never actually sold my music. I did help a local artist ah, produce her CD. So I did a lot of song writing and got to work in a studio and that kind of stuff. It was really fun. I didn’t actually make any money on it, so ... I would like to though, so I’ll let you know if I work out a way to do that.

Sarah What kind of effect has the feedback from YouTube had on your music?

6:36

Josh That’s um, that’s a really good question. The ... feedback for me overall has been positive. Now, not all my feedback in itself has been positive, but the effect has been. Um, I’ve definitely gotten criticism and that kind of stuff. And at this point I actually like the criticism. Because it helps you really quickly pinpoint stuff that’s working and not working. Um, but just having ah, enough videos up where I can go back through and say, OK, well in this video I got some comments saying they like the vocals and on this video they like the intro. And stuff like that, you can kind of, you can kind of decide, well OK this is stuff that’s really working and if I want to continue these other parts of the music, I’m going to have to really, you know, put a lot of effort into making it something that, that people ah, enjoy a little bit more.

Sarah How do you think YouTube is changing the music industry?

7:20

Josh Ah, I would say, it definitely is. But that at this point, it’s, it’s kind of slow in the changes it’s making. But I don’t see that being slow for very much longer. Ah, and I think a lot of that’s because the music industry just hasn’t figured out how to really harness the power of YouTube. Like the interactivity, which is really what they are going to need to do.
Um, but I have seen that it’s definitely helping out independent artists. Um, because it’s a very cost effective way to ah, connect with the fan base. Ah, most of the people that ah, listen to my music ... are in places that I would probably would never play to um, any other way than to just have a video up on YouTube. Ah, geographically, they’re, they’re all over the place, and I just wouldn’t have any way to reach them without YouTube. Um, so it’s definitely helping out in that respect. Ah, and I’ve seen some artists who are really pushing the limit on what you can do with it, where they will ah – and these are, these are big name artists – they will, ah, basically do a video log to their fans saying: “Hey, here’s a new song, ah, I want to play it for you guys first. And what I would really like for you guys to do is to maybe cover my song, or to lip-sync my song, something like that, and send me back a video.”
And, ah, you know, of course the fans, love ... to do anything like that. So, when the video responses come back, some of the artists will even take those video responses and turn them into like a music video of their fans actually performing their songs - which is a ridiculously good idea. And ah, you know, send that back out to the fans and say: “Here’s something, you know, that I can, I can do for you guys, because I liked what you guys did for me.”
So, stuff like that, I think is really, the kind of stuff that the music industry’s going to have to, to dig into to ... to, to really, to really, use like what YouTube can do for their artists, stuff like that. But as far as for independent people, it’s, it’s amazing. It’s just, it’s a great, great, great, tool for finding people who like what you do.

links

today's news

today's STICK NEWS pictures

music

show start, cws start, qa start
artist: Matthew Tyas
album: Music for the movies vol1
tracks: Superheros, Intellectuel, Three ways to run away
from: Oloron Sainte-Marie, France
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site

qa bgm
artist: San Sebastian
track: mellow
artist site

Did you notice a mistake in this script? Please leave us a comment and tell us! We really appreciate people pointing out our mistakes.Thank you.

Have you have translated this script - or part of it - into your language for English practice and published it on your blog? Please leave a comment and a link so other people can read your translation. Thank you.

Show 480 Sunday 26 August

Watch today's show at YouTube or BlipTV.

Sunday Kitchen #61 Bottled Peaches

First, wash the peaches.
Then cook them for a few minutes so that the skin comes off easily.
Then put them in cold water.
Then cut them.
Then put them in jars and put lemon juice and sugar and hot water into the jars.
Then put a lid on top.
Then put them in the oven for a few minutes to warm up the glass.
Then take them out and put them in a big pressure cooker.
Cook them for a while and then take them out.

music

show start
artist: Matthew Tyas
album: Music for the movies vol1
track: Superheros
from: Oloron Sainte-Marie, France
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site

other music
artist: San Sebastian
track: mellow
artist site

Did you notice a mistake in this script? Please leave us a comment and tell us! We really appreciate people pointing out our mistakes.Thank you.

Have you have translated this script - or part of it - into your language for English practice and published it on your blog? Please leave a comment and a link so other people can read your translation. Thank you.

Show 479 Saturday 25 August

Watch today’s show at YouTube or BlipTV.

Little Rock CITY

THIS SITE PROVIDED BY THE PROVINCE OF BRITISH COLUMBIA TO THE REGIONAL DISTRICT OF CENTRAL KOOTENAY FOR COMMUNITY FIRE HALL PURPOSES

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music

show start
artist: Matthew Tyas
album: Music for the movies vol1
track: Superheros
from: Oloron Sainte-Marie, France
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site

other music

artist: pharmacopia

album: For The Stilling Of Volcanoes

track: Saint Patricks Eve

from: Boonton, United States

album at Jamendo

artist at Jamendo

artist site

Did you notice a mistake in this script? Please leave us a comment and tell us! We really appreciate people pointing out our mistakes.Thank you.

Have you have translated this script - or part of it - into your language for English practice and published it on your blog? Please leave a comment and a link so other people can read your translation. Thank you.

Show 478 Friday 24 August

Watch today’s show at YouTube or BlipTV.

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

Today I’d like to teach you an expression.
How come?
How come means why.
It means exactly the same thing – it’s just less formal.

For example, if someone said, I’ve decided to leave my job.
You could ask: Why?
Or you could ask: How come? And it means exactly the same thing.

When you use how come, the grammar is a bit different though. Let’s look at a few examples.

Why is he laughing?
How come he’s laughing?
You can’t say: How come is he laughing?

Why haven’t they told you?
How come they haven’t told you?

I think a lot of students don’t know that how come means why – and they get confused when they hear it and think that it means something different, like:
How did you come here?
I came here by car.

But no, how come, when it’s together like that, means why.

I also thought I’d also tell you a joke today. Because I did last Friday and ... some people didn’t like it, but some people did and one person said they hoped it would be a weekly thing.

So, sure, why not. I think I’ll tell you a joke every Friday.

So this is today’s joke. It’s actually kind of a Japanese joke – so you should tell someone who speaks Japanese. And when you say it, you shouldn’t say “I’m going to tell you a joke” you should just ... just start saying it. Like this:

Did you know there are no dentists in Hawaii?
And they usually say: Really?! Why?
And then you say:
Ha wa ii.

And it sounds like the Japanese: ha wa ii （歯は良い）.
Ha means teeth.
And ii means good.
So ha wa ii means (their) teeth are good.

It works best if you pronounce Hawaii the way it’s pronounced in Japanese too because it sounds more like the teeth are good thing.

STICK NEWS

Kia Ora, in Stick News today, a 15-year-old boy in Finland has been fined for posting a video of his teacher on YouTube and claiming she was a lunatic.

On the 30th of April a boy in Finland took a video of his teacher singing at a school party. The next day he uploaded the video to YouTube.
He gave the video an English title: Karaoke of mental hospital. In the description he said the teacher was “a lunatic singing at the karaoke of the mental hospital.”
According to the Associated Press, the boy said he did it as a prank and had not intended to insult the teacher.
But the court said his actions caused the teacher to suffer anxiety, depression and insomnia.
The court found him guilty of intentional defamation and fined him 90 euros. He also was ordered to pay 800 euros in damages and 2,200 euros in court costs.

And that was Stick News for Friday the 24th of August.
Kia Ora.

conversations with sarah
#295 What would they do?

Step 1: Repeat Manu’s lines.
Step 2: Read Manu’s lines and talk to Sarah.

Manu Are there any popular people on YouTube that you just can’t stand?

Sarah Yip.

Manu Which ones?

Sarah I don’t want to say ...

Manu Why not?

Sarah Because ... what if someone watched this and got obsessively annoyed.

Manu But what would they do?

Sarah I don’t know ... find my house on Google earth and drop a bomb on it.

Manu Right ... supposing they had a plane. And a bomb.

Sarah You never know.

Manu I don’t think anyone cares that much about your opinion.

Sarah True. Still, I don’t think it’s really worth it. There’s just not much point, it would just be a waste of time. I think I’d rather talk about things that annoy me in general.

links

today's news
today's STICK NEWS pictures

music

show start, cws start, qa start
artist: Matthew Tyas
album: Music for the movies vol1
tracks: Superheros, Intellectuel, Three ways to run away
from: Oloron Sainte-Marie, France
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site

cws bgm
artist: San Sebastian
track: mellow
artist site

Did you notice a mistake in this script? Please leave us a comment and tell us! We really appreciate people pointing out our mistakes.Thank you.

Have you have translated this script - or part of it - into your language for English practice and published it on your blog? Please leave a comment and a link so other people can read your translation. Thank you.

Show 477 Thursday 23 August

Watch today's show at YouTube or BlipTV.


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

The video we’re going to study today is called Discernment.
So go and watch the video first and then come back and listen to my explanation.

The guy making this video is called Tom. And the point of this video is that in one of his previous videos – or maybe in some of them - he played two different characters. Or maybe he played himself, but two different versions of himself. And some people were confused by that. So in this video he is doing it again, he’s talking to himself and talking about finding a way to help viewers not be confused by having one person play two parts.

A key word in this video is discern.
Discern is a formal verb which means to know recognize or understand something especially something that is not obvious.

He says: We do need to figure out a way to discern between us.
Which means: We need to think of something to do so that people can tell the difference between the two of us.

Hoodie means a hooded sweatshirt. Like this.
Post-prod I guess is short for post-production. I’ve never heard that before, so I don’t know if it is common or just a word that he uses.
Murky means not clear. Water can be described as murky.

I think this video is good to study because it is like a conversation, so it’s good for practicing conversational English and also because it’s easy to understand what he means because he’s acting it out.
He’s also talking quite fast – so that’s excellent listening practice. And I’ve written out the script so you can listen and read along again and again.

So anyway, in the video, Tom has many suggestions about what they – or he - could do ... and the final suggestion is obviously what he decided to do in the first place which was have no special effects and let the viewers work out which is which.

And the final punchline is that originally the viewers were getting confused, but now he is getting confused – well one of him is getting confused.

When he says: Do you reckon you can handle the challenge? He actually talking to the audience, but his other self thinks he is talking to him.

STICK NEWS

Kia Ora, in Stick News today, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit, Vancouver is the world’s most liveable city.

The Economist Intelligence Unit is a research and advisory company providing country, industry and management analysis.
Every year, they publish a list of what they call “the world’s most liveable cities”.
Each city in the list is given a liveability index from zero to one hundred percent.
Zero percent means “exceptional quality of life” and 100% means “intolerable”.
In the latest list Vancouver scored 1.3, making it the most livable city in the world. It is the fifth time it has been ranked number one.
According to theglobeandmail.com Vancouver is number one due to a low crime rate, little threat from instability or terrorism and a highly developed transport and communications infrastructure.
Another Canadian city Toronto, came in at number five.
And Australia seems like it’s not a bad place to live either.
The capital city of Algeria in North Africa was ranked the least liveable city. It was given a liveablity index of 64.7%.

And that was Stick News for Thursday the 23rd of August.
Kia Ora.

conversations with sarah
#294 Where’s Tom from?

Step 1: Repeat Josh’s lines.
Step 2: Read Josh’s lines and talk to Sarah.

Josh Where’s Tom from?

Sarah Australia.

Josh How did you know that? Could you tell by his accent?

Sarah No, I looked at his profile. But, yeah, actually I could tell by his accent too.

Josh Is it different than your accent?

Sarah Yeah, it’s different.

Josh I can’t tell the difference.

Sarah Yeah, most people outside of New Zealand and Australia can’t tell the difference.

Josh What is the difference?

Sarah Um. I made a video about it once. Watch that.

Discernment

Tom, we gotta talk.
Yeah? What’s up?
Last video was too confusing, people can’t tell the difference between us.
Isn’t it pretty obvious by our personalities?
No, it’s not obvious, I don’t even know which one’s me right now.
Oh, that’s easy, now, you’re you.
OK, but we do need to figure out a way to discern between us.
I could wear glasses.
Don’t be ridiculous, you don’t need glasses.
I could wear a hoodie.
What if I get cold?
I could do my hair.
Oh, no, that’s creepy.
I could get right up close.
Mmmm.
I could go far away.
Mmmm.
I could be naked.
You’re still wearing pants.
I could be naked.
Ahh!
I could be played by Bob.
That misses the point entirely.
I could have low saturation.
That looks murky.
Really high contrast?
That looks awful.
I could have a sound effect.
Way too annoying.
I ...
Nobody would understand you.
(I could use subtitles.)
No, too much post-prod work.
We could remain indistinguishable and hope that our viewers can figure it out on their own.
Mmm the least effort of all. That idea’s got merit. What do you reckon? Do you think you can handle the challenge.
What? I don’t have to handle anything. I’m one of you guys.
Do I meant you like, the ...
(Me?)
N ...
What?

links

today's news:
theglobeandmail.com
theeconomist.com

The Economist Intelligence Unit (Wikipedia)

today's STICK NEWS pictures

TDES videos about NZ/Australian accents:
List of words to tell the difference between NZ and Australian accent.
Reading a few lines in a NZ accent for Ozpace.
How New Zealanders say milk.
I try an Australian accent.
I read cutiemish’s list in my NZ accent.

music

show start, cws start, qa start
artist: Matthew Tyas
album: Music for the movies vol1
tracks: Superheros, Intellectuel, Three ways to run away
from: Oloron Sainte-Marie, France
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site

cws bgm
artist: San Sebastian
track: mellow
artist site

Did you notice a mistake in this script? Please leave us a comment and tell us! We really appreciate people pointing out our mistakes.Thank you.

Have you have translated this script - or part of it - into your language for English practice and published it on your blog? Please leave a comment and a link so other people can read your translation. Thank you.

Show 476 Wednesday 22 August

Watch today’s show at YouTube or BlipTV.


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

In Japan, when you go out for dinner or drinks - and you’re an English speaker - someone will often ask you a question like: Are you strong with alcohol?

This question doesn’t make sense in English.
What it means is:
Do you have a high tolerance for alcohol?
Or: Do you get drunk easily?
Or: Can you drink a lot of alcohol?

But even these questions ... seem kind of weird for most English speakers, I think.

Talking about how much alcohol you can drink is maybe normal if it’s teenagers having the conversation.

Last night I had a dozen and I was sweet as.
He’s so soft, he only had a six pack and he was off his face.

Well, New Zealand teenagers anyway ... maybe other countries are a bit more civilized.

Anyway, I would consider it pretty weird if, say, here in Canada, I sat down with a group of adults and we were drinking some wine with dinner and then someone suddenly turned to me and said: Sarah, can you drink a lot of alcohol?

But in Japan this question is perfectly normal and very common.

お酒、強いですか？
(osake tsuyoi desu ka?)

And this is the reason why. It’s actually to do with race – one of the few things that actually does depend on race. Ah, Asians - well I don’t know about all Asians, but Japanese, Koreans and Chinese anyway - a lot of them have a kind of gene which means they have a lower tolerance for alcohol.
I didn’t know this before I went to Japan and the first time I saw someone like that who had a low tolerance I was so shocked, because they go bright red like a tomato and not just their face, but their whole body. And the first time I saw it I thought they were going to die or something and I thought, “Shouldn’t we call an ambulance?” But everyone around them was acting perfectly normal.

So some people in Japan have that reaction and they just drink anyway. And some people drink like this much alcohol and they get really drunk, so they just don’t drink. And other people can drink a lot.

But for Caucasian people like me, that reaction is not so common. In fact, I don’t know anyone like that actually. So the issue isn’t can you drink a lot – it’s more do you or do you want to. For example, in New Zealand, some people don’t drink alcohol for religious reasons, or just because they don’t like it for some reason. And some people are alcoholics so they can’t drink it.

STICK NEWS

Kia Ora, in Stick News today, China Airlines have painted over their name on their burnt-out plane in Japan.

On Monday, a China Airlines plane landed in Okinawa, Japan. Eight minutes after it landed it burst into flames.
All of the 165 passengers and crew escaped.
The plane’s mangled body is still lying at Naha airport while investigators check the remains.
Last night China Airlines painted over the company’s name and the flower symbol with white paint.
Wikipedia says China Airlines is notorious for its poor safety record, described as "one of the worst safety records of any airline in the world.

And that was Stick News for Wednesday the 22nd of August.
Kia Ora.

conversations with sarah
#293 Didn’t you fly China Airlines?

Step 1: Repeat Jim’s lines.
Step 2: Read Jim’s lines and talk to Sarah.

Jim Didn’t you fly China Airlines?

Sarah Yip.

Jim Weren’t you worried about safety?

Sarah No. I vaguely remember something about planes crashing a lot in China, but I didn’t really think much about it.

Jim Why did you choose China Airlines?

Sarah The price. It was the cheapest.

Jim It’s better to be poor than dead though, don’t you think?

Sarah Mmm, yeah, I guess so. But even though they crash a lot it doesn’t mean the plane that I’m on is going to crash.

Jim It’s not like you know which flight is going to crash.

Sarah Yeah. I’d like a ticket for the flight that isn’t going to crash please.

links

today's news
today's STICK NEWS pictures

music

show start, cws start, qa start
artist: Matthew Tyas
album: Music for the movies vol1
tracks: Superheros, Intellectuel, Three ways to run away
from: Oloron Sainte-Marie, France
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site

cws bgm
artist: San Sebastian
track: mellow
artist site

Did you notice a mistake in this script? Please leave us a comment and tell us! We really appreciate people pointing out our mistakes.Thank you.

Have you have translated this script - or part of it - into your language for English practice and published it on your blog? Please leave a comment and a link so other people can read your translation. Thank you.

Show 475 Tuesday 21 August

Watch today’s show at YouTube or BlipTV.


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

I got an email from someone a while ago. And they are thinking of going to Japan and they asked me a couple of questions.
Some of you might have similar questions, so I thought I’d answer them in a video.

OK, so here’s the first question – I think I’ll answer the other one another day.

I have a MA and most of a Ph.D. in Communication (although not language teaching) but I was thinking of doing an online accredited TESOL certification. Do you think it would be worth the money?

Well, before I went to Japan ... I had done a BA and then post-grad journalism. And then I decided to do a teaching course before I came to Japan. So I did a CLTA - Certificate in Language Teaching to Adults. And I’m glad I did because I learnt a lot during that course. But you don’t need to do a certificate like that to get a job teaching English in Japan.
Basically you just need a degree to teach English in Japan. So, whether or not you also do the teaching certificate ... I guess it kind of depends on how seriously you take your job and also how interested you are in teaching.
Like in any profession ... there are some people who teach English in Japan who don’t take their job seriously and they get away with it ... but if you’re serious about teaching – then I would recommend doing the teaching course. Not because you have to to get a job, but just because you’ll learn a lot doing the course and then you’ll probably become a better teacher.

I’m not so sure about an online course though. Because one of the best things about my course was that I got to practice teaching. I did team teaching with a really good teacher – this was at AUT in Auckland, New Zealand. And she watched me teaching a class and gave me some feedback about my teaching which was really helpful.

I still remember how nervous I was before doing that. And just having that experience was really useful for when I went to Japan I think. So in my first interview when they said: OK, here are some students, now teach them this ... then I could draw from my teaching experience.

So I would recommend doing a course. But, having said that, if you really don’t want to spend the money on the course, then I think the next best thing is just to teach yourself. So there are a lot of good books out there about teaching. And ... read the books. And also try and get some teaching experience. So, do some volunteer teaching, get a language exchange partner. Maybe do that and try and get some feedback, if you can.

STICK NEWS

Kia Ora, in Stick News today, American Airlines has sued Google.

American Airlines is the world's largest airline. Google is an American public corporation, specializing in Internet search and online advertising.
American Airlines isn’t happy with Google at the moment.
According to Reuters American Airlines says Google has been selling the right to use American Airlines' trademarks and service marks or "words, phrases, or terms confusingly similar to those marks" to competitors who then direct searchers to their own web pages.
Google doesn’t seem too worried about the lawsuit.
They said in a statement:
"We are confident that our trademark policy strikes a proper balance between trademark owners' interests and consumer choice, and that our position has been validated by decisions in previous trademark cases."

And that was Stick News for Tuesday the 21st of August.
Kia Ora.

conversations with sarah
#292 How long was the teaching course you did?

Step 1: Repeat Jake’s lines.
Step 2: Read Jake’s lines and talk to Sarah.

Jake How long was the teaching course you did?

Sarah About six months. Well half a school year ... so that’s probably not six months actually.

Jake Wow, that’s long. Aren’t they usually six weeks?

Sarah Yeah, but this was part time.

Jake How many classes did you have a week?

Sarah It was twice a week. And each class was two hours, I think.

Jake What kind of things did you learn?

Sarah Ah ... all kind of things. I can’t really remember specifically now. But one of the things we did was, we taught in front of the class and gave each other feedback which was really good.

Jake Do you keep in touch with anyone from that course?

Sarah No, I wish I did though. There were some really nice people. There was one guy who was a bus driver. He was really cool. I wonder what happened to him.

links

today's news
today's STICK NEWS pictures

music

show start, cws start, qa start
artist: Matthew Tyas
album: Music for the movies vol1
tracks: Superheros, Intellectuel, Three ways to run away
from: Oloron Sainte-Marie, France
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site

cws bgm
artist: San Sebastian
track: Happy Sad
artist site

Did you notice a mistake in this script? Please leave us a comment and tell us! We really appreciate people pointing out our mistakes.Thank you.

Have you have translated this script - or part of it - into your language for English practice and published it on your blog? Please leave a comment and a link so other people can read your translation. Thank you.

Show 474 Monday 20 August

Watch today’s show at YouTube or BlipTV.


Hi, I’m Sarah. Welcome to The Daily English Show.
It’s pretty cold today. And it rained. But it’s Monday, so we needed to find a guest, so we hitchhiked into Nelson in the rain ... which was a bit miserable. Except on our way back one guy drove a really long way past his house to take us all the way home which was so nice.
Anyway, I didn’t have anyone lined up to be a guest so I decided to go the information centre and I just walked in there and said, “Hi, I’m making a(n) educational show and would you mind doing a short interview.” And they said, sure – which was great!
So I talked to Miryam and I asked her a few questions about Nelson.
And I also asked her to give me directions because I thought it would be interesting to see how people actually give directions in real life. Sometimes in textbooks it’s not so natural.
So I asked her: Can you tell me how to get to the currency exchange?

Oh, yes. It’s, if you go up the hill outside of us. And at the first intersection you have to turn left. You go down about a block and, ah, there’s a sign hanging on the building.
It kind of looks like an art gallery. Um, but it’s also the currency exchange.

STICK NEWS

Kia Ora, this is Stick News. Last night at an international basketball game the person singing the New Zealand national anthem forgot the words. Twice.

Last night New Zealand played Australia in basketball.
Before the game the national anthems were sung. The singer doing the New Zealand anthem forgot the words . twice.
The New Zealand herald reported one of the players helped her out with a couple of lines.
Apparently, New Zealand’s national song has taken a bit of a beating recently.
At a transtasman netball game in July, the singer in charge of the New Zealand anthem sang off-key.

And that was Stick News for Monday the 20th of August.
Kia Ora.

conversations with sarah
#291 Where do most of the tourists come from?

Step 1: Repeat Sarah’s lines.
Step 2: Read Sarah’s lines and talk to Miryam.

Sarah Which month is the busiest month in Nelson?

Miryam I think probably August.

Sarah Where do most of the tourists come from?

Miryam Um, well a lot of them are from, just BC and then, Alberta. And then a lot from Europe as well.

Sarah What are some of the common questions people ask you?

Miryam Ah, well lots of people want to know where to stay. Um, a lot of people are interested in the heritage that’s in Nelson. It’s fairly well advertised so people are interested … ah, we have tours that you can do, so they like that. And then um, hiking is quite popular as well in this area.

Sarah Where would you recommend to visit?

Miryam Like, I mean, there’s lots of neat things to do. The downtown area is ah, quite a neat place to visit with the heritage buildings again. And, um, all the kind of unique little shops and stuff.

Sarah Where would you recommend to stay?

Miryam To stay, um ... I guess it depends. There’s ... I mean there’s some great camping out at the provincial park. And, um, some lovely little B and B’s. Some heritage hotels that are quite neat. So ...

Sarah What do you enjoy about working here?

Miryam Ah, it’s neat talking to people from so many different places. And, it’s kind of fun trying to see if you can always find the answers. It’s exhausting at times, but, it’s neat.

Sarah What do you like most about living in Nelson?

Miryam Um, I think it’s kind of got ... it’s a neat community. There’s quite a large alternative side to it. And I like that.

links

today's news

today's STICK NEWS pictures

Nelson Visitor Centre

music

show start, cws start, qa start

artist: Matthew Tyas

album: Music for the movies vol1

tracks: Superheros, Intellectuel, Three ways to run away

from: Oloron Sainte-Marie, France

album at Jamendo

artist at Jamendo

artist site

cws bgm

artist: San Sebastian

track: mellow

artist site

Did you notice a mistake in this script? Please leave us a comment and tell us! We really appreciate people pointing out our mistakes.Thank you.

Have you have translated this script - or part of it - into your language for English practice and published it on your blog? Please leave a comment and a link so other people can read your translation. Thank you.

Show 473 Sunday 19 August

Watch today's show at YouTube or BlipTV.

Sunday Kitchen #60 Muffins

2 cups of whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of salt
Chocolate
1 teaspoon of cinnamon

Mix.


1/2 cup of apple sauce
1/3 cup of sugar
1 tablespoon of molasses
1 cup of soy milk
1 mashed banana

Mix.

Add the wet to the dry.

Mix.

Cook for 25 minutes at 375.

Pencil.

links

If you don't get the ending, watch this.

This is the recipe I used.
I adapted this recipe after reading the comments under the recipe and looking at what we had available.

music

show start
artist: Matthew Tyas
album: Music for the movies vol1
track: Superheros
from: Oloron Sainte-Marie, France
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site

other music
artist: arnoldsrecords
album: Our own ways Out
track: Sensitive part
from: Lille, France
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site

Did you notice a mistake in this script? Please leave us a comment and tell us! We really appreciate people pointing out our mistakes.Thank you.

Have you have translated this script - or part of it - into your language for English practice and published it on your blog? Please leave a comment and a link so other people can read your translation. Thank you.