Show 779 Monday 30 June

Watch today’s show at YouTube or BlipTV.

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

Today I wanted to remind you that at the end of July, August and September, we’re giving away a Super Simple Songs CD. These are the awesome kid’s music CDs I talked about before.

If you teach English to children or you’re a parent or you have friends with kids then you might be interested in these CDs.

I think they’d make great presents too. A lot of children who might love to learn English don’t get the opportunity, for whatever reason – maybe because their parents can’t afford lessons or maybe there’s no school in the area where they live. But if they had a CD like this, then I think they could learn quite a lot just by listening to the CD at home.

If you are interested then you can go to this page and find out how to become a member and support The Daily English Show and get a chance to get cool stuff.

Today’s conversation is about the Ainu language which is the language of the Ainu people.
You can find out more about them in this article in Wikipedia.

I’ll read you a few paragraphs from the article:

Ainu (also called Ezo in historical texts) are an ethnic group indigenous to Hokkaidō, the Kuril Islands, and much of Sakhalin.

(Sorry if I pronounced that wrong.)

There are most likely over 150,000 Ainu today; however the exact figure is not known as many Ainu hide their origin due to racial issues in Japan. In many cases, surviving Ainu may not be even aware of their ancestry, as their parents and grandparents kept their descent private in order to protect their children from social problems.

And this is from later on in the article:

In 1899 the Japanese government passed an act labeling the Ainu as former Aborigines, with the idea they would assimilate. The act was replaced in 1997—until then the government had stated there were no ethnic minority groups. It was not until June 6, 2008 that Japan would formally recognise the Ainu as an indigenous group.

STICK NEWS

Kia Ora, in Stick News today, Facebook is asking users to specify their gender.

Facebook is a social networking site which was launched in 2004.
Up until now, when users didn’t specify a gender, facebook defaulted to words like “their”, which resulted in sentences such as, “Tom changed their profile picture”.
Now facebook has decided to ask users who haven't specified their gender, to do so.
According to CNN, transgendered people and other users who find the male-female distinction too limiting will still have the option of removing gender entirely from their profiles.

And that was Stick News for Monday 30th of June.
Kia Ora.

Word of the Day

Today’s word is assimilate.

(of a society or culture) absorb and integrate (people, ideas, or culture)

As it says in Wikipedia: Assimilation may be voluntary or forced, as is often the case regarding ethnic minorities.

conversations with sarah
#479 What are you reading?

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

Paul What are you reading?

Sarah It’s about the Ainu language.

Paul Where did you get that?

Sarah Oh, I got it at the library. It was free.

Paul Are you studying Ainu?

Sarah No. It just looked interesting so I thought I’d have a look.

Paul Is it similar to Japanese?

Sarah No, I don’t think so. Well it doesn’t really look similar.

Paul Read me an example.

Sarah OK ... um. OK, hmm. 　少し食べたいな（Sukoshi tabetai na), which means: I want to eat a little bit, is: Ponno ku=e rusuy na. So, no, it’s doesn’t really sound the same.

notes

The book I'm reading is published by: The Foundation for Research and Promotion of Ainu Culture (FRPAC)

links

today's news
today's STICK NEWS pictures

music

show start
artist: BrunoXe
album: aprendiendo desde 2004
track: Mandrake
from: Jerez, Spain
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site

WOD start
artist: DJ iPep's
album: Home Mix 2007
track: Game Toy
from: EVREUX, France
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site

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

qa start
artist: ioeo
album: triptracks
track: triptrack2
from: Saint Raphael, France
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site

qa bgm
artist: ioeo
album: Groovetracks
track: endless
from: Saint Raphael, France
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site

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