Saturday, September 06, 2008

#817 Language Study Advice From Around The World


Show 817 Saturday 6 September
Watch today’s show at YouTube or BlipTV.


Where are you from?

I’m from Italy.

From Italy.

Ah, Greece.

I live in Tokyo, so I came from Tokyo today.

Originally from Montreal, Canada.

I’m from Italy.

Um, I’m from India.

Taiwan.

What’s your native language?

Italian.

Italian.

Greek.

I’m a native Japanese speaker.

My native language is English.

It depends on ah, I mean … it’s possibly Italian even if I’d say partly it’s Piedmontese which is a small language spoken in the North West of Italy, but mostly I grew up in Italian, so …

Um, it’s Tamil because I come from a state of Tamil Nadu in the south of India.

Taiwan, we got maybe two kinds of ah, major language. One kind is just like Chinese, another kind is Taiwanese. And some similar but some quite different. And Taiwan still have some aboriginal language. Hakkanese. And, ah, many, many kinds, too many. But I think the major one is Chinese and Taiwanese. I speak in Taiwanese because my mother and my father speak Taiwanese in the family. So my first mother language should be Taiwanese. And then I grow up … in school we need to speak in Chinese. If we don’t, we get punished.

How did you learn English?

Well, I learn it in high school and then I had frequent, ah, study, study periods abroad, in Ireland, in other countries. And, ah, well, then, I mean, living abroad, English is my first language now, somehow, English and Chinese.

When I was a kid, I grew up in a tiny little town, there was no entertainment whatsoever for kids. Except for playing outside or find your own stuff to do. So I was … I had a radio. When you’re in the country, you get this FM band from the American base nearby. Ah, back then it was called, ah, FEN, Far East Network now it’s American Forces Network. I listened to it a lot.

Partly at school, and then I went to England for a number of times when I was a kid to spend some weeks there and learn the language. And then I really learned it only when I had to use it for my job. So, I work in international companies and I had to practice it, learn it.

Thankfully the Indian education system enforces upon you that you got to learn English right from your kindergarten, so I guess that’s how.

How did you learn Japanese?

I learned Japanese … I took a few courses here and there. So when I first came to Japan which was almost five years ago, I took a class and um, and that got, kind of got me a little bit started. And then after that I kind of stopped for a while and then I took another class for four months. And then I was somewhere kind of below intermediate level so I could communicate. But then, at that point, I was living in Japan and I said, you know, if you live in Japan and you don’t speak Japanese you kind of see a, kind of, a limited part of the country. Especially, I mean, depends on your level but I really felt like, OK, I really want to, to get the experience that Japanese people have. So then I just, I think you need a goal besides language, that’s really … I always tell people, I teach English sometimes and I always tell people: if you want to learn English you need a goal other than English, English shouldn’t be the goal. Because if English is the goal, it’s really just a language and … So my goal was really I want to learn more about the country I’m in, I was interested in, you know, different, ah … basically everything I mean, you know, what’s going on around me. And, so I started studying a lot. And I took classes, but I also studied by myself a lot.

Do you have any advice for people who are learning English?

Ah, don’t study, just, you know, get out and talk to people.

Well, general advice for people who are learning languages is to use the language, to go to the country where they have to use it every day. So, that’s the main advice. And then of course if there is no interest in the language in the first place, then you can put all the effort you want and you’re never going to learn it. So that’s particularly true with Asian languages, like Chinese, Japanese, more difficult languages, so cultural interest is also very important.

Internet. Just, YouTube ah … internet in all forms, Wikipedia … just use content. Listen to the lyrics of the songs, watch movies. That’s my basic advice. And read literature. So, on the internet, if you’re into arts to go (Youbuweb ?) If you’re just into content, just check your … YouTube or check the music sites. Content and internet – that’s my advice.

Yeah, listen to the radio, there’s like a lot of different mediums out there that you can use. You don’t have to pay a lot of money to go to all those conversation schools, or, you know, buy very expensive teaching materials. You can just go out and find it yourself. You know, you have the internet now, it’s free, if you have the connection. Radio, TV, ah, magazines.

I think a lot of Japanese people fall in this trap of focusing on English. So you see Japanese people, and, and this always happens, that they will come to you and try to use this very complicated English, which actually nobody really uses when they’re a native English speaker. Because the goal that they’re aiming for is to have really amazing, wonderful English, instead of trying to communicate. The goal should be always communication and trying to learn… Actually a lot of people who speak Japanese well – this is not the case for me, but a lot of people who speak Japanese well – they love manga or something, right, there are a lot of manga fans who learn Japanese because they want to understand manga. The goal wasn’t Japanese, actually, so … same thing.

I think the only way is to use it, not be shy, try to practice it, and thanks to the internet now you have plenty of opportunities to speak with other people through Skype, through chat systems. Listen to videos and just do it over and over again and you will learn it.

Yeah, I think the biggest advice is that you really shouldn’t worry whether you’re, you’re speaking good, bad, you should just go ahead and speak. And I strongly believe that practice really makes perfect, so that’s my advice.

My, my advice maybe from Bruce Springsteen. I think listen to the music and learn. Yeah, I don’t know. From, from Oasis. From Michael Jackson.



thanks to:

Michele Travierso
Alessio Tixi
Prodromos Tsiavos
Hanako Tokita
Chris Salzberg
Vittorio Bertola
Kiruba Shankar
Yueh-hsin Chu (PHS)




music

artist: Boom Tschak
album: Indietronic CCBit.
track: More Chocolate, Please
from: Former Yugoslavia
MySpace

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#816 Crush, Google Chrome, Bent, Graduate Joke, Olympics


Show 816 Friday 5 September
Watch today’s show at YouTube or BlipTV.


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

Today we’re going to study a song by Jamison Young.
The song is called “Crush” and it’s from the album: Shifting Sands of a Blue Car.
I really like this album. There are a lot of good songs on it. And it’s licenced with a Creative Commons licence which means that you can download it for free.
And a cool thing about this album is that if you listen to it on your iPod you can read the lyrics while you listen because the lyrics come with it.

I think this song is about a guy whose girlfriend has just dumped him and she has said lots of things criticizing him. And in this song he seems to be saying: OK, I know I’ve done some bad things and unfortunately our relationship has ended but let’s just move on and please stop saying such nasty things about me.

The chorus goes like this:

You don’t have to crush me You don’t have to put me down

Crush is a verb which means: to destroy someone’s confidence or happiness.

For example: She felt completely crushed by the teacher’s criticism.

And put someone down means: to make someone look or feel stupid, especially in front of other people.

Put-down is also a noun: a remark intended to humiliate or criticize someone.

So if you say to someone: You’re stupid, that’s a put-down – you’re putting them down.

The lyrics go: you don’t have to, which means please don’t. I think he’s saying: it doesn’t have to be like this, we could just move on and be happy, so please stop putting me down.



STICK NEWS

Kia Ora, this is Stick News. On Tuesday Google released its new web browser. It’s called Google Chrome.

A web browser is a software application which is used to access the internet. Last year 78.6% of internet users used Internet Explorer. It has been the most widely used web browser since 1999. Other browsers include Safari, Opera and Firefox. Google has just released a new web browser. They launched the browser with a cartoon book by American cartoonist Scott McCloud. Wikipedia says Google Chrome has passed the Acid1 and Acid2 tests, but does not pass the Acid3 test.

And that was Stick News for Friday the 5th of September.
Kia Ora.




Word of the Day

Today’s word is bent.
Bent is an adjective which means not straight.
Straight. Bent.
It’s also an informal adjective which means dishonest.
Be bent on doing sth is an idiom which means to be determined to do sth (usually sth bad).

A line in today’s song goes like this:

I’d like to see you happy, it seems you’re bent on crushing me.

Which means: it seems you’re determined to make me unhappy.



friday joke

Near the end of a job interview, an interviewer asked a young university graduate: “And what starting salary were you looking for?”
The young man replied: “Around 200,000 dollars are year, depending on the benefits package.”
“What you say to a package of ten weeks paid holiday, plus a company car, say, a red BMW?”
“Wow! Are you kidding?”
“Yes, but you started it”.



conversations with sarah

#502 Which events did you watch?

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

Jackie Which events did you watch?

Sarah Just whatever was on … like judo, wrestling, swimming, weight lifting, synchronized swimming … that kind of thing.

Jackie What were the highlights of the Olympics for you?

Sarah Highlights? Hmm. After Kitajima won his first race and started crying that was pretty cool. And the men’s 400 meter relay – that was awesome. They looked so happy. And when the women’s softball too.

Jackie Are you talking about Japanese athletes?

Sarah Yeah. I only watched it on Japanese TV because I didn’t have the internet, so I pretty much only watched the events that Japanese athletes were in.

Jackie Who is Kitajima?

Sarah Kitajima Kousuke – he won the 100 meter breaststroke and the 200 meter breaststroke. And he also won both those medals in Greece too, so he’s a big Olympic hero in Japan.

Jackie How did New Zealand do at the Olympics?

Sarah I have no idea. I saw the New Zealand athletes walking into the stadium during the opening ceremony – but that’s it.

Jackie The opening and closing ceremonies were great, weren’t they?

Sarah Yeah, they were awesome. I was so impressed.



Crush by Jamison Young
Download here or here.
Watch video on YouTube.

You don’t have to crush me
You don’t have to put me down
You don’t have to be the way you are
I know that it’s hard
Things are never what they seem
As life goes on things might change
I hope I change my ways

You say that I’m selfish, it’s me I aim to please
I have no heart and do not care
There’s no one else just me
You don’t have to crush me
You don’t have to put me down
You don’t have to be the way you are

You’ve judged and tried me ten times over
And you told me that I’m cheap
You’ve said that I should get a life
Get a life, just leave

You don’t have to crush me
You don’t have to put me down
You don’t have to crush me
You don’t have to put me down
You don’t have to crush me
You don’t have to put me down

I know that there’s no point in fighting, fighting with you
I don’t want let you bring me down again

I’d like to see you happy, it seems you’re bent on crushing me, crushing me, crushing me
It’s the day after you burnt me and the smoke still hasn’t, hasn’t cleared
I don’t know what to say
You brought a man to tears

You don’t have to crush me
You don’t have to put me down



links

today's STICK NEWS pictures

music

show start
artist: Boom Tschak
album: Indietronic CCBit.
track: More Chocolate, Please
from: Former Yugoslavia
MySpace

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

friday joke start
artist: AdHoc
album: Toutes directions
track: Sumbala
from: Annecy, France
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site

cws start
artist: Wolfgang S.
album: Indietronic CCBit.
track: Dynamite
from: Belgrade, Serbia, Former Yugoslavia
artist site
MySpace

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

qa bgm
artist: Atomska Sarma
album: Indietronic CCBit.
track: Superbetmen
from: Beograd, Former Yugoslavia
MySpace

end
artist: Jamison Young
album: Shifting Sands of a Blue Car
track: Crush
from: Australia
artist at Jamendo
album 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 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.