Show 828 Wednesday 17 September
Watch today’s show at YouTube or BlipTV.
Hi, I’m Sarah, welcome to The Daily English Show.
Today I’d like to talk about a mistake that is very common in Japan – that is writing the letter t incorrectly. This might be something that only happens in Japan, I’m not sure. But I’m going to talk about it anyway, because it’s one of my pet peeves.
The letter t, as you probably know, has two strokes – a vertical line and a horizontal line.
And the correct way of writing the letter t is like this: you write the vertical line first, down, and then the horizontal line, across. But I have seen hundreds of people in Japan write it the opposite way, which is wrong.
Now, some people might say, ah, who cares, it doesn’t really matter, does it? Well, maybe it’s not as important as communication, blah, blah, blah … but I still find it irritating. Partly because I think, look, I have spent countless hours and been responsible for the deaths of many trees, trying to learn how to write the thousands of letters from the Japanese alphabets. The least you can do is learn to write 26 letters, that don’t even have many strokes. Usually only one, or two … not like some of the ridiculous kanji that have about 50 stokes.
So that’s today’s lesson, the letter t. Down, across.
click here
Today I recommend this page.
It’s a page of hangman games. This is a fun way to study and the games are well organized into categories, like fruit and body parts which are good for beginners – and there are games under the difficult level too – which says for native speakers. But if you’re studying English, you can try those too if you feel like a challenge.
STICK NEWS
Kia Ora, in Stick News today, the United States government has announced it will lend 85 billion dollars to AIG the country’s largest insurance company.
AIG stands for American International Group. It’s an American insurance corporation based in New York. AIG was founded in 1919 in Shanghai by an American man called Cornelius. It now has 116,000 employees and is 18th-largest company in the world. Currently there is an economic problem in the United States called the subprime mortgage crisis. Apparently, this crisis is “cascading, rippling and ultimately adversely affecting the world economy.” This week hasn’t been so great for some of the biggest finance companies in the world. On Monday, Lehman Brothers went bankrupt. Another company called Merrill Lynch has been sold to Bank of America. And now AIG is getting a massive loan from the US government. CNN reported the loan was an “unprecedented move” to “rescue (the) crumbling insurer”.
And that was Stick News for Wednesday the 17th of September.
Kia Ora.
Word of the Day
sarah: OK, it’s a vegetable.
knf: A
knf: C
knf: Y
knf: I
knf: E
knf: L
knf: T
knf: R
sarah: R? ha ha ha
knf: Lettuce … lettuce … A じゃないの？ (Isn’t it A?)
conversations with sarah
#510 I started doing weight training at the gym recently
Step 1: Repeat Bob’s lines.
Step 2: Read Bob’s lines and talk to Sarah.
Sarah So what’s been happening? Have you had a good summer?
Bob Yeah, not too bad. Just been working really. Not much else. How about you?
Sarah Yeah, same, just work, pretty much. And I started doing weight training at the gym recently.
Bob Oh yeah? For rehabilitation?
Sarah Yeah, to fix my knee. And because I need something to do before I can do sports again.
Bob Do you like lifting weights?
Sarah Yeah, it’s alright. I kind of enjoy it. But I prefer doing strength training through sports.
Bob Why is that?
Sarah Because it’s more fun and you feel like you’re achieving something – you’re not just lifting up some metal and putting it down again.
Bob But what are you achieving by playing sport?
Sarah Well, like if you’re practicing kata in karate, then you’re learning some kata – which is interesting and fun - and at the same time you’re strengthening your muscles.
links
today's news
today's STICK NEWS pictures
music
show start
artist: Boom Tschak
album: Indietronic CCBit.
track: More Chocolate, Please
from: Former Yugoslavia
MySpace
click here start
artist: #NarNaoud#
album: Green Vision
track: Oriental Standing
from: Gironde, France
artist at Jamendo
album 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: Ensono
album: Night Culture
track: Toralla Island
from: Vigo, Spain
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
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