Show 1012 Monday 30 March
Watch today’s show at YouTube or BlipTV.
Hi, I’m Sarah, welcome to The Daily English Show. Today’s guest is Manu. He’s from the North Island of New Zealand. He’s originally from a town called Kerikeri and he grew up in Auckland. And he just spent the winter here in Niseko snowboarding. I asked him why he came to Japan.
I came cause my brother was running a lodge and he needed some help and it was up in Hokkaido. And I’ve never been to anywhere in Asia, so Japan was the option and I thought, “Yeah, why not? Come investigate it.” Yeah. Had a great time since, eh, everyone’s been great. Food, cuisine … but more to the point, the powder of Japan is, ah, amazing. Never seen anything like it. Not in Australia, New Zealand, wherever I’ve been.
STICK NEWS
Kia ora in Stick News today a man in Finland has a USB finger.
Last year Jerry lost half a finger in a motorbike crash. Now he has a prosthetic finger with a USB drive inside. Recently on his blog he explained that the finger is not attached permanently to his body. “When I'm using the USB, I just leave my finger inside the slot and pick it up after I'm ready,” he said.
And that was Stick News for Monday the 30th of March.
Kia ora.
conversations with sarah
#637 Why did you live in Papua New Guinea?
With special guest: Manu Ross
Step 1: Repeat Sarah’s lines.
Step 2: Read Sarah’s likes and talk to Manu.
Sarah Have you lived in any other countries?
Manu Yes, I lived in Sydney. I lived there for two years working as account manager for a company. And, um, it was great fun, I lived in Balmain. I went to Rushcutters Bay, did some sailing. I like being on water, snow, any element … just enjoying myself. And then I lived in Papua New Guinea for about four years as well.
Sarah Why did you live in Papua New Guinea?
Manu Oh, my parents were international teachers. So they went there to teach and we just joined the international school. And, um, went there, made friends from everywhere - all over the world.
Sarah How old were you when you lived there?
Manu I was about 14 to 18 and, um, it was the teenage era, so, it was, it was good, you come into an international school. Lots of sports, lots of good education as well. It was, um, IB and IGCSE. And it was, it was very well done. You felt looked after. The teachers were very helpful in getting you through. But we were behind seven-foot fences with barbed wire and razor wire. You lived in a compound. And we had 14 security guards going around, cause we often had people wanting to break in, ah, rob us and, um, we even had incidents where there was, like, um, people shooting at each other, the police and some thieves that had just robbed a bank down the bottom of our school. And we got in trouble cause we were all supposed to run away from it, but we all ran to see where the gun firing was happening.
Sarah Was that in the capital?
Manu Yeah, capital, Port Moresby. Um, they’ve been independent since 1975. Great, great little country, really tropical. You have two seasons really – sunny and rainy season. Rainy season feels like a warm bucket of water being poured on your head continuously. And then you have the sunny season which is dry, dusty, no moisture in the air, and gets up to 40 degrees. And, um, our PE uniform, we used to dress really lightly and just go do our exercises on a 40 degree oval. Normally if you came from overseas, they’d tend to faint on the field, cause of the heat. It was quite extreme at times. But, lovely place.
Sarah What language do they speak?
Manu Pidgin English. They spoke this, um … cause they’ve got like over 157 different languages in such a small place. They’ve sort of got a broken English, broken their language and it sounds like it’s got a bit of German and Japanese from when they had the world war. Um, they’ve mixed up their language.
Sarah Can you give us an example?
Manu All right. “Mi ple (?) save long Tok Pisin. Nem bilong mi (+ emi ?) Manu”, is like, “I know how to speak the language Pigeon and my name is Manu”. It’s quite a flowfull language. But, once you speak it, you know, they really appreciate it that you’ve gone … (taken the) time … same as when you’re in any country if you learn their language.
Sarah Did it take a while to learn?
Manu I learnt it in the first year, um, some people were there for eight years and still didn’t pick it up. I guess it’s if you went out and met the people, talk with them, get out of your square, or get out the compound really and go behind those barb wire seven-foot fences, you’d meet a lot of people and they’ll teach you a bit of Pidgin. Bit by bit you pick it up and next thing you know you, you’re being able to say a few words and it gathers and you’re, you’re fluent.
Sarah What’s your plan after Japan?
Manu Well I, um, before I left New Zealand, I got myself upskilled in the boating industry. I, um, got my Boatmasters, Day Skippers, Powerboat Level 2 certificate, Diesel maintenance and a whole heap … I did, um, this course that was run by the Navy – well people who had left the Navy. And it just armed you with a lot of stuff in the boating industry. And then I move from Japan, when I leave, I to Europe, go to the South of France and there’s a big super yacht industry there. And we work hard but you get good jobs, good travel and you go all around the Mediterranean, you know, I’ll get to the Bahamas after that, but, next move is super yacht industry. I need a change, the um, I enjoyed the sales then, but after about, you know, eight years of it, I just needed something to be exciting and new. And travel was one and I love boats and so I thought, “I’ll, I’ll blend the two together”, and I came up with the super yacht theory. So I thought, “I’ll get some papers for that and off I’ll go.”
Sarah What’s your iwi?
Manu My iwi? I come, come from the … from about Auckland upwards, that segment is like an area called Ngā Puhi. And so I’m a Ngā Puhi boy. But, there’s a sub-tribe of Ngā Puhi, which is called Ngāti Hine. And, um, that’s, like, in the valleys of, like, the North Island. It gets so cold there in the mornings sometime’s you’ll get ice on cars. Not snow, but it will ice over.
Sarah Do you speak Māori?
Manu Um, we did, instead of kindergarten, we did kōhanga reo, which is like Māori
speaking for kids. And, um, our first language was English and then we started going to Māori schools. And then in schools we really got into the dancing, the haka(s), the, um … Toa lead, ah, the kapa haka group in Papua New Guinea. We even showed them our culture at a United Nations concert. We’d go in there in grass skirts and have taiaha(s) and we’ll, we’ll wield the taiaha(s) in front of people and let out some great song and some dance, just so they can have a little taste of the culture too.
Sarah Do you have any advice for people who are learning English?
Manu The best advice I can give is immerse yourself around it. If you can put yourself in a situation where you use it and you are interested in learning it, you’ll learn it a lot faster if you’re around it 24/7. It … of course, don’t be embarrassed if you get things wrong, because they, they’ll be happy that you’re … learning it. Just be proud that you’re actually doing something about it, learning it. Enjoy it. Enjoy it. Try different things. Go ask for different things at restaurants. Enjoy the language. Get amongst it. Have fun.
filming notes
The interview with Manu was filmed on Sunday 8th March 2009 in Samurai Bar, Niseko Yurt Village, Hokkaido, Japan.
notes
upskill is a new word, so it may not be in your dictionary
origin
wikitionary
flowfull is not a word (not that I know of anyway) the adjective is flowing
immerse around - this is usually immerse yourself in
links
today's news
today's STICK NEWS pictures
example of a school in Papua New Guniea - video
Pidgin
List of English-based pidgins
Tok Pisin phrasebook
example of a Tok Pisin - video
boat courses
music
show start
artist: Boom Tschak
album: Indietronic CCBit.
track: More Chocolate, Please
from: Former Yugoslavia
MySpace
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: Hugo 'Droopy' Contini
album: Strikes Back !
track: On a Slow Boat To China
artist at Jamendo
album at Jamendo
MySpace
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