#954 TDES Presents: Media Port UP By Nikon

Show 954 Saturday 31 January
Watch today’s show at YouTube or BlipTV.

You’ve probably heard of a company called Nikon. They’re famous for making cameras.
Well, they recently started making a product called Media Port UP.

This is the lovely UP. You can use it to listen to music and you can watch videos on the screen.
It even has a wiper. Cool.

The UP staff must have excellent taste because they asked to use The Daily English Show as one of their channels.

And then they sent us one of the things to try out.

My first thought was: um, what’s the point? Who would buy one of these? And what’s wrong with a video iPod?

But then I thought about it some more and I realized there are many situations when it could be handy to be able to watch videos hands free.

For example:

If you’re a mechanic or a doctor and you want to follow instructions while working.
Or if you’re sitting on a train and would rather people didn’t know what you were watching.

When you’re a passenger in a car you can look at the scenery and watch videos at the same time.

When you’re waiting for someone at the train station in the middle of winter you can keep your hands warm in your pockets. And you can keep an eye out for your friend without having to look down and up from a video iPod.

If you’re tired you can lie down on a bench. So comfy.

Waiting at a bus stop.

The UP is also perfect for when you on the phone and you have to listen to someone rambling on … just say uh-huh every now and again and enjoy the video.

If you need inspiration at the supermarket, you can watch a cooking show while shopping. Just make sure you move the screen up before you walk anywhere or you could crash into innocent shoppers.

If you feel like a snack, you can open a bag of chips, hold the bag in one hand and shove the chips in your mouth with the other … all while watching your favourite show. Brilliant.

And if you’re getting a bit chilly? You can put another log on the fire! Actually maybe you shouldn’t do this … it’s kind of dangerous.

So ….

What do you reckon?
Would you buy one?

music

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

bgm
artist: Kevin MacLeod
track: Lachaim
artist site
YouTube channel

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.

#953 Utari Festival, Cro-Magnon, Time Flies, Unless, Shoe Monument, Ainori

Show 953 Friday 30 January
Watch today’s show at YouTube or BlipTV.

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

This year I’m going to a local event called the Niseko Utari Festival.
There are some pretty cool bands and DJs coming. I’ve been listening to their music on MySpace.
One of the bands whose music I really like is called Cro-Magnon. I have no idea if that’s how you say it or not. You might have heard of them if you live in Japan. Or you might have heard of Loop Junktion which is what they used to be called.

Anyway, I thought I’d talk a bit about one of their songs today. It’s called Time Flies.

It starts like this:

Time flies when I’m walking
Especially with you
Don’t want to be anywhere else
Unless it’s with you

So romantic.

Have you heard of the expression time flies? It’s a pretty common expression that you use when you are surprised that time seems to pass so quickly.
For example you might say to your friend: Wow, I can’t believe your daughter’s starting school already. It seems like only yesterday that you were pregnant. Time flies.

There’s a longer expression too: Time flies when you’re having fun.

I think time flying must be a popular thing to sing about… because I came across many songs – and albums – called Time Flies.

STICK NEWS

Kia Ora in Stick News today a sculpture of a shoe has just been unveiled in Iraq. It’s a monument to remember the incident when a journalist threw his shoes at George Bush.

In December last year a journalist threw his shoes at George Bush during a press conference.
Afterwards many people called the man a hero.
Now an artist has made a sculpture of one of the shoes.
He made the monument at an orphanage – and the children helped him.
The director of the orphanage said the children were all victims of the war George Bush started in Iraq.

And that was Stick News for Friday 30th of January.
Kia Ora.

TDES Niseko Snow Report
on Annupuri Jumbo #4

with Taylor

Where are you from?
Perth in Western Australia.

How long are you here for?
Ah, five days.

How would you describe today’s conditions in Annupuri?
Cold, it’s pretty windy, but good snow. Good, thick snow.

Word of the Day

Today’s word is unless. This is the definition in Wictionary for unless: Except on a specified condition.
For example: I’m leaving unless I get a pay rise.

If you’re having trouble using words like unless, I think the one of the best ways to get your head around it is to practice doing quizzes. So I’m going to link to a quiz which tests if and unless. Go and do it if you think you need it.

friday joke

What do you call a sheep with no legs?
A cloud.

conversations with sarah
#595 You haven’t seen Ainori?

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

Sarah Did you know that Ainori is finishing?

Bob What’s Ainori?

Sarah You haven’t seen Ainori?

Bob No, what is it? A TV program?

Sarah Yeah, it’s the one where they go around the world in the pink van.

Bob Oh, yeah, I think I saw that years ago. Is that still going?

Sarah Yeah, but not for long.

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

nsr start
artist: Zeropage
album: Ambient Pills Update
track: Is It Real?
from: Switzerland
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site

nsr bgm
artist: Kevin MacLeod
track: Bass Vibes
artist site
YouTube channel

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: Kevin MacLeod
track: Dispersion Relation
artist site
YouTube channel

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.

#952 Abilities, Living Off Campus, Fire Station Fire, Viable, Business In Niseko

Show 952 Thursday 29 January
Watch today’s show at YouTube or BlipTV.

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

The video I recommend today is called: Abilities.

It was the winner of an amateur journalism contest on YouTube. I think it’s an interesting story. It’s about a community in the United States called Camphill.

This is how someone in the video describes Camphill:

The idea of Camphill is to really create intentional communities with and for people who are developmentally disabled. Don’t be taken aback by the word disabled. Everybody has abilities and those abilities can create a very strong and viable and vital community.

In the Acadia Report today, more comparisons of living on and off campus.

The Acadia Report
Acadia University, Nova Scotia, Canada

This student said she prefers living off campus. Why?

Because you’re not stuck with Sedexalls (?) /Chartwells and their food.

You get to decorate your room how you want to.

I’ve found it’s cheaper. It’s definitely cheaper.

You can have parties at your house.

You can sleep in late. And you’re not bugged by fire alarms going off at 2 am in the morning.

You’re not at the beck and call of RAs and SRAs if they want to have a meeting or some form of get-together in the lounge area in the middle of the week.

If you can come home late, there’s no problem for you to walk in and put loud music on because you probably don’t have roommates … if you’re living off campus in a one bedroom, in a bachelor.
If you do have roommates you’re probably friends with the person, so you know who you’re living with, you’re not with a total stranger.

Living off campus also gives you the opportunity to cook your own food so you don’t have to be subjected to, well, what meal hall considers edible.

You can buy lots of stuff and put it in the apartment to decorate it to make it look homey just like how you would at home, back in your own place, wherever you came from. You can take all that stuff with you when you leave. You’re not subject to have the place looking exactly how you had it when you left.

If damage happens you do have someone you can call and they have to fix it right away. You’re protected by the tenancy act so if your landlord’s being an idiot you just have to call them up and they deal with them for you. I don’t know I just like living off campus better.

STICK NEWS

Kia Ora in Stick News today a fire broke out in a fire station in Nagoya, Japan.

Yesterday a firefighter was cooking dinner for the crew at a fire station. His coworkers were out on a call so he was at the station alone. Then he was called out. A fire department official said in his haste to respond to the call, he forgot to turn the stove off. Ten fire trucks from other stations put the fire out.

And that was Stick News for Thursday 29th of January.
Kia Ora.

TDES Niseko Snow Report
at Niseko Yurt Village

with Rudy

How many seasons have you had in Niseko?
This is my third winter in a row here in Niseko.

How have the conditions been recently?
Recently? Ahhhhh it’s been epic. Epic. Epic. Unbelievable. In my three years here I … last week, I think on Wednesday, I’ve never seen an, a one day, overnight dump of snowfall like that before and it’s just, the past few days I’ve had my best days ever here in Niseko. Just amazing.

How does Niseko compare to the mountains in California?
The mountains there, it’s more of a, a typical mountain range that you see and so the elevation is higher and it’s steeper. Um, and there’s a little more terrain. But the snow is a little bit heavier, a bit wetter, and a little less reliable. They don’t get as much snow, but sometimes they get big dumps. Whereas here it’s … the mountain’s pretty mellow, but the powder’s real deep and dry.

Word of the Day

Today’s word is viable.

adj. that can be done; that will be successful

People often talk about viable options.

If something is not a viable option it means that, yes, it’s an option – we could do it, but if we did it we wouldn’t be successful.

I found this example online:
An E-tagging system is not a viable option for the monitoring of asylum seekers.

That was in a letter to the editor of an Australian newspaper and the letter explains why they think that option wouldn’t be successful.

conversations with sarah
#596 Almost double!

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

George Has the economy affected business in Niseko?

Sarah Yeah, I think it has. Apparently lots of Australians cancelled their trips this year.

George Have lots of companies gone bankrupt?

Sarah I don’t think lots have … but maybe a couple. I’m not really sure.

George Is it really expensive for Australians to come to Niseko now?

Sarah Well, it’s almost double what it was last year.

George Almost double!

Sarah Yeah, so, for example a glass of beer is usually around 500 yen. So Australians used to say: Oh, it’s only about 5 dollars, that’s really cheap. But now, they’re like: Oh, 10 dollars for a beer …

George Yeah, that sounds like a lot more.

Sarah Then again, I think some people who go on holidays to ski resorts have so much money they might not care if the prices doubled or tripled.

notes

RA - Resident Assistant
SRA - Senior Resident Assistant

left - I think she meant "arrived"

epic - an informal word meaning great/awesome/excellent etc

dump - (informal, slang) a lot of snow / to snow heavily

mellow - when describing a person, mellow means "relaxed" ... here Rudy is using it to mean "not very steep"

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

The Acadia Report start
artist: DJ iPep's
album: Home Mix 2007
track: Concerto
from: EVREUX, France
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site

nsr start
artist: Zeropage
album: Ambient Pills Update
track: Is It Real?
from: Switzerland
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: 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: Kevin MacLeod
track: Dispersion Relation
artist site
YouTube channel

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.

#951 Lunar New Year, Dilbert, Punchline, Naked Singapore Stroll

Show 951 Wednesday 28 January
Watch today’s show at YouTube or BlipTV.

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

As you may or may not know the Lunar New Year was celebrated on the 26th of January this year. Apparently, this is celebrated in: China, Korea, Tibet, Vietnam and Mongolia.

And of course it’s celebrated all over the world by communities who want to celebrate it … for example Chinese communities all over the world.

And it used to be the Japanese New Year before they adopted the Gregorian calendar in 1873.

By the way I got a bit sidetracked when I was looking this up and I discovered that the Gregorian calendar is named after an Italian guy called Gregory was the Pope between 1572 and 1585.

Anyway, today’s mistake comes from a blog entry about the Lunar New Year in Korea.
This person wrote: …. family members get together and spend time at home in New Year's day.

That should be on New Year’s Day – if you’re talking about just one day.
For example, in New Zealand, the 31st of December is called New Year’s Eve and the 1st of January is called New Year’s Day and the 2nd of January is … the 2nd of January.
And if you want to talk about that period, people often say New Year’s.

Are you going away for New Year’s?

And you can also say: over the New Year.

So, back to that sentence , I would probably say: in Korea … family members get together and spend time at home over the New Year. Or during the New Year holiday.

click here

The site I recommend today is: dilbert.com
Dilbert is one of my favourite cartoons and the site is awesome. You can register and save your favourite cartoons . You can easily print them out and you can get widgets to put on your site … I might do that actually. And one thing that I think could be good for studying English – apart from just reading and enjoying and studying the cartoons, of course - is the mashup service that they provide.
You can actually write your own punch line for a comic strip – and then you can save it and share it or print it out. If you’re an English teacher I think this could be an interesting activity to try in a class - especially an advanced class – get students to write their punch line and then explain it to the class.

STICK NEWS

Kia Ora in Stick News today a couple in Singapore have been arrested after going for an evening stroll wearing only jandels.

When people go for walks in Singapore they usually wear clothes. But last week a couple decided to take off all their clothes before going for a walk. Restaurant staff said the couple walked by some restaurants and bars smiling and waving and they even stopped to talk to some customers. They said the couple attracted a crowd of more than 200 people who were cheering, whistling, applauding and taking pictures. The couple have been arrested and released on bail.

And that was Stick News for Wednesday the 28th of January.
Kia Ora.

TDES Niseko Snow Report
at MSK JR Apartment

The other day it was really sunny, so I took some photos around my apartment building.
This is where the rubbish goes.
This is my building and this is its twin.
From another angle.
Check out the mountain of snow!
These are the streets around my place.
This is the fire station which is near my apartment building.
And this is the local ski field in Kutchan.

Word of the Day

Today’s word is punchline.

This is the definition from wiktionary:
The final part of a joke.

Here’s a famous joke:

Why did the chicken cross the road?
To get to the other side.

This is the punchline.

conversations with sarah
#595 Did they have fireworks?

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

Paula Have you ever celebrated Lunar New Year?

Sarah Yeah, I went to Chinatown in Yokohama once.

Paula What did you do there?

Sarah It was like hatsumode, we queued up to go into a temple.

Paula What was it called?

Sarah Oh, I can’t remember – it was quite a few years ago.

Paula Did they have fireworks?

Sarah Yeah, yeah, they did. That was kind of scary actually. They were really loud and people were just randomly letting them off in the street.

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

nsr start
artist: Zeropage
album: Ambient Pills Update
track: Is It Real?
from: Switzerland
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: 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: Kevin MacLeod
track: Dispersion Relation
artist site
YouTube channel

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.

#950 Spider-Man, Shirking Chores, Ski Vs Snowboard, Canned Obama Music

Show 950 Tuesday 27 January
Watch today’s show at YouTube or BlipTV.

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

Today we’re studying a scene from a movie called Spider-Man which came out in 2002.

In this scene, Peter, who is the guy that turns into Spider-Man, is being dropped off somewhere by his uncle. And he goes to get out of the car but his uncle stops him because he wants to talk to him and give him some advice.

What can we learn from this scene?

This is a useful phrase to remember: Thanks for the ride.
If anyone drives you somewhere, before you get out of the car, you should say: Thanks for the ride or thanks for the lift.

Uncle Ben is telling Peter off and he says: You shirk your chores.

shirk = to avoid doing sth you should do, especially because you are too lazy
chore = a routine or tedious task, especially a household one

I don’t know how common the word shirk is, it sounds kind of old-fashioned to me.
If I was Uncle Ben I would probably say: You don’t do your jobs.

Another interesting thing in this conversation is Uncle Pete’s use of the word look.

Peter’s annoyed by what Uncle Ben is saying and he’s not really listening. So Uncle Ben says:
Pete, look, you’re changing, I know, I went through exactly the same thing at your age.

I think when people use the word look like this, they’re trying to say: Please listen to me, what I’m saying is very important.

I’ve noticed a few American politicians – including Barack Obama - seem to have the habit of saying, look, here’s the thing, before they answer questions.

It not really necessary … they could just get straight to the point, but by saying look, here’s the thing, it seems to make it sound a bit more convincing. And perhaps it gives them a couple of seconds to think as well.

STICK NEWS

Kia Ora in Stick News today the classical music the audience heard at Obama’s inauguration was prerecorded.

At 12 o’clock last Tuesday, when Barack Obama officially became the president of the United States of America a piece of classical music called Air and Simple Gifts was being performed. The piece was arranged for the occasion by American composer John Williams. Some people were surprised to learn that the music they heard on TV wasn’t being played live – it had been recorded two days earlier. Apparently the bows of the stringed instruments had been soaped to silence them. The performers said the cold weather made a live performance too risky. The instruments may have been damaged and were unlikely to stay in tune. Despite the temperature being minus seven degrees, three of the performers performed barehanded.

And that was Stick News for Tuesday the 27th of January.
Kia Ora.

TDES Niseko Snow Report
with Scott Adventure Sports

For the next few weeks, we have a special guest on the snow report on Tuesdays. David is a ski instructor from England, who’s working for Scott Adventure Sports in Niseko this season.
If you have any questions you’d like to ask David, please write them in the comments section so I’ll have some more questions to ask the next time we interview him.

This is today’s question: What advice do you have for kids who have never skied or snowboarded before and are not sure which one to try first? Well I think, ah, the best advice I can give is to, is to, sort of, I mean, a lot of kids like the look of snowboarding, but I think their parents quite often seem to want them to do skiing for some reason. But, um, is, ah, you can actually, you can always try it out for a couple of days. You know, see if your parents will pay for, you know, one lesson to, to go skiing … But really, you really want to spend a bit of time. You don’t want to do just do, sort of, one day, ah, of one and one day of the other cause it doesn’t give you a chance to, sort of, get an idea, you know, understand the sport or, you know, really get a feeling for, for what either one is like. Um, so, I would probably say to, to try one for a few days. You know, go out there with an idea to, sort of, say, right I’m going to try skiing and then, you know, do that if you’re just there for a holiday or something, do the skiing for the week and then maybe decide the next holiday you’ll try snowboarding. Cause you really want to get past the, sort of, beginner level which is the most frustrating part. And then on to the … then you start to enjoy it. If you cut that too short then all you find is the, you know, just beginning part and you never really get past that to, sort of, enjoy the, the rest of the sport.

Word of the Day

Today’s word is canned.
Here’s a headline I saw the other day, about today’s Stick News:

Obama inauguration classical music was canned and frozen

What does canned mean?

informal, chiefly derogatory, of music, applause etc.
pre-recorded

In American sitcoms they often have canned laughter. That’s a recording of people laughing that they play whenever someone makes a joke.

conversations with sarah
#594 I didn’t start that fight!

* Watch this scene here.

Step 1: Repeat Peter’s lines.
Step 2: Read Peter’s lines and talk to Uncle Ben.

Peter Thanks for the ride, Uncle Ben.

Uncle Ben Now, wait a minute, Peter, we, ah, we need to talk.

Peter Well, we can talk later.

Uncle Ben Well, we can talk now, if you’ll let me.

Peter What do we have to talk about? Why now?

Uncle Ben Because we haven’t talked at all for so long your Aunt May and I don’t even know who you are any more. You shirk your chores. You, you have all those weird experiments in your, in your room. You have fights at school.

Peter I didn’t start that fight! I told you that!

Uncle Ben Well you sure as hell finished it.

Peter What was I supposed to do, run away?

Uncle Ben No, no, you’re not supposed to run away, but… Pete, look, you’re changing, I know, I went through exactly the same thing at your age.

Peter No, not exactly.

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

nsr start
artist: Zeropage
album: Ambient Pills Update
track: Is It Real?
from: Switzerland
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: Kevin MacLeod
track: Dispersion Relation
artist site
YouTube channel

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.

#949 Rudy From California, Timber Scavengers

Show 949 Monday 26 January
Watch today’s show at YouTube or BlipTV.

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

Today’s guest is Rudy. Rudy grew up in California in the United States and his parents are originally from China. Rudy’s been teaching English in Japan for about the last three years and at the moment he’s spending the winter snowboarding in Niseko. Before he taught in Japan he also spent six months teaching in Egypt. I asked him how teaching in Egypt was.

Ah, it was pretty awesome. It was, it was just so … it was really exotic and totally different from back home.

Why did you choose Egypt?

I was really interested in the area and … in the Middle East … and I studied like Middle Eastern politics in uni, in college, and I don’t know, I was just really interested in the language too. I studied some Arabic in college.

STICK NEWS

Kia Ora in Stick News today 1500 tons of timer has fallen of a Russian ship in the English Channel. The timer has started washing up on beaches in English and authorities have warned people they are not welcome to help themselves.

Last week a Russian ship was travelling from Sweden to Egypt when rough seas caused some timber to fall overboard. The wooden planks have now started washing up on beaches in southeastern England. CNN reported some locals have taken some of the wood home. One local scavenger was quoted as saying: "I've got a leaking roof and I think it might be really good for that job.” But a spokesperson for the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, said: "It's not a case of finders, keepers. Anybody who does recover any timber must report this … or they are committing a criminal offense."

And that was Stick News for Monday the 26th of January.
Kia Ora.

conversations with sarah
#593 Do you speak Chinese?

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

Sarah Why did you decide to teach English?

Rudy I think it’s cause I just wanted to live overseas and experience different cultures and live in different countries and stuff.

Sarah Why did you choose Japan?

Rudy I pretty much came for the mountains cause I like, I like snowboarding in the winter a lot and in the summer I really like hiking and camping around and … I don’t know Japan was just, like, on my list, I guess.

Sarah Do you enjoy teaching?

Rudy Yeah, I do. Teaching’s pretty fun. It’s just, yeah, it’s, it’s not an office job where, you know, I’m stuck in a little cubicle, in a chair, in front of a, in front of a computer with a boss looking over my shoulder. When I’m teaching English, I can just … I’m my own boss in my classroom – it’s my classroom. And I … yeah, I can talk to interesting people.

Sarah What do you most enjoy about it?

Rudy Yeah, the students, I think. Cause there are just so many different personalities you meet.

Sarah Do you speak Japanese?

Rudy Ah, I speak a little bit of Japanese. It’s not that great. Just a little bit.

Sarah How did you learn Japanese?

Rudy Um a lot of … half of it was like self-study, just kind of … just looking at the textbook in my free time. And half of it was just going out and just practicing and talking amongst Japanese friends I meet.

Sarah Do many people in Japan think you’re Japanese?

Rudy Ah, yeah, like all the time.

Sarah Is that a good thing or a bad thing?

Rudy Sometime’s it’s a good thing cause I can just blend in, I guess. Um, and yeah, not feel like everyone’s looking at me funny or something. So everyday life can be pretty smooth. But at the same time, because I look like I can blend in, um, it can be hard because people, um, think I can speak Japanese fluently because I’m Japanese and whatnot, but, I can’t, so I can’t really blend in as perfectly as I hope.

Sarah What’s the reaction usually like when you start speaking?

Rudy It, it varies I think, it varies. Um, sometimes they get it right away. They know, oh OK, you’re obviously … you speak English fluently with an accent, you’re American or Canadian or something like that. Um, some people think that I’m Korean or Chinese or something like that, who can’t speak a lot of Japanese cause they just came from Korea or China. So, usually, usually the reaction’s, it’s neither positive or negative. It’s pretty neutral. Yeah, I don’t get any negative vibes or particularly … if anything, more positive vibes.

Sarah Why did your parents move to the States?

Rudy Actually initially they moved to Canada for, for college. They both went to the University of Toronto. And I think that’s where they met. So they went to the University of Toronto and then over the years they became Canadian citizens. And then, after my family moved around a bit, um, we ended up settling in California. And then … I’ve been in California since I was like five. And I pretty much grew up there and then my mum became a naturalized citizen. And then, so did I. So … therefore I’m now a dual Canadian-American citizen.

Sarah Do you speak Chinese?

Rudy Um, yeah, I speak a little bit of Cantonese. A little bit of, a little bit of Cantonese. It was, it was the deal where my parents speak to me in Cantonese as a kid and I answer back to them in English. So I can understand some Cantonese, like at home type Cantonese, but I can’t really speak much. I can if I try but sometime I just can’t find the words.

Sarah Do you have any advice for people who are studying English?

Rudy It’s mostly effort I think. Effort. If you really want to, if you really want to learn a language – not just English – um … just put a lot of effort into it.

notes
blend in

phrasal verb - if sth blends in, it is similar to its surroundings or matches its surrondings
Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

whatnot

(informal) used when you are referring to sth, but are not being exact and do not mention its name
Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary

* "and whatnot" is similar to "and stuff"

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

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: Kevin MacLeod
track: Dispersion Relation
artist site
YouTube channel

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.

#948 Love Pancakes

Show 948 Sunday 25 January
Watch today's show at YouTube or BlipTV.

Sunday Kitchen #124 Love Pancakes

Valentine’s Day is coming up, so I thought I’d to do some romantic cooking.

I decided to make some Love Pancakes.

First I made some batter.

Half a cup of soymilk.
Two tablespoons of flour.
A tablespoon of oil.
Some cinnamon.
A tablespoon of sugar.
And some walnuts.

I poured the mixture into a small plastic jug.

And I heated up the frying pan I and tried to write 愛 (ai) - the Japanese word for love.

As you can see, it was a complete disaster.

So, I decided to pour the mixture into a plastic bag and cut off one of the corners.
This worked much better – but it was a bit too thin to turn over.

This is my second attempt with the plastic bag style … that was still a bit too delicate to turn over.

So the next time I decided to make the strokes thicker and clearly joined together.

This time, bingo, I managed to turn it over.
Hmm, a little bit too much love on that side. But not bad. It kind of looks like ai.

In the end I made three Love Pancakes. None of them really looked that much like ai … but they all tasted good.

music

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

bgm
artist: Kevin MacLeod
track: Lachaim
artist site
YouTube channel

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.

#947 Ken Miyamoto Exhibition, Niseko, Japan

Show 947 Saturday 24 January
Watch today’s show at YouTube or BlipTV.

Ken Miyamoto has been painting since he was a child.
He’s now a full time artist.
He moved from Tokyo to Niseko 16 years ago.
He usually sells his work in Honshu.
Now, for the first time, an exhibition of his work is being held in Niseko.
The paintings went on display in the Green Leaf Hotel earlier this month.
The exhibition is open to the public from the 6th of February to the end of February.
The Daily English Show went to the exhibition to have a look. I was really happy to be able to finally see the paintings. I’ve been a fan of Ken’s work for a while but this was the first time I’d seen any actual paintings.
We also talked to the director of the hotel who organized the exhibition as well as the artist himself.

Do you often have exhibitions here?

This is the very first exhibition that we’ve had since I’ve come to the hotel and it definitely won’t be our last exhibition. But we’ll be very hard-pressed to find somebody like Ken and work like Ken’s to actually display. His work is magnificent.

What kind of feedback have you had so far?

The feedback from customers and guests is really amazing. Um, people come through, they look at the work … and you can see them actually walking into it. They’re actually … their minds are moved into the work. Big smiles. I haven’t seem anybody come away from, from looking at a piece of work without a huge smile on their face. And there’s normally comments about where it was painted or how it was done or … And that it’s got a Japanese style but it’s also very modern. Um, incredible. It’s moving a lot of people.

notes

hard-pressed adj.
hard-pressed to do sth = finding sth very difficult to do

music

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

bgm
artist: Kevin MacLeod
track: Vulcan
artist site
YouTube channel

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.

#946 R-E-S-P-E-C-T, Naughty Britney, Up Your Sleeve

Show 946 Friday 23 January
Watch today’s show at YouTube or BlipTV.

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

Today we’re studying a song by Aretha Franklin.
You’ve probably heard of Aretha Franklin – she’s a pretty famous singer. And she just sang at Obama’s inauguration.

The song she’s most famous for is called Respect.
The song was written and originally released by Otis Redding. And Aretha Franklin’s version came out in 1967.
You might not learn much from this song, except it will definitely help you to remember how to spell the word respect, because it’s spelt out many times in the song: R-E-S-P-E-C-T.
Although … that’s not a particularly hard word to spell. It would probably be more useful if the song was called pneumonia or definitely.

The phrase just a little bit is also a good one to have up your sleeve.

Would you like some more ice cream? Mmm, OK, thank you, just a little bit.

STICK NEWS

Kia ora in Stick News today Britney Spears has decided to rename a song from her latest album following complaints about the naughty lyrics.

On the 28th of November 2008, Britney Spears released her sixth studio album. In the United States it sold over 500,000 copies in the first week. Some people aren’t happy with one of the songs on the album. So Britney decided to change the name of the song for its American radio release.

And that was Stick News for Friday the 23rd of January.
Kia ora.

TDES Niseko Snow Report
on Annupuri Jumbo #4

Where are you from?
Melbourne, Australia.

What do you think of today’s conditions in Annupuri?
Today’s great. Today’s um, nice, well it’s sunny in parts, a bit of snow … I don’t think it’s stopped snowing for like three days, has it, so … best snow I’ve seen in my life - ever. It’s fantastic. And I’ve been skiing a lot, well, boarding a lot, so … yeah.

How long have you been in Niseko?
Well, we’re here for eight days. So six, six days on the snow and, ah, we arrived on Monday and leave next Monday. So that’s basically eight days.

Where do you usually go snowboarding in Australia?
Ah, I usually go to … either Hotham which is in Victoria, I’ve been to Perisher … so either Hotham or Perisher. Hotham’s closest.
What do you do in Australia?
I work in, ah, property, so, like … industrial property. Yeah, so … it’s good. But I’m fortunate … I’m glad I’m not at work, I can tell you that much. No one can contact me.

Word of the Day

Today’s word is sleeve.
This is a sleeve.

To have sth up your sleeve is an idiom which means: to keep a plan or an idea secret until you need to use it.

Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary

friday joke

How many politicians does it take to change a light bulb?
Two. One to change it and another one to change it back again.

conversations with sarah
#591 I didn’t get it at first

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

Sarah I didn’t get it at first.

Bobby The hidden message?

Sarah Yeah, I was staring at it for a while going: If U Seek … ahh. Maybe it doesn’t work as well with a New Zealand accent.

Bobby Oh really? Say “F”.

Sarah F

Bobby And “if”?

Sarah If.

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

nsr start
artist: Zeropage
album: Ambient Pills Update
track: Is It Real?
from: Switzerland
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site

nsr bgm
artist: Kevin MacLeod
track: Bass Vibes
artist site
YouTube channel

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: Kevin MacLeod
track: Vulcan
artist site
YouTube channel

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.

#945 Lazydork’s Baby, On/Off Campus, Oath Round 2, Drastic

Show 945 Thursday 22 January
Watch today’s show at YouTube or BlipTV.

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

The video I recommend today is by Lazydork – he’s one of the people on YouTube whose videos I really like. He makes some very funny comedy videos … well he used to anyway, he hasn’t really been doing that lately. And he’s also a great story teller. He and his partner have just had a baby and his latest video is talking about the birth. It’s very entertaining and informative. He tells us what an induction means: Now for those of you who don’t know an induction is for a lazy baby who refuses to come out. And he goes on to explain it in graphic detail.

In the Acadia Report today students at Acadia University were asked if they prefer living on or off campus.
If this was in New Zealand the question would probably be: Did you live in the halls in your first year or did you go flatting straight away?
Because usually people only live in a hall of residence for their first year, and then they go flatting after that.
I think it’s different at other universities in Canada, but at Acadia University a lot of people actually live on campus in a residence hall for the whole time they’re at university.
And if you’re planning to study abroad then it’s something you’re going to have to think about – where are you going to live? There are advantages and disadvantage for both options – so you’ll have to weigh all those up and come to a decision.

The Acadia Report
at Acadia University, Nova Scotia, Canada

Do you prefer living on campus or off campus?

Ah, I prefer living off campus because, one, ah, I’m with my friends there and I know everyone I live with.
Ah, I enjoy cooking for myself, I don’t have to deal with meal hall or, ah, going there. And I can take care of myself a lot better. And, ah, I don’t deal with security at all. I don’t have anyone hassling me for drinking in the lounge or wherever I want. I can do what I want in my house.

Living on campus is kind of better than living off campus. Because, I mean, you get free meals, technically, I mean, it’s paid for and you don’t have to cook it and all that stuff. But this year, it it’s kind of iffy because I mean with the increase in meal plan, I kind of maybe prefer to live off campus because it would have been cheaper for me. But that’s the only reason, I think.

I prefer residence to the apartment, because, if I stay residence I can make many friends around our, our rooms. If I stay in apartment, sometimes it is far to go to school. But residence is on campus, so it is very easy.

STICK NEWS

Kia Ora in Stick News today for the second time this week Barack Obama has taken the oath of office.

John Roberts has been the Chief Justice of the United States since 2005.
The Chief Justice’s job includes administering the oath of office at the inauguration of the President.
On the 20th of January Justice Roberts administered the oath of office at Barack Obama’s inauguration – but he made a mistake.
So, just in case, they re-did the oath the next day.
It’s not the first time the Chief Justice has screwed up the oath of office, in 1929 the Chief Justice said “maintain” instead of “protect”. Apparently he eventually acknowledged his error, but did not think it was important.

And that was Stick News for Thursday the 22nd of January.
Kia Ora.

TDES Niseko Snow Report
on Annupuri Jumbo #4

with Ernie

Where are you from?
Ah, from Sydney, Australia.

How would you describe today’s conditions in Annupuri?
Annupuri’s great, um, the tracks are really soft and the back country’s the way to go today. It’s, ah, soft … there’s still soft, soft powder today and just a smooth run all the way down. Just a lot of fun.

Is your first time in Niseko?
Yes, it is.

How did you find out about Niseko?
Ah, my mates came here last, last year and they just couldn’t stop talking about it. So I made a visit today, yeah, this year, yeah.

Where do you usually go snowboarding?
Ah, normally, I’ve been to New Zealand a few times. Ah, Whakapapa and Queenstown. And then, normally, just Sydney, like Threadbo, and that area, New South Wales ski area, so … nothing like this though, this is great powder.

How long are you here for?
I’m leaving on the 20th but I’ve been here since the 28th so I had a three week stay here.

Do you think you’ll be back?
For sure. As soon as I get back to Sydney, I’m going to organize my next trip back here. Next year sometime. Yeah, another three weeks probably. Just so much fun.

Word of the Day

Today’s word is drastically.

Drastically is kind of like very but more extreme.

In the video Lazydork says: My life is drastically different than it was the last time that we spoke.

And here’s a random example that I found online: this report concludes that the United States is drastically underfunding local emergency responders.

conversations with sarah
#591 What didn’t you like about it?

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

Pete Did you prefer living in a hall of residence or in a flat?

Sarah I liked them both. But a year was definitely enough of living in the hall.

Pete What did you like about it?

Sarah I met some great people there. I still keep in touch with a few of them actually.

Pete What didn’t you like about it?

Sarah Hmm … one bad memory I have is one of my neighbours playing a song called Breakfast at Tiffany’s over and over really loudly, it was so annoying.

Pete You don’t like the song?

Sarah No, I hate it.

The Birth

Hello everybody, ah, I’ve been meaning to do this but I didn’t really know what to talk about because, ah, my life is drastically different than it was the last time that we spoke. I had a baby. Uh, my daughter and Lauren’s daughter’s name is Sabrina. She is the greatest baby in the world. And I’m here to talk to you about the day she was born.
Ah, it was a day like any other except that it started at about six o’clock, six o’clock in the morning because we had to be at the hospital, ah, for Lauren’s induction. Now for those of you who don’t know an induction is for a lazy baby who refuses to come out. Ah, during an induction they break your water or rather, not your water, or mine, but hers. And then they give her Pitocin which is what the body naturally produces to start labour.
Now when they broke her water, actually I wanted to talk about this, what they do is they take this large knitting needle, it’s like a large macrobane (?) needle, uh, and they take it out of the plastic and, you know, you open your legs, and they put the needle in there, kind of move the baby … both their hands are like in your vagina at this point, they lift the baby’s head and they “hurgh” underneath it, pop the bag, alright and then the amniotic fluid comes out. That, I wasn’t not prepared mentally for that so I started getting light headed and, ah, I you know blood came out and I was like, ahhh, so I, I had sit down on the ground. I got like a cup of water and like everybody was doing their thing … And the doctor looks at me and goes: What? What are you doing on the ground? She’s like: Did you faint? And I was like I’m fine, don’t worry about me.
Cervix dilated like that. It went, it went from like a one to a three to a five to like a nine … in, like, I don’t know, how long?
It took from the moment they …
From the moment we got injected to the end. How long?
Eight hours.
Eight hours. Now it seems like a long time, but believe me, it flew.
You watching this at home, you kids, who are say, oh man, he’s having a … old man … before you know it you’re going to be in that hospital room, OK? You’re either going to be on the bed or you’re going to be on the floor. Either way, you’re going to be in that room before you know it.
And those eight hours flew. You know, they give you the ice chips. I was feeding her ice chips the whole time. Because you’re not allowed to eat anything. You’re sitting there, eight hours, can’t eat, ice chips, the whole deal.
Ah, nine centimetres and the nurse goes: All right, I’m going to get the doctor, cause, in fifteen minutes you’re going to have a baby.
When you hear those words, then you know that shit is real, OK? It’s like, kind of having this, “Oh, I’m having a baby, oh, it’s so fun, let’s go buy it clothes.” To, twenty minutes?! Now, twenty … I mean I’ve waited for flights for longer than twenty minutes, you know, I’ve waited in traffic for longer than 20 minutes. In 20 minutes, I’m having a baby.
So, whatever, we sit there, 20 minutes, get ready … you know … getting ready to push, the doctor comes in … and starts talking to me about my camera of all things. She’s like: Oh, that’s a nice camera. And Lauren’s like ten centimetres dilated. And I’m like: Yeah, you know, it’s a Canon, it’s real nice. She’s like: It’s wonderful I have an Olympus … it’s …
I was like shut up, doctor, and deliver the baby. So … I’m like: What do I do? And the nurse goes: Grab a leg. OK, I grab a leg.
So Lauren, like a champ, just goes: Ugh, and bears down. The key is apparently to bear down like you’re trying to take a shit. Ugh, like that, but you can’t blow it out, you’ve got to hold your air in your lungs, bear down and push that baby out, right.
After about 20 minutes, I’m holding her leg. Push, you can do it, you can do it, come on you’re doing great. Urrgh. Come on, just one more push, go on, just give it to me, come on one more time.
Urrrgh. Head’s out and looked down.
Now, the vagina, at the moment of birth, is, without a doubt the raunchiest sight you’ll ever see in your life. It looks like a jello mould that fell on the ground. Strawberry. It is fa-nasty. As I say, it’s like being, it’s like being at the Shamo show in Seaworld and sitting in the splash zone. You know, if you’re not wearing a poncho, you were warned, you know.
But anyway, so, heads out, I look down … and then sticking out, you know, between the legs, is a little head. You know. Eyes open! I couldn’t believe it! I was like … Push! You know, pushes, woop, shoulders come out … baby’s out! Hit it, starts crying. And, ah, cut the cord, the whole deal. And we have a daughter.
It was truly incredible. Ah, if you go to my Flickr site you can see her. Which is flickr.com/photos/rickystern - all the pictures you want.
Anyways, a bit of pleasure. I hope to see you soon and I hope this turned out well. Otherwise I just talked to a camera for like ten minutes for nothing. Good bye.

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

The Acadia Report start
artist: DJ iPep's
album: Home Mix 2007
track: Concerto
from: EVREUX, France
album at Jamendo
artist at Jamendo
artist site

nsr start
artist: Zeropage
album: Ambient Pills Update
track: Is It Real?
from: Switzerland
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: 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: Kevin MacLeod
track: Vulcan
artist site
YouTube channel

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.