http://lang-8.com/1377/journals/rss hana's latest journal entries Lang-8 Inc. Sat May 25 21:41:23 UTC 2013 Sat May 25 21:41:23 UTC 2013 Lang-8 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Lang-8
I found this sentence in the book I am reading now. It means "May I sit on her bed?"
I looked up the word "auf" in my dictionary and "auf" means "on" in English. A dative case comes next to "auf" when you use the meaning of "touching a surface." However, in this above sentence, the accusative case "ihr" is placed next to the "auf." In my dictioanry, "auf + an accusative case" means an upper direction.

I compared both of sentences, "auf ihr Bett" and "auf ihrem Bett" on Google. I found that "auf ihr Bett" was used more often than "auf ihrem Bett."
I assume the reason that the accusative case is used in this sentence, is that I haven't sin on her bed yet when I say "May I sit on her bed?" I am going to sit on her bed and I don't sit on her bed yet. That's why the accusative case is used. Am I right?


Posted at Sun May 05 08:31:56 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/1377/journals/83607324000675327567529912285079131106 http://lang-8.com/1377/journals/83607324000675327567529912285079131106 hana Sun May 05 08:31:56 UTC 2013 When I was reading a billingal book, I found a complicated sentence:

Ich kann die Adresse nicht auf Deutsch screiben.

"kann" is a form of "können" and it means "can" in English, so I was wondering why the verb was placed in the end of the sentence at first, but I learned the grammar from my dictionary. In the German grammar, when you use an auxiliary verb, you have to place the verb in the end of the sentence. That's why the verb "screiben" is in the bottom of the line. I have another question. When I say "to play the piano," I have to put a definite article "the" between "play" and "piano," but in German, don't I need a definite article when I say "to play the piano"?

When I translate "I play the piano" into German with the Google translation, I will get "Ich spiele das Klavier." However, all of the sentences I found don't have the definite article "das."

Don't you say "Ich spiele das Klavier"?
Ist "Ich spiele Klavier" gut?



Posted at Sat May 04 13:23:33 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/1377/journals/278882672899716408860833995044807743552 http://lang-8.com/1377/journals/278882672899716408860833995044807743552 hana Sat May 04 13:23:33 UTC 2013
I have two Kindles, one is a Kindle keyboard 3rd generation and the other is a Kindle touch. In this book, the German words that are used in a passage are given the meanings on ahead, so you don't have to look up the meanings of them with your dictionary. However, I want to go back to the pages while I am reading a passage because I cannot remember the whole meanings with only one glance. I had an idea. The Kindle can use the internal dictionary, so I should have been able to use a German English dictionary if I buy one. I bought the German English dictionary, too.

There was a problem. The new Kindle OS can set a primary dictionary for each language: When you read English books, you use the primary dictionary for English and you read German books, you use the one for German.
The German English dictionary I bought was automatically set for German. I couldn't set it for English. The "First German Reader for Beginners Bilingual for Speakers of English" is written for English speakers, so this book must be for English. The Kindle use the primary dictionary for English when I read this book. That means that I can look for nothing with the German English dictionary.

I can use it only when I read German books. It is naturally, but it's not the thing I wanted to do.


Posted at Mon Apr 29 13:35:15 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/1377/journals/213136733840375066137431107238928293476 http://lang-8.com/1377/journals/213136733840375066137431107238928293476 hana Mon Apr 29 13:35:15 UTC 2013
I can write anything in English, so I enjoy Lang-8 life in English, but when it comes to German, I have something to write but I don't have skill to write in German. I confront a dilemma.

When I joined Lang-8, I was already an intermediate learner in English, so I could write journals in English. However, I don't know how to use Lang-8 in a very new language.
I just posted two entries in German, but I asked the questions in English. Thank you for the people who understand both German and English.

Do you have any ideas to use Lang-8 when you are a beginner learner?

I don't want to use Google translation to write what I want to write, though I use it to reply comments.

It's a serious problem for me now.

Posted at Sat Apr 20 02:40:56 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/1377/journals/247740111720456924716362365001341574756 http://lang-8.com/1377/journals/247740111720456924716362365001341574756 hana Sat Apr 20 02:40:56 UTC 2013
I found this sentence in an iPhone app called Duolingo.

This is translated into English as "The diet is over."
I don't understand this translation. I know these all of the words, but I don't know why this sentence is translated as "The diet is over."

Aus means "from," ist means "be," es means "it," mit means "with," der means "the" and Diät means "diet." So I thought this meant "it is from diet."

I learned that "the cup is made of glass" was "die Tasse ist aus Glas." The "aus" in the sentence I don't understand isn't this aus?



Posted at Thu Apr 18 12:30:12 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/1377/journals/243860143014886889031604472925092028004 http://lang-8.com/1377/journals/243860143014886889031604472925092028004 hana Thu Apr 18 12:30:12 UTC 2013 The members should attend at some meetings three or four times a year on Saturdays and help for preparing for the bazaar and meals outdoors. I have a full time job, so I told him that I could help on weekends. He said that was okay.
I took the job. I haven't had any job at the former public schools because the members of public school's supporting group called PTA, Parents and Teachers Association have to attend at the meeting on weekdays. I have a responsibility for my company.
When a child goes to public school, the school demand the parents to be a member of it once during the school days, even though you have a full time job or not. Other mothers claim that working mothers are irresponsible because they don't take that job, even though they pay more taxes than others.
I really got tired of this custom, so I made my daughter go to private school.

I like her school system very much. I want to help the school if I can help.
That's why I took the job.


Posted at Wed Apr 17 12:09:21 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/1377/journals/217054361748200646734332534284994190948 http://lang-8.com/1377/journals/217054361748200646734332534284994190948 hana Wed Apr 17 12:09:21 UTC 2013 Ich mag deine Zeitung.

Do both of these sentences have the same meaning?
Are there any differences between these sentences?


Posted at Mon Apr 15 13:57:20 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/1377/journals/133197398578203404785297812295479004026 http://lang-8.com/1377/journals/133197398578203404785297812295479004026 hana Mon Apr 15 13:57:20 UTC 2013 April is the school start month, so there are lots of dictionaries on sale.

I didn't think that I wrote a journal in German yet because I don't know the past tense in German. The past tense is the most important tense when you write a journal because what you want to write happened in the past.

However, I searched a word and found a word next to the word I was looking for; It was "Wörterbuch." I just learned both words "Wort" and "Buch." I absolutely believed that the meaning of this word was a "dictionary" before I read the translation. In German, "Ein Wort" means "a word" and "ein Buch" means "a book."

It is fun to read the dictionary!

I wanted to write a sentence using this German word, so I posted it in the previous entry.
To tell the truth, I wanted to write a past tense, but I don't know how to write a past tense in German. I know how to use Google translation, but it is wrong for a language learner to use the machine translation program.

That's why I wrote a journal using a present tense in the previous entry.

Posted at Sat Apr 13 15:41:38 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/1377/journals/214582000983671852298261087504068222564 http://lang-8.com/1377/journals/214582000983671852298261087504068222564 hana Sat Apr 13 15:41:38 UTC 2013 Es ist auf Papier.


Posted at Sat Apr 13 15:24:51 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/1377/journals/97002176535386665611682051744265275045 http://lang-8.com/1377/journals/97002176535386665611682051744265275045 hana Sat Apr 13 15:24:51 UTC 2013 I started learning German last year, but I gave it up because it was too difficult to remember masculine, feminine and neuter nouns. When I knew the German grammar, I thought the English one was very easy to learn. That's why the English language is dispersed around the world.
I installed this application into my iPhone and started to relearn German. You can learn a language from the scratch even if you don't know that language at all. At first you learn a few easy words with articles, so you can remember the grammatical gender without hard work. You can practice dictations and translate into English.
You will get some points and compete them with your friends.

If you don't have an iPhone, you can use it on the website:
http://duolingo.com/

It might come soon to write a journal in German.


Posted at Thu Apr 11 12:36:51 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/1377/journals/164767563811888578397338166053162688100 http://lang-8.com/1377/journals/164767563811888578397338166053162688100 hana Thu Apr 11 12:36:51 UTC 2013
http://audioboo.fm/boos/1320713-my-hometown-2

It doesn't sound natural yet. There are many "R" sounds and it is difficult to pronounce them, though I know how to pronounce the letter "R." It isn't well enough to memorize this, so the rhythm isn't fluent. It will take much time until I wait for the perfection, so I posted it.

This is a transcript for this recording:

I'm originally from Kure, Hiroshima. Kure is a famous naval port.
It has a submarine base, and you can see the submarines whenever you want, though the submarine hulls are mostly submerged.
If you want to go into a submarine, you can go to the JMSDF, Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, Kure Museum, called "the iron whale museum."
Some veterans will guide you around the submarine, which was decommissioned several years ago, and is now displayed outside the museum.
Kure is also famous for shipbuilding, so there are dry-docks and a steel plant.
They were built many years ago, so they look very old and rusty.
Kure is blessed with food from the sea.
Oysters are grown there, and my mother sends some to me when every winter comes. My children like deep-fried oysters.
Over 400,000 people lived there in war time, but after the war, the population declined year by year until the population now stands at about 230,000.
The downtown was very busy when I lived there, but it looks deserted these days. I feel sad when I see so many shuttered shops downtown.


Posted at Wed Apr 10 10:59:21 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/1377/journals/237886951359221415447791653172844037797 http://lang-8.com/1377/journals/237886951359221415447791653172844037797 hana Wed Apr 10 10:59:21 UTC 2013 One said, however, that some foreign colleagues use "fish cultivation." Another friend told me that she read an article used "cultivated pearl."

It was very interesting! I looked it up in my dictionary and the definition for to cultivate" is that "to cultivate something" is "to prepare and use land for growing plants or crops. It is what I learned.
I visited Wikipedia written in English and found an entry labeled "fish farming."

Which word do you use fish farming or fish cultivation when you say that you grow fish or pearl in the sea?

And which word do you use cultivated pearl or cultured pearl when you say artificial pearl?

Posted at Fri Apr 05 14:26:04 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/1377/journals/254954344083286204678439782194552479332 http://lang-8.com/1377/journals/254954344083286204678439782194552479332 hana Fri Apr 05 14:26:04 UTC 2013


I'm originally from Kure, Hiroshima. Kure is famous for a naval port. It has a base of submarine boats, so you can see submarine boats whenever you want, though the bodies of the submarine boats are almost under the water. If you want to go into a submarine boat inside, you will go to the JMSDF, Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, Kure Museum called "the iron whale museum."
Some veterans guide you around the inside of the submarine, which was decommissioned several years ago and displayed outside the museum.
Kure is also famous for shipbuilding, so there are a building dockyard and a steel plant. They were built many years ago, so they look very old and rusty.
Kure is blessed with food from the sea. Oysters are cultivated and my mother sends some to me when every winter comes. My children like deep-fried oysters.
There were over 400,000 people in war time, but after the war, the population is declining year by year and the population now stands at about 230,000. The downtown used to be very busy when I lived, but it looks deserted these days. I feel sad when I see many shuttered shops in the downtown.


I went back to my hometown last weekend. I took some pictures.
The first one is the naval base, the middle is a rusty plant and the last is shown oyster rafts.


Posted at Wed Apr 03 13:21:46 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/1377/journals/148074280129844115609992380108116041316 http://lang-8.com/1377/journals/148074280129844115609992380108116041316 hana Wed Apr 03 13:21:46 UTC 2013
http://audioboo.fm/boos/1305276-height-and-weight-2

NOTICE: The audio will start at once when you click this link. Be careful!

I want to improve my pronunciation, so if you have any advice for my recording, would you leave a comment?

This is a transcript for this recording:

NOTICE: This transcript is already corrected in the previous journal.

I'm 158 centimeters tall and weigh 53 kilograms at the moment, but until I was in my thirties I weighed 40 kilograms.
My current weight is heavier than it was with a full-term baby.
Those who knew me ages ago are surprised when they see me now.
I can't wear any of the clothes I bought when I was young, but I can't bear to throw them away either because I might lose weight and want to wear those clothes again.
My body height is just average among Japanese women.
My twelve-year-old daughter is 153 centimeters tall, so she is still shorter than me, but her feet are larger than mine.
I predict that she will be taller than me soon.


Posted at Wed Apr 03 11:42:42 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/1377/journals/202314111057958122732974769751316066768 http://lang-8.com/1377/journals/202314111057958122732974769751316066768 hana Wed Apr 03 11:42:42 UTC 2013 My body height is just average among Japanese women.
My twelve-year-old daughter is 153 centimeters and she is shorter than me, but she has a larger size of her feet than mine. I predict that she will be taller than me soon.


Posted at Wed Mar 27 13:00:53 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/1377/journals/121260821811207392668083796164687301515 http://lang-8.com/1377/journals/121260821811207392668083796164687301515 hana Wed Mar 27 13:00:53 UTC 2013 I really appreciate your comments after hearing my recording. There are some difficulties this time, especially the pronunciations of "walk" and "kilometer."
I bought an Text-to-Speach application for my iPhone, which is "Speak it!" because I didn't know how I read my script aloud. I practiced repeating it after the application.
The transcript that I memorized has already been corrected.

Here is a recording:
http://audioboo.fm/boos/1291749-walking-2

NOTICE: The audio will start at once when you click this link. Be careful!

This is a transcript for this recording:

My husband suffered a retinal detachment last August and stayed in the hospital for about two weeks.
It made us remember the importance of our health.
We talked about our future after he left the hospital.
We are in our forties; though we're not old, we should take better care of our health.
He sometimes plays golf, but not very often.
I hardly ever exercise.
We decided to be more proactive about our health.
We have a dog, so we decided to go for a walk with him.
At first, we couldn't walk for very long.
I felt tired after only a few kilometers.

I told my co-worker that my husband and I walked on weekends.
She told me that she walked with her husband on weekends, too, and said, "We walked around 20 kilometers on Sunday."
What a surprise!

I told this story to my husband and he said, "We will do the same thing in the near future."
I doubted that, but anyway, we continued to walk.
We haven't walked 20 kilometers yet, but we're up to 15 kilometers.
I'm very proud of us.

Posted at Tue Mar 26 14:27:46 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/1377/journals/111823793273084376252952352878993475237 http://lang-8.com/1377/journals/111823793273084376252952352878993475237 hana Tue Mar 26 14:27:46 UTC 2013
"To follow someone's lead" sounds natural? A friend of mine told me following someone's lead sounded like that you had to follow me. She suggested "to keep up the pace." I asked another and he answered "to keep step with someone."

夫が私のペースに合わせてくれない。
Otto ga watashi no pesu ni awasete kurenai.

If you translate this into English, what do you do?

My husband doesn't follow my lead.
My husband doesn't keep up the pace.
My husband won't keep step with me.

I wanted to say:
My husband goes further. I can't follow him. I ask him to slow his pace down, but he never does that.

What should I say in English?


Posted at Mon Mar 25 13:03:31 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/1377/journals/133556942471286288448333044788379657476 http://lang-8.com/1377/journals/133556942471286288448333044788379657476 hana Mon Mar 25 13:03:31 UTC 2013 We talked about our future after he left hospital. We had to start to do something for our health. We have a dog, so we decided to go for a walk with our dog.
First, we just walked for less than one hour and we couldn't walk for a long time. I felt tired when I walked a few kilometers. I told my co-worker that my husband and I walked on weekends. She told me that she walked with her husband on weekends, too and she said, "We walked about 20 kilometers on Sunday." What a surprise! I told this story to my husband and he said, "We will do the same thing in the near future."
I doubted it, but anyway we continue to walk.
We haven't walk 20 kilometers yet, but we could walked 15 kilometers today. I'm very proud of us.


Posted at Sat Mar 23 15:46:02 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/1377/journals/260638518210612697675000938286480425730 http://lang-8.com/1377/journals/260638518210612697675000938286480425730 hana Sat Mar 23 15:46:02 UTC 2013 So I record what I recite my corrected journals without seeing any materials, though it means "to recite something."

If you have something wrong when you heard my recitation, let me know what is wrong or bad.
Here is a like to one of my recitations:
http://audioboo.fm/boos/1286338-a-graduation-ceremony

NOTICE:
The audio will start at once when you click this link. Be careful!

This is a script for this recording:

Japanese school starts in April and ends in March.
My daughter graduated from elementary school on March 18th.
The graduation ceremony was held in the gymnastics hall of her school.
The principal handed out a graduation certificate to each graduating students, one by one.
Most students wore suits; but a few girl students wore the kimono.
Most of the girls wore a blazer and skirt combo, like a famous girl group, who usually wear jackets and checkered skirts, but my daughter wore a pantsuit because she doesn't like to wear skirts.
Pants suits for girls are not popular, so I made a great effort to find an attractive pants suit for her.
I bought one on the Internet.
Only two girls, including my daughter, wore a pants suit for this ceremony.
She will attend a private middle school next month.
I will report on her entrance ceremony, too.


Posted at Sat Mar 23 14:45:32 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/1377/journals/106977007736790165497688077761069515522 http://lang-8.com/1377/journals/106977007736790165497688077761069515522 hana Sat Mar 23 14:45:32 UTC 2013
Japanese schools start in April and end in March. My daughter graduated from elementary school on March 18th. The graduation ceremony was held in a gymnastic hall of her school. The principal gave a graduation letter to the graduated students by hand, one by one. Most students wore suits; a few girl students wore kimono. Most girls wore a jacket and skirt set like a famous girl group, who usually wear jackets and checkered skirts, but my daughter wore pants suit because she didn't like to wear skirts. Pants suits for girls are not popular, so I made a great effort to find a pants suit. I bought one on the Internet. Only two girls including my daughter wore a pants suit in this ceremony.

She will go to a private middle school next month. I will report the entrance ceremony too.


Posted at Tue Mar 19 12:53:36 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/1377/journals/4766912659011687814570403621000316581 http://lang-8.com/1377/journals/4766912659011687814570403621000316581 hana Tue Mar 19 12:53:36 UTC 2013
I don’t know how popular Nivea Cream is in the world, but it used to be so popular in Japan. There are a lot of tubes and cans of cream, so young people don’t know about Nivea Cream as it is now. When I was a child, my mother often bought it; I didn’t buy it myself three days ago.

A friend of mine is going to the United States in the end of this month. She tweeted, “What should I bring? Toothbrushes and bottles of face lotion?” I advised her, “My aunt makes face lotion herself. It is easy to make at home,” even though I haven’t made it myself. Another friend replied to her, “Nivea Cream is one of solutions. I have used it for more than two weeks; the condition of my face is perfect!” She also linked an interesting web page:
http://matome.naver.jp/odai/2133334537207152901
Sorry, this web page is written in Japanese, but what is written there is that the ingredients of Nivea Cream is the same as the ones of a famous and expensive face cream called “De La Mer,” which is used by celebirites like Madonna. Only few ingredients are different from each other.
Most of friends bought a can of Nivea Cream, including me!
After I washed my face, I scoop it with my index finger a little, spread over my palms and press my face with my hands stained cream without face lotion. It is the easiest way to avoid your face dry out. In addition, it is very cheap.
I use it to care my hair. I massage my head with Nivea Cream before I take a bath. The condition of my hair is so good as I would use an expensive hair conditioner.

Posted at Tue Mar 05 13:08:43 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/1377/journals/274797630162543480160021128869946826340 http://lang-8.com/1377/journals/274797630162543480160021128869946826340 hana Tue Mar 05 13:08:43 UTC 2013
I started Nordic walking and bought poles for this last Sunday. They cost about 13,000 yen. It wasn’t cheap, but I have an expectation for my health. I wanted to learn Nordic walking more, so I bought a Kindle book about it. I finished reading it just in five days. I learned the history and how to use poles effectively. I wanted to learn it further more, so I bought another Kindle book. The book is written on similar contents, but it is interesting.

However, I have a question about how to use the verb “plant.” The verb “plant” I already know means to put seeds on the ground to raise vegetables and flowers. How about to plant the poles?
This is the sentence written in this book:
Cross-country skiing is divided into either classic style (legs and arms move forward and back) or skating style (legs move alternating from side to side while both arms plant the poles at the same time).


When you plant the poles, do you prick the poles into the ground or the street to get a propelling power? I assume that classic style is like a normal walking style: when your right hand is forward and left hand is backward, your right leg is backward and left leg is forward. On the other hand, skating style is that your legs move like walking, but your both arms push the ground with the poles at the same time.

I’m afraid I was wrong. I hardly ski and skate, so I can’t imagine these situations.

Posted at Tue Feb 26 13:41:04 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/1377/journals/56164780588108600211229754377093385868 http://lang-8.com/1377/journals/56164780588108600211229754377093385868 hana Tue Feb 26 13:41:04 UTC 2013
Nordic Walking

My husband and I go for a walk with my dog named Charlie, for about one and a half hours on weekends these days for our health. He usually has Charlie’s lead, so I have a walking bag containing manner bags to catch a dog’s dropping. This manner bag is made of twofold paper and plastic, so first you insert your hand into a plastic bag, grab droppings with an outer paper bag and turn over the plastic bag. You tie it and flash the paper bag with them in the toilet when you come home. Be careful, don’t flash the plastic bag because it can be melted with water.


http://www.iris-pet.com/wan/shiba-chico/21_repo.html

I brought it after Charlie took a dump, but I had a good idea not to bring it. I should have made him bring it himself! I bought a backpack for him like the picture. I didn’t have to bring anything during walking!

I saw a man walking using Nordic walking poles when we were walking this weekend. Do you know Nordic walking? It is a kind of walking styles with poles. This video is a good one to explain it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2o9MTmHgiXE

I want to buy Nordic walking poles, but there are a lot of kinds of poles, so I don’t know which poles I have to buy. I’m learning Nordic walking from a book right now.


Posted at Sun Feb 17 14:28:48 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/1377/journals/116465169013305655479335659263561959870 http://lang-8.com/1377/journals/116465169013305655479335659263561959870 hana Sun Feb 17 14:28:48 UTC 2013 http://m.learningenglish.voanews.com/1589841.html

I use the website Voice of America Special English in order to improve my listening skill because the English used in this website is slower than other websites and the topics come up are very interesting. I heard an article on education today. It is the link on the above.

Young generations use the Internet for research. It is convenient, but some teachers worry that students don’t work hard to search something.

I understood the content, but I have some questions. The next two sentences were told by a teacher, so they are spoken words.

(1) And the goal is to really help them become creators of content, and meaningful content, and not just sort of consumers.

(2) It’s like everything else -- in a world in which things can happen quickly, you really do need to have a way to step back, reflect and analyze the information you have.

About (1), I’m not sure of the meanings of “creators of content” and “meaningful content.” The meaning of “content” is the subject matter, so what are creators of content”?
The goal used in this sentence is a purpose for students. They will be able to make something meaningful.
I look up the word “content” in my English dictionary, and found this word is used in two ways: singular and plural. They have different meanings in each type. I know one of the meanings; there is a jar. Jam is in the jar. The content of the jar is jam. Or there is a book. Something is written in the book. Something is the content of the book.

About (2), the part of the sentence I didn’t know very well is to have a way to step back. This sentence means that you can search anything quickly using the Internet, but you should take a long time to think. You need a time to step back and analyze.
If you rephrase the sentence “you need to have a way to step back” in other words, what would you do? Is there a difference between “you need to step back” and “you need to have a way to step back”?

Posted at Wed Feb 13 12:05:50 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/1377/journals/241164503646517316041819481031809042878 http://lang-8.com/1377/journals/241164503646517316041819481031809042878 hana Wed Feb 13 12:05:50 UTC 2013
It's only the bad news that gets into newspapers.

I know the meaning of this, but is the phrase “to get into newspapers” well used in common conversations? I understood the meaning when I read it, but I didn't understand it when I was hearing it.
It means that you see only the bad news on the newspapers because it won’t become an article if it is not too bad. It is a kind of truth, but I want to read something good like someone who can climb up Mt. Everest alone or someone who helps children learn math in a developing country, when I read a newspaper. I’d like to read an article about an invention of recyclable energy in low price.
However, I often see terrible news on newspapers like a war or someone’s death.

To tell you the truth, I haven’t subscribed to any newspapers since I could use the Internet at home because I can get any news on the Internet. In addition, I don’t have enough time to read newspapers in the morning because I have a full time job and have to make a lunch box for my son.

Anyway, could you rephrase the above sentence in other words you often use?

Posted at Mon Feb 04 13:48:21 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/1377/journals/182888060426361771455631623852594030155 http://lang-8.com/1377/journals/182888060426361771455631623852594030155 hana Mon Feb 04 13:48:21 UTC 2013
I love stationery very much. I can kill time at a stationery store for a few hours. I found an interesting stapler, which doesn’t need staples even though it’s a stapler.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ypdnot14GHE

It is called “Harinacs.” Hari means a staple in Japanese and nacs is just a suffix, which is used to sound cool. My Harinacs can staple up to five pieces of paper. It doesn’t need any staples to staple documents together.

The International Monetary Fund meeting was held in Tokyo last October. Harinacs were sent to attendants and they were impressed at the feature of Harinacs. It is revolutionary and kind to the environment.

I have a dog. Staples are dangerous for dogs if they swallow a staple, so I started to use Harinacs instead of an ordinary stapler.


Posted at Sat Jan 26 14:16:27 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/1377/journals/331002180545600969164310552721622849881 http://lang-8.com/1377/journals/331002180545600969164310552721622849881 hana Sat Jan 26 14:16:27 UTC 2013
My daughter passed the entrance examination for a private integrated junior high and senior high school, so she can go to the school for the next six years. Her school is very unique. Japanese private schools are ranked as a deviation score and the value of her school isn’t very high, so it isn’t popular because most of parents want their child to go to a public middle school if the deviation value isn’t very high.
The number of the students in her school is very small. There are less than twenty students in each grade. The sales point of her school is a small-group instruction. If some students don’t get a good score, teachers will give more instructions. The teachers can take care of them carefully.
I like this very much.

On the other hand, the number of the students in her senior high school is large because most of the high school students can go to university. The school can manage to run with the tuition from the senior high school students.

The school buildings are located in the same place, so the middle school students enjoy small-group instruction and also enjoy large group.

She is very looking forward to going to the school!


Posted at Sat Jan 19 14:08:14 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/1377/journals/226320140176002782047661356595003254347 http://lang-8.com/1377/journals/226320140176002782047661356595003254347 hana Sat Jan 19 14:08:14 UTC 2013
Do you know Nestle Kit Kat? It is a chocolate-covered wafer biscuit and sold all over the world. I used to eat it when I was a child, but I didn’t eat it at all for a long time because it is too sweet.

In Japan, Kit Kat is a snack for good luck because of the sound of the name. “Kit Kat” sounds “to win definitely” in Japanese(*), so people give Kit Kat to the students taking entrance examinations in order to wish them luck. My daughter wanted to go to a private middle school. We don’t have to take any examinations if you go to a public middle school because it is a obligated education. If you want to go to a private middle school, you have to take an entrance examination. She took some classes after school to pass the examination. She studied hard for about eight months.

My mother and my husband’s parents, my daughter’s cram school teacher and her friend’s mother gave some Kit Kats to her. She got a lot of Kit Kats at a time. We ate Kit Kat every day before the day of the middle school entrance examination. I thought she succeeded in her examination because she ate Kit Kat every day until the examination day.

The package of Japanese Kit Kat is very interesting. You can write a message on the back side of the Kit Kat package. I wrote a message before I gave it to her.

(*) “To win definitely” is “きっと勝つ” (Kitto Katsu) in Japanese.

Posted at Sat Jan 12 13:25:56 UTC 2013
]]> http://lang-8.com/1377/journals/202945094424201538427475667086934795851 http://lang-8.com/1377/journals/202945094424201538427475667086934795851 hana Sat Jan 12 13:25:56 UTC 2013
My cold is always separated into three stages: First, I have a sore throat, then have heavy cough. I feel fever during sore throat, but I hardly have fever, though I feel sluggish. Finally, I have a running nose.

My nose started to run just a few days ago, so I believe I will get better soon.

There is no real cure for cold in the world. Pharmaceutical companies sell a lot of medicine for cold, but they are not real ones, but just for symptoms such as fever, sore throat and running nose.

The best thing against cold is that keep warm and stay still.

Posted at Thu Nov 22 02:56:50 UTC 2012
]]> http://lang-8.com/1377/journals/1791818 http://lang-8.com/1377/journals/1791818 hana Thu Nov 22 02:56:50 UTC 2012
I think every car running on a public road has a number plate . In Japan, different types of cars have different colors of number plates.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_Japan

For example, public transportation vehicles have a green plate and kei cars have a yellow one. Do you know a kei car? It is small and its automobile tax is cheaper than any other kinds of cars, so it is very popular, though I have never drive kei cars. Kei cars are called just "kei," which is similar to the same pronounciation as the alphabet letter "K." My son's name is Keisuke, so he is also called "Kei" by everyone. He is complaining about this because my husband and I often say a dirty word against drivers whose have kei cars; Why is he parking his car even though it is a kei car? (We are in a parking lot. There are parking spaces for kei cars, which are smaller than other spaces.) He says he thinks those words are thrown against him. It is not a good word, but it is often said; it's "Kei no kuseni." It means it's just a kei car.
 
This isn't a story I want to write today.
 
There is a rumor among children; If you see five "kurocky" cars without seeing a red car, your dream will come true. "Kurocky" is just a nickname for a special kei car, which has a black number plate with yellow letters like this:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/75/Japanese_yellow_on_black_license_plate.png
(You have to copy this link and paste it on your browser. I'm sorry I can't link it directly.)
 
Kuro means black and Ki means yellow in Japanese, so children call black and yellow number plates "kurocky." 
 
They are not usual and some small trucks for door-to-door services have these number plates. Even though you see four  in row, but you eventually see a red car. Many red cars are driving. That's why children are crush on this rumor.
 
Here is one question; if a red car has a kurocky, is it a restart or can I count  one?
Japanese post office door-to-door service trucks are painted red, so those cars have kurocky. You can see the car on the picture. A friend of my daughter, who started to say this rumor, decided that you could count one kurocky when you saw a red kurocky car. According to my daughter, nobody achieves this. I tried to see five kurocky cars several times, but I couldn't do it. I'm wondering whether this is possible or not.
 

   


Posted at Tue Oct 30 11:25:57 UTC 2012
]]> http://lang-8.com/1377/journals/1755518 http://lang-8.com/1377/journals/1755518 hana Tue Oct 30 11:25:57 UTC 2012