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02/04/11 - A New Fiscal Year in Japan

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Apr 02nd 2012 18:40
In Japan, our fiscal year starts on 1st April and ends on 31st March.

I began work as a public officer at a public high school.
The environment is completely different from that in my previous workplace (a private high school).
Actually I served tea today, which was my first experience as in five years of experience teaching. haha
I feel like a new graduate and want to learn from scratch.
At the same time, however, I want to achieve my higher goal, which is to pass STEP 1st grade.

Many of us (including my former students) just started our new life.
I hope everyone had a good start.
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If you have time, please drop by my site and click on at least one of the buttons, the white button (priority) and the black button (so that more people have a chance to read my blog!)
→http://kenichiokuma.blog86.fc2.com/
Mine Fielder
Apr 02nd 2012 19:16
haha! tea. my dad has me do that too for more important clients.
What kind of teaching are you doing?
As an aside, public officer sounds more like security or police than a teacher.
Apr 02nd 2012 19:31 KEN0405
Im a Jap english teacher!!
In Japan, teachers working at public schools are called public officers... I guess.
Apr 02nd 2012 19:42 Mine Fielder
Well, the future of Japan is in good hands.
Make sure your kids read books and not just watch movies for "practise".
Apr 02nd 2012 21:15 KEN0405
how about "a public servant"?
Apr 02nd 2012 21:24 Mine Fielder
yes. that is a better term to use.
Public servants can be teachers, tax officers, bureaucrats, judges etc.
Apr 02nd 2012 21:45 KEN0405
oh ic...thankya!!
ルーク
Thank you for your correction!
Apr 02nd 2012 20:33
  • In Japan, our fiscal year starts on 1st April and ends on 31st March.

  • In Japan, our fiscal year starts on April 1st April and ends on March 31st March.

2 people think this correction is good.  
  • Actually I served tea today, which was my first experience as in five years of experience teaching.

  • Actually I served tea today, which was my first experience of doing this as in five years of experience teaching.

    It's too early in the morning for me to figure out whether to put a comma after "actually," so have someone else check this out, please. Sorry.

 
  • At the same time, however, I want to achieve my higher goal, which is to pass STEP 1st grade.

  • At the same time, however, I want to achieve my higher goal, which is to pass the STEP 1st grade.

    I think the STEP should have a "the" before it, but I am not 100% sure because I don't know what it stands for.

 
  • Many of us (including my former students) just started our new life.

  • Many of us (including my former students) just started our new lives.

    The "us" in red is an ambiguous pronoun. Change it to "my friends" or "my colleagues" or "the people I know" or "us Japanese" depending on what you mean. Pluralize "life" if you mean you all are beginning different lives. Usually only 2 people who are in a couple start a life (singular) together, and only then if they are pursuing the same career (i.e. we started our new life of running a flower shop).

 
Apr 02nd 2012 21:26 Mine Fielder
Most of this is safe to ignore, especially the date format changes given only Americans say the month first.
Apr 03rd 2012 01:05 ルーク
Yup. I am working on it, but I am a bit of a perfectionist, even with other people's work. Sorry if it looks like you made a bunch of mistakes, you really didn't (I correct my fellow English speakers all the time, and they get mad at me too).
Apr 03rd 2012 01:06 ルーク
Native English speakers, I mean. If you can write that well I assume you can speak the language too!
Apr 03rd 2012 11:19 KEN0405
thanks!! I want to know what you say naturally...
so i dont mind your corrections...would rather appreciate it
for the dates...yeah i used the way aussies talk
Apr 03rd 2012 12:56 tastiger
“

  • Actually I served tea today, which was my first experience of doing this as in five years of experience teaching.

    It's too early in the morning for me to figure out whether to put a comma after "actually," so have someone else check this out, please. Sorry.

”
The comma after actually is not needed. When adverbs and prepositions begin sentences, putting a comma in or not is the author's choice (I've had to look this up multiple times. That and when I used them a lot in those cases, the English teacher said I was comma heavy. XD)
Apr 03rd 2012 18:44 KEN0405
I know you're an expert in commas, tastiger!!
Apr 03rd 2012 22:53 ルーク
Thanks for telling me, tastiger. Just on a side note, I know that some grammar books say that commas should come after "long" prepositional phrases (but don't define how many words are in a "long" prepositional phrase) and after prepositional phrases with 2 or more prepositional phrases in them (i.e. "*From* the top *of* the skyscraper, I could see the whole city).
Apr 04th 2012 14:08 tastiger
Yep, this is true, and I've found conflicting info. on the cut-off mark for commas too. I've had one website say 4 words, one website say that there isn't a set limit, and so on. But your explanation sounds good. :) It's mainly for helping locate the subject (kind of like what Japanese does sometimes when there are a lot of kanji at the beginning of the sentence).

It seems, though (after looking it up again), that adverbs beginning sentences and commas is a bit more complicated than I had originally thought... This website explains it pretty well: http://grammartips.homestead.com/adverbs2.html

So Ken, you're working at a public school now? What led to the new position (if you don't mind me asking)?
Apr 04th 2012 17:21 KEN0405
i coundt find any full time job at my previous place
so i have to move on to my new place
Apr 05th 2012 08:40 tastiger
Oh, okay. I guess that's the way the cookie crumbles. I hope you enjoy your new workplace! :)
therealwindycity
Thank you for your correction!
Apr 02nd 2012 22:35
  • I began work as a public officer at a public high school.

  • I began work as a teacher at a public high school.

    アメリカ等では学校の先生が公務員じゃない^^;; だから英語が話せる人は public officer という言葉が分からないと思う。

 
  • Actually I served tea today, which was my first experience as in five years of experience teaching.

  • I served tea today for the first time in five years of teaching.

1 people think this correction is good.  
  • Many of us (including my former students) just started our new life.

  • Many of us, including my former students, have just started our new lives.

1 people think this correction is good.  
Apr 03rd 2012 11:21 KEN0405
oh ic...but in japan its kind of 公務員！
thank you for your corrections!!
back to u!!
Apr 11th 2012 12:28 therealwindycity
Yep!僕は公務員だ^^;; They are employed by the government, but we usually just say "public school teachers" if we want to give a full title. To Americans, public employee/public servant sounds like a local politician.
Floria◕ˇ∀ˇ◕
Apr 03rd 2012 15:17
Wish u have a good year *^^* haha~
Apr 03rd 2012 18:43 KEN0405
Thanks!!
x

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