http://lang-8.com/215195/journals/rss aki-chan's latest journal entries Lang-8 Inc. Thu May 23 09:45:54 UTC 2013 Thu May 23 09:45:54 UTC 2013 Lang-8 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Lang-8 I got homework. I need to translate Japanese to English.
Could you help me?

Fusuma: They are sliding doors.They are rectangular panels which can slide from side to side to devide a room into two.

Mochi: It is a Japanese rice cake made from rice.It is shaped into the desired shape.
While also eaten year-around, mochi is traditional food for the Japanese New Year and is commonly sold and eaten during the time.

Ochugen: It is a gift for the person you want to express your gratitude or appreciation.

Zouri: A pair of sandals made from straw.

Niwakaame: It rain suddnly.

Manjyu: It's a kind of Japanese sweets.It contains sweet bean paste.

Bonenkai: It's a party which will be held at the end of year to for get every bad thing which happend to you.

Tabehoudai: It is Buffet. You can eat as much as you want for the specific amount of money.

Hinamatsuri: We desplay dolls for female kids to wish their health and happiness.

Posted at Mon Nov 12 16:39:26 UTC 2012
]]> http://lang-8.com/215195/journals/1777098 http://lang-8.com/215195/journals/1777098 aki-chan Mon Nov 12 16:39:26 UTC 2012 When he called one of my student's name who was absent, he said "She is not here."
Don't you say "She is absent today"?
For me "She is not here." sounds like that she might be in the bathroom or some where.

2) See you on Wednesday in two weeks.
See you next next Wednesday.
Which is correct? Do you have any other common expressions?

3)When I encourage my students who can't speak English very well, how do I say.
When I had lesson last time, I said to them like this.

You learn only grammar in school.So it is NATURAL that you can't speak English.To speak other languages fluently, you need to practice speaking them.

～は当たり前です、当然ですという時、It is natural thatでOKですか？

Posted at Mon Nov 05 11:57:51 UTC 2012
]]> http://lang-8.com/215195/journals/1765060 http://lang-8.com/215195/journals/1765060 aki-chan Mon Nov 05 11:57:51 UTC 2012 How are you doing????? I'm doing well.
I started to teach English at high school recently.
When I teach English, I need to use "Classroom English", but I don't know if they are correct.
Could you please check them?

1)Take out your text books, and open them to page 2.
Please read aloud three times.

2)If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask.

3)Don't be shy. Sit up from the front row.

4)When you don't know how to express something, you can use other words.
For example.... You want to talk about "interview", but you don't know the word, you can say like this. I went to a companty to get a job. I tell someone about myself. I was nervous.
Whenever you face difficulty to express something, you should express the word you don't know easily.

Could you please tell me the common expression?
Pleaae check if these sentences are correct.

1)I'll treat you today.今日は私がおごります。

2)Let's split the bill.割り勘にしましょう。
In many textbooks, spilit the bill means "Go Dutch".
Do you use "Go Dutch"? I don't think so...


3)My father went on a business trip yesterday.父は昨日出張でした。

4)I had terrible day yesterday.昨日は最悪な日でした。

5)I didn't sleep at all to study.徹夜しました



Posted at Thu Oct 25 00:08:25 UTC 2012
]]> http://lang-8.com/215195/journals/1746397 http://lang-8.com/215195/journals/1746397 aki-chan Thu Oct 25 00:08:25 UTC 2012


I went to an outlet mall near Kansai Airport with my family and my sister.
She found a very nice sleeveless shirts(?) at a shop.(Refer to pic.1)
She also found different color one and she was wondering which she was going to buy.
When I saw these sleeveless shirts, I was really fascinated by them, too.
She chose black one after all, so I bought the other one, orange one.

Since we really wanted a pair of sandals, we went to shoes shop then.
I asked her what type of sandal she is looking for.
What a coincidence!
We both were looking for the same type of sandals.
We didn't want stiletto. (pic.2) We wanted to buy this type with cushion on the soles.(pic.3)
What do you call this type(pic.3)? If you know, please tell me.
After all we bought the same sandals, different color again:)
We are absolutely sisters!





Posted at Wed Aug 15 13:50:03 UTC 2012
]]> http://lang-8.com/215195/journals/1628028 http://lang-8.com/215195/journals/1628028 aki-chan Wed Aug 15 13:50:03 UTC 2012
Please take a look at the pic.
My daughter is just two years old.
Recently she wants to do everything herself.
She put the pants on by herself, but she put her both legs into one hole.
How funny!

Posted at Fri Aug 10 22:17:13 UTC 2012
]]> http://lang-8.com/215195/journals/1620936 http://lang-8.com/215195/journals/1620936 aki-chan Fri Aug 10 22:17:13 UTC 2012
I went to a local summer festival with my family and friend's family.
My daughter, Mei, and my friend's daughter, Sakurako wore Yukata.
(If you don't know what yukata is, please refere to the picture I posted.)
We had some food from vendors there.
You know, I'm pregnant and have morning sickness, so I'm queasy without keep eating food.
Sometimes I had too much food and throw up.So it's very difficult to control my appetite.
Best of all, we were able to see mamy fireworks at the end of the festival.


Posted at Mon Aug 06 02:22:43 UTC 2012
]]> http://lang-8.com/215195/journals/1613529 http://lang-8.com/215195/journals/1613529 aki-chan Mon Aug 06 02:22:43 UTC 2012 I'm really happy, but I don't know when my due is yet.
I had wanted to have second baby, but I couldn't receive it from god.
The more I wanted to have a baby, the less I have a baby.
But when I gave up trying to be pregnant, I got pregnant.
It ofter happens.

I have morning sickness, so I always queasy.

Posted at Fri Jul 27 14:41:29 UTC 2012
]]> http://lang-8.com/215195/journals/1599903 http://lang-8.com/215195/journals/1599903 aki-chan Fri Jul 27 14:41:29 UTC 2012 I think only twice or three times a day.
When I was taking a train, I counted how many people check their mobile.
Around seventy percent of the passengers were watching their mobile's screen.
I guessed that some people were checking e-mail, watching TV, browsing internet or playing games.
Guess what the rest of the passengers was doing?
The rest of ten percent was reading books or newspaper, another ten percent was sleeping. The rest of them was spacing out.
This made me worried about the future in Japan.
There are lots of things to do or interesting things, but most of people were just watching mobile's screen, which means they don't learn anything.....


Posted at Wed Jul 25 14:21:49 UTC 2012
]]> http://lang-8.com/215195/journals/1596661 http://lang-8.com/215195/journals/1596661 aki-chan Wed Jul 25 14:21:49 UTC 2012 I was wondering if I buy a breadmaker, but I think it really occupy the space in the kitchen.
In addition to it, I found out I can make bread without it.
I was able to baked pizza and some breads with kneding by myself recently .


Posted at Mon Jul 09 12:51:30 UTC 2012
]]> http://lang-8.com/215195/journals/1571430 http://lang-8.com/215195/journals/1571430 aki-chan Mon Jul 09 12:51:30 UTC 2012
He spoke about it at a news conference that was held at Yoshimoto Kogyo co.( "that was BEING held" is better? What's the difference?) He admitted his mother receiving welfare benefits, and deeply apologized about it. He said he was too naive in his way of thinking.

According to him, his mother started to receive the benefit 14 to 15 years ago since she became unable to work due to illness.As his salary was less than one million yen, he couldn't t support her. Then he had been consulting with welfare office. He believed that there was no problem with his mother receiving them, because the office admitted this.

Since he took off his career, he started give an allowance to his mother about five years ago.
The he increased the allowance recently, but his mother still receive the benefits.

Under Japan's civil law, direct relatives have a duty to support family members. Also the annual income of the applicant's need to be handed out to the municipality when an application for the benefits is submitted.

Following the scandal, a lawmaker asked the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry to start an investigation.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Komoto's story is just a tip of ice burg.
I think lots of people receive the benefits illegally, but only a few people were pointed out and retuen the benefits they had received to the municipality.

The biggest problem is that there is no clear criteria for applying for the benefits.
For example, there are two people applying for them.
Please have a look at below.

A: 60-year-old-woman, no saving and her own house---because she is extravagant---Her husband has already passed away.

B: 60-year -old-woman. She has her own house. Since her husband has been sick for many years, he can't work now.

In this case, I guess A will be approved to receive the benefits, but B won't, because one of criteria is whether the applicant has his/her own house. n Komoto's mothers case, she lives in a house which is under her son's name.This means that she doesn't have her own house. When she applied for the benefits, she couldn't work and her son's salary wasn't enough to support her.
These are important points.

That means( "This means" is better?) the welfare office doesn't do a follow-up survey for the amount income of the applicants after that.I think government is lazy. I think government need to improve the ambiguous criteria, and do a follow-up. Otherwise the number of people taking advantage of the benefits are increasing.



Posted at Tue Jul 03 05:48:58 UTC 2012
]]> http://lang-8.com/215195/journals/1561239 http://lang-8.com/215195/journals/1561239 aki-chan Tue Jul 03 05:48:58 UTC 2012
I baked a pizza for lunch today:) It was much bigger than I had expected, so I gave some pieces of pizza to one of my neighbors. She always give me some vegetables that she grew in her field.However, she gave me some veges in return for the pizza. XD OMG....


Posted at Tue Jul 03 05:13:14 UTC 2012
]]> http://lang-8.com/215195/journals/1561183 http://lang-8.com/215195/journals/1561183 aki-chan Tue Jul 03 05:13:14 UTC 2012
I audited a beauty seminar hosted by Ms.Silk yesterday.I had really wanted to see her in person since I often saw her appear on TV.In fact, she is in her fifties, but she does look like in her mid thirties. I learnt lots of exercise to train my muscle of my face.

When Carrie from Sex And The City came to Japan and appeared on TV for the promotion of the movie, she met Silk on a TV show.
"Guess, how old I am?" Silk asked.
"I think you are in your thirties." she replied.
When she got to know her real age, she was completely astonished, and asked her e-mail adress to be taught the tips for her beauty.
If you see her, I bet you'll be surprised as well.

In the end of the seminar, she gave us a message.
She said, "Imagine who do you want to be like? How do you want to look like in the future? When you find the answer, you can keep your motivation for keeping the execise for the rest of your life." When I heard the message from her, I thought that it's complete the same when you learn a foreign language for me: English.
I think when you learn foreign language, you need to set up a goal, not just learn it vaguely.



Posted at Sun Jul 01 09:18:32 UTC 2012
]]> http://lang-8.com/215195/journals/1558022 http://lang-8.com/215195/journals/1558022 aki-chan Sun Jul 01 09:18:32 UTC 2012
Posted at Sun Jul 01 09:01:09 UTC 2012
]]> http://lang-8.com/215195/journals/1557990 http://lang-8.com/215195/journals/1557990 aki-chan Sun Jul 01 09:01:09 UTC 2012
Posted at Sun Jul 01 09:00:58 UTC 2012
]]> http://lang-8.com/215195/journals/1557989 http://lang-8.com/215195/journals/1557989 aki-chan Sun Jul 01 09:00:58 UTC 2012
Please have a look at some example.

1)
Correct: Could I get a refill?
Wrong: Could you give me some more coffee?

Could you tell me the proper way "Could you give me something".
"What do you mean? Could you give me example?" is OK?

2)
Would you bring me a doggie bag?
Would you charge it to my room?
This soup is cold. Could you bring me another bowl?
Would you bring me another glass of wine?

Some sentences include WOULD, the other does COULD.
What's the difference?
In any cases, WOULD can take place COULD?

3)
Can I have what he is having?
Could I have some more wine, please?
Could I get a refill?
Can I have the check?

What's the difference between CAN and COULD.
I think could is more polite. What do you think?

4)
A: I had a wonderful time.
B: I had a great time.
C: I had a really good time.
D:I had a really nice time.

I gave an English lesson yesterday.
One of my students asked me "What's the difference among them?"
Which is the happiest?

I think A>B>C and D

What do you think?

Posted at Fri Jun 22 23:43:29 UTC 2012
]]> http://lang-8.com/215195/journals/1543956 http://lang-8.com/215195/journals/1543956 aki-chan Fri Jun 22 23:43:29 UTC 2012
I used to Little Charo, which is animated show.
This is an adventure story about a dog.
Two emcees, Shelly and Mike, talked about the story after watching the show.

Shelly: No matter what HAPPEN, he DOESN'T abandon his friends.
Mike: Charo SAYS "Enjoy your life, knowing it will end." I was so impressed by the line.

They are looking back the episode when using present tense, not past tense.
Why?????



When I watch Curious George the other day, I realized that past tense was used for narration.
Please take a look at the narration.

"He loves museum. Every time he WENT, he DISCOVERED something new.He FOUND something.What WAS that?"

Why wasn't present tense used in this case????





Posted at Mon Jun 18 13:11:30 UTC 2012
]]> http://lang-8.com/215195/journals/1536848 http://lang-8.com/215195/journals/1536848 aki-chan Mon Jun 18 13:11:30 UTC 2012 How to be a popular woman among men: the requirement.
According to him, there seems to be a big difference between Japan and western countries.
Youth, honesty and cutie are the most important in Japan.
In this case, honesty means that you follow someone's advice and not insist on your opinion.Always say "yes".
As a matter of fact, in Japan, this is true.
The younger, the better. The cuter, the better:)
If you express your way of thinking too much, men don't fascinate you:(

On the other hand, in western countries, independent, humour, and something that I forgot are the most important.
Do you think so? Tell me about your country.　




Posted at Thu Jun 14 07:07:59 UTC 2012
]]> http://lang-8.com/215195/journals/1530058 http://lang-8.com/215195/journals/1530058 aki-chan Thu Jun 14 07:07:59 UTC 2012 I need to have three lessons.
We need to discuss what to do for the lesson before we begin this.
(This is general thing, so I used "present tense.)
He said that he wanted to read a book and do some activities.
Of course, I wanted to do both, but we didn't have enough time to do everything.
Teachers usually prioritize activities rather than books, because kids love games:)

Just before the second lesson, I said to him
"I think no time for a book for the next class."
but he didn't understand, so I need to say full sentence.
"It takes for a long time to play games, so I think I don't have enough time to read a book."
And then he was able to understand what I want to say.


If I say "I think no time for a book for the next class."
I thought he could understand, but he didn't..... Why???





Posted at Wed Jun 13 13:44:37 UTC 2012
]]> http://lang-8.com/215195/journals/1528934 http://lang-8.com/215195/journals/1528934 aki-chan Wed Jun 13 13:44:37 UTC 2012 I'm sure that my kid, only tow-year-old touch the mouse....
Oh my goodness.....
Whenever she touch the computer, it always shows indications that I've never seen.
Whenever she touch my mobile, the same thing happen a lot.lol

Posted at Fri Jun 08 23:09:51 UTC 2012
]]> http://lang-8.com/215195/journals/1520896 http://lang-8.com/215195/journals/1520896 aki-chan Fri Jun 08 23:09:51 UTC 2012
I've already prepared an article about Steve Jobs, but I haven't complete questions about it.
I'm wondering if English grammar is OK?

After read the article, answer the questions.

Q1: Why did he die?
A1: Because he had cancer.

Q2: What was there in front of at Apple stores around the world after he died.
A2: Messages, flowers, and candles.

Q3: Who made a comment for him after he died?
A3: The president of the U.S., the prime minister of Great Britain.

Q4: What did he do? (or What was his occupation?)
I don't know which is natural?
A4: He was a businessman. (or He was a developer or pioneer.)

Q5: At what the age, he became very rich?
A5: At the age of 25.

Q6: At what age, he quit Apple?
(In this case, I think "quit" is more appropriate than "left". Don't you think so?)
A6: At the age of 30.

Q7: Why he started to work for Apple again about a decade later.
A7: Because the company was in trouble.

Q8: Why did he was respected by so many people?(or Why so many people respected him so much?) Which is more natural?

A8: Because he had passion.(or He was passionate.)

Q9: What did he want to do?( What was his goal?)
Which is more natural?

A9: He wanted to do something wonderful!

Q10: Did he think money was important?
A10: No, he didn't. Since the article says "He didn't care about money."



In this article, I found unfamiliar expression.
Tell me the meaning.

★ After he died, more than million people e-mailed messages to website Apple set up IN HIS MEMORY.

In this case what does "IN HIS MEMORY" means?
Is this homograph?






Posted at Fri Jun 08 00:47:43 UTC 2012
]]> http://lang-8.com/215195/journals/1519016 http://lang-8.com/215195/journals/1519016 aki-chan Fri Jun 08 00:47:43 UTC 2012 I was so moved by the unusual astronomical event!
Nothing better than this!

Since I couldn't see the annular solar eclipse, I was so impressed by the event!
As I mentioned this before, since I didn't watch TV for many days to take care of my kid, I completely forgot the solar eclipse.

Posted at Wed Jun 06 23:27:40 UTC 2012
]]> http://lang-8.com/215195/journals/1516758 http://lang-8.com/215195/journals/1516758 aki-chan Wed Jun 06 23:27:40 UTC 2012 Whenever asking my teacher if I receive homework, I ask "No homework?", but I wanna know the natural expression and whole sentence.

2)
a:You can drink as much as you want.
b:You can drink water as much as you want.
You can say "a", but you can't say "b".I don'k know why...
but can I say "c"?
c:You can drink as much water as you can.

3) You omit the same thing in English.
For example: He is as tall as his father(is).

Look at this sentence.

It takes more time and effort to read a great book than it does a newspaper.

Can I omit like this?
It takes more time and effort to read a great book than (it does) a newspaper.




Posted at Fri Jun 01 14:37:51 UTC 2012
]]> http://lang-8.com/215195/journals/1507354 http://lang-8.com/215195/journals/1507354 aki-chan Fri Jun 01 14:37:51 UTC 2012 I usually watch specific category: chick flicks.

I rent a DVD of Back To The Future today.I'm middle of it.
When I finish writing this, I'll watch the rest of it.

Posted at Thu May 31 13:26:43 UTC 2012
]]> http://lang-8.com/215195/journals/1505408 http://lang-8.com/215195/journals/1505408 aki-chan Thu May 31 13:26:43 UTC 2012 But I missed it....
Since I had been very busy to prepare for work and to take care of my baby, I hadn't watched news for many days.I read the newspaper when my baby was sleeping, but only headline news and economy.So I totally forgot about the unusual astronomical event.The next such eclips visible will be in 2030 in Hokkaido, but I'm not living there, I can't see....Oh no.
I lost half of my life.

I have known the annular eclipse of this year over twenty years.
One of my favorite J-pop band, Dreams Come True, released a song about twenty tears ago.
The lyrics of the song included the word of "the unusual event", like ring of fire and solar
eclipse of 2012.

The lyrics is like this.


指輪をくれる？　
Could you give me a ring?

２０１２年の金環食まで待ってるから、とびきりのやつを忘れないでね。
As I will wait for it until annular eclipse of 2012, I expect you to give me an amazing ring!


そうよ！太陽のリング。
Yes, it is. the ring of fire.

Posted at Fri May 25 05:57:31 UTC 2012
]]> http://lang-8.com/215195/journals/1494711 http://lang-8.com/215195/journals/1494711 aki-chan Fri May 25 05:57:31 UTC 2012
I'm learning News English by myself.
I'm going to write my entry like news.

Anpanman is just a toy, but I'm writing about it as a human-being(like joke).


Hello, this is NHK news.I'm Akiko.
Today, one of a very famous character, Anpanman disappeard.
Here is a picture of it.(Picture1)
It had been owned by an one-year-old girl, Mei-chan for a coulple of months.
Whenever go outside, she usually put it on her stroller and always together.
Mei's parents organized a serch throughout the neighbor for the cheep toy, but the serch turend up nothing.
Still, she doesn't admit to having lost it.
It is now presumed dead.
The whole town of Nara is now in mourning.


Posted at Tue May 22 05:16:56 UTC 2012
]]> http://lang-8.com/215195/journals/1489314 http://lang-8.com/215195/journals/1489314 aki-chan Tue May 22 05:16:56 UTC 2012


I made chicken nuggets for my daughter from scratch.(Pic.1)
I was so yummy that we had them very quickly.
My daughter, Mei-chan could dip them into ketchup.(Pic.2)

Around 9 P.M. my husband came home, and took bath.
Look at the third picture!!!
My daughter spontaneously tried to smell his bottom.
She must be a pervert!!!

Posted at Sun May 20 01:29:08 UTC 2012
]]> http://lang-8.com/215195/journals/1485301 http://lang-8.com/215195/journals/1485301 aki-chan Sun May 20 01:29:08 UTC 2012


I couldn't hear my daughter's voice, though usually scream and shout.

I was surprise when I found her!!!

She was sitting on a pumpkin.

The pumpkin was bought yesterday. I put it on the floor in the kitchen.

Posted at Mon May 14 16:15:29 UTC 2012
]]> http://lang-8.com/215195/journals/1476423 http://lang-8.com/215195/journals/1476423 aki-chan Mon May 14 16:15:29 UTC 2012

I went to a shoppoing mall with my family on Children's day.

A event of Draemon took place for children there.

If you showed your reciept which you recieved at the shopping mall, you can play some games and on the slide.

My kid was really happy to play there.

Posted at Sun May 06 23:13:26 UTC 2012
]]> http://lang-8.com/215195/journals/1463425 http://lang-8.com/215195/journals/1463425 aki-chan Sun May 06 23:13:26 UTC 2012 When you took the TOEIC test for the fist time, how much score you got?
If you aren't sure answers, what would you do? Skip the questions, or it takes more time to answer the unsure questions?

I think these sentences are not natural. Could you please correct them?

Posted at Sun Apr 29 13:48:09 UTC 2012
]]> http://lang-8.com/215195/journals/1450683 http://lang-8.com/215195/journals/1450683 aki-chan Sun Apr 29 13:48:09 UTC 2012 I don't know why my computer couldn't show the website correctly.
So I sent e-mail to Lang-8.
According to the e-mail, it doesn't show properly if you use Internet Explorer, so I have downloaded Google chrome that he recommended.
Now I can see who update the entry, and correct it:)


Posted at Sat Apr 28 23:44:24 UTC 2012
]]> http://lang-8.com/215195/journals/1449759 http://lang-8.com/215195/journals/1449759 aki-chan Sat Apr 28 23:44:24 UTC 2012