http://lang-8.com/25060/journals/rss mint's latest journal entries Lang-8 Inc. Mon May 20 06:03:20 UTC 2013 Mon May 20 06:03:20 UTC 2013 Lang-8 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Lang-8 According to him, he is often asked from a lot of Japanese if he likes Natto or not when he meet new people and this question irritates him.
He pointed out three reasons that he didn't want to be asked.
1.It is very strange in other countries to ask people you don't very well about what kind of food they like.
2.It makes you appear a bit stupid to foreigners.
3.It is boring(his personal reasons.)

He added as follows:
When you meet a new person, the best thing to begin a relationship with them is to try to find things that you have in common.

When I heard this, I was a bit surprised because topics about food makes us appear stupid! I had no idea about it and I'm wondering if it is strange in other countries or not. When I had a chance to talk with people coming from foreign countries, I usually don't ask about food,not to mention of asking "How about Natto?..how about Sushi?..how about.." again and again.

Then I'm wondering if what kind of topics are good for an icebreaker when we meet a new person. About weather or something?

I'd appreciate if you share your ideas about No.1, No.2 and the topics for an icebreaker with me.

PS.
Can I ask one more question?
When you hear the phrase"we Japanese"(us Japanese), what kind of image do you have? I hear this phrase sounds ”exclusive(排他的）" and strong, so you should avoid using this. Did I get it right? Do you use this expression? And if you use, in which situation do you use?

Thanks in advance for your corrections and advice.

Posted at Wed Oct 27 01:45:44 UTC 2010
]]> http://lang-8.com/25060/journals/671900 http://lang-8.com/25060/journals/671900 mint Wed Oct 27 01:45:44 UTC 2010 Here's the address:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=125902095

In the article, the author of the book" The Secret Life of the Grown-up Brain" talked about good parts and bad parts of growing older. And I tried some quiz there. I could figure out all of them,but as for the third one, it took time to figure out a little bit.
Why don't you try the quiz?

No.1.
January February March April January February March May January February March June January February March----What would the next word be?

No.2
January February Wednesday March April Wednesday May June Wednesday July August Wednesday----Would would the word be?

No3.
1 4 3 2 5 4 3 6 5------ What would the next number be?


Did you get them all?
These are examples of questions that measure basic logic and reasoning.



Answer:
No1.------ July
No.2-------September
No.3.------4


Hope you enjoyed the quiz^^)

Thanks in advance for your correction.

Posted at Thu Apr 22 11:15:19 UTC 2010
]]> http://lang-8.com/25060/journals/453168 http://lang-8.com/25060/journals/453168 mint Thu Apr 22 11:15:19 UTC 2010 In some one's blog, it says," My cold is on its last legs." and means" it's almost finished."
I checked this phrase in the dictionary and it says" 人が死にかかって（(dying)、疲れきって(exhausted)、破産しそうになって(going bankrupt)."
Now I'm wondering why the sentence"My cold is on last legs" means "it's almost finished."
Another question is why"legS" not"leg". I know I should understand it as a phrase,though.
Do you use this phrase casually in your daily life?
Would you please show me some example sentences ?

Thanks in advance for your corrections and advice.

Posted at Sat Apr 17 01:07:32 UTC 2010
]]> http://lang-8.com/25060/journals/447112 http://lang-8.com/25060/journals/447112 mint Sat Apr 17 01:07:32 UTC 2010
I had to prepare for breakfast and husband's lunchbox, so I gave up searching. After my husband leaving home for work, I searched again and the lens was found! As you might imagine, I put two lenses in the same case. I was relived because I don't need to buy new one, but it's really careless of me,isn't it? How stupid I am to do such a thing! Actually I sometimes do these things. Is it a senior moment? I'm in my 50s and forgetful. It is sometimes difficult to remember the name even though I can't visualize ; the name of the movie, names of the famous people and lots of things. It's really distressful for me. Most of you reading my entry journal are young, so it would be difficult to imagine these terrible situations! I know I should do something to improve these situations.

Posted at Fri Apr 16 01:08:06 UTC 2010
]]> http://lang-8.com/25060/journals/446088 http://lang-8.com/25060/journals/446088 mint Fri Apr 16 01:08:06 UTC 2010 I checked each phrase's meaning, but I'm afraid it's a bit difficult for meto use at the moment. Do you often use these expressions in your daily life?
Would you please show me some example sentences?
Here are phrases I newly learned.
1. I'm well into Tokyo.← Is the word"well" added to the sentence"I'm into～." and does "well" mean "considerably?

2.toy with= think about
I'm toying with the idea of taking the ferry from....

Another question is not about phrase but about the usage of "at all."
I found a sentence as follows:
*It's amazing they can ride at all.
I'm wondering what"at all" does mean?
This is usually used with a negative or inquestions, I can't understand the usage here.

Thanks in advance for your corrections and advice.

Posted at Wed Apr 14 01:35:53 UTC 2010
]]> http://lang-8.com/25060/journals/443711 http://lang-8.com/25060/journals/443711 mint Wed Apr 14 01:35:53 UTC 2010 You might know the story. There are times that you are tired and your hearts are dry. This story is really consoling and good for you to read in these situation.
Now you can listen to it online until April 15th.
Here is the address of the website:( I often listen to the stories here!)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/bigtoe/books/
It's been a long time since I read this book last.

Sentences are beautiful and it's a good practice to read^^)
I enjoyed reading and listening to it.
Thanks in advance for your corrections!

Posted at Mon Apr 12 06:58:14 UTC 2010
]]> http://lang-8.com/25060/journals/441572 http://lang-8.com/25060/journals/441572 mint Mon Apr 12 06:58:14 UTC 2010 The weather is going downhill, so last weekend might have been(←Does this make sense?) the last chance of cherry blossom viewing.
This year you were able to enjoy cherry blossoms considerably long.
In Japan, this season viewings(it sounds weird...I meant to say" 桜前線２） go up to north,Touhoku and Hokkaidou.


Posted at Sun Apr 11 23:26:08 UTC 2010
]]> http://lang-8.com/25060/journals/441254 http://lang-8.com/25060/journals/441254 mint Sun Apr 11 23:26:08 UTC 2010 A lot of musicians have been traced the same track and have become famous.
Speaking of street musicians, it reminds me of a movie"Once." Have you heard of the name? Have you watched it? This is a love story between a thirty-something guy,singing and playing guitar, and an unnamed young czech immigrant flower seller.
The movie was great and all the songs there were touching.

Anyway, I hope "satoshi" will became famous sometime soon.


Posted at Sat Apr 10 02:01:47 UTC 2010
]]> http://lang-8.com/25060/journals/439104 http://lang-8.com/25060/journals/439104 mint Sat Apr 10 02:01:47 UTC 2010 She explained how beautiful the place she had visited. Her words were a bit romantic and poetic and it was not like her usual expressions.
I said to her," It seems beautiful nature make you a poet."
After returning home, I wonder what I said was grammatically correct or not, so I tried figuring out several patterns.
Here are four patterns that came to my mind.
1. Beautiful nature make you a poet.
2. Beautiful nature makes you a poet.
3. The beautiful nature make you a poet.
4. The beautiful nature makes you a poet.

Apart from four sentences, does the sentence " ..nature make you a poet" make sense? I meant to say,"美しいしぜん（自然）はあなたを詩人にしますね。", what expresstion come to you mind ?

If you were in my situation, which sentence from No.1 to No.4 would you choose?

Thanks in advance for your corrections and advice .


Posted at Thu Apr 08 22:42:10 UTC 2010
]]> http://lang-8.com/25060/journals/437983 http://lang-8.com/25060/journals/437983 mint Thu Apr 08 22:42:10 UTC 2010 It is related to "　いなか（田舎）; My house is in the middle of nowhere.(私のうちはすごい田舎なんです。）This expression is new to me. Do you use this expression in your daily life?
I tried writing a few sentences with the same meaning.
>私のうちはすごい田舎なんです。
＊My house is in a rural area.
＊My house is in a country side.
＊I live in a rural area.
＊I live in the country.
Do these sentences make sense?

Thanks in advance fro your corrections and advice.



Posted at Thu Apr 08 14:10:24 UTC 2010
]]> http://lang-8.com/25060/journals/437564 http://lang-8.com/25060/journals/437564 mint Thu Apr 08 14:10:24 UTC 2010 Are you doing Twittering? These couple of days I've been talking about them with my friends. I know these names and a lot of people sign up for them but I don't think I understand them very much.
To join it, I need to input some information and isn't it a bit scary?
Some friend said she found a friend from university,who had not kept in touch with recently. I wonder if I should sign up for Facebook or not.

Posted at Wed Apr 07 14:53:04 UTC 2010
]]> http://lang-8.com/25060/journals/436454 http://lang-8.com/25060/journals/436454 mint Wed Apr 07 14:53:04 UTC 2010 There is a small park at the opposite side of the street from my house.
Cherry trees line the street and whenever I see beautiful cherry blossoms these days, I feel happy. Come to think of it, I'm really a Japanese!(Ｉtried to say,"私は日本人だなーと思う"、does this sentence make sense?)(*Does "come to think of it" make sense here?)
By the way, I wonder how I should express "私の家の道路を挟んだ反対側." I wrote" at the opposite side of the street from my house", but I'm not sure if "from my house" is correct or not?

Would you give me advice?

Thanks in advance for your corrections and advice.


Posted at Sun Apr 04 23:43:18 UTC 2010
]]> http://lang-8.com/25060/journals/433229 http://lang-8.com/25060/journals/433229 mint Sun Apr 04 23:43:18 UTC 2010
Would you give me advice?

Posted at Fri Apr 02 01:36:25 UTC 2010
]]> http://lang-8.com/25060/journals/429851 http://lang-8.com/25060/journals/429851 mint Fri Apr 02 01:36:25 UTC 2010 If you would use 'play', it sounds like you are 'a kid.'
Then, I wonder around what age you change from 'play' to 'hang out.'

Thanks in advance for your corrections and advice.


Posted at Thu Apr 01 06:37:27 UTC 2010
]]> http://lang-8.com/25060/journals/428909 http://lang-8.com/25060/journals/428909 mint Thu Apr 01 06:37:27 UTC 2010 By the way, I tried using the word"seductive", and I wonder if it does make sense to use this word here.
In my understanding, 'seductive' is used for women meaning' attractive' or and implies sexual connotation. Did I get it right?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Would you give me advice concerning the tense?

What is the difference of the nuance between two sentences below.
1. I've been away from home. I am back tonight.
2. I was away from home. I am back tonight.

If I were away from home for two or three days, can I use "I've been.."?

Thanks in advance for your corrections and advice.




Posted at Wed Mar 31 02:05:06 UTC 2010
]]> http://lang-8.com/25060/journals/427466 http://lang-8.com/25060/journals/427466 mint Wed Mar 31 02:05:06 UTC 2010 My sentences are......
While I was writing comment,○○○　uploaded new entry, so I left *1{the comment} on the previous entry. Can I share it again here?
I wrote *2{ my comment } directly on the blog without a rough copy thinking this and that...
Here is *3{my comment} I posted on the previous entry.

He just picked out No.3{my comment} and corrected it to*{ the comment}.
Does No.2 make sense?

It is very difficult to distinguish "a" from "the" and here I guess the point is you can't use"MY comment" when it was defined with "I posted on the previous entry." Did I get it right?
Then, what about these two sentences?

A. Here is my comment on the previous entry.( I'm afraid I can't make it clear 'posted',thought..)

B. Here is the comment posted on the previous entry.

In Japanese, we tend to say"[私の]コメント。。。, so it's really difficult to distinguish "my(possessive determiner)" from "the."

By the way, I found a small flowers"violet" in the corner of my garden. It was withering during winter and in spring it bloomed again! It's not pansies, violas but the Japanese violet. I feel very happy^^)

Thanks in advance for your corrections and advice.

Posted at Sat Mar 27 01:18:18 UTC 2010
]]> http://lang-8.com/25060/journals/422639 http://lang-8.com/25060/journals/422639 mint Sat Mar 27 01:18:18 UTC 2010 Meryl Streep was one of the nominees in a Leading role. In the show, a lot of presenters and winners mentioned her and were teasing her. Surprisingly she has been nominated a bunch in her long career.
Speaking of Meryl Streep, I found a nice video on You Tube called" Meryl Streep reads The Velveteen Rabbit." When my children were small, I read this story for them and I liked it. Her reading was,of course, wonderful with a beautiful music.
I enjoyed a lot listening to it.
Here is a website:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bb4swEK7_P0


Posted at Fri Mar 26 11:07:22 UTC 2010
]]> http://lang-8.com/25060/journals/422069 http://lang-8.com/25060/journals/422069 mint Fri Mar 26 11:07:22 UTC 2010 1.＞situation--- A new employee says something " greeting" to his boss at the office.
*「私を採用していただきありがとうございます。」
　I appreciate for hiring me.
*「できるだけ早く仕事を覚えたいと思います。」
　I'll do my best what I can do for this company
.*「私は覚えるのは早いです。」
　I'm very good at learning new things.

These Japanese sentences seem to be unique to Japanese culture so I'm wondering how I should express them in English.
I'm afraid I can't express them literally...　　

2.
* 「私は成田空港へ電車で行った。」
　I went to Narita Airport by train.
*「飛行機で、ニューヨークへとんだ。」
　I flew to New York.(Do I need to add' by airplane'?)
*「マンハッタンへバスで行った。」
And then I headed for Manhattan by bus.(/　I went to Manhattan by bus.）
*「 そして徒歩で酒場へ行った。」
　And I walked to a bar.
* 「その後、レンタカーを借りて飲酒運転で逮捕された。」
Later I rent a car and drove it . I was arrested due to drunk driving.

Actually, these sentences are part of the homework for my self-study group tomorrow.

Thanks in advance for your corrections and advice.



Posted at Fri Mar 26 08:12:57 UTC 2010
]]> http://lang-8.com/25060/journals/421944 http://lang-8.com/25060/journals/421944 mint Fri Mar 26 08:12:57 UTC 2010 1.Key point-- the way to translate"は” and "が."
*昔々（むかしむかし）、おじいさんとおばあさんがいました。
　Once upon a time, there were an old man and an old woman.

*おじいさんは川へ釣りに（つりに）行きました。おばあさんは山へスキーに行きました。
　He went fishing to the river and she went skiing to the mountain.
(Both 'the river' and ' the mountain' should be 'a river' and 'a mountain'?)

2. Key point---the way to use an article
>situation-- Yoko is a student in A school.
Her father is a devoted PTA president in her school.
Her mother is the head of the school board in some
Prefecture and visits each school everyday.
*洋子は毎日学校へ行きます。
　Yoko goes to school everyday.
*彼女の父は毎日学校へ行きます。
　Her father goes to the('her' is better?) school every day.　
*彼女の母は毎日学校へ行きます。
　Her mother goes to schools everyday.

*洋子は学校は退屈だ（たいくつだ）と言っています。
Yoko says it is boring to study at school.
*彼女の姉は大学生です。
　Her big sister is a college student.

3.Key point---tense
*私の祖母（故人）はアメリカに７０年間住んでいました。
　My grandmother had lived in the U.S. for seventy years.
*私は一度もあったことがありません。
　I've never met her .
* 彼女の孫の一人は東京に住んで3年になります。
　One of her grandchildren has lived in Tokyo for three years.

Thanks in advance for your corrections and advice.











Posted at Thu Mar 25 03:22:21 UTC 2010
]]> http://lang-8.com/25060/journals/420505 http://lang-8.com/25060/journals/420505 mint Thu Mar 25 03:22:21 UTC 2010

These couple of days you hear the cherry blossom reports on TV and read them in the newspaper in Japan.
Speaking of flowers, "flower" means "Sakura" for almost all Japanese.
Various kinds of pink products and "cherry-blossom flavored" sweets, snacks and drinks are sold( on the shelf at the shop←whichi is better?) this time of the year: "Sakuramochi" is one of my favorite confectioneries. A sweet pink mochi matches very well with a slightly salty leaf of sakura .
I usually have Kansai style Sakura mochi.
Whenever cherry blossom season comes, I felt the energy charged and feel good．I don't know why, but it might be because the new season starts from April.

I found an interesting poem"Busy Day" for kids. This really expresses what I feel at the moment.
In the poem, the word"pop" is used a lot in various ways.
It's new to me and sounds very' thrilling' (Ｉcould not find the word to express 'わくわくする’, does 'thrilling' make sense?)

Here is a part of the poem:

"Busy Day"(by Michael Rosen)

Pop in
pop put
pop over the road
pop out for a walk
pop in for a talk
pop down to the shop
can't stop
got to pop
..............

I'd like to be accustomed to use the word 'pop'!

Thanks in advance for your corrections and advice.

Posted at Tue Mar 23 01:23:37 UTC 2010
]]> http://lang-8.com/25060/journals/417916 http://lang-8.com/25060/journals/417916 mint Tue Mar 23 01:23:37 UTC 2010 " I've never tried to use Twitter." She meant to say,"I've never tried using Twitter because I was not interested in it."
My question related to these sentences are..
1." I've never tried to use Twitter." →What does this sentence mean?
→Does this sentence make sense?
2. What is the difference between "...tried to use..." and "..tried using.."?
Actually, if you want to say " 私はツイッターをしたことがない" in Japanese, I guess you would say" I've never tried using Twitter" but if you want to say" 私はツイッターをしようと思ったことはない", the sentence should be slightly different so I wrote the sentence above.
It is difficult to express these nuances, isn't it? Or can you express both of the meanings by "try..ing"?

By the way, on this blog, there is a choice if you would post this entry to twitter or not. I've never used it. Are you familiar with Twitter?

Thanks in advance for your corrections and advice.


Posted at Mon Mar 22 01:32:28 UTC 2010
]]> http://lang-8.com/25060/journals/416555 http://lang-8.com/25060/journals/416555 mint Mon Mar 22 01:32:28 UTC 2010 1. in terms of
2. regarding
3. about
4. in regard to
5. related to
6.relating to
7. concerning
Some friend asked the differences of the usage or the nuance of each phrase, but I couldn't not figure out. I guess No.1 and No.2 and No.4 sound slightly formal. Are these phrases used in the same way?
Thanks in advance for your corrections and advice.

Posted at Sun Mar 21 16:31:07 UTC 2010
]]> http://lang-8.com/25060/journals/416266 http://lang-8.com/25060/journals/416266 mint Sun Mar 21 16:31:07 UTC 2010 It's interesting to know these differences,right?
Thanks in advance for your corrections and advice.

Posted at Sat Mar 20 23:21:21 UTC 2010
]]> http://lang-8.com/25060/journals/415250 http://lang-8.com/25060/journals/415250 mint Sat Mar 20 23:21:21 UTC 2010 When I first saw this, I was wondering if 'thing' can be used in every situation or not. Anyway, this seems to be used as a set.
The sentence I saw was "I'm taking Shinkansen to Tokyo first thing in the morning." This means" 明日の朝一番の新幹線に乗ることになっている。"
It is a very convenient expression,isn't it?


Posted at Fri Mar 19 01:41:01 UTC 2010
]]> http://lang-8.com/25060/journals/413033 http://lang-8.com/25060/journals/413033 mint Fri Mar 19 01:41:01 UTC 2010 I heard a TV anchor say about the opening of the shop and he mentioned in the program some people had to wait for eight hours and half at most to get them. Eight hours and half!! Can you believe this? Can you wait such a looong hours? Now way! I like sweets and I want to try it. When can I get them without waiting or after waiting fifteen minutes or something?
I'm gout out there again today, and I bet I would see the same scene.
By the way, in Japanese, you say"クリスピークリームドーナッツ", so I thought you would write"Krispy Creme Doughnuts",but I was wrong.
Have you ever try them? Do you like them?


Posted at Wed Mar 17 23:13:04 UTC 2010
]]> http://lang-8.com/25060/journals/411653 http://lang-8.com/25060/journals/411653 mint Wed Mar 17 23:13:04 UTC 2010 Graduation from kindergarten, elementary school, junior high school....and from work, but never from being mother.

I saw an interesting video that Lang -8 friend showed us yesterday. ( Thanks always for showing us interesting videos and information!)←How can I express "いつもありがとう"? Does my sentence make sense?

It's a short, a three minutes video titled " People in order. age."
In the video, people ranging from two or three to one hundred(!) have(←show?) various looks and expressions .
It's very simple and might be different depending on each person how he/she feels when he/she watch it.
While watching, "graduation" came to my mind.

Posted at Tue Mar 16 23:39:41 UTC 2010
]]> http://lang-8.com/25060/journals/410299 http://lang-8.com/25060/journals/410299 mint Tue Mar 16 23:39:41 UTC 2010 In Japanese, we say " 夕方" and I have understood it was around six.
It sometimes difficult to understand the nuance correctly, but actually I checked it in a dictionary and these things were on it
Anyway it was good for me to know ,haha....
I also found that "midnight" didn't mean"夜中”but meant 24(丁度０時.

Thanks in advance for your corrections and ideas.



Posted at Fri Mar 12 03:19:34 UTC 2010
]]> http://lang-8.com/25060/journals/403952 http://lang-8.com/25060/journals/403952 mint Fri Mar 12 03:19:34 UTC 2010 1. Please let me know if you have any questions.
2. Please let me know if you have some questions.

*I think the sentence No.1 is the usual pattern and does No.2 make sense?
*If these two sentences are grammatically correct, what is the difference of the nuance between two sentences?

In my understanding, ' any' questions in No.1 mean "whatever it might be/ every question.

Thanks in advance for your corrections and advice.



Posted at Thu Mar 11 13:11:09 UTC 2010
]]> http://lang-8.com/25060/journals/403256 http://lang-8.com/25060/journals/403256 mint Thu Mar 11 13:11:09 UTC 2010 This is the sentence from the article:
" When Simon threw lemons, it was Paula who always made the lemonade."
Speaking of " the lemon", I have had the image something fresh, refreshing , a bit sour and at least clean but recently I got to know there were completely opposite meanings.
If you bought a faulty item, you would say," you bought a lemon." You would also ask,"have you ever catch a lemon?"(Did I write these sentences correct grammatically?)
It's interesting to know that there appears to be a gap of image towards words depending on each person or each country.
In Japan, we say,"初恋はレモンの味"; it literally means " First love tastes the favor of lemon." It is from TV commercial or something and the image if this is very romantic,right?
When you hear the word "lemon", what image do you have,"fresh and clean" or " dirty or faulty goods"?

Posted at Sat Mar 06 00:07:04 UTC 2010
]]> http://lang-8.com/25060/journals/395756 http://lang-8.com/25060/journals/395756 mint Sat Mar 06 00:07:04 UTC 2010 We regulary meet and study together and one person becomes a teacher in turn.
What we did at that time was"How the speech organs work in English." For non-native English speakers, it is often said to distinguish "L" sound from"R" sound is difficult. It is true,　but we studied about 'consonant.'
After the meeting, I noticed that I hadn't pay attention to these pronunciations 'consonant' that much and have been speaking unconsciously.
There would be a big difference if I pronounce each word more carefully and consciously.
By the way, does the sentence below make sense? I tried using the word"engrave."
* I want to engrave( or keep) the important things in my heart when I speak in English.←Which is natural"keep" or "engrave"? Anyway, "engrave" is new to me.
Thanks in advance for your corrections and advice.

Posted at Thu Mar 04 15:24:00 UTC 2010
]]> http://lang-8.com/25060/journals/394085 http://lang-8.com/25060/journals/394085 mint Thu Mar 04 15:24:00 UTC 2010