Japanese Courses at Sydney Language Solutions
Hi everyone,
Our Sydney Language Solutions currently offer the JLPT (Japanese Language Proficiency Test) N2 Preparation Course, Beginners 1 and Beginners 2.
For the JLPT, N2 course, we use sample exams of the recent years and other materials of relevant books. Also, we read and analyse useful and interesting articles in Japanese in that class. They are from Japanese newspapers (esp. Nikkei) and magazines. The examples of the topics recently dealt were: energy resources and innovation for cost reduction in Japan, solar energy, “Smart House” (currently developing, 10 big corporations’ influential joint project for economic, energy-based and time saving system for consumers), Japanese politics, its future strong industries, its new use of robots for social/industrial needs, Australian nature (e.g. life of fairy penguins and sea dragons) etc. We also chat a variety of things in Japanese.
For Beginners 1, we use “Japanese for Busy people” and other resources for language and Hiragana teaching. For Beginners 2, “Genki 1” is used. Students will develop skills of speaking, listening, reading and writing and can construct dialogues and speech. In both courses, there is elements of Japanese culture learning and enjoyment, students interactions, some activities, e.g. regular singing, origami, fairy tales reading, haiku poems, things about traditional arts/music/sports, customs, politeness/etiquette, food and plenty of other various things about Japan, for both traditional and contemporary senses.
We hope you’ll join us and learn the beautiful language, distinctive culture and its heritage, and exciting things of Japan with enjoyment.
– Toshiko Jackson (Japanese Language Consultant)
The Importance of Register in Indonesian language.
Before I go on with this terminology, I guess I should just re-justify the meaning of ‘register’. Register is a variety of language used for a particular purpose or in a particular setting. So.. How important is this concept in Indonesian language? I would say, very important!
Many people who are currently studying the Indonesian language struggle with one thing. The SLANG! How could I possibly use everything that I have learned in daily conversation with native Indonesian when in fact they use a lot of different words? Well, until today I guess every linguist in Indonesia are concerned with the future of our language. Because almost every day a person (especially young person) in Indonesia could find one or two new made-up words and use it in their conversation and then spread the trend to others! No wonder learning Indonesian become very difficult..
Now, why did I bring both ‘register’ and ‘slang’ together? Perhaps I just want to comfort all the people who are currently learning Indonesian. Knowing that Indonesian ‘sub-consciously’ understand the importance of register and can use variety of language depending on the particular setting that they are in, Indonesian people in general will not always use slang every time. They will only use it to speak with their peer. Not necessarily at work or when dealing with authorities or in writing.
So, don’t give up on learning Indonesian, yet! In my next blog entry I will spare some hints about dealing with Indonesian slang. Sometimes, what may seem to be really hard is not that hard and all you need to know is the trick.
IELTS Speaking: How can I improve myself?
If you want to improve your speaking abilities, a good method is to socialise. If you are in a social environment you do not have the stress you may feel in the classroom. In a test the people who watch and listen to you, are the people who judge your future. To know that can make you nervous. In just over 14 minutes, your future will be decided. Examiners are like school teachers, some are more lenient than others, some are stricter than others. How do you know if a marker is strict or lenient? The answer is, you don’t. You go in there, and hope for the best. While the examiner listens to you, they may try to find as many mistakes as they can. You may not know you’ve made mistakes, until the test is completed. They may do this because they are bored, sadistic, picky, they love the power or they take their job too seriously. Not all examiners are like this. But the truth is it’s hard to know.
However, in a social environment, you are more relaxed and calm. You are with people you know, people you like, people you trust and people you can depend on. These people will tell if you’ve made a mistake. If you feel you’ve made a mistake, you can ask them. You can be yourself. They are your friends, family, work mates, and you know them well enough to ask questions. You can request their complete honesty about anything. They don’t judge you, and they don’t decide your future. You can depend on them for help. You can be yourself. One student asked their lover if they made mistakes or not. While another learnt expressions from their friends. My trainer said, a Somali cab driver in New York, doesn’t just learn English in the class room, they learn it from discussions with their passengers.
While you’re in a social setting, you can pick up new words at your own pace, you can take your time to learn new expressions. You can test out sentences you’ve heard, you can hear new words. This can be a productive learning experience, and a safe learning environment. Little to no fear of ridicule.
In my next blog, I will tell you about the benefits of electronic media, in practising your speaking and listening.
IELTS Speaking & Listening: 4 Cs
Clarity,
Concise,
Concentrate,
Confidence.
Speak clearly, speak concisely (keep to the point, use details and background if necessary), listen to what you’re saying and pay strong attention to the listening CD, and trust in your hearing and remember what you know, and don’t be afraid, be confident in yourself.
Simple Writing Tips for IELTS – What Not to Do!
When my children send me a text message sometimes it takes me two or three attempts to understand what they are actually saying.
I, on the other hand, find it hard to SMS and cut my words up so they look like bits of leftover pizza and still make sense. I think this must be due to years of writing and editing, or perhaps I am just old-fashioned!
SMS messaging is a great way to learn a new language and practise your writing skills with friends but when it comes to the International English Language Testing System (IELTS), it is a big no no.
Informal English is lots of fun and has a great role to play when experimenting with your new language but not when it comes to writing.
You need to remember to keep your English formal when writing essays, reports and letters. Keep the slang and messaging for informal times.
Simple Writing Tips for IELTS
Tackling something like the writing component of your International English Language Testing System (IELTS) requires a wide vocabulary so enriching your word range is one of the first steps you can take when preparing for the test.
Apart from working on your vocabulary, one of the best ways to prepare is to read as many sample essays as you can to see what other students have done in the past and what is required of you.
Reading other essays will also give you some ideas for subject matter and what you can write about when it comes to your test.
The next step is to practise your writing so that you become familiar with what is expected of you in the time frame allowed. There can be nothing as stressful as trying to write in a hurry – writing becomes scrawled, spelling mistakes occur and thoughts get jumbled. If you find this happening to you, take a deep breath and a short break before focussing and starting again.
My Best Korean Students and Their Special Wednesday
Hi my name is Ashley Jang and I am teaching Korean language at SLS. As a teacher, I am always very proud of all my students as they are proactive, fun and dedicated to learn my first language. Today, I would like to introduce one of my special Beg1 classes and their Wednesday regular dinner which happens before their Korean class each week.
Every Wednesday, before the 6.30pm class, my students (and I sometimes join too!) are meeting for an early dinner. What’s the menu? Korean food indeed! They meet at 4.30pm (normally Café Cya but they are always looking for some yummy ones!), eat dinner together (their favourite is KimChi Chigae), exchange Korean dramas and talk about K-pops as well as other cultural topics. Last week, we tried to order foods in Korean and I was shocked by their positive attitudes which made their mission accomplished (we haven’t even started that lesson yet!). Their last destination is Korean supermarkets for buying some Korean treats and drinks for sharing in the class and bringing it to their family. I found that their Korean is dramatically improving. Hence I have no doubt that they will speak my language fluently in no time! Are you a hungry K-pop fan? Come and join this group!
Written by Ashley Jang (Korean teacher)
What is Mandarin?
As we know, China is such a big country with 55 ethnic minorities. And most of the minorities have their own dialects. Besides, people from different regions of China have different accent as well. So, the Chinese government promoted Mandarin all around the country for a purpose of better communication and education from 1956.
Here are some background information about Mandarin. I hope it will be helpful for your understanding and learning.
In Chinese linguistics, Mandarin refers to a group of related Chinese dialects spoken across most of northern China. Because most Mandarin dialects are found in the north, the group is also referred to as the "northern dialect(s)" .
A northeastern-dialect speaker and a southwestern-dialect speaker can hardly communicate except through the standard language, mainly because of the differences in tone. When the Mandarin group is taken as one language, as is often done in academic literature, it has more native speakers (nearly a billion) than does any other language. For most of Chinese history, the capital has been within the Mandarin area, making these dialects very influential. Mandarin dialects, particularly the Beijing dialect, form the basis of Standard Chinese, which is also known as "Mandarin".
Be careful with your Cantonese!
In English, the length of vowel is quite important. If you are not cautious, “sheet” will become “shit”, and “beach” will become “bitch”. Same as English, length of vowel is important in Cantonese. Other than that, tones are very important in Cantonese too. If you change the tone, you change the whole word. The combination of wrong length of vowel and wrong tone in Cantonese can be hilarious, which is the case in the following.
This Tuesday night, my Cantonese beginners’ class was working on the unit about occupations. Teacher was one of the occupations. Its Cantonese is “Gaau6 si1”. As a native speaker, I had never thought this word could turn into something hilarious. When the class practiced its pronunciation, one of the students pronounced it as “Gau2 si2”. I just couldn’t help and laughed. Then the class asked:”Why is it so funny?” I explained:”Well, ‘Gaau6 si1’ is teacher, and ‘Gau2 si2’ is dog poo!” Then everyone just laughed.
This is more than just a funny story. It also shows one of the difficulties of learning Cantonese, especially for speakers of non-tonal language, such as English. There are six tones in Cantonese, and it is quite difficult for English speakers to distinguish them because English is not a tonal language, and its speakers are not trained to pick up tones. Some people may worry about this. However, I think it is just a matter of time and practice. If you put enough effort into it, it is not difficult at all. At the end, these six tones are actually distinguishable.
Letter from our IELTS Student
Hi Na Pham,
I am Deepak Agrawal, a student of your writing module training for IELTS. I am writing to express my heartfelt thanks to you on achievement of my IELTS 7.0 on all Modules.
I’ve received my results today, which just made me happier by seeing a score of 8, 8, 7 & 7. This does not only mean that I can apply for my VISA now but it also marks the end of the exam trauma. Attempting exams again and receiving undesirable results was making me little nervous about myself.
My learning journey with you would have continued had I been continuing to stay in Australia. It was not mere preparation of IELTS for me. You boosted my confidence (and I believe of everybody else’s as well) by your honest rating of the essays and pinpointing the problem most of the times. I am trying to practise writing in the “Na Pham” format all the times now.
I wanted to say you thanks for your efforts. Most of us choose a profession to pursue a living but your profession is changing lives for many peoples.
Thanking You….
Yours Faithfully
Deepak Agrawal
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