~noun+부터 (bu teo) ~까지 (ggaji)
If you studied the level up to Korean beginners1_ week6, you may practised with your trainer regarding how to say time expressions by using “~부터 ~ 까지”. Actually, this expression is not complicated but very handy which makes your Korean speaking a lot better. Shall we try this further?
Together with time-related words such as hour, date, day, etc… ‘~부터” shows the beginning point of time, “~까지” indicates the ending point. For example, if you want to say “I worked from 9am to 5pm”, you can say that “저는 오전 아홉시부터 오후 다섯시까지 일 했어요 ( jeo neun ojeon ahopsi buteo ohoo daseot si ggaji il haesseoyo).”. In addition, you can use it for taking about days of the week. “저는 월요일부터 금요일까지 한국어를 공부해요 (jeo neun woryoil buteo geumyoil ggaji hangugeo reul gongbu haeyo) : I study Korean from Monday until Friday.”
Another handy way of saying it is when you talk about location or distance. For example, “센트럴에서 집까지 얼마나 걸려요? (central eseo jip ggaji eolmana geollyeoyo? ): How long does it take from Central to your home?”. It is useful when you try to say some time and distance expressions, but wish to limit the context.
~나 보다 ( ~na boda) _ I guess~
Korean culture is “indirect”. That is, we tend to avoid saying ‘I’m sure….’. Instead, we try to say “I guess / I assume/ I suppose” even it is the obvious context.
Hence we have several expressions regarding “I suppose”. Let’s find out what they are.
Firstly, ~나 보다 (~na boda) is used when you are talking about people other than yourself. For example, ‘I guess you don’t like Shinee : 샤이니를 안 좋아하나 봐요 (Shinee reul an joa hana bwa yo)’ or ‘I assume that you never tried it: 한 번도 안 해봤나 봐요 (han beon do an hae buanna bwa yo).’
Another common expression is ~것 같다 (~ geot gatta) which is similar to the first one but is stronger than ~ 나 보다 because ~것 같다 is based on the face or evidence. For example, “유리는 저 보다 더 키가 큰 것 같아요.” ,means that “I think Yuri is taller than me.” If you try to say “It’s a sunny day, isn’t it?”, you had better to say “오늘은 날씨가 좋은 것 같아요 (oneureun nalssiga jo eun geot gattayo)” rather than “오늘은 날씨가 좋아요 (oneureun nalssiga joayo).”.
Overcoming the Fear of OET Reading Passages – Part 1
Comprehension can be challenging because, apart from assessing your English vocabulary skills, it is a test of your understanding and interpretation of extensive passages in English.
This sparks cries of fear from OET students.
Although you have 45 minutes to tackle 20 questions from two texts in the OET, you need to have some good techniques under your belt to help you overcome your fear of the reading passages.
#1 Start with the questions
You should start with the questions to give you an indication of which paragraph to read. This is because, if you read the entire passage, you will probably not recall all the finer details anyway and will waste time reading over it again.
#2 Circle conjunctions that link ideas together
As you read the appropriate paragraph of the passage, circle words like ‘but’ or ‘however’ or ‘in contrast’ which show two contrasting ideas. Or perhaps phrases like ‘in addition’ or ‘furthermore’ that show similar ideas. Or, if any, try to spot ‘which causes’ or ‘leading to’ which show a cause and effect relationship!
#3 RTFQ = Read The Full Question!
Once you have a good understanding of the relevant paragraphs, return to the question and read all the options carefully. This is because often there is simply one word that can affect whether the answer is right or wrong.
By coupling these simple techniques with constant reading of https://sildenafilhealth.com medical passages to build your vocabulary, you can surely gradually overcome your fear of OET reading.
– Carol Luov
Compound Nouns
As you might know, the German language is famous for having ridiculously long words – the so-called compound nouns. I have read an interesting article in a Swiss newspaper that Germany’s longest word – Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz – a 63-letter long title of a law regulating the testing of beef, has officially ceased to exist.
The word, which refers to the “law for the delegation of monitoring beef labelling”, has been repealed by a regional parliament after the EU lifted a recommendation to carry out BSE tests on healthy cattle.
German is famous for its compound nouns, which frequently become so cumbersome they have to be reduced to abbreviations. The beef labelling law, introduced in 1999 to protect consumers from BSE, was commonly transcribed as the “RkReÜAÜG”, but even everyday words are shortened to initials so Lastkraftwagen – lorry – becomes Lkw.
The longest word with a dictionary entry, according to Duden is at 36 letters, Kraftfahrzeug-Haftpflichtversicherung, motor vehicle liability insurance.
However a 39-letter word, Rechtsschutzversicherungsgesellschaften, insurance companies providing legal protection, is considered the longest German word in everyday use by the Guinness Book of World Records.
In theory, a German word can be infinitely long. Unlike in English, an extra concept can simply be added to the existing word indefinitely. Such extended words are sometimes known as Bandwurmwörter – “tapeworm words”. In an essay on the Germany language, Mark Twain observed: “Some German words are so long that they have a perspective.”
Ten Most Common Tagalog Words/Expressions
1. Kamusta? (Ka-moos-ta) means Hello and/or How are you?
In informal conversation, ka is usually dropped so it becomes “Musta?”
2. Ano balita? (A-no ba-li-ta) means How are you? or What’s new?
This is also used when you haven’t seen or spoken to a person in a long time.
3. Oo/Opo (O-o/O-po) means Yes in casual or polite form, respectively. We usually say “Opo” when speaking to an elderly or to a person with a higher position to show respect.
4. Hindi (Hin-di) means No. Another casual way of expressing it is Dehins (de-hins) which is the reverse of Hindi added with –s at the end.
5. Paumanhin (Pa-oo-man-hin) or Pasensya na. (Pa-sen-sha na) to express an apology. Pasensya is derived paciencia which means patience in Spanish. Paumanhin is more formal and polite but Pasensya when added with a courtesy term po is more common and is still a polite expression.
6. Ayos! (A-yos!) is a Tagalog expression for Yes! and is used when someone is happy about a situation or a person. This should not be confused with Oo or Opo when agreeing to someone.
7. Magandang Umaga (Ma-gan-dang Oo-ma-ga) is Good morning. If you add po, it becomes more polite. Note that Maganda is beautiful in Tagalog so we use it as a greeting to describe a period of the day.
8. Magandang Tanghali (Ma-gan-dang Tang-ha-li) means Good noon. But Filipinos are more inclined to say Magandang Hapon (Ma-gan-dang Ha-pon) when the clock strikes 12 noon until the whole afternoon before 6 o’ clock in the evening in which case we say
9. Magandang Gabi (Ma-gan-dang Ga-bi) for Good evening.
10. Ba-bay. (Ba-bay) is the most common way to say goodbye in Tagalog.
Ten Most Common Tagalog Words/Expressions
Comparative and Superlative in Korean
How to express comparative and superlative sentences in Korean is not demanding at all. If you want to say ‘more’ /’less’ or compare two objects in Korean, you can simply put “더 Deo” before adjectives/ verbs. For example, if you want to say “I would like to eat more”, you can simply say “더 먹고 싶어요 Deo meokgo shipeo yo”, and if It’s the opposite situation you can say “덜 먹고 싶어요. Deol meokgo shipeo yo.”
In English, the words “most” and “best” can be used both adverbs and nouns. Similarly, we say 제일 (jeil) and 가장 (gajang) to express the superlative sentences in Korean. For example,
“제일 예쁜 꽃 jeil yebbeun ggot” means the most beautiful flower, and 가장 예쁜 꽃 means the same.
Here are some examples:
1. 어떤 색깔이 가장 좋아요? Which colour is your favourite?
2. 요즘 제일 인기 있는 가수는 누구예요? Who is the most popular singer nowadays?
3. 호바트가 시드니보다 더 추워요. Hobart is colder than Sydney.
Ashley (Korean teacher)
Some Stories About Our Japanese Course 19
Hi everyone, 皆さん、こんにちは。
My Japanese classes/lessons included the practices to develop speaking, reading, listening, writing, interacting, constructing and creating dialogues as well as cultural skills upon Japan and those of self-expressive skills. Also, we used textbooks (our major one is Genki Book 1), pictures, ads, children’s books, magazines, CDs, videos, DVDs, songs, gestures with songs etc. At the end of each class of 10 weeks, an exam was given (if the student wishes to have it as an open exam, that can be done in that way.)
As one of new teaching methods, I found that making copies of lovely or funny pictures and Hiragana version cards that have the names or the words for the above picture cards. I thought of that idea while preparing for the student of my regular tutorial, who is a 5-year-old girls (who enjoys singing Japanese songs!). The use of such cards is similar to playing cards of “karuta”. You will see the pictures and words/names of the pictures and eventually start accommodating Hiragana letters into your Japanese linguistics box in your brains. You leave many picture cards and the word cards (i.e. the translations of the words) on the table in disorder. The learner will pick up the cards to make the matches of picture cards and the names/words of the cards that are written in Hiragana. He/she can connect the Hiragana letters with the words and pictures; it will be much more fun than reading Hiragana letters without any meanings of things or animated things of a civilization/our environment. It’ll be an effective way to learn Hiragana. The above 5 year-old learner seemed excited with those cards. I plan to use such a method for my Beginners 1 and Katakana version in Beginners 2.
Regarding Japanese economy, there were many delightful or positive news reported (esp. thanks to the Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe’s brave, effective policies), including in a newspaper The Australian. I recently talked about that economic phenomenon in classes. The articles that report and comment upon such include the following. These are all from the above newspaper: (1) “Japan’s growth picks up steam”, (The Wall Street Journal), by W. Warnock, T. Mochizuki, 17.5.13, p. 20, (2) “No false dawn under Abe: Japan’s sun rising again”, R. Callick, 23.5.13, p. 24 (3) “Boost lending, BoJ tells banks”, T. Ito, 28.5.13, p. 22 (4) “Japan offers new opportunities” (in the Editorial of the newspaper), 29.5.13, p. 11.
In one of the above articles, it says PM Abe’s popularity reached 70% and also the Japanese share market has gone up 70% as well in the recent record! Amazing!
One of my current free-time reading is “Amerika –wa Nihon –no Fukkatsu –o Shitteiru”, written by an Emeritus Professor (at the University of Yale and University of Tokyo), Kooichi Hamada. He is around 76 years (and still writing books and thesis!). He was one of the advisors for PM Abe esp. in relation to increase the supply of Japanese money in order to stop deflation that has been causing the bad economy and ailing industries and society, and the Bank of Japan did not do much about that for the real solution for many years. Hamada is very outspoken and passionate about increase of money supply. He also comments: due to the impact of “Riiman-shokku” (the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers), all major countries increased the supply of money of their countries and only Japan did not; Japan suffered most among all the countries because of that.
Above Hamada reminds me of late Konosuke Matsushita (founder of Panasonic, previously National Panasonic) in many ways. Those amazing people’s talents, convictions, passion, vision, consistency in pursuing what they believe in, their almost universal values, etc are “immeasurable” for the past and future of Japan and Japanese international relations with the rest of the world. They are certainly the members of my heroes in my professionalism and personal life.
I also talked about and gave the info from website of INA Global, about the Japanese most successful newspaper Yomiuri-shimbun. Yomiuri newspaper (that began business in 1874) is not only the largest daily newspaper in Japan but also the largest in the world. Its circulation is greater than that of the New York Times, Washington Post and Wall Street Journal combined! (INA Global Press: “Yomiuri Shimbun: The giant of the Japanese press”. Yomiuri reminds me of Toyota Motors in the world’s car manufacturing industries.
Japanese Teacher, Toshiko Jackson
5.6.13
What is the benefit of having good English pronunciation?
• The first impression is extremely important when you speak with new people.
• People will know straight away your professional level by listening to the way you pronounce English words
• You can hide your limited vocab and grammar weakness, but not bad pronunciation.
• Good pronunciation simply opens you to huge opportunities to meet potential employers.
• Being able to communicate well with people from diverse countries is also a big achievement.
• Networking is extremely important. Consider if people will avoid talking to you if they have difficulty understanding what you want to say.
• If you have skilled pronunciation, people will very much enjoy make friends with you
Ways to improve your English conversation skills
Write your own blog
You may not know that writing is actually a good way to improve your vocabulary. When you want to describe something but get stuck, you will have to look at the dictionary. By writing your own blog, after a period of time, you will be surprised in the way you can express your idea in a conversation.
A meet up group
Join an English conversation “meet up” group to meet with people who want to practise their English speaking skills and you certainly will learn a lot from each other.
Sing karaoke
Learning through singing is such an effective way to improve your pronunciation and confidence. Why not surprise your friends in a party night singing your most favourite song?
Take an English conversation course
It is a good way to start, if you have no idea at all. The tutor in the class will guide you on what to do and correct your individual common mistakes. Later on, you can learn by yourself easily.
Think in English
Try to force yourself to think in English but not your own native language. It will likely be hard initially, but this will be a great way to learn more things around you which you didn’t really actually think of in the past. Later on, you will find more things to say when you speak in English
Pick up your favourite movies
Watching movies in the English language with English subtitles may help you to understand the movie and help you to know how people actually converse in real life. We always learn from something and someone, so this is one of the many ways.
Vocabulary list
Building up your own vocab list will help you a lot in the long run. Don’t forget to go through the list whenever you have spare time. Make the most of your smart phone, iphone and iPad apps such as note taking app, and to do list.
5 steps to improve English Grammar
• Start from basic sentences, move onto compound sentences and then complex sentences.
• Learn grammar rules and make good notes for future revision purposes.
• Double check your English grammar exercise/s every time you finish. You may make careless mistakes without notice.
• Learn from your mistake/s; you will not improve if you keep making the same mistake/s over and over.
• Learn from classmates, friends and the teacher. Some people may have difficulty in a particular skill and expertise in others. So why not learn from each other and together improve.
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