Brazil
Is the largest country in South America and in the Latin America region. It is the world’s fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 193 million people.
Did you know that… the word “Brasil” comes from brasilwood, a tree that once grew plentifully along the Brazilian coast. In Portuguese, brasilwood is called pau-brasil and the capital of Brasil is Brasilia..?!
Brasil has two main cities Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.
SAO PAULO
Sao Paulo Is the largest city in Brasil. The metropolis has significant cultural, economic and political influence both nationally and internationally. It is home to several important monuments, parks and museums such as the Latin America Memorial, the Museum of the Portuguese Language , São Paulo Museum of Art, Museum of Ipiranga and the Ibirapuera Park. Paulista Avenue is the most important financial center of São Paulo. The city holds many high profile events, like the Sao Paulo art Biennial, the Brazil Grand Prix Formula 1 Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo FAshion Week, ATP Brasil Open, and the Sao Paulo Indy 300. Sao Paulo hosts the world’s largest gay pride parade according to the Guinness Book of World Records.
Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro is the most visited city in the southern hemisphere and is known for its natural settings, carnaval celebrations, samba, Bossa Nova, balneario beaches such as Barra da Tijuca, Copacabana, Ipanema, and Leblon. Some of the most famous landmarks in addition to the beaches include the giant statue of Christ the Redeemer (“Cristo Redentor”) atop Corcovado mountain, named one of the New Seven Wonders of the World; Sugarloaf mountain (Pão de Açúcar) with its cable car; the Sambodromo, a permanent grandstand-lined parade avenue which is used during Carnival; and Maracana Stadium, one of the world’s largest football stadiums.
Brazilian Portuguese is the best language
If you want a decent return on your investment, says Helen Joyce, the best language to learn is Brazilian Portuguese…
Some lunatics learn languages for fun. The rest of us are looking for a decent return on our investment. That means choosing a language with plenty of native speakers. One spoken by people worth talking to, in a place worth visiting. One with close relatives, so you have a head start with your third language. One not so distant from English that you give up.
There really is only one rational choice: Brazilian Portuguese. Brazil is big (190m residents; half a continent). Its economic prospects are bright. São Paulo is Latin America’s business capital. No other country has flora and fauna more varied and beautiful. It is home to the world’s largest standing forest, the Amazon. The weather is great and so are the beaches. The people are friendly, and shameless white liars. You’ll be told “Your Portuguese is wonderful!” many times before it is true.
You won’t need a new alphabet or much new grammar, though you may find the language addicted to declensions and unduly fond of the subjunctive. You’ll learn hundreds of words without effort (azul means blue, verde means green) and be able to guess entire sentences (O sistema bancário é muito forte: the banking system is very strong). With new pronunciation and a few new words you’ll get around in Portugal and parts of Africa. If you speak Spanish, French or Italian, you’ll find half the work is already done — and if not, why not try? With Portuguese under your belt you’ll fly along.
Best of all, you’ll stand out. Only about 10m Brazilians have reasonable English, and far more Anglophones speak French or Spanish than Portuguese, of any flavour. I did not choose this language; it was thrust on me by the offer of a job in São Paulo. But when I think of my sons, now ten and five, one day being able to write “fluent Brazilian Portuguese” on their CVs, I feel a little smug.
Helen Joyce is The Economist’s São Paulo correspondent
Source: http://moreintelligentlife.com/content/ideas/helen-joyce/brazilian-portuguese-best-language
Some Stories About Our Japanese Course 16
Hi everyone, 皆さん、こんにちは。
My Japanese classes and lessons included the usual kinds of activities to develop speaking, reading, listening, writing, constructing and performing dialogues or speech apart from cultural, society-orientated, technology, industry, and travel in Japan.
As recent delightful news, several students, who took my Beginners 1 late last year, informed me their latest news by email. For example, they have been to Japan, greatly enjoyed Japan and could read and understand words that were written in Hiragana etc, and thanked our course (and will come back to our Japanese course this year). Very nice indeed.
In my recent teaching, apart from using the textbook, reference materials for vocab and grammar, video, DVD, flash cards for vocab, pictures and words esp. from Japanese cooking magazines, ads of shops (Harvey Norman or supermarkets to talk about prices of things) etc, I used the method of singing Japanese songs as before. I included some gestures for a few songs. Some adult learners are shy and they tend to hesitate at first, but I try to encourage to do gestures, eg. use of fingers for a song, “My Fingers” and “Cha-Cha-Cha with Toys” (“Omocha no cha, cha, cha”). For teaching a five-year-old girl every Sat., she is very good at singing and performing gestures (almost no fear!) and she enjoys colouring the pictures of the song sheets. Very active learning attitude. Including gestures in singing is very effective and human brains and emotions will be more effectively learning and acquiring the language and culture at the same time while singing. (I mentioned such a thing in my publication in “Australia Language Matter”(ANU) in the past, as one of teaching methods in Japanese and with its cultural concepts.
As for information related to Japanese society (and culture), I showed an article of recent Jenta, which had news of a tuna of an amazing price at Tsukiji Fishmarket, Tokyo, the world’s biggest fish market. Also, articles about Japanese politics, security issue/international relation, i.e dispute with China about the Senkaku Islands, etc. The sources/articles for are:
1. About the newly elected Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe of Liberal Democratic Party, www.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinz%C5%8D_Abe
2. About the Senkaku Island, dispute with China, (1) “China-Japan dispute has wide regional implications: Beijin would be wise to leave the Senkaku Islands alone”, The Australian, editorial, 10.12.12, p. 13. (2) ”Islands must not come between Japan and China: Beijin should take its claim to the ICJ (International Court of Justice), by Masahiro Kohara, Consul General of Japan, Sydney, The Australian, 3.1.13, p. 6 (in the article, Mr Kohara says Japan has spent the post-swar era as a peace-loving nation in line with its peaceful Constitution and has long been the world’s biggest Overseas Development Assistance donor to assist developing nations and in Asia, China was the biggest recipient of Japanese ODA. (3) “Peaceful way out for China and Japan”, by Stephanie Kleine-Ahlbrandt, originally article in The Wall Street Journal, The Australian, 7.1.13, p. 6. (4) “Manufacturing dreams won’t take us closer to Asia”, by David Uren (economic editor), 24.1.13, p. 10. It’s about future Australian major industries that should be sustained and strengthened for Australian international trade and its economy, in the article Uren says that til now, Japan was the source of the highest technology in Asia. – All of the above articles and comment seem impressive, sensible (for democratic and peaceful international relationships) and useful.
Japanese Teacher, Toshiko Jackson
5.2.13
Moscow metro – a piece of art hidden underground
In most cities the Metro system is just a means of getting from one tourist attraction to another. The Moscow metro is an exception to this rule, it is a tourist attraction in itself. You will find yourself stopping to marvel at some of Moscow’s amazingly ornately designed stations. Carrying an average of 7million passengers per day, it is also Europe’s busiest Metro system.
The Moscow metro is the main and safest transport system in the Russian capital. It is second only to the metro in Tokyo as far as the volume of traffic is concerned. The metro system consists of 12 lines with an overall length of over 298 km, with 180 stations. The first line opened on 15 May 1935. The passengers were immediately impressed by the fairy-tale beauty of the underground palaces, by the amount of light and the lavish decoration of the stations.
No underground in the world has used a synthesis of arts in its décor. The Moscow metro is a really unique architectural and artistic monument. It was the first one in the world to decorate the stations with statues, frescoes, mosaics. It is hard to believe that all this magnificence was practically hand-made. Nevertheless, the result is amazingly beautiful stations, different from one another. Another uniqueness of the Moscow metro is that the construction of new stations is still based on these ideas and principles.This is how it was planned 75 years ago.
Moscow metro was built not only as public transport. In 1930-s the country was already preparing for a possible war. During the Siege of Moscow, in 1941, metro stations were used as air-raid shelters. Many stations built during the Cold War are very deep and were planned as shelters in the event of nuclear attack. The result of this is that the deepest station of the Moscow metro is “Park Pobedy”, 84 meters, the height of a 28-storey building. It’s one of the deepest stations in the world. At the same metro station one can experience the longest escalator (126 m). Standing at the bottom one cannot see the top.
The differences between English and Russian
Russian is part of the Slavonic branch of the Indo-European language family. It is closely related to other Slav languages such as Polish, Czech and Serbo-Croatian. Russian is spoken as a mother tongue by about 150 million people in Russia and the former republics of the USSR.
English and Russian are quite different in some aspects. In particular the grammar systems show significant variations. English has a fairly fixed word order. Meaning is expressed through the addition of words (for example auxiliaries) and movement of words within limited boundaries. Russian, on the other hand, conveys meaning largely through changes in the composition of words (e.g., by inflections or the addition of prefixes and suffixes). Its word order is very fluid. Because of these differences English-speakers may often find learning Russian word order confusing. Word order in Russian largely depends on what a person is willing to make an emphasis on.
Due to differences in the phonological systems, it is to a certain extent challenging for Russians to acquire native-speaker-like standards of pronunciation and intonation. Russian consists of 5 vowel sounds, with no differentiation between short and long vowels. This contrasts with English which has 12 vowel sounds (5 long, 7 short), plus 8 diphthongs. Possibly the most significant vowel difficulty for Russians is the sound in her / cur. This sound seems to cause especial difficulties in words beginning with /w/, such as were / work / worth. Other vowel problems include a difficulty discriminating between the sounds in sat / set or sit / seat.On the other hand, the main challenge for English speakers in learning Russian represent such letters as: “э”, “й”, “щ” and especially the letter “ы” along with the “soft sign” (ь) and the “hard sign” (ъ). The latter do not designate any sounds but make the preceding consonant sound either softer or harder. Another phonological problem which potentially may cause learning difficulties with English-speakers is a “strong” Spanish-like sound “r”. This is due to the fact that “r” in English is reduced.
Japanese Customary Ways
KNOWING HOW THINGS ARE DONE IN JAPAN WILL MAKE YOUR VISIT MUCH MORE ENJOYABLE.
Japanese often gets a bad rap for being expensive, awkward for foreign travellers and populated by inscrutable people who speak an incomprehensible language. The reality is that it is one of the friendliest and easiest countries to travel around. Even Japanese culture doesn’t have to be a problem as long as you remember two things. First: relax. Most Japanese don’t expect foreigners to know all the ins and outs of their customs and they tend to be extraordinarily patient when we slip up. Second: respect. This is the essence of all things Japanese and enables 127 million people to live together in country of New Zealand. The following are a few tips to ease the culture shock.
Shoe-ing off
Most shops and hotels don’t require you to take off your shoes; most temples, homes and traditional restaurants do. If in doubt, look for the telltale rows of shoes out the front and the slippers you’re supposed to wear instead.
Toilets
Japanese toilets are one of the wonders of the manmade world. Even public conveniences in airports have buttons for flushing sounds, music or birdsong(to reduce embarrassment), bidet functions, hair dryers and inseat heating with instruction usually in Japanese only, so be careful what you press.
Bathing rules
Whatever you do, don’t wash yourself in a public bath (onsen). Japanese baths are for soaking after you have showered (while sitting down on a small wooden or plastic stool). Many hotels in tourist and mountain areas have in-house hot-spring baths and cotton robe, slippers are supplied. Many guests even dine at the hotel restaurant, go gift shopping in the lobby and wander outside the hotel in their bathwear.
No tipping
It’s not usual to tip in Japan and people can feel offended if you offer them money for something they may have intended as a friendly gesture such as helping with your bags of hailing a taxi for you. Instead of tipping at the restaurant, say “gochisosama desita” (thank you for a lovely meal) when leaving.
Bow, don’t blow
If you have to point at something or someone, use your whole hand (finger point is considered offensive). Bowing is generally preferred over shaking hands as a greeting. And if you have a cold, niff, don’t blow, blowing your nose in public is regarded as the height of bad manners.
Beer Behaviour
Beer (biru) I the most popular drink in Japan. If you find yourself drinking with the locals, wait until everyone has a full glass before saying “kampa”(cheers). It’s not the done thing to fill your own glass – let your companions do it for you, as you fill their glasses in return. And when you had enough, leave your glass full. Keep drinking and your Japanese hosts will just keep topping it up.
You talkin’ to me?
Harmony is everything in Japan and, as a result, the Japanese seem to genuinely appreciate the slightest effort foreigners make to communicate in their language. Even if you get it horribly wrong, a few words or phrases will go a long way towards making your trip to Japan a happy one.
Arigato (thank you)
Hai (yes, though technically “that’s right”)
Iie (no)
Oishii (delicious)
Sumimasen (excuse me)
Onegai shimasu (please)
Sayonara (goodbye)
Gomen nasai (sorry).
Tips for OET Writing
Preparing for the OET Writing task is not just about doing piles and piles of practice tasks – it is about doing them RIGHT.
Many students may repeatedly sit the OET but never pass the writing section as they just don’t have the right approach. If you are one of those students, this blog will hopefully point you in the right direction.
It is important to consider what the examiners are looking for – that is, the “marking criteria”. Your task is marked against the following 5 criteria:
- Overall task fulfilment – make sure you stick to the required word length of approximately 180-200 words!
- Appropriateness of language – choose the appropriate vocabulary and tone for the particular situation. Also, ensure your writing is organised into clear ideas!
- Comprehension of stimulus – choose to include the most relevant information to the situation! This will show the marker you have understood the stimulus.
- Control of linguistic features – grammar and cohesion!!!!!!
- Control of presentation features – check the spelling and punctuation, as well as the layout of your letter!
In your preparation for the writing task, make sure you are considering each of these key points because these are the things that the examiner will be looking out for. So if you are confidently fulfilling these 5 criteria, then you can surely impress the examiner!
New Year’s Customs in Austria , Germany and Switzerland
GUTES NEUES JAHR – Happy New Year!
Austria
In Austria, New Year’s Eve is usually celebrated with friends and family. At exactly midnight, all radio and television programmes operated by ORF broadcast the sound of the Pummerin, the bell of St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna, followed by the Donauwalzer (“The Blue Danube”) by Johann Strauss II. Many people dance to this at parties or in the street. Large crowds gather in the streets of Vienna, where the municipal government organises a series of stages where bands and orchestras play. Fireworks are set off by both municipal governments and individuals.
Germany
In Germany, parties are common on New Year’s Eve (Silvester). Fireworks are very popular, both with individuals and large municipal displays. Every year Berlin hosts one of the largest New Year’s Eve celebrations in all of Europe, attended by over a million people. The focal point is the Brandenburg Gate, where midnight fireworks are centered. Germans toast the New Year with a glass of Sekt (German sparkling wine) or champagne.
Since 1972, each New Year’s Eve, several German television stations broadcast a short comedy play in English (recorded by West German television in 1963) entitled Dinner for One. A line from the comedy sketch, “the same procedure as every year”, has become a catch phrase in Germany.
Switzerland
In some parts of Switzerland, Sylvester Clauses drive away evil spirits. In Urnäsch, in the canton of Appenzell Outer Rhodes, a colourful tradition continues to be practiced on the last day of the year. Strangely clad figures with elaborate masks and noisy bells move from house to house, in a bid to drive away evil spirits.
http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/multimedia/video/Sylvester_Claus.html?cid=667924
Kim Yuna (김연아), the princess of figure skating
Not many Australians would doubt that Ian Thorpe is the nation’s sports hero. Every kid want to swim like him and feel proud of his name since he made the country’s image as the strongest country in water sports.
Like Ian Thorpe, in Korea, we do have Kim Yuna (김연아) who is a South Korean figure skater. You can easily see her face on tv commercials and catalogues of major corporations in South Korea.
She’s a one of a kind figure skater and her career supports it strongly. She is the 2010 Olympic champion in ladies’ singles, the 2009 World champion, the 2009 Four Continents champion, a three-time (2006–2007, 2007–2008, 2009–2010) Grand Prix Final champion, the 2006 World Junior champion, the 2005 Junior Grand Prix Final champion, and a four-time (2002–2005) South Korean national champion. She is the first South Korean figure skater to win a medal at an ISU Junior or Senior Grand Prix event, ISU Championship, and the Olympic Games. She is the first female skater to win the Olympic Games, the World Championships, the Four Continents Championships and the Grand Prix Final. She is one of the most highly recognized athletes and media figures in South Korea.
In May 2011, Kim began to host a show called “Kim Yu-na’s Kiss and Cry”. The program portrayed the challenging process of ten popular entertainers as they learned how to figure skate from professional skaters. The ten stars included comedian Kim Byung-man, singer U-Know of TVXQ, Krystal of f(x), IU, Son Dam-bi, actors Park Jun-geum, Seo Ji-suk, Lee Ah-hyun, Jin Ji-hee and speed skater Lee Kyu-hyuk.
Kim has stated that she hopes to become a member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) after the 2014 Sochi Games.
Her challenge and inspiration would never stop!
Ashley (Korean teacher)
Christmas in Korean
Christmas is just around the corner! Unlike sunny sizzling Sydney Christmas, we have a cold (approx -5’C) and snowy Christmas in Korea. White Christmas indeed!
Let’s learn one Christmas Carol in Korean! Here is a song performed by the K-pop super group, DBSK , when the 5members were together. It is still considered as the best ‘a cappella Carol’ in Korea.
고요한 밤 거룩한 밤 (Silent Night, Holy Night Korean Version) by 동방신기(DBSK)
HANGEUL
[믹키] 고요한 밤 거룩한 밤 어둠에 묻힌밤
[최강] 주의 부모 앉아서 감사 기도 드릴때
[영웅] 아기 잘도 잔다 아기 잘도 잔다
[시아] 고요한 밤 거룩한 밤 영광이 둘린 밤
[유노] 천군 천사 나타나 기뻐 노래 불렀네
[영웅] 왕이 나셨도다 왕이 나셨도다
[시아] 왕이 나셨도다 왕이 나셨도다
[All] 왕이 나셨도다
ROMANISATION
Goyohan Bam Gorughan Bam
[Micky]
Goyohan bam gorughan bam
Odume mudhinbam
[Changmin]
Juye bumo anjaso gamsa gido durilte
[Jaejoong]
Agi jaldo janda agi jaldo janda
[Xiah]
Goyonhan bam gorughan bam
Yonggwangi dullin bam
[Yunho]
Chongun chonsa natana
Gippo nore bullone
[Jaejoong]
Wangi nashododa
Wangi nashyododa
[Xiah]
Wangi nashyododa
Wangi nashyododa
[All]
Wangi nashyododa
– Ashley Jang (Korean language teacher)
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