Indian Cuisine in Sydney
Think of Indian cuisine and either your mouth waters as your mind conjures images of aromatic curries, naan bread, flavoursome spices or the gut wrenches as you painfully remember the oil drenched curries laden with red chilli! Well, I am no aficionado but can say with certainty that Indian food is one that can be easily customised for any palate and yet retain its rich flavour, aroma and texture.
My theory can be put to test on the streets of Sydney in a jiffy. If you are from the North of Sydney and like your Indian curries sweet – there a couple of good restaurateurs who cater to this in Crow’s Nest. If you are in the Hills and like your spices Norwest is a good place for the palate challenge. If Liverpool is the hub of authentic Indian, Homebush is the Mecca of the cuisine! And if you are up for a flavour burst – Harris Park is teaming with all kinds of Indian cuisine- North Indian, South Indian and even Indian-Chinese (believe me it’s an entire culinary experience that the Chinese are not aware of and the Indians swear by it)!
Some Stories About Our Japanese Course 18
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 and knowledge upon Japan. 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 was done in that way.)
As for use of flash cards to increase knowledge of vocab, sentences construction and script reading skills, for the recent few weeks, I have been using “Hantai-kotoba-kaado” (Kumon) that has many beautiful cards in Hiragana and Kanji (Chinese characters) with use of words that are commonly used nouns, adjectives and verbs. Each card has lovely, cute or funny pictures that indicate the words concerned. Each card has a word on one side and its antonym (word of the contrary meaning) on the back. The cards were very useful, interesting to use and helpful to make sentences and short dialogues.
A few times, I used exciting pictures from magazines, including MX magazine, e.g. picture of a beautiful white baby lion that is in the UK zoo. The class listened to my Japanese sentences or students said some sentences in reference to the report on the article. For example, “The baby lion’s mother is Kya.”, “The white baby lion is cute.”
At Internet, you can see many articles on Japanese newspapers. About a month ago I saw gorgeous photos of “waves” of Japanese cherry blossoms in the middle of Tokyo, in Yomiuri newspaper (shimbun). However, the season was over and couldn’t show it to classes. And I found the inspiring article(s) of Japanese newspapers, so I reported that to classes. I believer such printed media has enormously contributed to Japanese democratization, world’s highest literacy rate and people’s life span, impressive peace and order in the society in the post modern times, their cherishing good, traditional values, practice and consistency, technological sophistication, communal attitude etc.
Related to the above topic, one of the article reports (from INA Globa Press Article, “Yomiuri Shimbun – The giant of the Japanese press”: “With more than 10 million copies sold everyday, Yomiuri Shimbun is not only the largest daily newspaper in Japan, but also the largest in the world. The circulation of Yomiuri Shimbun is greater than that of the New York Times, Washington Post and Wall Street combined. Around 50 million newspapers are sole each day in Japan, where 90% of the public reads newspapers. —– (in p. 7 of that article,) Yomiuri Shimbun was founded in 1874 (i.e. soon after the end of Edo Period and start of Meiji Period); Asahi Shimbun was in 1879; Mainichi Shimbun was in 1872 and Nikkei Shimbun was in 1876; Sankei Shimbun was in 1913.
The above first four newspapers are national newspapers and its circulation rates are all extremely high in the world’s standard. Also, there is an English newspaper, The Japan Times. All of Yomiuri, Asahi, Mainichi and Nikkei newspapers have English versions daily.
Japanese Teacher, Toshiko Jackson
3.5.13
Did you know… The new pope eats Argentines?
I came across a newspaper article just after the new pope, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, was announced as the new head honcho of the Catholic Church.
So… is the new pope, Jorge Mario Bergoglio, a cannibal who favors his Argentinian fellow-countrymen as a delicious meal, just like the headline in a German newspaper suggested? Admittedly, I have no idea what kind of diet Francis, the 266th pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church prefers but I’m pretty sure that he is not after human meat. So you might wonder, why do I ask the question whether Pope Francis craves for humans for supper?
A German newspaper wrote: “Der neuePapstisstArgentinier”, which means “The new Pope eats Argentines”. Actually, (at least I’m pretty confident that’s the case) the writer of this newspaper articles wanted to say this: “Der neuePapstistArgentinier” (“The new Pope is Argentinian”). So, what led to this linguistic accident?
The conjugated forms (2nd and 3rd person singular) of the German verbs “sein” (to be) and “essen” (to eat) share one and the same sound chain, that is, “ist” and “isst” are so-called homophones – the pronunciation of both these forms is identical – but orthographically they mean two totally different things. In order to make sure that you do not walk right into the same trap, here’s an overview of the correct conjugated forms of both the German verbs sein and essen:
| sein (to be) | ||
| Singular | Plural | |
| 1st person | ich bin – I am | Wirsind – we are |
| 2nd person | du bist – you are (informal)Siesind – you are (formal) | ihrseid – you are (informal)Siesind – you are (formal) |
| 3rd person | er/sie/esist – he/she/it is | siesind – they are |
| essen (to eat) | ||
| Singular | Plural | |
| 1st person | ichesse – I eat | wiressen – we eat |
| 2nd person | du isst – you eat (informal)Sieessen – you eat (formal) | ihresst – you eat (informal)Sieessen – you eat (formal) |
| 3rd person | er/sie/esisst – he/she/it eats | sieessen – they eat |
As you can see, German shares one and the same form for English “you”, “she”, and “they”, which is “sie” and “Sie”, respectively. When you refer to your immediate counterpart in personal communication make sure to use a CAPITAL letter in formal address.
Unfortunately, the editor’s mistake is irreversible but one thing is for sure: he or she is most probably a laughing stock in the office and definitely among members of the language police. My final remark: Spell-check can save lives!
Danny Ruch – German Teacher
Tips on Translation from Vietnamese into English
1. Vietnamese grammar
Vietnamese grammar revision training is essential as it will help the student gain better insight of different structures in the Vietnamese language. Students can become more confident when choosing a suitable structure when translating Vitnamese into English.
2. Different ways to practise translation
Studies suggested that instead of being given a 200-word text, teachers should give 10 sentences of the same syntactic structure in Vietnamese. By doing this, a student can certainly master the way of handling subjects in a given structure. This is a particularly effective way for a limited competency English learner.
3. The lack of knowledge of both Vietnamese and English.
If students cannot master the characteristics of Vietnamese and understand the difference between the two languages, they will end up producing sentence forms that are very unnatural and awkward.
4. Tense and Aspect in Vietnamese
The tenses and aspects in Vietnamese and English are expressed differently. This can be understood easily from the example below:
Lan ăn cơm
“Lan” can be translated into English as “is eating rice”, “ate rice”, “eats rice” or “has eaten”, depending on the context.
5. The markers đã and đang do not accurately specify past and present tenses.
Đã in sentences (a) and (b) does not indicate actions happening in the past. As we can see, Đã in (a) expresses a truth in the present, and in (b) it expresses an action happening in the future.
(a) Bây giờ tôi đã có nhà.
I have enough houses now
(b) Nếu ba tháng nữa em mới về thì anh đã đi Mỹ rồi
If you go back in three more months, I’ve been to America already
6. Adverb of time
In (a) “Tuần trước” (last week) in Vietnamese is the adverb of time implying the past. No tense marker is needed in this sentence but the verb “go to work” has to be changed into “went to work” in English. “Sẽ” in sentence (b) is used to state uncertainty of an event; it is appropriate to talk about the future. However, “sẽ” is not a tense marker but an aspect marker. Therefore “sẽ” can indicate a future time frame but not in all cases.
(a) Tuần trước Hoa đi làm.
Last week Hoa went to work
(b) Hoa sẽ nở
A Flower will blossom
7. Verb “to be”
In English, the verb to be has many forms: am, is, are, was, were, be, being, and been. There is only one word for verb to be- là. Therefore, when translating from Vietnamese to English, a student should be very careful with the subject in order to decide the appropriate verb form.
(a) Tôi là học sinh
I am a student
(b) Anh ấy là người yêu của tôi
He is my lover
8. Phrasal Structures in Vietnamese
There is a difference between Vietnamese and English adjective phrases. The general rule is the adverb of manner precedes the adjective. For example:
rất đẹp
very beautiful‟
hơi đẹp
bit beautiful
9. Some students know the translation rule very well; however, they don’t have sufficient practice of all kinds of linguistic structures and patterns. As a result they may make grammar mistakes when translate into English.
10. Topic-Comment structure of Vietnamese
As Vietnamese speakers like to mention a topic first and then elaborate on that topic later, it is common that the majority of students admit the complexity of the Topic-Comment structure of Vietnamese. Students have a tendency to be more correct in translating Vietnamese sentences whose subjects are apparently recognizable through a clear semantic.
11. The identification of dropped subjects from Vietnamese into English
Vietnamese people in general have the habit of speaking without a subject whenever it can be inferred from the context. Many students are incapable of locating the subject and often translate incorrectly. Therefore, it is a great burden for students to translate a subject in English with an obligatory constituent in order for people to understand thoroughly.
12. Passive voice
Vietnamese people prefer the active voice to the passive voice. Therefore, students should not translate two languages word by word but understand the whole idea and start to translate.
13. The omission of pronouns in Vietnamese:
Students should be aware that the subject in Vietnamese spoken language is often omitted but not in English. Consequently, they must analyse the source text to find the missing subjects, direct objects or indirect objects in order to avoid mistranslation
14. “Double subject” constructions of Vietnamese:
This means the topic is not identical to the subject. The relationship between the topic and the subject can be possessive or inclusive. The strategy is to recognize the link between the subject and the topic.
Mandarin Chinese and its characters
Mandarin Chinese, which is also known as pútónghùa, zhōngwén, hànyǔ, and guǒyǔ, is spoken in China and Taiwan as a native language. Due to its popularity, Mandarin is also used in different countries all over the world such as Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines…….In fact, Mandarin is one of the most broadly spoken languages in the world together with English and Spanish.
People in different areas of China speak different dialects as Min Nan, Hakka, Fujian, Cantonese, etc, which may sound very different to standard Mandarin. Fortunately, the meaning and the written language is the same for all kinds of Chinese dialects.
Generally speaking, students prefer to write simplified instead of traditional Chinese characters as they are much more simple. One of the ways to master the characters, to understand the two, they are in fact interconnected with each other. Taiwanese uses traditional characters only while Chinese uses simplified characters. However, not every Chinese character has both simplified and traditional versions, so sometimes you may have no option but to write the complicated form.
How to count from 1 to 10 in Chinese
|
Chinese character |
Pin Yin |
English meaning |
|
一
|
yī |
One |
|
二
|
èr
|
Two |
|
三
|
sān
|
Three |
|
四
|
sì
|
Four |
|
五
|
wǔ
|
Fine |
|
六
|
liù
|
Six |
|
七
|
qī
|
Seven |
|
八
|
bā
|
Eight |
|
九
|
jiǔ
|
Nine |
|
十
|
shí
|
ten |
Australian Slang and Colloquialisms and the difference from British Colloquialisms
Even though Australia was settled by the British, the country has developed it’s own slang language. There are many reasons why the differences have emerged however here the differences will be shown and the reasons are another story and may come later.
British police are colloquially called “plods, bobbies, coppers”. In Australia the word “copper” is used.
When the police, principal, boss or superior officer will punish you, or when someone may get revenge on you a British person would say “They’re going to do you now,” while an Australian person wold say “They’re going to get you” and “They’re going to make you pay”.
A posh person is normally called a “toff” by British speakers, while Australians would use the word “ponce”.
The currency is always called by its proper name. In the UK, “quid” is slang for pounds while in Australia “bucks” is used instead of dollars. The reason for this difference is American influence. In America, “buck” as a slang word for money was influenced by colonial times where Europeans and American Indians used goats, deer, and antelopes as a form of currency.
In Australia if you want to call someone “crazy”, idiotic, unreasonable, blind to danger, short tempered, you normally use the word “nuts” or maybe “nutso”, and for people who are extreme examples; “mad as a cut snake”. In the UK you would normally hear the description “mental”.
Other people are seen as rude, dishonest, neglectful, unpleasant, selfish, lazy or you may dislike them for any number of reasons. In Australia, that type of person is a “jerk”, “rat bag” or “scum bag”. In Britain, the word is “twat”. The British also use the word “twat” to mean “to beat up”, while in Australia people might say “bash” and “pummel”.
These are just some Australian slang word, but watch these blogs because more info about Australian slang just might “pop up” (appear :)).
How to Improve Your Pronunciation When You are Aware of Your Accent and Want to Improve It
An IELTS trainer may have told you your pronunciation has problems, people may have told you your accent makes you hard to understand, or maybe you’ve heard your own voice and think it needs to be better. One way or another, you may feel you want to improve your accent. There are several ways to do this. Learn how the words are properly pronounced, search the shop or library, or join a pronunciation class.
To learn how the words are properly pronounced, go onto the internet and find websites which feature clips and transcripts in the archives. This is best done on websites for regular TV programmes. These sites feature past episodes and a matching transcript. You can find these on the ABC website in particular. Examples of programmes featured there are Four Corners, Media Watch & Good Game, and (Margaret and David) At The Movies. Lateline and the 7:30 Report also feature transcripts and related clips. While some clips and/or transcripts may be unavailable due to age, there is normally a good selection to choose from. The more recent the story the more likely you will find film clips and scripts. Simply listen to the clip and follow the transcript as it moves.
A number of shops or libraries cater for language students. Their shelves contain books on pronunciation of Australian or even British English. If not, they will help you adjust your accent and if successful your pronunciation may not be a problem. Another option is to join a pronunciation class at a language college. This is where you will receive the training and corrections you need. It will be a specialised class where the teacher focuses strictly on your accent and does not have to help correct people on their grammar, fluency or speed. Another option is to record yourself speak and listen to how you sound and if you are not happy with the accent you hear, try again. It’s been talked about, but no strong story exists.
Love IELTS Speaking exams?
1. Listen carefully and answer the question correctly
Don’t be nervous in the IELTS Speaking exam, the examiner will know it obviously. Be yourself, don’t memorise any answers from any sources, it will result in a bad score. Pay attention to the verb tense, noun forms, conjunctions and intonation.
2. Practice is a habit
Genius is trained; therefore, you need to be trained for any kind of exam. You should definitely not sit for an exam which you don’t know anything about. Understand the structures and know the strategies.
3. Long answer
It is highly recommend that you extend your answer properly. Give an explanation for your answer with demonstrations and examples. Not only yes or no answers, please!
4. Maintain good eye contact
Don’t look down at the floor or stare at the table, it may be considered as disrespectful to the examiner. Remember, good eye contact and body gesture will be highly appreciated.
5. Can’t understand the question clearly?
In the speaking test, candidates are asked to be interactive, not just answer all the questions and leave. Therefore, do not hesitate to ask the examiner if you are not sure about the question. Trying to answer a question you do not understand thoroughly may lead you to answer it incorrectly and therefore lose marks!
How To Improve Your Vocabulary for IELTS Speaking
Vocabulary, to state the obvious, vocabulary simply means words. To state the obvious about IELTS, vocabulary is an important part. IELTS is more about how you use the words than the words themselves, however relevant vocabulary is important. The choice of your words will depend on the subject you are asked about.
You’ll receive questions on entertainment, relationships (your family, your friends), clothing, food, colour, hobbies, interests, leisure, time, fitness, health, your “home” (either where you are from or where you are now, famous people (not necessarily world famous but as long as you state they are well known you are answering the question), songs, music and dance, travel, history, historic sites, general scientific questions and your favourite place (practically any location is a place).
To find the relevant vocabulary, do some light research on the subjects and related items. Practically all information on the listed subjects can be found on the internet, in books (reference books, non-fiction, even fiction), dictionaries (online and printed). It’s all just a matter of knowing your preferences, experiences, opinions, ideas on these subjects. To prepare for questions on your favourite film or TV programme read a web page about it, maybe two, and consult dictionaries if you’re unsure on what the words mean and when to use them. To answer questions on relationships, consult look at articles, books, websites on families and friendships in general. If you want to talk about your favourite clothes, read books, magazines, catalogues, internet sites.
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