Chibi's ワン-Point English: "Cooking"

Hi everyone,

I'm sorry that it's been such a long time since I've written this blog. Alan tells me that some of you have been studying about cooking in your lessons at E-Style. Here are some useful (役に立つ) verbs (動詞) to know:

bake/天火で焼く
boil/ゆでる
broil/直火で焼く
fry/炒める・揚げる
steam/蒸す
scramble/かき混ぜながら焼く
stir-fry/かき混ぜながら炒める
microwave/電子レンジで調理する

You can change the above verbs into adjectives (形容詞) by using the past tense form (過去形) in front of a noun (名詞). Examples include the following:

baked potato; (hard) boiled egg; broiled chicken (だからブロイラーと言う); fried rice; steamed dumplings (餃子); scrambled eggs (スクランブルエッグは和製英語); stir-fried vegetables; microwaved popcorn.

I hope that this comes in handy (役に立つ) in the kitchen.

Bon appétit (いきなりフランス語が出た),

Chibiドン

P.S. Did you notice that "useful" and "comes in handy" both mean 「役に立つ」 in the above explanation?

UK vs US

It is not only the students who (hopefully!) learn something new each week at E-Style. One of the advantages of working with American teachers like Alan and R.T. is that I also learn new words each week.

As you may know there are many small differences between British and American English, especially with vocabulary, and if possible I try to teach my students both (usually after checking with Alan!).

Here are some common examples of different vocabulary used in the US and UK:

US: Apartment, UK: Flat （アパート）
US: Candy, UK: Sweets　　（お菓子）
US: Chips, UK: Crisps　　（ポテトチップス）
US: Cookie, UK: Biscuit （ビスケット）
US: First floor, UK: Ground floor （一階）
US: Fries, UK: Chips　　（ポテト）
US: Line, UK: Queue　　（待ち行列）
US: Movie theater, UK: Cinema （映画館）
US: Pants, UK: Trousers （ズボン）
US: Soccer, UK: Football （サッカー）
US: Trash, UK: Rubbish　　（ごみ、くず）
US: Truck, UK: Lorry （トラック）

There are of course many other differences including differences in spelling and also grammar. I will introduce some more in a future post.

Chibi's ワン-Point English: "Golden Week"

Hi everyone,

It's hard to believe that Golden Week is already upon us. According to Alan (アランによると), Golden Week doesn't exist (存在していない) in the United States. However, he suggested (提案した) that I teach you some of the English words that correspond to (一致する) the holidays during this period.

April 29: (昭和の日) - Showa Day
May 3: (憲法記念日) - Constitution Memorial Day
May 4: (みどりの日) - Greenery Day
May 5: (こどもの日) - Children's Day

By the way, did you know that the managing director of Daiei Films came up with the name Golden Week back in 1951 because the movie 「自由学校」had higher ticket sales during this period than at any other time during the year?

Enjoy the holidays,

Chibi

P.S. Please remember that E-Style will be closed from Showa Day (April 29) to Children's Day (May 5). Classes will resume on Thursday, May 6.

A World of Artists in Kagawa

I was recently invited to take part in a group exhibition called "A World of Artists in Kagawa". The exhibition was designed to showcase the work of foreign residents of Kagawa, Japan.

There will be a wide range of work on display and I think it is a very interesting concept for a show. The show will run from March 16th-27th in the ground floor plaza of I-PAL international centre in Takamatsu.

If you are around please feel free to pop in any time.
For more details click the poster image above.

There is also an official blog for the exhibition with artist profiles etc.:
http://foreignartkagawa.wordpress.com/

Chibi's ワン-Point English: "White Day"

Hi everyone,

I'm sorry that it's been such a long time since I've given you advice. Of course, it's Alan's fault for not typing for me.

Anyway, I'd like to teach you some useful expressions for White Day, which was this past Sunday, March 14th:

義理チョコ - Obligatory chocolate:「義理」means "obligation." When used as an adjective (形容詞), it changes to "obligatory."
本命チョコ - Chocolate for someone special: We cannot translate this directly (直訳できない）because in English「本命」means "favorite," as in "Pre-race favorite" 「レース前の本命」. Of course, we could say "Chocolate for my favorite person."
三倍返し - Return three-fold: The "fold" in "three-fold" means "times."

By the way, White Day was started by the National Confectionery Industry Association (全国飴菓子工業協同組合) and was first celebrated in Japan in 1978. These days, South Korea, Taiwan, and China also observe White Day. In fact, in South Korea there is also a "Black Day" on April 14th, when single (独身) or broken-hearted people (失恋した人）get together to eat jajangmyeon (white Korean noodles with black bean sauce).

Enjoy your chocolate,

Chibi

The Future of Films

Last week Alan, R.T. and I went to see the new hit movie "Avatar". The film was directed by James Cameron famous for directing one of the most successful films of all time Titanic.

As many of you may know, what is so special about Avatar is that it uses the latest 3D technology. I didn't know what to expect, but I can now say that is was one of the most exciting cinema experiences that I have ever had.

The 3D effects used in Avatar are very natural and after 30 minutes or so you forget that you are wearing 3D glasses. Though the story is not that original, the visual effects are stunning and Cameron creates a truly beautiful and original alien world.

Avatar has been incredibly popular all over the world and is now the biggest grossing film of all time (史上最高の興行収入を上げた映画). I am looking forward to more 3D movies like this.

I also have a film-related website recommendation. Rotten Tomatoes collects together many different film reviews (映画批評) and tells you an average score (平均点) for the movie. It is a very good way to find out if a film is good or not before you see it (and good English practice too!).

Going through airports is going to change?

Hi Guys! It's R.T. here. We had a really interesting discussion in the Monday night Advanced Class on January 11 about how air travel is going to change. In the near future, we might have to go through these new scanners at airports. This video shows how they work. Also, many people asked, "Are they safe?" Well, according to this video, it looks like they are very safe. This is mainly for advanced students.

Click >>>HERE<<< to look at the transcript.

(if you RIGHT CLICK, you can choose to open the transcript in another window. Then, you can look at the transcript and listen to the video at the same time.)

Happy New Year!

We would like to wish all of our students a very Happy New Year.
We hope you had an enjoyable holiday and wish you all the best for 2010.

At the new year we often make a "New Year's Resolution" (新年の誓い). I think the resolution for the E-Style teachers must be to write on this blog more often! We are sorry that we haven't been posting so often but we promise to try harder this year.

Lessons start again tomorrow (January 4th) and we look forward to teaching you all again this year.