ETJ Blog

[ETJ Show 45 – part 2 – start transcript]

John: What else, what is your favorite season?

Hiromi:  Fall.

John:  Why do you like the fall?  I really like the fall too. I love autumn.

Hiromi:  Because I was brought up in very cool place.  Hokkaido is a cool place, so I don’t like hot summer. 

John:  Cool like the people are really cool? Like the Japanese say, Kakui or cool.  Cool or temperature cool?

Hiromi:  Temperature cool. 

John:  Temperature cool, okay.  Just testing you.

Hiromi:   I don’t like summer.  I don’t like the cold winter. 

John:  I don’t like summer, like right now, it’s a bit warm but I love winter.

Hiromi:  Yes, I know some love winter.

John:  I like the cold. I like it.

Hiromi:  When I was a kid, I love winter because I could play outside doing skiing, doing skating.  That was a little fun for me, but now…

John:  You are very young. You are young. You can go out.  You can make snowman. You can go skating.  We have an Olympic or international sized, 400-meter all-skiing oval just a few kilometers away.  We have world-class skiing.  We had the Nagano 1998 Winter Olympics in the area.  What is wrong with you?

Hiromi:  I told you.

John:  I’m going to take you skiing.  We’re going to go skiing, we’re going to go skating, we’re going to have a snowball fight.  How does that sound? Next winter.

Hiromi:  Next winter?

John:   Me against you and Tomoko. We’ll have a snowball fight. We’re going to run out, we’re going to roll around in the snow or we’re going to throw snowballs at each other. 

Hiromi:  Yes, that sounds fun.

John:  All right, let us do it. It’s a date. It’s a deal.  Let us do it.  Books we talked about a little bit.  Movies, favorite movies or movie genre.  We use the French word genre and Japanese use that also, janru.

Hiromi:  Janru.

John:  Janru, genre.  Kind of movies, or type of movies?  What do you like?

Hiromi:  I’m not an avid fan of some actors and actresses, directors. I don’t have enough time to watch movies so, I don’t have any specific taste for movies.

John:  Can you give us any idea of any recent movies that you’ve seen in the last year or two?

Hiromi:  Last year or two.

John:  Anything that you have seen any that you like?

Hiromi:  John lent me a video Super Size Me.

John:  Aah.  Super Size Me, yes.

Hiromi:  A very good movie.

John:  Yes. What kind of movie is that?

Hiromi:  That was a nonfiction movie.

John:  Good. Documentary.

Hiromi:  Documentary.

John:  That’s a really good one.  Morgan Spurlock, his name is.  You like that one.  How about any fiction films that you’ve seen? Japanese or Hollywood or other?

Hiromi:  Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. 

John:  Who is the star actor in that one?

Hiromi:  Johnny Depp.

John:  Johnny Depp.  Wow, he is popular in Japan.

Hiromi:  Yes, very popular.

John:  I like Johnny Depp. I’ve seen some of his movies and I know my favorite Johnny Depp performance is a very popular movie and the second one came out in the States and is just coming out in Japan.  Do you know it?

Hiromi:  The Pirates of the Caribbean? 

John:  Yes.  Did you see number one?  What is wrong with you?  Pirates of the Caribbean. I thought it was very entertaining.

Hiromi:  Entertaining.

John:  Very.  Johnny Depp, you have to go see that.  Yes, I really like it, very entertaining and Johnny Depp plays a wonderful, funny and interesting character.

Hiromi:  I saw his movie, Scissorhands.

John:  Edward Scissorhands.  I have never seen that one.

Hiromi:  Oh, you’ve never seen that one?

John:  No, because…

Hiromi:  It’s really, really romantic and fantastic and funny.

John:  I have had my hand on it once or twice at the video store.  My wife…

Hiromi:  Just do it!

John:  Yes, I should.  She says it’s okay.  I like Johnny Depp and some of the movies. But I haven’t seen that one. But Pirates of the Caribbean Number Two   You should see one.  Rent number one then go see two.  I might take that one.  We rarely go to the cinema here because it’s about US $16, something like that to go to the movie theater so we don’t go much.  I think it’s too expensive and there are so many good DVDs and DVD rental shops.  But for Pirates in the Caribbean Two, just because I find it amusing, interesting, I may take my wife to see that one soon when it comes.  I think it’s out this week.  Moving on, how about your favorite vacation place?

Hiromi:  Vacation place is  Okinawa.

John:  Okinawa, where is that?  That is near Portugal.

Hiromi:  [Laughs]

John:  Brazil?

Hiromi:  No. Near Taiwan.

John:  Near Taiwan. Okinawa is…

Hiromi:  Okinawa is southern — it’s difficult to pronounce – southern part of Japan.

John:  Southernmost part of Japan.

Hiromi:  And there are a lot of beautiful beaches in Okinawa and I really love it.  Very beautiful.

John:  Any particular places there you can recommend?

Hiromi:  Kerama. 

John:  Kerama.  Why is – Kerama and Hiromi has told me about Kerama – why is it such a good place?

Hiromi:  Because I don’t have a scuba diving license, but I’m sure all divers would love the sea of Kerama.  It’s very beautiful and there are fishes there.

John:  Is the water there really brown and dirty?

Hiromi:  No, it’s clear.  So clear.

John:  Do you go snorkeling?

Hiromi:  Yes.  You can enjoy watching fish just with snorkeling.

John:  Which family members like to snorkel there?

Hiromi:  Every member of the family.

John:  Everybody? All five of you.  Do they all like it?  Do they all like Kerama Island?

Hiromi:  Yes, yes.  Kerama Island is our favorite island.

John:  Nice. How many times have you been there?

Hiromi:  Just once.  Well, this summer we wanted to go there but the airplane was all booked.

John:  Oh, really?  Because all Japanese take the same holiday.

Hiromi:  That’s a problem.

John:  Every time.  August holiday, the whole country is off and you can’t go anywhere.  First, It’s all booked and second, even if there is a free seat, it’s double or triple the price.  With airplanes especially if you want a __[41:40].  It’s very expensive to travel during Japanese holidays.

Hiromi:  I’m sorry about that.

John:  That’s one of my pet peeves, one of my gripes. They just double or triple the airfare for this holiday period which I guess happens in a lot of places, but here, it’s really, really expensive.

Hiromi:  And remember, there are five members in my family, so it’s like times five.

John:  Yes, that’s a big bill.  So it’s almost holiday, is the family doing anything?  Or saving money?  [Laughter] That’s a good idea too.

Hiromi:  Just go around Matsumoto and we have a lot of hot springs here, so maybe we can enjoy taking nice bath.

John:  That sounds good.  But no plans of traveling anywhere –Hokkaido?. Where is your husband from?

Hiromi:  Okayama. 

John:  Okayama is near…

Hiromi:  Okayama is near Osaka.

John:  So no plans to go to Okayama or Hokkaido for the holiday, no.  You know, what I want to do is talk a little more.  We mentioned some things about the Japanese culture.  So  Hiromi is an expert on Japanese culture.  Well, she is Japanese.  At least, try [Laughter].  You know a lot more than I do.

Hiromi:  Yes.

John:  Japanese culture.  So traditional Japanese  culture.  Like if you met someone at some farmland and then they say, what is Japan like?  What is Japanese culture? What would you tell them?

Hiromi:  It is difficult because I was  born and brought up in Japan so I take everything for granted.  What interest you most?

John:  See, she is very good.  You see, she turns it right around to me. Well, that’s the way, that’s perfect. How about you? 

Japanese culture.  First, you can’t take out the food part of it, not only the sushi and all the fresh vegetables and the  different tofu dishes, table mushrooms and the omochi, the famous sticky rice cakes that they make for holidays but the way they present it and serve it.  It’s very interesting the way soba, buckwheat noodles, is served in soup or served cold with a kind of soy sauce and it’s always served on a special kind of a round segmented dish.  You can find so many nice examples of pottery and the tea is presented in small cups.  It’s never — unfortunately where I come from in the States, we would walk with paper plates and paper cups which I’m trying to get away from.  I just don’t agree with using these things and then throw them away.  Here, the food is excellent, it’s healthy and it’s always presented in a really nice way.  Even when my wife makes an ai sai bento, which is hard to translate – ai sai bento.

Hiromi:  Ai sai bento — lunch which your lovely wife makes.

John:  There you go.Yes, I’ll say that.  Ai is basically the word for love and bento is  a lunch box.  My wife, she always presents it nice and it’s always wrapped in something nice with a nice little tie.  So presenting food — I find that with the pottery, the dishes, the shape of the dishes, how things are presented — is really important in the Japanese culture.

Hiromi:  Even if we just eat, just present a bowl of rice and miso soup, there is an order to serve them.  A bowl of rice always come to your left.

John:  I’m learning.  I didn’t know these things.

Hiromi:  Rice is on your left side and miso soup is on your right side and chopsticks , we use chopsticks when we eat.

John:  Or hashi in Japanese.

Hiromi:  And chopsticks is laid in front of the rice and miso soup.

John:  All right.  I think I got it so far.

Hiromi:   And head of chopsticks comes to your right side.

John:  Complicated.  All right, chopsticks in front.  The head needs to point  or where you grab it?

Hiromi:  We ..

John:  The thick part on the right? So, okay, on the right and the rice bowl on the left and miso soup on the right.  Two and a half years, I didn’t  know that .  How many times have I eaten these things.

Hiromi:  Usually mothers in Japan teach kids to place your bowl of rice and miso soup and chopsticks correct and if you do the opposite way, that means that is served to dead people.

John:  Dead? Dead people… d-e-a-d. That’s not good.  I have to remember that. So traditional food.  How about traditional dress?

Hiromi:  Traditional dress.  I think everybody knows about kimono.

John:  I actually thought you would wear a kimono to the English Teacher John’s studio today for our show. But that’s no problem at all.  It only takes 3 or 4 hours to get into  a kimono, and they are very cheap to buy.

Hiromi:  No.  I can’t put on a kimono by myself.  It’s very complicated to put on kimono.

John:  Why is it complicated?  How many pieces of material? 

Hiromi:  20,30.  That’s true.  I’m not joking. That’s true.

John:  What do you call the big…

Hiromi:  Obi.

John:  Yes, obi.  And that’s something from the back.

Hiromi:   Obi is the last part but under kimono, we wear a lot of things.  Underwear for kimono, especially underwear for kimono.

John:  Everything is.

Hiromi:  Everything.  Sometimes we put towels around our waist because when you wear kimono, your body is supposed to be flat like…

John:  Have a certain shape, consistent shape. So how often do you wear a kimono?

Hiromi:  Once in a lifetime.

John:  Haaah.  If you were a traditional Japanese young woman, how often would you wear a kimono if you were really traditional.

Hiromi:  Really traditional? Ten times, maybe.

John:  Ten times a year?

Hiromi:  No, ten  times in a whole life.

John:  In a whole life?

Hiromi:  Because most women cannot wear a kimono by themselves.  They have to go their beauty shop to get their hair done and to put on a kimono, it takes time.

John:  I see. I have to be honest.  It’s kind of rare to see kimonos walking around Japan.  Maybe in some other areas.  Matsumoto is a small city, 200,000 people. It’s really a great size. We have a nice mix of traditional elements and modern elements. However, I see older women usually or younger women who just graduated from the University.  They put on their ceremonial kimono.  But you see them every month maybe a few times using kimono..

Hiromi:  Kimono is a…

John:  Do you own a kimono?

Hiromi:  Yes, I do.  A few kimonos.

John:  What is the most important day that you wear a kimono?

Hiromi:  Wedding day.

John:  On your wedding day.  Did you wear a nice kimono?

Hiromi:  No, no.  I didn’t.  Now I regret that I didn’t wear a kimono for my wedding.

John:  What color do they make for this?

Hiromi:  White and red.  I think that’s beautiful. 

John:  Yes, I have seen them a couple of times at Japanese weddings. My good friend ___[52:10] Miyuki’s wedding, that was the first Japanese wedding I ever saw.  I didn’t know anything about it.  It was wonderful, the chariot ride, the ride in the carriage, a man-drawn carriage, like you are going to the back and she had a  kimono and white hair.  I didn’t recognize my friend Miyuki.  She had white makeup and hair and kimono and it’s truly something to see.  How is the kimono tradition in Japan, is it alive and well or is it fading?  Are young people putting on kimonos?

Hiromi:  No, not really but Japanese people like kimono, so they somehow few people try to learn how to put on kimono or there is a very easy kimono. We call it yukata, we wear yukata in summertime.

John:  I have one of those.

Hiromi:  Really?

John:  It was a gift from Tomoko’s family. Yukata, summer kimono.  They are so much easier.

Hiromi:  Much easier. 

John:  Kind of Japanese traditional robe but it’s a kind of kimono.

Hiromi:  It’s made of…

John: Shall I put mine on? No.  For the next show.  Oh, I’m not going to say that because I can’t promise that.  How about festivals? Oh, you know what I wanted to ask you about.  When we’re talking about activities and the hobbies,  I just wanted to mention what is the popular only-Japanese sport?

Hiromi:  Only-Japanese sport?

John:  Only Japanese do it.

Hiromi:  Sumo?

John:  Yes. In English , we say sumo.  We say it su-mo.  In Japanese, it’s said more quickly — sumo wrestling.  What do you think?  I think it’s crazy, these big fat guys who are pushing each other in a ring and lasts about 20 seconds.  For me, it’s not interesting.

Hiromi:  Oh!

John:   I think many of my Japanese friends are watching.  Sumo wrestling is very interesting, exciting, gripping, I love it.  What do you think about sumo?

Hiromi:  I like sumo.  It’s a traditional Japanese sport and it’s very simple and easy.

John:  But I heard there is a __[55:06] champion now.

Hiromi:  Don’t mention it.

John:  The Japanese, they are winning it anymore.

Hiromi:  I don’t like having foreign champions in sumo.  It’s very simple.  Everybody can understand the rules.  I like it. What can I say about American football, rugby?  It’s a little bit difficult to understand the rules.  Sumo is very simple sport.  I like it.

John:  You know, I would get fat and then just get up, then I have their stance and just push a guy out of the little circle.

Hiromi:  And sometimes, a not-that-fat sumo wrestler beat a very big guy.  It’s very interesting.  These people like that sight of a smaller guy beat a bigger one. 

John:  Really, they are all big and fat to me.

Hiromi:  Well, much bigger.

John:  They don’t like they are fit.  I know we have a lot of American football players who are big and strong and they are a bit fat, but they are really powerful and strong.  You can at least say, he looks like an athlete. Sumo wrestlers, I just look at their leg and I say, that’s not an athlete.  That’s just a big fat Japanese guy who eats a lot of soba and curry rice.

Hiromi:  Chanko, we call it.  There is a special food for sumo wrestlers and we call it chanko.

John:  And do all your family members, your kids, your husband, everybody like sumo?

Hiromi:  No.

John:  Only you?

Hiromi:  When I was a kid I often watch sumo on TV and I’m always a big fan of sumo wrestling.

John:  That’s great.  Festivals.  Oh, we have five minutes left I think .  How about festivals.  What are some of the popular summer festivals?

Hiromi:  There are a lot of famous festivals all over Japan.  One of the most famous festivals of all time is Tanabata.  Seventh of July is the day for Tanabata.

John:  Give us a translation.  Tanabata is a July 7th every year and what is the translation and what is the significance of 7-7?

Hiromi:  7-7 is the day. There is a legend that the princess of some country, I don’t know exactly, it’s coming from a Chinese story.  Some princess fall in love with a prince and their parents didn’t allow them to love each other, but they still love each other.

John:  Secret romance, the subject of many books and traditions.

Hiromi:  They got in heaven, allow to see each other only a once year and the 7th of July is the day that they are allowed to meet each other. That’s the story.

John:  I didn’t have someone explain it quite like that before.  Very nice.

Hiromi:  That sounds like a romantic date but in my country, all kids go around…

John:  In Hokkaido.

Hiromi:  In Hokkaido.  Kids go around the neighbors and get some candies or some sweets from neighbors.

John:  Japanese Halloween. [Laughs] And if you were born in 7-7-1977, 7777, is that extra lucky?

Hiromi:  Yes, maybe.  They will remember your birthday every year. Seven is a lucky number in West.

John:  Seven is also unlucky.  But in Japanese, there are not only years on the calendar.  They have their traditional, they go by the year of their emperor’s year.  Like right now, we are in year..18, 17.  So they have an era and then a number.  For example, what is..

Hiromi:  It’s Heisei.

John:  Heisei __[60:41] So they say it’s the Heisei era and the 18th year  of that era.  I find that interesting. A year is the era then a number.  That’s something different about Japan. 

Hiromi:  I thought you were talking about the lunar calendar.

John:  No.

Hiromi:  [Indiscernible]

John:  Yes, sometimes the lunar calendar.  Okay.  Summer festivals, talk about that.

Hiromi:  I think he knows about festival in Matsumoto because you joined one.

John:  What is the name?

Hiromi:  I don’t know.

John:  Oh, Matsumoto festival, Bonbon. 

Hiromi:  Ah, Bonbon.

John:  We have a summer festival called Bonbon.  We all dance in the streets with tabbi, a kind of traditional vest. Oh, happi! Tabbi is the footwear. Happi is a special kind of uniform you can wear and you always groove and march in the streets and close all the streets down to cars.  Okay, we talked about Matsumoto Bonbon.  Have you taken part in Bonbon?

Hiromi:  No, not yet.

John:  No! This is going to your second or third Bonbon?

Hiromi:  Third.

John:  Third one.  Maybe it’s the same for me.  I make major Bonbons, there is a clap, clap, kick something. I don’t know its very easy.  It is same beat, the same song playing louder and louder.

Hiromi:  You just repeat the same dance.

John:  So I may do that.  In previous years, my friends were just dancing in the parade.  I just went down there and just walked around the streets.  It’s nice before eating and drinking.  It’s pretty much anything goes in the streets.  They are all closed to cars and it’s just people walking.  I sometimes  see yukatas and kimonos, more traditional clothes.  Some  kids wearing kimonos which looks to me  little samurai suits. [Laughter] But we see some traditional clothes there.  So, that is coming up. Maybe I will see you at the Bonbon.

Hiromi:  If it doesn’t rain.  Last year, it rained.

John:  That’s right.  You were really there when it started to rain?

Hiromi:  I was on my way back from Okinawa vacation and I found out it was raining in Matsumoto and that was __[60:03].

John:  I have a funny story. I really wanted to wear this traditional happi. It is really a  traditional Japanese festival costume and I really wanted to wear one.  So I was invited to dance with a group last year and finally, I got a happi.  It was like hap-pi.  I think there is a photo on my website. And  I wasn’t sure if I arrived late and I finally got a happi.   They said, “Oh, we have an extra one for you.”  And I put it on and the rain started in about three minutes and we all ran under the overhang of the shops. We were on the street when the rain started.  At first, light rain, then it became very heavy rain.

Hiromi:  Heavy rain with bolts of lightning, thunderstorms..

John:  Lightning, thunderstorms and we waded, and it was a little bit cold and finally they cancelled the rest of Bonbon.  I had my happi.  I was ready to go feeling good and it was cancelled after 20 minutes, 30 minutes.  So let us hope for the good Bonbon this year .  You’ll be there.  I’ll go down there and we’ll have a good one.  Other festivals, what is another important holiday?

Hiromi:  The most important holiday in Japan is New Year’s Day.

John:  What happens on New Year’s Day?

Hiromi:  New Year’s Day, we go to a shrine and we pray for our god and wish something good.

John:  Is it a Buddhist shrine?  Japanese have a mixed religion.

Hiromi:  Buddhism and our native religion. We call it Shinto.

John:  Buddhism and Shintoism. So New Year’s, are you going to the Shinto…?

Hiromi:  Shinto shrine.

John:  And what happens around the New Year’s festival?

Hiromi:  We eat some special food for New Year’s day.  It’s a very special food. We only eat that kind of food once a year, New Year’s day, and it is served in a kind of box.  Have you seen that?

John:  You mean like a traditional wooden box.

Hiromi:  It is a lacquer box.

John:  It is a lacquer box.  What is the name of the traditional food?

Hiromi:  Osechi.

John:  Osechi and what is it made of?

Hiromi:  Vegetables and shrimps. We imagine old people.  The shrimp is a symbol of prosperity, long age because its back is curved.

John:  I didn’t know that.  So we’re talking about shrimp or prawns.   I guess they are very similar.  Where I come from, we call them shrimp.  They are curved and this is a symbol of …

Hiromi:  Older people.

John:  Old age or long life.  Really interesting.  I didn’t know that part. 

Hiromi:  Shrimp or some egg of fish.  You know, eggs of fish is very tiny and that means prosperity, many children and grandchildren, so we eat fish egg too.

John:  Do you mean friends or just family?

Hiromi:  Usually just with family and maybe with parents, with grandchildren.

John:  You don’t have any of those yet. 

Hiromi:  No. Maybe in 10 years, 13 years.

John:  Ten years is possible. Your daughter is 13,14,15….

Hiromi:  So twenty three…

John:  She will be 23 in 10 years. Can you imagine Hiromi as a grandma?  How young she is, huh. Ten years, it could be? It could be in ten years.  And then you will the one with the curved shrimp.

Hiromi:  And still learning English. [Laughter]

John:  SO I’m going to my English classes with John [mimicking old voice].  Right, great.  The last thing we wanted to talk about,  I think you might be interested in our podacst No. 33.  You were interviewed and you talked about a little bit of your English experience.  I just want to say you speak wonderful English

Hiromi:  I don’t think so.

John:  You speak English wonderfully, I should say also.  Your level is very, very high.  Super advanced level, we call this. We have a beginner, elementary, intermediate, different levels of intermediate, the advanced and we have the super advanced.  And your level is very high.  At what age did you start learning English?

Hiromi:  Thirteen

John:    And you were in what grade?

Hiromi:  I was in first grade junior high school.

John:  First grade junior high school.  Seventh grade, we would say that where I come from.  Seventh grade and did you have English lessons all through your junior high school and high school years?

Hiromi:  Yes, high school years and after that, I would go to college and I majored in English there,  so I have studied English a little bit longer than usual Japanese people .

John:  And how about your time abroad.  How much time have you spent in English- speaking countries?

Hiromi:  I have been living to the United States in San Bernardino [unintelligible]

John:  San Bernardino in California, for just one month. 

Hiromi:  Yes.

John:  It continues to amaze me.  Hiromi has only been in an English-speaking country one month in your life.

Hiromi:  Yes, that’s right.

John:  It’s incredible.  What helped you?  Did you like to read books in English? Did you like to watch movies, listen to songs.  You had junior high school and high school, what were the other things you like to do.

Hiromi:  Now I enjoy reading books in English but I think reading novels in English is quite difficult for beginners. Watching movies is much more difficult than reading books because the daily composition is the most difficult part.

John:  Watching movies with English subtitles isn’t  helpful, is it?

Hiromi:  Yes, I think so.  When I was young, there was no DVD yet so we couldn’t see the subtitles in English but now you can see subtitles from the screen and it will be very easy to improve English.

John:  How about the very simple, we call that, English readers level 1.  At the university, we use Penguin, Oxford, ___[72:27] readers.  What do you think of the graded readers level 1, level 2.

Hiromi:  That was good.

John:  Helpful?

Hiromi:  Helpful.

John:  Have you read some of those? 

Hiromi:  Not really.

John:  Did your school, junior high school, high school, college, do they have these readers available?

Hiromi:  No.

John:  It was a long time ago.  Just kidding.

Hiromi:  Twenty years ago.

John:  I graduated college twenty two years ago.  I’m a little older.

Hiromi:  We didn’t have that kind of reader in schools.  Sometimes we only have paperbacks.  My recommendation is first, you read some novels or watch movies in your native language and after you understand the whole storyline, you can read the same one in English.  That’s much easier to do. 

John:  So read the book or see the movie in your native language and then try to watch it or read it in English.  That’s a good recommendation.  Then you know the story and you have some __[73:55].

Hiromi:  I read stories in English, there are many words I don’t know in it.  It is kind of a hassle to look up dictionaries whenever you read unknown words.  So if you knew the storyline, it’s much easier to skip fewer unknown word and keep reading.

John:  Yes, right. I think that’s important to don’t stick there. Here in Japan, they have electronic dictionaries or just find the books that only have a few words that you don’t know on each page and then you are able to try to read more fluently to follow the story , not to understand every word.  In junior high school or high school, were the teachers Japanese or were they foreign native speakers?

Hiromi:  No native speakers, only Japanese teachers.

John:  In college?

Hiromi:  In college, half of my teachers were native English speakers.

John:  From which countries?

Hiromi:  America, Britain.  Some teachers are from Spain.

John:  Very good.  You told me before that you thought repetitive drills –  I’m  going to the market.  He is going to the market.  School.  He is going to school.  We continue reading drills with substitution or some other style and you found them very helpful. 

Hiromi:  Very helpful.  Whenever we speak foreign language, we have to think about the grammar and that might prevent you to speak fluently.  For example, whenever I speak English, I have to think about — for example, whenever I speak present tense, you should add “s” to the verb –  you speak, he speaks or she speaks.  You should get used to certain pattern of expressions.

John:  These drills help you to get your mind in that framework of “I speak, he speaks”.  These are very difficult and relatively unique part of English.

Hiromi:  And if you do many drills, you don’t have to think about as when you speak.  You use the subject “he” or “she” or “it”.  That will help.

John:  So it is implanted in the brain. So maybe I need some drills.  Can you make some drills for me in Japanese?  That will be great. So there are many drills available in books, on the Internet.  Have you found any good places on the Internet besides the English Teacher John Show?  Have you find any other websites or podcast in English learning things that are helpful?  Or should we wait until next show or you can tell us yours.

Hiromi:  Voice of America has very good part for English learners and maybe, I can’t remember the name of it, but if you go the Voice of America website, you can find English learner corner or something like that, and they speak a little bit slowly than natural.  They speak with natural speech so it’s easier to listen with their speaking and at the same time, you can find script maintenance so it would be very helpful.

John:  We will put the URL up on the screen there.  I think it’s VOA.word or VOA News, anyway, we’ll put it on the screen.  Good suggestion.  Put some messages on the My English  Blog and www.englishteacherjohn.com or send us your email.  Tell us you want Hiromi on the show again so that I can take all of these emails and blog messages so she’ll be able to see it if you put it on the blog.  We can invite her back because I have had a nice time speaking with Hiromi as our guest .  I just want to thank you.  Thanks for opening up and remember she is speaking in a second language, not her native language although she is very comfortable. I respect that it’s not so easy to be on the camera and to speak in another language. Sometimes, it probably feels a little funny or you are a little shy about.  So thank you very much for joining us.

Hiromi:  You are welcome.  The pleasure is all mine.

John:  So should we give a little Japanese __[79:24] here.  We are talking about Japanese culture.  Arigato gozaimasu.   [Gong] Okay everyone. Thanks for listening to this English teacher John No. 45 video podcast.  I hope you enjoy it.  Don’t forget.  All of our video and audio podcasts, some transcripts, other activities, our blog and a lot more things for you are available at our website which is english teacher john . com. Please you can send us email.  Our email is podcast AT englishteacherjohn.com. Or better, put  a message on the blog and so everyone can seen see it please.  You can register to join our blog and then you can write a post or a comment.  We are always happy to hear your comments.  Thank you very much for listening and watching.  Good day.  Bye bye.

[Traditional drums]

[end of English Teacher John Show 45]
   

 

Posted by English Teacher John on Saturday, September 2nd, 2006 at 5:39 pm
Category: ETJ Show, Listening, Transcript. Follow responses to this entry: RSS 2.0 feed.