When I was at Nagoya Chubu Airport, I went to the restrooms & noticed this spelling mistake. It should read "Urinal".
Natural English
urinal = 小便器, urine* = 小便, urinate* = 小便する.
* in casual English, words such as 'pee' (名詞 & 動詞) are often used
On Sunday, school staff & students visited Higashiyama zoo in Nagoya. It was a nice day - a little cloudy so not hot. The 6 girls in my group were well-behaved & enjoyed looking at the animals & hearing my interesting animal facts e.g. that hippos are the most dangerous African animal (did you know that?). The most popular animals seemed to be the koalas - it was a little crowded there.
Vocabulary:
Be careful: cloudy = 曇り crowded = 込んでいる
Last week I visited Miyako Island with my family. We spent a lot of time in the water; my kids enjoyed playing in their swim rings (浮き輪) & I enjoyed snorkeling. I saw a lot of colorful small fish, but not many big fish. We also collected a lot of shells. I`m thinking of making (作るうと思う) something with them for our school`s craft event in September.
The weather was good - a lot of sunshine & not much rain. As for food, I ate a lot of Okinawa-style noodles, & of course drank a lot of Orion beer. I had a lot of fun.
Natural English:
- In spoken English, it`s usual to use 'many' (with 可算名詞) & 'much' (with 不可算名詞 ) in negative ('not') sentences & questions. BUT! in positive sentences - 可算名詞 OR 不可算名詞 - it`s usual to use 'a lot of', or 'lots of' (casual style) in spoken English.
"Wocha doin`?"
"Waddaya makin`?"
"Gonna pain`it?"
Can you understand these questions? If my kids were native English speakers, maybe they would pronounce these questions like this.
This is their meaning:
1. "Wocha doin`?" (What/you/doing) = What are you doing?
2. "Waddaya makin`?" = What are you making?
3. "Gonna pain`it?" (Going/to/paint/it) = Are you going to paint it?
My answers: 1. I`m making something for our September craft fair. 2. Guess! 3.Probably not.
Pronunciation:
In natural spoken English, some sounds change, e.g.
t+y --> ch (meet you --> "meechoo")
t --> d (little --> "liddle")
nt --> n (twenty --> "twenny")
oo --> a (see you --> "seeya", to --> "ta")
I saw this handkerchief in a shop. It looks like my poster, right? Great minds think alike!*
By the way, have you been watching my new YouTube series? Please take a look! There is a new episode every Tuesday.
* ことわざ: '偉人達は同じように考える' (誰かが同じこと考える時に使える)
I wanted to buy a white business shirt at Uniqlo. This sticker seemed to me to say 'Regular Color'. Hmmm. What is a regular color? White? What is an irregular color? Green? Or is there regular white & irregular white? If so, what is irregular white? Cream?" I was confused!
Then my wife explained that 'カラー' doesn`t mean 'color'. It means 'collar' (In English, pronounced "コラー").
A regular collar doesn`t have buttons.
こら!!! That`s confusing!
2 weeks ago I went to Gotemba, which is about 20 kms south of Mount Fuji. When we stopped to take photos, I saw this nice car. Can you see Fuji in the background?
I live in Ichinomiya, in the north of Aichi Prefecture. There aren`t any mountains in Ichinomiya, so it`s a big change of scenery to see Fuji.
Grammar:
- (be) IN the north/south/east/west/centre of __ = __の北部/南部/東部/西部/中心です
- (be) north/south/east/west of __ = __ 北側/南側/東側/西側に (あります)
Last week Gifu Teragoya staff & teachers visited the nearby Kogane Shrine to buy a lucky charm for our school. While we were there, I noticed a lot of people lining up to have their temple stamp books (御朱印帳) signed & stamped. Do you have a temple stamp book? I hear they are very popular at the moment, especially with women.
Vocabulary:
line: 線, 列
line up: 並ぶ
Do you have hayfever (花粉症)? Red, itchy (痒い) eyes? This is a song for you! It`s called 'Old Red Eyes is Back' (赤い目お兄さんが帰ってきた). However it`s actually about a man with red eyes not due to pollen (花粉) but alcohol.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggJYJ9frSl0
For lyrics (歌詞), search [Beautiful South Old Red Eyes is Back Lyrics]
For a Japanese translation, try [Beautiful South Old Red Eyes is Back 歌詞]
This is another nice song by the same band, also about eyes!: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hR9LYrCR_4I
Enjoy! (the songs, not red eyes...)
There are various kinds of cherry blossoms. I don`t know the name of this variety* in our lobby, but it blooms earlier than most other varieties*.
Are you looking forward to cherry blossom season?
Vocabulary:
- various: 色々 variety: 色々な, 多様性, バラエティー / *種類
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