Student Hitoshi gave me an English version of his book, “Forging a Kaizen Culture.” I find most business books boring but most of his book is interesting. Most of all, I liked this part:
“You can predict most of the time what instructions your boss is going to give you, once you understand his/her character well. ...(Most bosses`) orders are overwhelmingly the same and consist of only about 400 words.” (page 129)
That`s true.
Grammar:
OK: Most 名詞 e.g. Most people, most bosses
OK: Most of 代名詞 e.g. Most of us, most of them
OK: Most of 人代名詞 e.g. Most of my friends
OK: Most of the 名詞 e.g. Most of the time, Most of the teachers at my school
WRONG: Most of 名詞 e.g. Most of time, Most of people
Sometimes I help my son with his homework. This summer I helped him make this money box for his summer holidays homework. I collected most of the parts (except for the screws, ネジ以外) from the beach.
You insert a coin at the top & it rolls down to the bottom.
Grammar:
- help + 誰か + 動詞 or help + 誰か + to 動詞 (both okay)
- help + 誰か + with 名詞
At the end of last month I found this eye-catching caterpillar at the end of a vine (蔓草) in my garden. I expected it to become a colourful butterfly, but in the end, it just became a brown hawk-moth (雀蛾, hawk = 鷹 moth = 蛾). I was a bit disappointed.
Vocabulary:
- at the end (of 時) = 最後(終わり)
- at the end (of 所)= 先, 端, 突き当たり
- in the end = 結局
My kids collected lots of small things such as coloured glass from the beach. I didn`t collect much, but I picked up these pieces of agate ( メノウ? 瑪瑙?). I don`t know what kind of agate it is - sorry, I don`t know much about stones. I didn`t have much time, so I didn`t find much - just a few pieces. Next time I go to that beach, I hope to find more.
Natural English:
- "don`t + 動詞 + much (+ 名詞)" = "動詞 + little (+ 名詞)" e.g. "I don`t have much money" = "I have little money" but the first style is much more common & natural in spoken English.
At the beach, my sons picked up various small items of `treasure` (宝) & put them in plastic boxes which I gave them. They also picked up some old turban shells (栄螺) but they stank (鼻をついた) so I told them to throw them away. They also wanted to pick small pine cones (松毬) from trees but I said "No!"
Vocabulary:
- Be careful: pick = [木から] 折る, pick up = [地面/床 から] 拾う
I saw this cool Landrover in Fukui. I`ve never owned a Landrover, but I`ve always wanted one. I`ve just been looking at Landrovers like this one online & they are all manuals (ミッション). Unfortunately I`ve only got an automatic license. I`ve never needed a manual license in Japan - I`ve only driven automatic cars here.
Grammar:
- I have + never/always/only/just + 過去分詞
Last weekend I went camping with my family by the sea (海沿い) in Echizen, Fukui Prefecture. We went there by car (車で), & were delayed by a traffic jam (交通渋滞に) near Sekigahara due to an accident. The weather was hot - by (までに) 10am each day it was already 30 degrees. But that`s fine by me (私はそれで良いですよ) - I like hot weather. And I could cool down by swimming (泳いで).
Vocabulary:
- As you can see, `by` has many meanings & uses.
My kids like to catch tadpoles (お玉杓子). I`m not really interested in tadpoles, but when I found this unusual pale (生白い) one in a ricefield, I decided to catch & keep it. Will it turn into a rare pale frog? I hope to find out in a few weeks.
Vocabulary:
- find = (物) 見つける
- find out = (情報) 認識する
When I was in Ichinomiya last Thursday, I noticed this bank had been renovated and was open to the public (公共), so I went inside. It looks nice. I especially enjoyed looking at the safe (金庫) at the back. Good job, renovators!
Vocabulary:
Be careful: 'リフォーム' is Japanese English!
- WRONG: "They will reform (改革する, 変革する) the shop/house/building."
- OKAY: "They will renovate (改修する), restore ( 元に戻す), refurbish (改装する) the shop/house/building."
On Thursday morning I took my kids to the Tanabata festival in Ichinomiya. First we bought shaved ice (かき氷), then we went to Masumida Shrine. There were a lot of colourful fireworks (花火) decorations. There was also a sign saying "Don`t play `Pokemon Go` here".
Vocabulary:
- fireworks = 花火
- roadworks = 道路工事
- waterworks = 上水道
- DreamWorks = ドリームワークス (アメリカの映画会社)
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