東京根津のエートゥーゼット英語学校講師ブログ

Did you enjoy the long weekend? I had a great time. On Saturday, I went to Junkudo to buy some English books. Did you know they're having a 50 percent off sale (半額セール） until the end of November? All the English books are half price! http://www.junkudo.co.jp/081008shinjuku.html
After Junkudo, we were wandering around (ぶらぶらする）, and came across (見かけた) this autumn festival.

I thought this festival was wonderful (素晴らしい）. Children's entertainment can be really expensive in Japan, but the kids looked as happy as if they were at Disneyland.



We went to the Naritasan Temple on Sunday. The autumn leaves were beautiful.

A maple tree reflected (反射された) in the water.

The autumn leaves were at their peak in Chiba.

A five-story pagoda (五重塔)

A procession of priests (行進).

I often read an English blog about pop culture called "Pink Tentacle." This week, it had an interesting post (投稿）about the 2008 Yukan list of 60 New and Popular Words (2008年ユーキャン新語・流行語大賞の候補語60語).

Here's the English blog post:
http://www.pinktentacle.com/2008/11/top-60-popular-japanese-words-phrases-of-2008/
Here's the original Japanese:
http://singo.jiyu.co.jp/

Here are some of the interesting words and how to say them in English
.
日本語　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　  　　 英語
ゲリラ豪雨                                    Guerrilla rainstorm
おバカキャラ                                 Dumb characters
オワンクラゲ                                 Crystal Jellyfish
婚活                                            Marriage hunting
言うよね                                      You say?
カレセン                                        A taste for middle-aged men
蟹工船                                         The Crab Cannery Ship
源氏物語千年紀                           Millennial Anniversary of the
                                                    Tale of Genji
あなたとは違うんです                    I'm different from you.
名ばかり管理職                            Manager in name only
後期高齢者                                  Late stage elderly
汚染米／事故米                           Tainted rice
毒入りギョーザ              　             Poison gyoza
ゲリラ豪雨                                    Guerrilla rainstorm
姫電                                             Princess phones
私もあなたの作品の一つです     　 I am one of your works
これでいいのだ                         　 It's all good.
おなごの道は一本道                  　A woman's life is like walking
にございます。                          　 on along, one-way path.
屁の突っ張りでもないですから      It was nothing.
再発防止検討委員会         　　 　  Recurrence prevention
                                                  committee
霞ヶ関埋蔵金               　　    　　  Kasumigaseki's buried treasure
ねじれ国会                　　　 　　　   Diet gridlock
暫定税率                　　　　　　　    Temporary tax
燃料サーチャージ   　  　　 　         Fuel surcharge
一斉休漁               　 　　　  　       Fisherman strikes
ささやき女将                                Whispering matron
糖質ゼロ                                      Zero carbohydrates
ゆとり世代                                   Relaxed generation
脱ゆとり教育                               Unrelaxed education

Usually, mistakes are not serious (真剣). If you forget (忘れる) “a” or “the” people will be able to understand you, or if you say “Go to shopping” instead of (変わりに) “go shopping” (買い物は場所ではないから”to”は使えない), people will still understand your meaning. But some mistakes can be very dangerous.

This series is about the most dangerous mistakes in English. These are mistakes that could cause a serious misunderstanding (重大な誤解の原因になる). Here’s number 6:

What do these three sentences mean?
1. Only I like you.
2. I only like you.
3. I like only you.

Number one means, "あなたが好きな人は私だけです". Number two means, "あなたが好きだけど愛していない". Number three means "あなただけが好き". As you can see (ご覧の通り), the position (位置) of words can be very important. You should put the word as near to the word it is modifying as possible. (修飾語は修飾したい単語の近くに置きましょう。)
Here are some other examples:
1. I bought a gold ladies' watch.
2. I understood what he said easily.
3. We almost ate all of the pizza.
4. The car was reported stolen by my wife.
5. At the age of seven, her mother died.
6. He was diagnosed by the doctor with a mental illness.
7. He ate the food he had cooked slowly.
8. My friend said on Monday he will go to Osaka.

１．金の女の時計を買いました。
２．彼が簡単に言ったことを理解しました。
３．全部のピザをもう少しで食べました。
４．車が私の奥さんに盗まれたと報告されました。
５．彼女のお母さんが7歳で死んでしまいました。
６．神経病があるお医者さんに診断されました。
７．彼がゆっくり作った食事を食べました。
８．月曜日に友達が大阪に行くと言いました。
又は　友達が月曜日に大阪に行くと言いました。

Can you fix （直す）these sentences? If you write them correctly and leave them in the comments, I will check them.

Are you happy with the results (結果)? I don’t know very much about American politics (政治), but I think it will be really good for America to have a black president.

A lot of young black children will be inspired by his example (彼の例に触発される) and maybe more of them will try to become lawyers (弁護士), doctors, or politicians (政治家).
Also, it will hard for white people to be racist (人種差別主義者). How can you say that black people are stupid when one of them is the president? They will have to respect Obama, and other black people as well.

Here are some phrases you can use for discussing the election. Can you say them in English?  If you write your answers in the comments of this blog, I will check them. このブログのコメントに答えを書いてくれたら、チェックします。） You don't have to use your real name　and more than one ｐerson (二人以上） can do it. 

1. 選挙結果 (1)についてどう思いますか。
2. オバマはいい大統領になると思いますか。
3. 政治についてあまりよく分からない (2) のですが、オバマはおそらくいい大統領になると思います。
4. あなたは何党を支持しているか聞いていいですか。
5. 民主党 (3) より共和党 (4) のほうが好きです。
6. オバマの外交政策 (5) を賛成していますか。
7. オバマは経済改革 (6) を導入する必要があると思います。
8. 民主党は下院 (7) と上院 (8) の支配権を持っています。

Vocabulary Hints:
1. election results
2. don’t know much about
3. the Republicans
4. the Democrats
5. foreign policy
6. economic reforms
7. the House of Representatives
8. the Senate