Too dangerous!? - Episode 9: Parks

I Love Technology : Polygots Apps

Today, I came across a great English learning app called Polygots the other day. It is targeted for people living in Japan who is learning English. The app provides English articles in many category. You can get translated version of the articles in Japanese. The app also has timer on it so it records how long it took you to read the article.  There is a paced reading option that follow you through the reading. When you find the words you do not know in the article, you can click on it to get the Japanese definition.

In this technology age, we carry our phone everywhere:on the train, in the car, while walking around the ciy.  There are many applications available that fit your needs. Some are free, some are not but if you are serious about getting better at English, why not use the app to get more exposure to the language. It will be a great way to learn.

Siri: The New English Teacher In Town

Have you tried using Siri to find information on your iphone ?

Siri is a voice recognition device that help you to
get information in your phone or from web browser.
This device had made it easier for people to search
 information without physically touching the phone.

If you have a phone with siri, set it so that it recognize
 English. With Siri, you can test and see if your pronountiation,
grammar is understandable. If you ask a question and
 Siri gives you the answer to what you asked, your
 pronountiation, your grammar is recognizable thus
 most likely to be understood by English speaking
 people around the world. Even if you are shy,
you can try this at comfort of your home.

Gesturing Wildly - Episode 7: How We Learned English

Press the closed caption button for Japanese subtitles!
字幕のボタンを忘れずに

Aimi and Farhan talk about how they learned English and other languages.
AimiとFarhanが英語やほかの言語をどう勉強したか話します。

Does Speed Learning Work ?

"Speed Learning" is well known way to learn English in Japan. The method uses CD with conversational phrases and booklet with the phrases on the CD. On TV, famous golfer Ryo Ishikawa, advertise the method. It seems like the easy fast way because all you have to do is to listen to the CDs over and over again.


I was asked if method really works. If you could make time to listen to CDs, and make time to look at the booklet while listening to CD perhaps it will help you learn English but will it be fast, will it make you native speaker of language?  From my experience of attempting to learn Spanish,Italian and various other languages, I find it quite hard to actually make time to listen to CDs constantly and make time to look at the book while following along the CDs.

One of the reasons why I recommend listening to favorite movie/tv show or favorite kind of music in English is if you enjoy it, it will not become dreadful and you can listen to it frequently. The method of listening and reading along is a great way to learn but to learn the language, there needs to be a constant exposure to the language.

Students who listent to English songs CDs and who have mothers that who are engaged into their English language learning are more likely to develop listening askills, and comprehention of English than those who don't.  But not all people learn language in the same way or at the same duration of time.

As a conclusion, yes, the concept behind "Speed Learning" works but you need to be productive and listen to the CD freuqently as possible and to some, learning may not be speedy as the product is advertised on the TV.

Get Inspired to Speak English From Degawa's Hajimete No Otsukai

My students recommended me to watch this because Degawa, a Japanese comedian, acts foolish in the video.  The TV shows features the comedian who cannot speak much English to complete mission without any help.  He uses simple words, gestures and Japanese words in order to get by.

Although some may see this show as silly and nothing more than that but I feel this show is giving some of my students confident that they can get by with how much they know. I find many students struggle to try because they are scared of failure.

I feel joy when my students tell me that they knew how to say some of the phrases and words Degawa didn't know. I hope watching our videos will not only entrtain you but also inspire you to try speaking in English.
 

Hanging Out

hang out

Less serious than getting together or dating. Spending time with someone in the context of friendship or in the context of casually exploring whether you like someone as just a friend or maybe more than a friend.

I'm gonna hang out with my best friend this weekend. We should hang out some time.

I learned English through talking, playing and copying people around me. I was in elementary school starting grade 5. So at this age, we began to "hang out" at the mall without mother tagging along everywhere.

Hanging out perhaps was one of the phrase that did not really make sense to me at first. How is it possible for word hang to mean getting together with friends.  It is one of the phrase that you will hear when you begin making friends who speak English. Let's get together, let's meet up, let's hang out all means the same thing. 

Everyday is Learning

 

The other day, I was watching British TV show and there were few words that I have never heard of in so many years of learning English. I have been teaching English for almost two years now  but I still feel that I have more to learn weither it is English words, about Japanese culture , Japanese words or pop culture. I believe that language is often change as the time goes by. Even in Japanese many words develop with next generations and the new words develop. Some words get shorten, some words get borrowed from other culture.

Learning English is not only about learning the language itself but also about culture. With globalization,English have been spoken by many thus some may say that English language itself has changed.  What I am getting at is, there is no one way to speak English anymore.  As long as you can use English words to comminucate with other people, you are English speaker.

I often have parents who consider that having "native" English speaker teachers would be better in long run because children will get used to how native people speak. But in classes where children are just left to wonder on what they were said and often end up guessing everything they are told to do so, I find that Japanese English teacher who can speak native English and can explain/help children link English and Japanese would be more benefitial to the children especially when a lesson is once a week.

Culture of Cleaning

 

 

One thing I’ve always noticed in my visits to Japan is how clean, orderly, and safe it feels. People in Japan seem to take great care in maintaining their environment. Though I’ve heard that keeping up such neatness and organization can be quite stressful, this is something that I wish were a bigger part of cultures all around the world.

I bring this up because a park where I regularly go jogging is also a popular place for events, and these events highlight to me some of the issues we have in Malaysia in keeping our public spaces clean, organized, and most importantly, safe.

I’m sure people much smarter than me have come up with reasons for how our cultures have become so different in this sense. I imagined at some point in the past that, because of the tropical environment we’ve become used to the idea of heavy rain washing everything clean for us.

Not to say that no one cares about keeping our public spaces clean and safe here. The park in the picture above is mostly clean within a few days after any event, and the local city council has in recent years done more to encourage cleanliness in public spaces. There were also several pictures that went viral last year following some protests in downtown Malaysia that showed participants cleaning up after themselves on a massive scale.

But clearly, we could do more to care for the cleanliness and safety of our public spaces in Malaysia.

It's OK lah !

 

 

 

If you’ve spent any amount of time in Malaysia or Singapore, you’ve probably encountered this strange word, “lah.” This word is not just stuck at the end of Malay sentence though, people from Malaysia and Singapore will incorporate “lah” into many English sentence as well! This strange word gives so many people trouble, both in trying to understand it and explain it.

One of the best descriptions I’ve ever heard for the word “lah” is that it helps to soften the blow of a sentence. You’ll usually find the word “lah” at the end of a sentence that might upset the listener, either from giving them bad news or being irritated or overly insistent with them.

The above definition is still not entirely accurate though, since you can basically get away with using “lah” in any context as long as you have the right tone. I’ve often heard it said that being able to use “lah” properly is a sign that you’re a true Malaysian/Singaporean.

The video below gives some great examples of uses.

 

 

https://youtu.be/oThGvGEg9NY

How To Learn English From Movies

As a English teacher, many parents have asked me how children can learn English in fun way at home. One of the ways that children can learn English is watching movies in English with subtitles.
Children may get bored easily if they have to watch new movie only in English but if there is a movie that thety know the general story and have liked in the past would be the good choice because they know that the story already. Ofcourse, it is a recommended method for learning any language at any level. Those who have started the method at home had enhanced their listening skills and not only that more vocabularies.

I am learning Italian at the moment on my own timme and when I watched Italian movie, I was very excietd that I could recognize some of the words and phrases in the movie. I just began learning a year ago so what I know is very limited but it gave me the confidence that I am learning.

I believe that these kind of positive experience would help students to be confident and get excited about learning the language. Through movies, you can learn convrsational phrases that are often not in the textbook. This is why our video has subtitles in the video to help you enhance your learning experiences.

If you are looking for a way to learn English in the fun way for yoruself or for your child, give a movie with subtitle a try. It works!

Yoda is a Hairless Cat - Episode 5: Star Wars

Farhan and Aimi get way too excited and carried away discussing the Star Wars movies. Don't forget to turn on closed captions for Japanese subtitles!

FarhanとAimiがとっても興奮してスターウォーズについて語り続けます。 日本語の字幕を付けるのを忘れずに。

Sphynx Cat: https://imgur.com/gallery/BQs4d

TED Animated on the Hero's Journey
What makes a hero? - Matthew Winkler https://youtu.be/Hhk4N9A0oCA

The Adventures of Kintaro, the Golden Boy | Japanese Fairy Tales

The Adventures of Kintaro, the Golden Boy | Japanese Fairy Tales | Yei Theodora Ozaki | Lit2Go ETC

Long, long ago there lived in Kyoto a brave soldier named Kintoki. Now he fell in love with a beautiful lady and married her. Not long after this, through the malice of some of his friends, he fell into disgrace at Court and was dismissed. This misfortune so preyed upon his mind that he did not long survive his dismissal—he died, leaving behind him his beautiful young wife to face the world alone. Fearing her husband’s enemies, she fled to the Ashigara Mountains as soon as her husband was dead, and there in the lonely forests where no one ever came except woodcutters, a little boy was born to her. She called him Kintaro or the Golden Boy. Now the remarkable thing about this child was his great strength, and as he grew older he grew stronger and stronger, so that by the time he was eight years of age he was able to cut down trees as quickly as the woodcutters. Then his mother gave him a large ax, and he used to go out in the forest and help the woodcutters, who called him “Wonder-child,” and his mother the “Old Nurse of the Mountains,” for they did not know her high rank. Another favorite pastime of Kintaro’s was to smash up rocks and stones. You can imagine how strong he was!

Quite unlike other boys, Kintaro, grew up all alone in the mountain wilds, and as he had no companions he made friends with all the animals and learned to understand them and to speak their strange talk. By degrees they all grew quite tame and looked upon Kintaro as their master, and he used them as his servants and messengers. But his special retainers were the bear, the deer, the monkey and the hare.

The bear often brought her cubs for Kintaro to romp with, and when she came to take them home Kintaro would get on her back and have a ride to her cave. He was very fond of the deer too, and would often put his arms round the creature’s neck to show that its long horns did not frighten him. Great was the fun they all had together.

One day, as usual, Kintaro went up into the mountains, followed by the bear, the deer, the monkey, and the hare. After walking for some time up hill and down dale and over rough roads, they suddenly came out upon a wide and grassy plain covered with pretty wild flowers.

Here, indeed, was a nice place where they could all have a good romp together. The deer rubbed his horns against a tree for pleasure, the monkey scratched his back, the hare smoothed his long ears, and the bear gave a grunt of satisfaction.

Kintaro said, “Here is a place for a good game. What do you all say to a wrestling match?”

The bear being the biggest and the oldest, answered for the others:

“That will be great fun,” said she. “I am the strongest animal, so I will make the platform for the wrestlers;” and she set to work with a will to dig up the earth and to pat it into shape.

“All right,” said Kintaro, “I will look on while you all wrestle with each other. I shall give a prize to the one who wins in each round.”

“What fun! we shall all try to get the prize,” said the bear.

The deer, the monkey and the hare set to work to help the bear raise the platform on which they were all to wrestle. When this was finished, Kintaro cried out:

“Now begin! the monkey and the hare shall open the sports and the deer shall be umpire. Now, Mr. Deer, you are to be umpire!”

“He, he!” answered the deer. “I will be umpire. Now, Mr. Monkey and Mr. Hare, if you are both ready, please walk out and take your places on the platform.”

Then the monkey and the hare both hopped out, quickly and nimbly, to the wrestling platform. The deer, as umpire, stood between the two and called out:

“Red-back! Red-back!” (this to the monkey, who has a red back in Japan). “Are you ready?”

Then he turned to the hare:

“Long-ears! Long-ears! are you ready?”

Both the little wrestlers faced each other while the deer raised a leaf on high as signal. When he dropped the leaf the monkey and the hare rushed upon each other, crying “Yoisho, yoisho!”

While the monkey and the hare wrestled, the deer called out encouragingly or shouted warnings to each of them as the hare or the monkey pushed each other near the edge of the platform and were in danger of falling over.

“Red-back! Red-back! stand your ground!” called out the deer.

“Long-ears! Long-ears! be strong, be strong—don’t let the monkey beat you!” grunted the bear.

So the monkey and the hare, encouraged by their friends, tried their very hardest to beat each other. The hare at last gained on the monkey. The monkey seemed to trip up, and the hare giving him a good push sent him flying off the platform with a bound.

The poor monkey sat up rubbing his back, and his face was very long as he screamed angrily. “Oh, oh! how my back hurts—my back hurts me!”

Seeing the monkey in this plight on the ground, the deer holding his leaf on high said:

“This round is finished—the hare has won.”

Kintaro then opened his luncheon box and taking out a rice-dumpling, gave it to the hare saying:

“Here is your prize, and you have earned, it well!”

Now the monkey got up looking very cross, and as they say in Japan “his stomach stood up,” for he felt that he had not been fairly beaten. So he said to Kintaro and the others who were standing by:

“I have not been fairly beaten. My foot slipped and I tumbled. Please give me another chance and let the hare wrestle with me for another round.”

Then Kintaro consenting, the hare and the monkey began to wrestle again. Now, as every one knows, the monkey is a cunning animal by nature, and he made up his mind to get the best of the hare this time if it were possible. To do this, he thought that the best and surest way would be to get hold of the hare’s long ear. This he soon managed to do. The hare was quite thrown off his guard by the pain of having his long ear pulled so hard, and the monkey seizing his opportunity at last, caught hold of one of the hare’s legs and sent him sprawling in the middle of the dais. The monkey was now the victor and received, a rice-dumpling from Kintaro, which pleased him so much that he quite forgot his sore back.

The deer now came up and asked the hare if he felt ready for another round, and if so whether he would try a round with him, and the hare consenting, they both stood up to wrestle. The bear came forward as umpire.

The deer with long horns and the hare with long ears, it must have been an amusing sight to those who watched this queer match. Suddenly the deer went down on one of his knees, and the bear with the leaf on high declared him beaten. In this way, sometimes the one, sometimes the other, conquering, the little party amused themselves till they were tired.

At last Kintaro got up and said:

“This is enough for to-day. What a nice place we have found for wrestling; let us come again to-morrow. Now, we will all go home. Come along!” So saying, Kintaro led the way while the animals followed.

After walking some little distance they came out on the banks of a river flowing through a valley. Kintaro and his four furry friends stood and looked about for some means of crossing. Bridge there was none. The river rushed “don, don” on its way. All the animals looked serious, wondering how they could cross the stream and get home that evening.

Kintaro, however, said:

“Wait a moment. I will make a good bridge for you all in a few minutes.”

The bear, the deer, the monkey and the hare looked at him to see what he would do now.

Kintaro went from one tree to another that grew along the river bank. At last he stopped in front of a very large tree that was growing at the water’s edge. He took hold of the trunk and pulled it with all his might, once, twice, thrice! At the third pull, so great was Kintaro’s strength that the roots gave way, and “meri, meri” (crash, crash), over fell the tree, forming an excellent bridge across the stream.

“There,” said Kintaro, “what do you think of my bridge? It is quite safe, so follow me,” and he stepped across first. The four animals followed. Never had they seen any one so strong before, and they all exclaimed:

“How strong he is! how strong he is!”

While all this was going on by the river a woodcutter, who happened to be standing on a rock overlooking the stream, had seen all that passed beneath him. He watched with great surprise Kintaro and his animal companions. He rubbed his eyes to be sure that he was not dreaming when he saw this boy pull over a tree by the roots and throw it across the stream to form a bridge.

The woodcutter, for such he seemed to be by his dress, marveled at all he saw, and said to himself:

“This is no ordinary child. Whose son can he be? I will find out before this day is done.”

He hastened after the strange party and crossed the bridge behind them. Kintaro knew nothing of all this, and little guessed that he was being followed. On reaching the other side of the river he and the animals separated, they to their lairs in the woods and he to his mother, who was waiting for him.

As soon as he entered the cottage, which stood like a matchbox in the heart of the pine-woods, he went to greet his mother, saying:

“Okkasan (mother), here I am!”

“O, Kimbo!” said his mother with a bright smile, glad to see her boy home safe after the long day. “How late you are to-day. I feared that something had happened to you. Where have you been all the time?”

“I took my four friends, the bear, the deer, the monkey, and the hare, up into the hills, and there I made them try a wrestling match, to see which was the strongest. We all enjoyed the sport, and are going to the same place to-morrow to have another match.”

“Now tell me who is the strongest of all?” asked his mother, pretending not to know.

“Oh, mother,” said Kintaro, “don’t you know that I am the strongest? There was no need for me to wrestle with any of them.”

“But next to you then, who is the strongest?”

“The bear comes next to me in strength,” answered Kintaro.

“And after the bear?” asked his mother again.

“Next to the bear it is not easy to say which is the strongest, for the deer, the monkey, and the hare all seem to be as strong as each other,” said Kintaro.

Suddenly Kintaro and his mother were startled by a voice from outside.

“Listen to me, little boy! Next time you go, take this old man with you to the wrestling match. He would like to join the sport too!”

It was the old woodcutter who had followed Kintaro from the river. He slipped off his clogs and entered the cottage. Yama-uba and her son were both taken by surprise. They looked at the intruder wonderingly and saw that he was some one they had never seen before.

“Who are you?” they both exclaimed.

Then the woodcutter laughed and said:

“It does not matter who I am yet, but let us see who has the strongest arm—this boy or myself?”

Then Kintaro, who had lived all his life in the forest, answered the old man without any ceremony, saying:

“We will have a try if you wish it, but you must not be angry whoever is beaten.”

Then Kintaro and the woodcutter both put out their right arms and grasped each other’s hands. For a long time Kintaro and the old man wrestled together in this way, each trying to bend the other’s arm, but the old man was very strong, and the strange pair were evenly matched. At last the old man desisted, declaring it a drawn game.

“You are, indeed, a very strong child. There are few men who can boast of the strength of my right arm!” said the woodcutter. “I saw you first on the banks of the river a few hours ago, when you pulled up that large tree to make a bridge across the torrent. Hardly able to believe what I saw I followed you home. Your strength of arm, which I have just tried, proves what I saw this afternoon. When you are full-grown you will surely be the strongest man in all Japan. It is a pity that you are hidden away in these wild mountains.”

Then he turned to Kintaro’s mother:

“And you, mother, have you no thought of taking your child to the Capital, and of teaching him to carry a sword as befits a samurai (a Japanese knight)?”

“You are very kind to take so much interest in my son.” replied the mother; “but he is as you see, wild and uneducated, and I fear it would be very difficult to do as you say. Because of his great strength as an infant I hid him away in this part of the country, for he hurt every one that came near him. I have often wished that I could, one day, see my boy a knight wearing two swords, but as we have no influential friend to introduce us at the Capital, I fear my hope will never come true.”

“You need not trouble yourself about that. To tell you the truth I am no woodcutter! I am one of the great generals of Japan. My name is Sadamitsu, and I am a vassal of the powerful Lord Minamoto-no-Raiko. He ordered me to go round the country and look for boys who give promise of remarkable strength, so that they may be trained as soldiers for his army. I thought that I could best do this by assuming the disguise of a woodcutter. By good fortune, I have thus unexpectedly come across your son. Now if you really wish him to be a samurai (a knight), I will take him and present him to the Lord Raiko as a candidate for his service. What do you say to this?”

As the kind general gradually unfolded his plan the mother’s heart was filled with a great joy. She saw that here was a wonderful chance of the one wish of her life being fulfilled—that of seeing Kintaro a samurai before she died.

Bowing her head to the ground, she replied:

“I will then entrust my son to you if you really mean what you say.”

Kintaro had all this time been sitting by his mother’s side listening to what they said. When his mother finished speaking, he exclaimed:

“Oh, joy! joy! I am to go with the general and one day I shall be a samurai!”

Thus Kintaro’s fate was settled, and the general decided to start for the Capital at once, taking Kintaro with him. It need hardly be said that Yama-uba was sad at parting with her boy, for he was all that was left to her. But she hid her grief with a strong face, as they say in Japan. She knew that it was for her boy’s good that he should leave her now, and she must not discourage him just as he was setting out. Kintaro promised never to forget her, and said that as soon as he was a knight wearing two swords he would build her a home and take care of her in her old age.

All the animals, those he had tamed to serve him, the bear, the deer, the monkey, and the hare, as soon as they found out that he was going away, came to ask if they might attend him as usual. When they learned that he was going away for good they followed him to the foot of the mountain to see him off.

“Kimbo,” said his mother, “mind and be a good boy.”

“Mr. Kintaro,” said the faithful animals, “we wish you good health on your travels.”

Then they all climbed a tree to see the last of him, and from that height they watched him and his shadow gradually grow smaller and smaller, till he was lost to sight.

The general Sadamitsu went on his way rejoicing at having so unexpectedly found such a prodigy as Kintaro.

Having arrived at their destination the general took Kintaro at once to his Lord, Minamoto-no-Raiko, and told him all about Kintaro and how he had found the child. Lord Raiko was delighted with the story, and having commanded Kintaro to be brought to him, made him one of his vassals at once.

Lord Raiko’s army was famous for its band called “The Four Braves.” These warriors were chosen by himself from amongst the bravest and strongest of his soldiers, and the small and well-picked band was distinguished throughout the whole of Japan for the dauntless courage of its men.

When Kintaro grew up to be a man his master made him the Chief of the Four Braves. He was by far the strongest of them all. Soon after this event, news was brought to the city that a cannibal monster had taken up his abode not far away and that people were stricken with fear. Lord Raiko ordered Kintaro to the rescue. He immediately started off, delighted at the prospect of trying his sword.

Surprising the monster in its den, he made short work of cutting off its great head, which he carried back in triumph to his master.

Kintaro now rose to be the greatest hero of his country, and great was the power and honor and wealth that came to him. He now kept his promise and built a comfortable home for his old mother, who lived happily with him in the Capital to the end of her days.

Why Do People Say How's It Going ? To Strangers

 

"How are you?" "How's it going?" are phrases that ask others how you are feeling. Learning English as a second language, I have knew what it means and when I was asked, I was used to expressing my true feeling. What I did not know was that anyone uses the phrases simply as a greeting.

When I first moved to Canada, among various different cultural differences I was told that when people say how's it going, it does not mean that they really want to know how you are feeling at that moment. Strangers don't need to know you have been having a bad day or feeling broken hearted from break up. It is a way for people to greet each other and nothing more.

When students learn English, we are told to answer how we feel using pharses like "I'm sleepy", "I'm hungry", " I'm tired" but I had to explain to the students that when you meet some one on a street, they may ask how you are but it does not mean they want to know what you are feeling but it is part of a greeting.

In Japan, it is not common to say how are you to strangers and it certainly is not something we say while sendding e-mail or chatting so my friends giggle when I ask them how they are every time  we talk.  We often uses how are you on the letter or when you have not met that person for a long time. I often forget that and type it up whenever I want to say hi to someone but I guess it does not work the same way in Japanese.

Do you say how are you to strangers?

Living In Different Countries As A Little Kid

What it was like to live in a different countries as a kid?

Every kid's experience probably differ and for me, living in Singapore had opened my eyes
to many things.  I moved to Singapore after finishing grade 1. From grade 2 to 4, I attended
elementary school for Japanese school students. This school was such a big school. One grade
had more than 10 classes and for sports day, we had to rent a stadium so the whole school can
get together at once.  It was a big change for a girl who had grew up attending school where only
people who live around me attended. There were tones of school buses lined up infront of the school
and for the first few days had shocked me.  At the time I attended, there was busses coming from Johor Baruh, Malasia. In Japan, it is quite common for students to walk to school and only those who go to private schools have school bus or take the train to the school.

In Japan, I used to live in a somewhat quiet neighborhood where I was close to mountain. I spent
lots of time outside to play. There was a garden to play with and there were lots of parks to go.
But in Singapore, it was too hot to play outside for hours that I spent most of the time swimming
at the pool that is part of the condominium. To be able to swim whenever I wanted had became
part of my life for many years and now that I am back in Japan, I really miss that life style.


I think most interetsing experience I had when living in Singapore was to meet people in different
countries in the international school I attedned. It had shaped my identity now.  Through talking to
my classmates from Korea, I had learned of the disturbing facts about Japanese people during the
war. It had made me want to change my identity as a Japanese citizen because it was so shocking
to find out about what Japanese people did at young age. I would probably not have had this
experience if I lived in Japan all my life.

For the first time in my life, I realized that some people may have uneasy feeling about getting to know me because of my identity as Japanese.  This experience had made me want to get to know
people from other cultures in hope to change the way they feel. I want people to know who I am
on what kind of a person I am and not judged by my nationality. I try to do the same when I get to
know people from other culture. 

What's your experiences living where you are/were?

Watch Listen Learn: The Farhan and Aimi Show Episode 4 Hobbies

マクドナルド ”Mcdonald”

Fast food restaurants are found world wide but what you may not realize is that how it is called may differ in countries. One of the popular one that may sounds differet is Mcdonald.

マクドナルド(Makudonarudo) is a way Japanese people pronounce Mcdonald. I find it quite ineteresting that even in international school, there were people who pronounce Mcdonald differently. Some pronounces Mcdonald as Mic donald and some pronounces Mac donald.

What's more interesting about Mcdonald is that menus are quite different around the world. First of all, size of hamburgers, drinks and potatoes are smaller than American size.  Medium American size drinks is probably about the size of Large size drink in Mcdonalnd in Japan.

Have you ever had Teriyaki Burger ?
In Japan, Teriyaki burger is on of the popular burger and it is one of the regular menu.  But in other
countries, Teriyaki Burger is probably special burger that appears for a short period of time.
In fact, when I was living in Singapore and Malaysia I was very excited when Teriyaki burger
was a special burger. 

What Else is Different
In Japan, vegetable burger had just started to appear in the Mcdonald. Recently there was a burger with no name and Mcdonald had done naming competition for the burger. This attracted people to be part of the Mcdonald. Interestingly, there have been different fruity flacor of Mcflurry in Japan but
regular McFlurry is Oreo flavor.

In  Canada/Mcdonald, what I found interesting is that you can get salad and different kind of muffins.
I found that french fries are more salty and the sizes are bigger. 


Who uses Mcdonalnd in Japan? Other Countries?

In Japan, Mcdonald is where bussinessmen come in the morning to get quick breakfast and cofee. In the afternoon, students get out their books and study or hang out with friends because it is one of the cheapest way to get quick bite to eat.  At night, I find that single people or a family who are looking for quick bites are there to eat.

In Canada/America, Mcdonald was full of elderly people who are reading newspapers in the morning.  I have never seen a person stay in the Mcdonald for a long time besides homeless people trying to keep themselves warm in the winter. At night, I found that lots of young people heading out or are looking for bit to eat on the way or on the way back from night out lining up there.

If you have more trivia of Mcdonald around the world, tell us in the comment below!

Words You Do Not Want To Mix Up: "Go Out"

Growing up in international school,  "Going Out"/ "Go Out" was a very confusing term to understand for many English as second language students.  It sounds as if it is a phrase that refers to the act of going outside and perhaps it does but it could mean to be a girlfriend/boyfriend in other word to become lovers.

For English as second language student studying at English speaking environment when a person comes up to you and say " are you two going out?" it is hard to understand if means "did you two go out on a date?" or "are you two steady?"

So if you have not heard of this phrase, keep it in mind. You don't want to end up being a relaitonship or on a date accidently do you ?

Watch Listen Learn: The Farhan and Aimi Episode 3 Friends

ガソリンスタンド "Gasolinstand"

There are many Japanese words that sounds English but it is not English words.
Gasolinstand is Japanese word meaning Gas Station.  Problem with Japanese words
that are made of/sounds English to kids learning English in Japan is that it is
quite confusing. In Japan, words that come from English are written in particular
style of writing called Katakana but not all Katakana words are from English.
Katankana words come from foreign words or Japanese words that sound like
foriegn words.  For example, color pink would be pi n ku in Japanese. Tomato
would be to ma to. So children assume that words such as Gasolinstand would
be appropriate words if pronounced with English sounding accent.