Hi David,

Congratulations on finishing the conversation textbook!
I think you are just sick of proof-reading. How many times or how many pages have you checked this year? As you say, you have done so much(too much!). You need to have some more nice relaxing time. A few more weeks until you are back to a normal lifestyle, so you are almost there, がんばって下さい＾＾

By the way, I have a question about your English today. About this sentence, ‘There is still the final check of the ALC book to do as well’, you don't usually use ‘There is/are...’ when you talk about a specific thing, right? Is that sentence you wrote an exception? I read the manuscript of your book 'the mistakes dictionary' the other day, and I learned that it was possible to say 'There is the...' when you answered someone's question, but..
Do you say 'There is the first/second/third.. something'? 質問に答える時じゃなくても使いますか？

•  Tomo
• 2008年9月30日 16:17

Hi ,David

I'm glad I can read your new entry and know how
you've been doing . But it sounds like you've been
still busy. Take care of yourself because it's getting
cooler suddenly. I took out the thick Futon last night.（^^ ）

Ｉ'm going to buy the　ALC version book. When can I get it at the bookstore? I'm really looking forward
to read it and learn English. Because your book is always very helpful .

•  Q chan
• 2008年9月30日 16:20

Oh,my!! I forgot to put “ING”after ‘read’ and ‘learn’.

•  Q chan
• 2008年9月30日 16:26

PS I watched ‘The Landlord Out Takes’too. I can't believe that the baby girl is actually saying the lines! I thought that it was a computer-generated video(lip-sync).

•  Tomo
• 2008年9月30日 17:33

Hi Tomo,

That's a good question! You can use 'there is' to introduce a specific thing if you are answering a question or imagining that someone has asked you a question. This is mentioned in the book. It's as if I was answering the question, "Do you have a lot to do?", and I said, "Yes, there's the ALC manuscript, the ..." etc.

Does that help?

As for the landlord video, I'm not sure if it is really her voice or not. Either way, it's very funny! Have you watched the one called "Good cop, baby cop"?

•  David
• 2008年9月30日 18:08

Hi David,

I see, that's why you used 'there is' in that sentence. Yes, that helped me a lot. Thank you!

By the way, I just watched the video 'Good cop, baby cop'. That's very funny, too! I love this baby series. She is so cute!

•  Tomo
• 2008年9月30日 21:06

Hi David,

Good to know that you finished the conversation textbook,
and Congratulations!
I’m really looking forward to reading the book.
Yes, you mentioned about a teaching conference in Malaysia, so
I wonder when you are back to a normal lifestyle and are able to
take a relaxing time even though you don’t need to check any more manuscripts.

As I commented this morning on former entry, I enjoyed the videos including
‘Good Cop, Baby Cop’, When I watched it, I had no idea about ‘lip synching’.
Anyway, she is so lovely, isn’t she?

Bye for now,

•  Anne
• 2008年9月30日 21:34

Hi David,

Congratulations! It's so good to know that you finished the conversation textbook, and that you can relax a little for a while, though you still have some work for the ALC book and your papers for the conference. Hope everything is going very well with you and you will be back to your normal lifestyle soon!

I checked and watched the videos which you mentioned. I also enjoyed them and the baby girl is so cute and lovely!

It's been a bit warmer here at this time of the year, though the max temperature is around 19c for last several days. But it's very chilly in the morning and in the evening as well.

Don't catch a cold, Everyone!

By for now,

Maki

•  Maki
• 2008年9月30日 22:39

Hi Team,

Have any of you noticed that Kiyoko posted her comment on the last entry? Anyway, let me repost it here.

『Hi David and everyone,

David,
It's Tuesday, so you might be able to get back to a normal lifestyle? I sincerely hope so.

After I had read member's blog, I tried watching the You Tubu which you mentioned yesterday.
I clicked 'funny or die' and continually clicked my liking site. However, the following sign appeared. "You need flash player version 8 or better to watch these videos."
I immediately installed the latest free software of Adobe, and I got 'completion' sign, but there were no reaction in my PC's screen. Every time I clicked the same warning came out.

Then I confirmed many times in different way. Especially, I spent much time to check the probable reasons written in English of Adobe support center.
By the way, to read the English discription was not so understandable than how to operate the machine to me.
Anyway, it was too difficult to find out the cause, so that I gave it up.
So I'm not seen it yet, sorry, David.

everyone,
Today is the end of September, I put on summer clothing in room. It's so comfortable temperature, around 20 degrees.
In this summer, I very often complained the extreme hot and the humid air, but it was over.
According to the weather forecast, powerful typhoon No. 15 will come to Japan.

Maki,
Hokkaido will be very cold now, I think. Be careful for catch a cold!

Tomo,
You got a new recorder and you succeeded at recording easily. I've admired your adaptation to new thing.

Have a nice day,

Kiyoko』

Hi Kiyoko,
Thanks for your message. Yes, I'm trying to record me speaking English with my digital audio player. It's not that difficult. All you have to do is to press the record button;-) I hate to listen to my recordings, but it's good speaking practice.
By the way, when you open the blog page, try to click the renew(更新) button too. I guess you open this blog by clicking the title in your bookmarks, but sometimes it's not enough. You need to refresh the top page by clicking the renew button.

Talk to you later,

Tomo

•  Tomo
• 2008年10月 1日 13:13

Hi Tomo,

Thank you so much for your reposting my comment, and I thank for smart advice at same time.

First I should try to refresh the top page by clicking the renew button before commenting, I really realize.
I sometimes click this button when I check the latest weather news, but I don't use another version.

Have a nice day, everyone,

Bye for now,

Kiyoko

•  Kiyoko
• 2008年10月 1日 16:45

Hi David,

I'm glad that you managed to finish checking your book. Good job!

"Actually, I'm not sure whether I really hate it or whether I have just become sick of it because I have done so much this year."

This is from your comment. I found 'whether' twice in the sentence. is that OK? I know English people don't to use repeated the word. I have a just question for you. How do you think it?

Are you going to bring out other book next year again? I know you are a specialist who find out well Japanese mistakes. You are keen to write a book aren't you?

I feel cold mornings and evenings. It was 12degree this morning. I was already tidy up all of summer clothes. I miss summer!

Speak soon
Riko

•  Riko
• 2008年10月 1日 18:43

Hi David,

Nice work.（？）お疲れ様でした。
You must be tired.で今回はいいのかもしれませんね。本当にお疲れのようですから。
I'm also looking foward to read the book.
I finished reading the ”英語と仲直りできる本””もしも英語ができたなら”today.
I understood so good, but I still can't use it.
初心者にもわかりやすかったです、何度も読んで早く使えるように頑張ります。

The landlord video is so funny. She is lovely.
関係ない話ですが、Mylandlord says lovely a lot.(口癖）
lovelyって言われると結構気持ちがいいものですね。
ま、うちのlandlordが若い男の人ってこともありますが(^^)

I hope you get back to a normal lifestyle after Malaysia(presentation).

お身体大切に。

Hi Tomo,
「素晴らしい学習者」を見習っていつもは下書きだけでpostしないコメントをpostしました。
校正？待ってます。o(_ _)oﾍﾟｺｯ ←気に入ってます。

今日はちょっとやる気のある hiki

•  匿名
• 2008年10月 1日 19:21

Hi hiki,
メッセージ、届きましたか？　hiki には私の声が聞こえるみたいですね。　実は今日はそういう気持ちを込めて書いていました。　だから同じものをここにもポストしようかな・・と迷っていたところです(他にも届くといいな～と思ってる人たちがいるので）。　ここは書けるようになってから書く場所ではなくて、たくさん間違ってもいい場所なんです。　それでも David は読んでくれるし、大体分かってくれます。　私なんてどれだけ間違えて来たことか・・、数え切れません！　でも、間違えた分だけ、前に進めたような気がします。
ところで、若い男の人に‘lovely’って言われるなんて・・、それは気持ちがいいでしょう！(笑)　いいな～、言われてみたい♪

Hi David and Everyone,
Let me post the same thing as my blog here because it might encourage people who don't have the confidence to comment in English.

『As you know, my daughter is 4, so her Japanese level is still low. There are lot of things she doesn't know, and she makes a lot of mistakes, but she is learning Japanese(and a lot of other things) in her everyday life.
The other day, my daughter said a funny and interesting thing. My second son and she were having a fight about something(I can't remember.), and my son said, “Yameroyo! Mottainai daro!(Stop it! That's a waste!)” Then my daughter talked back to him, “Mottairu yo!(No, it's not!)”

Do you get it? In Japanese, if you add 'nai' to a word or leave it out from a word, you'll get an opposite meaning. My daughter didn't know the expression ‘mottainakunai’, but she knew how to make an opposite word even though I never taught her it, so she left out 'nai' from the word 'mottainai'.

Small children don't just memorize words; they think, try, make lots of mistakes, and learn as they go. What a good language learner! I think we should follow their good example.』

After writing this, I thought of what David said the other day, ‘間違いは上達の素’, and I think that's what he's been taught us through this blog and his books(including the next one). I realized again that it was so true. Small children make a lot of mistakes, but they are not afraid of making them. They learn from their mistakes and never give up trying to use new words. That's why they are such quick learners.

このブログは本当は英語に自信がない人にこそ、とっても役に立つブログだと思うのです。　私がそうだったように。

See you all soon,

Tomo

PS hiki、‘校正’は無理だけど、私versionで良ければ後でチャレンジします＾＾

•  Tomo
• 2008年10月 1日 22:06

Hi Tomo,
Your message reached my heart.
簡単な文章で、しかも間違いもあるでしょうが恥ずかしい
気持ちを抑えてpostしました。
"校正”お世話かけます。＾＾
hiki

•  hiki
• 2008年10月 2日 00:33

Hi David,
I'm glad to know that you finished the conversation textbook. Congratulations! But I guess you were exhausted from your hard work, so I hope you are able to have a relaxation time and you will be back to your normal lifestyle soon.
About the videos you mentioned, I'll watch them later.

Hi everyone,
The other day, I went to phot studio to take a picture of me for next year's my concert's program. The studio has a makeup specialist, so I don't need to do a makeup by myself. She gave me a makeup and set my hair. Then I posed in front of a photographer. Actually, I don't like that I am taken a picture of me, so it was hard to put on a smile in front of him. Every time he triggered the camera, he said "You are so lovely!", but I was thinking in my mind "You are liar...", so it was hard more and more to put on a smile. I felt tired...

See you soon,

Amica

•  Amica
• 2008年10月 2日 12:02

Hi hiki,

I'm happy to hear that! I know how you feel. I was embarrassed to show my English on the blog at the beginning because I didn't want to make mistakes, but making mistakes is part of learning process(David told us this before). You can improve your English when you see your mistakes.

Anyway, here's my version of your comment.(but please remember, this is JUST my version, and my English is not perfect.)

『Congratulations! I'm also looking forward to reading the book. I finished reading your books ”英語と仲直りできる本” and ”もしも英語ができたなら”today. They were easy to understand for even beginners, so I understood them very well. I'm going to read them again and again so that I can be a good English speaker.

The landlord video is very funny. She is lovely. Speaking of 'lovely', my landlord often uses that word. I love that word, too. It makes me happy. Well, maybe that's because my landlord is a young man.(lol)

I hope you get back to a normal lifestyle after the presentation in Malaysia.

Take care.』

・Nice work. は何となく「良くできました！」のニュアンスを感じるので、違う言葉にしました。

・Davidはずっと働きづめなので、You must be tired. は間違いじゃないと思いますが、でもこれは日本語の相手をねぎらう言葉ではないので（ただ、「疲れているでしょう」ということです）、入れませんでした。　もし私がこれを使うとしたら、You've been working very hard for a long time, so you must be tired. Take a lot of rest! という風に使うかな。。

・look forward to...の後は名詞の形になるので、動詞なら‘ing’を付けて動名詞にします。

・「よくわかる（理解できる）」の「よく」は 'well' を使います。

・ただ「とても面白い」と言う時は 'very' を使います。　so はよく that と一緒に出てきて、「とても～だから・・・だった」という文で使われます。　例えば、The landlord video was so funny that I couldn't stop laughing.　もちろん so だけでも使えるのですが、それは「とっても、すっごく！」という意味になって、'so' を強調して発音します。　The landlord video is sooooo funny!

・「言われると嬉しい」と英語で言うのは意外と難しいので、ちょっと見方を変えて書きました。　う～ん、でももっといい表現がありそう。。

Look forward to reading your next comment!

Tomo

PS Amica, you should believe him;-)

•  Tomo
• 2008年10月 2日 13:24

Hi Tomo,

Thank you very much!!!
I understood them very well.
ここでまた迷ってしまいました。tｈemはなくてもokか？と
themはitの方がいいのかな？と。
ともかく、Tomoの教えてくれたこと自体はよくわかりました
ありがとうございました！

hiki

•  匿名
• 2008年10月 3日 16:59

Hi hiki,

understand は他動詞なので、動詞だけではダメなんです。　つまり、｢何が｣理解できたのかも入れないとですね。(like と同じです。　×I like.　○I like it/that.）　英語の数にこだわるところは私も苦労していますが、この場合は全体を｢it｣で指してもOKだと私は思います。　または、your explanation とすれば it? them? と迷わなくても済みますよ＾＾

•  Tomo
• 2008年10月 3日 18:01

Hi Tomo,

度々、お世話かけます。
understand は辞書を引くと自動詞もあったので迷ってしまいました。
中学英語で習ったI run.みたいな感じでOKなのかなと。
やっぱり使ってないので理解できてないですね。
your explanation も使ったことないので今度使ってみます。
Thank you!

hiki

•  匿名
• 2008年10月 3日 19:02

Hi hiki,

そうでした！　自動詞もありましたね。　Do you understand? とか、Sorry, I don't understand. とか。　この場合は自動詞だけど、でも他動詞として使われる方が多いような気がします。

•  Tomo
• 2008年10月 3日 19:33