PS. Have you seen the Google logo today?

•  David
• 2009年1月26日 12:15

Hi David,

You seem to be very busy at the moment, but I'm glad to hear that you had some time to go for a ride on your bike on Sunday. Are you feeling refreshed?

I just checked the Google logo. It's 'Year of the Ox', right? It's nice and cute. I was a bit surprised to see that because there was a kanji ‘福’ on the logo for Google UK.

By the way, I didn't know the difference between 'each other' and 'one another', or rather, I didn't know the expression 'one another'! “'Each other' is for two people and 'one another' is for three or more”, I got it. I learned a new expression, thank you!

I'll make another comment later.

Speak to you soon,

Tomo

•  Tomo
• 2009年1月26日 13:45

Hi David,
I'm just home, and watched the logo!!! Lovely!!
Thank you for letting us know .

Speak to you soon,

Anne

•  Anne
• 2009年1月26日 16:03

Hi David,
You worked all day Saturday and most of Sunday? Me too! I worked last weekend. It has been snowing since last Saturday here. Yeaterday, the place I had to go to had heavy snow, so I had to drive in the snow. The snowstorm blocked my vision while driving, so I felt fear.
Anyway, I'm looking forward to getting your new book! (I haven't finished reading the book "英語じょうずになる事典" yet, though. 早く読み終えなきゃ＾＾；) I watched the Google logo. It's cute!

Hi everyone,
You discussed about English grammar on the last entry. I read all the comments, but to tell the truth, I couldn't follow it because it was too difficult for me. When I joined here, (about a year and a half ago) I hardly remembered English grammar I learned in my school days. So I can't follow discussion about complicated English grammar. I used to be depressed because I couldn't understand them quickly, but now, I'm not. As you know, this blog has lots of Members, and some members have high English ability. I think my English ability is making progress little by little, but it's only about a year and a half since I started to brush up English, so it's natural that sometimes I can't understand discussion. Even if I can't understand it now, I can do it someday if I keep doing to learn English, I think. でも、もうちょっと焦った方がいい？（笑）

Hi Kiyoko,
You think I will be an attractive lady? Thanks!

Hi Nene,
You live in Nebraska? I'm not good at geography, so I didn't know that state. What is famous food in Nebraska? I like eating, so I'm curious to know it.（＾＾）

Amica

•  Amica
• 2009年1月26日 17:38

Hi May,
昨日は‘where’と‘which’が頭の中でグルグル回っていたので(笑)、考える余裕がなかったのですが、今日はMayの “David grew up with such lovely scenery.”← この文について考えてみました。　May の訂正通り、scenery は数えられない名詞なので、‘a’は要らないと思います。
Mayが言いたかったのは｢そんな素晴らしい自然の中で(と共に)育ったから、山が好きなのかしら？｣ですよね？　なので、Mayの文なら前置詞は with でいいんじゃなかな、と思います。（言い方を変えると in の方がいいかな、という場合もありますが）　“David grew up with such lovely scenery.”、この文も間違いではないと思うのですが、Davidの本を見ると、具体的なもの（木とか、野原とか)を言った方が自然に聞こえる、ということなので、

David grew up with such lovely mountains.

とか、｢そんな素晴らしい所で育ったから・・｣

David grew up in such a lovely place.

なんていう言い方もできるかな、と思いました。

google検索もしてみましたが、①‘grew up with ... scenery’より、②‘grew up with ... mountain’の方が圧倒的に多く、②より、③‘grew up in such a ... place’の方がもっとたくさんヒットしました。　③は山・海・川などの自然だけでなく、いろんな所を言えるので、使い勝手のいい表現かもしれないですね。

Hi Misty,
a, an, the は本当に面倒な部分ですよね。　書いている時はゆっくり考えられるので、色々気をつけるんですが、しゃべる時は無理です(笑)　それに、実際話す時はなくても通じそうだし。　無意識のレベルはまだまだ遠い～。。

とりあえずここまででポストします。

Talk to you later,

Tomo

•  Tomo
• 2009年1月26日 19:55

since I started to brush up English…はちょっと変だったかも。『英語の勉強をやり直し始めてから…』と言いたかったのですが。
今Davidの本を読んでいたらちょうど「brush up」が出てきて、『あれ？私が言いたかったニュアンスと違う…』って思ったんです。
この場合、どう言えばいいんでしょう？

Amica

•  Amica
• 2009年1月26日 21:20

Hi David,
It's so nice to know that you got a time to go for a ride on your bike, even though you worked a lot during the weekend.
I watched the logo! Cool!! It seems to be only for Google UK. Thank you for letting us know!

Hi Nene,
You're living in Nebraska! So your name is Nene, as Lily mentioned?!

Hi Amica,
improve　はどうですか？
since I started improvin (to improve) my English～
どうかな？

By for now,

Maki

•  Maki
• 2009年1月26日 22:06

訂正
since I started improving (to improve) my English～

"g"が抜けていました。。。（＾＾；）

Maki

•  Maki
• 2009年1月26日 22:21

Hi Amica,

Maki からのヘルプも届いてるけど、私からもね＾＾
『英語の勉強をやり直し始めてから…』は難しく考えずに、『また英語の勉強を始めてから』はどうかな？

since I started to study English again.

前のエントリーで話していたことは、私も数年前はまったく理解できなかったところだよ。　昨日は久しぶりに考えてみたんだけど、そうしたら前より理解できたんだよね。　だから慌てなくても大丈夫。　今難しすぎることはしばらく置いておいて、自分が理解できるところをどんどん増やしていけば、「いつか分かるその日」が来るよ。　私も難しすぎる英語ばっかり見ちゃうと、自分の実力にがっかりして凹むから、そういうのはあんまり見ないようにしてます（笑）

またアクセス不可になってしまったので、今日はここまでにします。

See you tomorrow, everyone!

Tomo

•  Tomo
• 2009年1月26日 22:23

Hi David and everyone,

David, thanks again for letting us know the logo, and I remembered that today was Chinese New Year or Spring Festival(春節）。It's called Lunar New Year(旧正月）, and I hear that this day is more important for people in China than (usual) New Year. The color of logo looks like "china red".(I'm not sure it's a proper word or not, though.) Anyway, I felt it "中国の赤だ."
I know the expression " one another"; I think I got to know here on this blog or somewhere else, but I don't think I had a chance to use this.

We can buy the vocabulary book through you website? That's nice!

Hi Amica,
本を読むのは焦らなくてもいいと思いますよ＾＾）
As for your sentence, I would say .....
it's only about one year and a half since I started studying (again) to improve my English.
英語の力を伸ばすために勉強し始めてまだ一年半なのだから。。。。、としました。
brush up そうですね、もともとある力に磨きをかける、と言う意味なので、これから勉強していく時はimprove　ですね。
私も、これを知る前は～to improve and brush up my English...なんて言っていました。今は、言いませんけど！
とりあえず私バージョンでした。

Bye for now,

Anne

•  Anne
• 2009年1月26日 22:36

Hi Amica and memebers,
クリックしたら、Maki,とTomoからもありました。それぞれ、色々あって面白いと思いました。

Ａｎｎｅ

•  Anne
• 2009年1月26日 22:41

Hi David,
I got away from here for a while and I missed Google page. What was it like? Anyway, I'm really surprised today! 55 comments followed your previous entry! What else comment can I add? You're lucky because you have a lots of fans and they are all really good English learners. Of course, including me. Maybe...

Hi everyone,
I'm sorry I couldn't join you these days but I might have been lucky because I'm not good with grammar.

Hi newcomers,
I'm supposed to tell you a short story.(?)
The most interesting thing I found in Tokyo is the departure board in the station.
Can you tell which train starts first? It says 'つぎ','そのあと','そのつぎ','こんど'.
I'm sure I'll post a serious comment next time.

Appoh

•  Appoh
• 2009年1月26日 22:42

Hi Appoh,
I didn't notice that the depature board is like that!
I will watch it carefully when I go to Tokyo next time. ;-)

Hi Anne,
I thought that the logo is connected to 旧正月, too.
Exactly that is "中国の赤", I felt as well.;-)

Maki

•  Maki
• 2009年1月26日 22:54

Hi Maki,
You can't see it on JR line. Please check other lines. Seibu Shinjyuku station is typical.

Appoh

•  Appoh
• 2009年1月26日 23:16

Hi Appoh,
Glad to see your comment, and of course including you! By the way, can I join the quiz? My answer is ‘こんど’ Which is correct?

Hi Anne and Maki,
The logo means Chinese New Year or Spring Festival? That's why there was a kanji on the logo. Thanks for the information!　You two know a lot of things, or I know too little..(probably both!)

I'm going to make my daughter's lunch now.

See you later,

Tomo

•  Tomo
• 2009年1月27日 07:10

Hi David and everyone,

As you know, I'm planning a blog event in March, and I made a new e-mail address for it. I got some nice e-mails from the people who would join the event(Thanks.), but I got some junk ones as well. I don't usually open them if they seem to be strange, but today, I opened one and read it. The title of the message was ‘Hello’, so I thought it might be from someone who wanted to join the event. It was written all in English and well-written in a polite way, I think. The message starts with ‘Hello Dear, How are you today?’(That sounds nice, isn't it?), and the person seems to be looking for a new friend and want to communicate with me. The person also said, “I will give you my pictures and details about me upon hearing from you. Waiting for your response as I wish you all the best. ” The massage ends with ‘Yours new friend’, and I thought, “My friend? Already? Wow!”（It says ‘Yours’, not ‘Your’, by the way.)

Don't worry, I know this is also a junk mail, and my computer is okay. I'm not going to reply it. Besides, judging from the name, I think the person is a woman. Anyway, I'd never got an e-mail like this before, so it was kind of interesting, and I learned some new expressions which might be useful if I write a love letter in English. Ha ha ha..

Speak to you later,

Tomo

PS If there is anyone who is interested in the woman, I'll give you her e-mail address;-)

•  Tomo
• 2009年1月27日 11:08

【訂正】
(That sounds nice, isn't it?)→(That sounds nice, doesn't it?)

•  Tomo
• 2009年1月27日 11:29

Hi David and everyone,

I've been catching up with you, but I didn't have
time to write my comment.　
読むだけでいっぱいいっぱいでした。(笑)

Amica, thank you for letting me know the difference
between 'brush up' and 'improve'. I checked David's book Page 301. I was the one who used 'bush up my English' as well. OK. I will　say 'I want to improve my English.' 　

Tomo, I understand how you felt when you got a
weird mail.

Hi newcomers,
Nice to have you with us.

•  Q chan
• 2009年1月27日 11:55

Hi Tomo, Maki, Anne,
Thanks for your comments! なるほど、againやimproveを使えばいいんですね。参考になりました！

By the way, Tomo, you got some junk mails, and one of them was friendly mail? I know how you feel. I have got such a e-mail on my cell-phone. The person was a man I didn't know, and he said "Hi. I'm looking for a メル友. Can you make friends with me? I'm looking forward to your reply.". Of course, I didn't reply it. When I got it, I felt it was scary, so I changed e-mail address of my cell-phone at once. Anyway, I was relieved that your computer was okay, and you didn't reply it.

Amica

•  Amica
• 2009年1月27日 14:25

Hi David,
From now on, I am going to give you a good material for your another books.
from now on の使い方、ばっちりでしょ！（英語じょうずになる事典　p130より）

HI tomo,
Thank you for your information.
I wrote it down in my nootebook.
ところでgoogleで検索ってどうするんのですか。

Hi Lily,
job とwhere　の説明ありがとう。
長年の疑問でした。
関係代名詞ってそういうことだったのね、と腑に落ちました。

Hi Aphoo,
'つぎ'も、面白い話でお願いします、で'つぎ'に1票。

•  May
• 2009年1月27日 15:05

Hi Q chan,
Thanks for your message. まぁ、変なメールだったけど、ある意味おもしろかったよ（笑）

Hi Amica,
Have you got such an e-mail on your cell phone? That's scary. How did the man know your e-mail address? Maybe he did it just at random? I've never got those e-mails on my cell phone. I'm not very happy about those junk mails, but I've put the address on the Net, so I knew it could happen. Anyway, the mail I got this morning was nice and polite in a way, so it was not scary. I laughed when I read the message, and I thought, “Sorry, I'm a woman, too.”
By the way, I just got another junk mail, but the title of the mail was ‘From Mr. Abu’, so I didn't open it this time.

Hi May,
You are welcome.　google検索ですが、検索boxに調べたい英語を " "　←このチョンチョン(名前は知らないんです(笑))の中に入れて、検索をすると、同じ語順の同じ英語が使われてるサイトが出てくるので、そのヒット数などを参考にしています。(" "がないと、語順はバラバラです）　ただ、信頼性に欠けるサイトもヒットするので、ちょっと読んでみないと判断できない時もあるのですが・・。　この間の Mayの文章を調べた時は、"grew up with * scenery" ←こんな風に検索してみました。　そうすると、｢ * ｣の所は lovely でも beautiful でも、何でも出てくるんです。　例えば｢前置詞は何だろう？｣って迷った時は、"grew up * such a lovely place"←こんな風に検索すると、いろんなパターンが出てきます。　実はこの方法はずっと前にここで教えてもらった方法で、最近活用するようになりました。

Tomo

•  Tomo
• 2009年1月27日 19:13

Hi Tomo,]
It's weired, isn't? Actually, I 've ever got this kind of junk mail; it's just once,
and I deleted it without reading.

Anne

•  Anne
• 2009年1月27日 22:19

Hi Tomo,
You got an interesting junk mail. Yeah, it can be a good learning material. That’s the spirit, Tomo :-) In my previous job, we got a lot of English junk mail at our main address. Most of them were about, you know, certain kinds of services or medicine, and some others were luring letters into fraudulent moneymaking. Those were pretty interesting.

Misty,
Yes, I liked it there. I only know Vancouver. It was a beautiful city and people were really friendly. Right, Canadians pronounce Z as zed. I was surprised when I found it out because we were only taught American way. I once saw a TV drama in which one character pronounced an abbreviation with a “zed” sound, and the others went “Huh?” “He’s Canadian.” “Ah!” That is absolutely untranslatable!

NeNe,
I got it right! Yay! What’s it like in Nebraska?

May,
You’re welcome. Glad I could help :-)

•  Lily
• 2009年1月27日 22:20

Hi Amica,
You are very welcome! I was glad to have a chance to think about it.

Hi Appoh,
Thanks for the information. I'm sorry to hear that I can't see it on JR lines...By the way, what's your answer?!

Hi Tomo,
You got junk mails? Some of them might be interesting, others are weired, right?
Please be careful!

By for now,

Maki

•  Maki
• 2009年1月27日 22:28

Hi Maki,Tomo,May,

Thank you for your comments.
The answer is 'こんど'. I write all from the earliest: 'こんど'.'つぎ','そのつぎ','そのあと'. Was it fun?
In Kansai area, the departure board says '先発','次発','次々発'. It's really logical and obvious. You will never miss the earliest train even when you're in a hurry.

I thought regular members might ignore my stupid stories like this. I only mean to put newcomers at ease with my topics. Thank you indeed.

Appoh

•  Appoh
• 2009年1月28日 00:01

Hi everyone,
I'm posting a serious topic as I promised.

'Each other versus One another'

Suppose I had a fabulous girl friend. She was incredibly gorgeous and intelligent. She and I were going to get together at Kyoto but we couldn't because I left my cellphone. Then, obviously I can say 'We missed each other.' to describe this situation.

Suppose my girl friend wanted to introduce me to one of her close friends. We were going to meet at Nara. However, we couldn't because our cellphones were out. Then, to describe this situation, can I say like this? We missed one another.

Appoh

•  Appoh
• 2009年1月28日 00:27

Hi everybody,

It's pretty much interesting that David's help is not required in many cases. We're learning from "one another"? I think it's very favorable because there would be always instant answers for any questions.
Even when someone didn't know the answer of another, (s)he is trying to figure it out anyhow.
But actually in real life especially in Japan, we don't seem to try to help others who are in need of it or ask them for it when we're in need.
How do you guys find about '余計なお世話' or '世話好き' ? I used to do many 余計かもしれない世話?　(what we call 情) when I was in Korea but I rarely do here in Japan. I don't mean this is good or bad. I hope that you guys don't take it too seriously. ;P

Bye

•  Zotto
• 2009年1月28日 00:58

Hi team,

Have a look at the Google logo today. It's really interesting.

•  David
• 2009年1月28日 11:51

Hi everyone. How are you?

This blog is really interesting!
なんとなーく読めるようになってきたので、内容はなんとなーく理解できるようになってきました！
コメントめっちゃ勉強になりますねー！　もっと時間を作ってゆっくり読みたい！

その、日本語でこういいたいんだけど、英語でどういったらいいの！？っていうことが結構あると思うんですけど、見方をかえると大分楽になりますよね。
っていうことに、このコメントを見て気づかされました☆
うん、やっぱり楽しむことが一番だ！って思いました＾－＾
ありがとう☆

•  tao
• 2009年1月28日 12:09

Hi David,

I was out in the morning and just came back home now. I had a look at Google logo, but what's that? It looks like graffiti. I read about Jackson Pollock on Wikipedia, but unfortunately, I can't seem to understand his art..(笑)

Anyway, I'll post another comment later.

See you soon,

Tomo

•  Tomo
• 2009年1月28日 12:23

Hi Anne＆Lily＆Maki,
Thanks for your comments.
Anne - Yes, it was a strange, but funny experience!
Lily - Actually, I haven't delete the mail yet. I still have it in my junk mail folder so that I can re-read it as a learning material.(笑)
Thanks Maki. I'll be careful;-)

Hi Appoh,
Yes, it was fun! By the way, about your serious comment, ..is it really serious one? I thought it was another funny story or a joke, but.. なぞかけ？ or 本当の質問？　悩んでます(笑)

Hi Zotto,
It's difficult to say the difference between '余計なお世話' and '世話好き' because it depends on how people are feeling. I guess I'm doing a lot of 余計かもしれないお世話 on this blog:)

Hi tao,
Nice to hear from you again. You are right. It's sometimes surprising how easy it is to say things in English.　‘見方を変える’っていうのがなかなか難しかったりしますが・・＾＾;)

Tomo

PS I'll try to translate the entry later.

•  Tomo
• 2009年1月28日 15:12

Hi David,

I had a look at the Google logo now, and it's interesting!
Tomo, did you notice that the image of logo was from Jackson Pollack's painting?
Actually, I know his name and have ever watched his paintings, but I could not connect with his paintings and the logo, so thanks ,Tomo.
I watched a movie about his life a few years ago; Ed Harris (one of my favorite actors)acted as Pollock. That's why I know his name and his paintings. I don't think I can understand and appreciate his works.( Sorry for not understanding,Pollock's fan.)
Today is Jacson Pollock's bithday.

Speak to you soon,

Anne

•  Anne
• 2009年1月28日 16:48

Hi Anne,
No, no, I just clicked on the logo, and I found the information. I didn't even know him, ha ha ha..

•  Tomo
• 2009年1月28日 17:29

Hi Tomo,
Wow, I didn't know about that!!! It's completely new ,hahaha! Thanks for your information!
私的にはものすごい新発見！知らなかった＾＾；）おばかと思われるでしょうが　大事件です！ありがとう＾＾）

Ａｎｎｅ

•  Anne
• 2009年1月28日 17:59

Here's my translation.

『週末はどうでしたか？　私は土曜日と日曜日のほとんどが仕事だったんだけど（午後11時まで！）、でも日曜日の午前中に2時間くらいバイクに乗ってきました。　ちょっと寒かったけど、いい天気で風もそんなになかったよ。

今、3冊の本をまとめる最終段階なんだ。　2月末までに印刷できるようにしなくちゃいけないんだけど、今のところは予定より早く進んでるから大丈夫だと思う。

「so」と「such」の説明についての意見をありがとう。　今はブログにたくさんのコメントがあるから、今まで気づかなかった間違いや問題点を見つけるのにとてもいい材料なんだ。　また何か気づいたらみんなに教えるね。

とにかく、みんなが助け合って、お互いの質問に答えたりするのを見るのはすごくいいね。（「each other」と「one another」の違いを知ってる？　ほとんどのネイティヴは使い方を間違ってるけど、「each other」は２人、「one another」は３人以上に対して使います）
もし、誰も答えられない質問があったら言ってね。　もしかしたら読んでる時に見逃してるかもしれないから。　最近は、誰が何に答えたのかすぐ分からなくなっちゃうからね！

新しいバージョンのボキャブラリーブックに取り掛からなくちゃいけないんだけど、たぶん今日、明日、水曜日の午前中くらいまでかかるんじゃないかな。　繰り返しばっかりであんまりおもしろい仕事じゃないんだけど、終わったら本がもっと良くなるからね。
本は私のホームページで販売するから、もし誰か欲しい人がいたら、そこから購入できるよ。

じゃあ、またね』

•  Tomo
• 2009年1月29日 09:52