2011/12/28

今年の人気があるポスト


At the end of the year, lots of media outlets give retrospectives.

  • media outlet 報道発信地[源]、メディアの支局 (definition from Eijiro on the Web)
  • retrospective【名】回顧展 (definition from Eijiro on the Web)

Let's do the same thing here!

First, we can talk about which of our blog posts were the most popular this year. All of these posts were from 2010, but it seems that they were relevant for people this year.

  • relevant 【形】〔検討中の課題などと〕関係のある、関連(性)のある (definition from Eijiro on the Web)

The third most popular post was about the difference between "because" and "because of".
http://upgradeenglish.blogspot.com//2010/08/becausebecause-of.html
The second most popular post was about how to use "depend on".
http://upgradeenglish.blogspot.com//2010/08/depend-on.html
The most popular post was the one about my hoodie, which Japanese call パーカー.
http://upgradeenglish.blogspot.com//2010/01/blog-post_20.html
Next time, I'll tell which of this year's blog posts were the most popular. In the meantime, I'm putting up the hood on my hoodie. It's cold!

2011/12/27

「yule」とは


You might have heard in an English song or movie something about "Yule" when they are talking about Christmas. If you check Eijiro on the Web, you'll find:

  • yule【名】キリスト降誕祭、クリスマスの季節 (definition from Eijiro on the Web)

Maybe a lot of people think they are synonymous, but it's not really true.

  • synonymous【形】同意語の、同義の、同義語の、同義的な、類義語の (definition from Eijiro on the Web)

If you check Wikipedia, you'll find out that it's actually a pagan holiday!
http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%A6%E3%83%BC%E3%83%AB
Christmas was two days ago, but Yule runs until January 6, I think. Traditionally, it was celebrated for 12 days. If you've got a Christmas tree, then you are celebrating Yule!

I suppose most Japanese associate Christmas with romantic dates and cake, but from the point of view of nature, now the days are getting longer.

  • associate ~ with ~と…を結び付ける、…で~を連想する (definition from Eijiro on the Web)

The meaning of Yule is related to the winter solstice and the days starting to get longer. I wish the longer days would bring about warm weather sooner. It's pretty cold outside today! Until the warm weather shows up, I think I may just sit here underneath the heater.

  • underneath【名】下部、底 (definition from Eijiro on the Web)

2011/12/22

英語の間違いについてどう考えたらいいですか?


I've been thinking about this for weeks now. I think a lot of people have the wrong idea about making mistakes.

You know I have a series of posts called ○○さんは英語の使い方に注意した方が良い. Some people might have the misunderstanding that I am trying to bully someone or denigrate someone.

  • denigrate【他動】〔人の性格や評判を〕傷つける、中傷する、侮辱する、悪くいう; 〔人や物の価値を〕過小評価する、見くびる (definition from Eijiro on the Web)

That couldn't be farther from the truth. 

  • That couldn't be farther from the truth. これほど事実から程遠いものはありません。 (definition from Eijiro on the Web)

The reality is that mistakes are learning opportunities. I don't think any mistake I've posted on my blog has any real consequence for anyone beyond making someone blush (maybe the author, if I am lucky enough for them to read my post).

  • blush with embarrassment 恥ずかしさのあまり赤面する (definition from Eijiro on the Web)

I post these mistakes so that you all can learn from them. These aren't private mistakes, either, but things which appear in public. If someone doesn't mind putting this English in public, it's fair game.

  • fair game for discussion 議論の格好の話題 (definition from Eijiro on the Web)

What's more, in truth I admire these people. They are using English to communicate, even if there are mistakes. Learning a language and using it helps to bring people together.

  • admire【他動】~を称賛[敬服]する(definition from Eijiro on the Web)

It's true that sometimes mistakes have serious consequences. For example, if safety instructions are written wrongly and someone gets injured, that's serious.

There appears to be a case where a health supplement dealer faced a possible death sentence for a mistranslation of "hemp oil" for "hash oil" (hemp oil is a nutritional supplement, while hash oil is a strong drug which is illegal in most parts of the world).


  • hemp 【名】麻、麻布、麻の繊維
  • hash = hashish【名】〈俗〉ハシシ、ハシーシュ◆大麻に含まれる樹脂(幻覚物質)を乾燥させた作った麻薬
  • (definitions from Eijiro on the Web)


However, the mistakes that I have posted are nothing like this. Everyone should think of them as learning opportunities rather than be afraid of them because they are zero-risk.

Especially in an English class, there is zero risk. That means you should never be afraid to make mistakes, but think of them as lucky chances to learn something.

It's like these fried noodles that I cooked tonight. One of the ingredients was green onions. I chopped the onions into four centimeter pieces. I had intended to slice them further into strips, but I was hungry and forgot. Fortunately, the noodles still tasted delicious.

That's a perfect example of a zero-risk mistake. The lesson for me is to pay more attention when cooking, or maybe to eat a snack before cooking so that I won't be in such a hurry.

Please don't fear your mistakes, and take advantage of all of the learning opportunities you can.

2011/12/13

Yaechikaは英語使い方に注意した方が良い + 「partly」の使い方


Yaechika is a goldmine of English mistakes!

  • absolute goldmine 《an ~》〈話〉〔店・事業などが〕ドル箱 (definition from Eijiro on the Web)

This time I found this sign:
× Information of the Business
○ Business Information
Many times you can use a noun as an adjective, like in this case.
× Partly, there is a shop where business hours are different.
○ There are some shops with different business hours.
Don't use "partly" when you are talking about a countable quantity of something, like "shops" in the sentence above. "Partly" is usually used before a verb, like this:
I've partly corrected this sign, but there are still some mistakes remaining.
You can also use it to modify an adjective:
I have a cap which is partly damaged, but I haven't thrown it out yet. 
It has been too long since I last posted to the blog. That is partly because I've had a busy class schedule. It's partly because there were a lot of other things to do. You might be partly satisfied with these excuses, but I bet you aren't completely satisfied. Don't worry! I haven't forgotten about you loyal blog readers! I'm still thinking of your English education, and I'll be back soon with another blog post.

フォロワー