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!

「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)

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.

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.

「within walking distance」といろいろな単語の説明

I wanted to see if Otemachi is within walking distance of our classroom. Our classroom is really close to Kanda Station, Shin-nihonbashi, and Mitsukoshi-mae Stations, but looking at the map, Otemachi looked really close, too.

• within walking distance of ～から歩いて行ける距離［範囲］で (definition from Eijiro on the Web)
• It's within walking distance. 歩いて行ける距離です。(definition from Eijiro on the Web)

I thought it probably was close enough to walk from, so I took a walk to confirm my hypothesis.

• confirm the hypothesis that 〔that以下〕という仮説｛かせつ｝を裏付ける｛うらづける｝(definition from Eijiro on the Web)

After checking the map, I hit the door and started down the street towards Otemachi Station. A lot of people were just getting off work and heading towards various stations.

• hit the door 出発する (casual)
• head towards ～の方へ向かう (definition from Eijiro on the Web)

When I got to Otemachi, I snapped this shot of exit A5, the one closest to our classroom. An office worker was going down into the station, and a member of the station staff was coming up the stairs.

• snap a shot of ～の写真を撮る (definition from Eijiro on the Web)

I started my stopwatch and turned around towards our classroom. I took a reasonable pace. I passed some construction workers carrying their equipment back to their van. One older man in down jacket seemed to be in a hurry and passed me.

• in a hurry 急いで、慌てて (definition from Eijiro on the Web)

The sidewalks were full of commuters, but after eight minutes and 10 seconds, I arrived in front of our building.

• commuter【名】通勤者｛つうきん しゃ｝、通学者｛つうがく しゃ｝ (definition from Eijiro on the Web)

What do you think? Is eight minutes within walking distance? Regardless, there are three other closer stations nearby, within three to five minutes. I hope you will walk over and say hello.

「wear」の使い方

 

The weather has been getting cooler, so I've started wearing my hoodies.

You all might have felt with the cooler weather that it was time for shopping for clothing. 

• clothing = clothes =  服

I was out shopping somewhere (I can't remember where) and I saw this sign. It says:

× goods, wear

○ goods, clothes/clothing/apparel

"Wear" is a verb or a suffix, usually. It's most common as a verb, like "make sure you wear enough when you go out, since it's cold."

As a suffix, we use it in words like "underwear" and "formalwear".

• underwear【名】肌着類｛はだぎ るい｝、下着｛したぎ｝、肌着｛はだぎ｝、パンツ (definition from Eijiro on the Web)
• formalwear【名】正装｛せいそう｝(definition from Eijiro on the Web) 
• suffix  接尾辞 (definition from Eijiro on the Web)

Sometimes we use it with an adjective as an independent word, like:

• I guess you have already put away all of your summer wear.

However, I prefer this:

• I guess you have already put away all of your summer clothing.

If you've been making this mistake, don't worry! Just wear a smile and try to avoid making it in the future.

•  wear a smile 笑みをたたえる (definition from Eijiro on the Web)

「1兆」は英語で何と言う？

$1,000,000,000,000

How do you say this number in English? Most students have trouble reading big numbers in class. One major reason is because numbers are read/written very differently in Japanese.

For example,
一千円 (1,000) is one thousand yen. (No problem)
九千九百九十九円　(9,999) is nine thousand nine hundred ninety-nine yen. (No problem there either)

however 一万円　 (10,000) is... ten thousand. (Here is where things get tricky)
十万円　(100,000) is one hundred thousand.
百万円　(1,000,000) is one million.
一千万円　(10,000,000) is ten million.
Japanese numbers move in four digits but many Western languages move in three.
So what can you do?
Simple, just look for the first comma on the left. That will tell you how to read the number.
1,000 (ONE thousand)Secondly, how many digits are there after the first comma.
1,000 (there are three digits after the first comma so it is thousand)

If there are 6 digits after the first comma, it is million (1,000,000)
If there are 9 digits after the first comma, it is billion (1,000,000,000)
If there are 12 digits after the first comma, it is trillion (1,000,000,000,000)
If there are 15 digits after the first comma, (you most likely will not need to know this number unless you are a hardcore scrabble player.)


Do you know how to read the numbers below? 
The earth's population recently reached 7,000,000,000. 
The population in Japan is  around 125,000,000.
The U.S. public debt is $14,993,980,920,226. 
The price tag of my dream car, a Mercedes AMG SLS is at least $185,750.
The average household income in Japan (in 2009) was ¥5,475,000.

「money tree」とは？

This is our money tree. That's what we call this tree in English.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pachira_aquatica

• money tree パキラ属、金のなる木、金づる (definition on Eijiro on the Web)
• cash-cow, money tree 金の成る木

People keep telling me that our money tree is too dense. They say I should trim some of the inner leaves. I'm worried about doing that, though, because it seems healthy enough. If I cut a bunch off, I'm afraid I might kill it.

What do you think I should do?

I would hire a specialist, but money doesn't grow on trees. So instead, I'm turning to you all for advice. Do you have good suggestions on how to trim the tree?

• Money doesn't grow on trees.《諺》金のなる木はない。／お金を楽に得る方法はない。(definition on Eijiro on the Web)

By they way, has anybody started trimming their Christmas tree? I think I'd rather do some kind of pagan winter solstice celebration.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_solstice

• trim a tree to make it look better 見栄えがするように木を剪定｛せんてい｝する (definition from Eijiro on the Web)
• trim a Christmas tree クリスマスツリーに飾りを付ける、クリスマスツリーの飾り付けをする(definition from Eijiro on the Web)
• winter solstice 《the ～》《天文》冬至点｛とうじてん｝(definition from Eijiro on the Web)

It's about five weeks away. Some people might feel it's early, but I am sure Starbucks is already playing Christmas music. I am avoiding it for that reason. I wonder if their seasonal drinks are a money tree?