I just learned the Japanese expression 思ったほど......ないです。Let me explain the meaning and how we use this expression in English. If we have an expectation or an idea of how something will be, we can say "I think..." Please read these examples: "I think the test will be difficult." OR "I think Tom Cruise is tall." If our idea is not correct or not what we expected we can use the past tense of think - thought - and use the expression... "It's not as ......... as I thought." 思ったほど......ないです。 Let's use our original examples again with the new pattern. "The test was not as difficult as I thought." テストが思ったほど難しくないです。 "Tom Cruise is not as tall as I thought." トムクルーズが思ったほど高くないです。 For me, I thought all Japanese food was delicious. BUT natto is not as tasty as I thought!
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引く can be used a few ways in English. (Remember 生? Blog Feb. 10th) Here is 引く kanji used 3 ways. Can you translate them all? 1. Sign on a door 2. 風邪を引きました 3. 5 - 3 = 2 (5引く3は2) Answers 1. This photo says 'pull.' You need to PULL the door to open it. What is the opposite of pull? That’s right! PUSH! 2. This says "I caught a cold." With illnesses like a cold or the flu we use the verb catch. (Remember caught is the past tense of cold) 3. This 引く translates to minus. 5 - 3 = 2 (5 minus 3 equals 2) So (depending on how it's used) 引く can mean PULL, CATCH or MINUS! Japanese has 2 main adjective types - い形容詞 and な形容詞。 I think that this makes it easy to confuse English words that end with a y (which makes an ii sound) and use them as adjectives. Here is a common example: Can you see the mistake? Healthy is an adjective, so it is used correctly on this sign. But... Safety is a noun! The adjective is safe. The sign should say Healthy and Safe. Some English adjectives do end with an ii sound: funny, happy, friendly But some do not! cool, smart, weak Have fun when you use English but... Be safe!!! Can you say these words in English? (Hint: all 3 生 are different!)
In English we use different words to translate these things. 1. Fresh fruit Fresh fruit is fruit that is not canned (缶づめ) or frozen (凍った). 2. Raw egg Raw means food that has not been cooked. We use RAW to talk about meat, fish, chicken, eggs and vegetables too. 3. Draft beer This is beer that comes from a tap, not a can or a bottle. 乾杯!
Today is the first day of the English 808 study blog, made for my Japanese students! Let’s start with an idiom :) 寿司詰め - With this idiom the feeling is 人が多い or すごく込んでいる! Sometimes the train is 寿司詰め in the morning during ラッシュアワー. In English we have an idiom that means the same thing. Do you know イワシ in English? イワシ are sardines. In the West sardines come packed very tight in a small can. If many people are in a one place we can say that they are packed like sardines! "In the past the station had staff to push more people on to the busy trains. People were really packed like sardines back then!
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English 808Dave has been teaching English to Japanese students since 2006! Archives
August 2015
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