なかなか良かったです。Amazonプライム会員なので、年間3,900円でいろいろなショウを見ることができます。この『ダウントンアビー』はシーズン4までがAmazonビデオで見ることができました。
最初に見たときに、英国の英語がチョットわかり難くかったのですが、すぐに慣れました。大仰で、持って回った言い方で、生意気な感じで、ドラマとして独特のテイストを持っています。今まで見てきた米国や、中国、韓国のドラマとは相当違います。
僕がファンなのはこの伯爵夫人です。ウィットのきいたセリフがいいです。
ＤＭＭ英会話の中級の教材をやっていました。最後の『ディスカッション』のところまできましたが、『チョットこれはあまり僕には向いていないな』と思い始めたわけです。自分の関心のないテーマがあるのです。それで何かいい教材はないかと探しましたところ、Amazonの洋書の『なかみ拝見』機能を使ってその本の『はしり』の部分を読んでいくということを思いつきました。これなら自分の興味のある本を選べますから。
音読し、分からないところを訊ね、ディスカッションをしていこうというわけです。たとえば『How Starbucks Saved My Life』を選べば6ページ分の英文を読むことが出来ます。実際に僕はこの本を最初の本にしたいと思います。結果はいずれまたの機会に。
追記
やってみました。この本は文の構造も単語もそんなに難しくはない。けれども質問して意味をハッキリさせたいところが出てきます。そうこうするうちに、先生の実力が見えてきたわけです。僕も読めばだいたいの流れは分かるのですが、単語やその用法がハッキリとはしないものもあります。それを訊ねると先生なりのディフィニションが、その場で僕が電子辞書で引いた語義とずれているわけです。たとえば『落ち込んでボーっとしていたので』と言う意味だと思われる『In my depressed daze』の解釈が僕の考えている意味と少しずれるのです。
先生の実力はもちろん僕の比ではありませんが、でもネイティブではないと思ってしまうんですね。先生は英語を日常生活で使っているけれど、アメリカの知識人が話す英語とは違うんじゃないかと思ってしまうんですね。関係代名詞さえもあまり使わない単文のシンプルな文章です。それだからこそ、僕には分かりやすいわけですが。
とりあえず、しばらくこれでやってみます。
また報告します。
あと２５分の受講でゴールドクラス卒業です。よくここまで来たものです。しゃべり続けて6,000分。予習もせずにブッツケ本番で授業を受けてます。分からないことがあれば授業の中で聞けばいいだけです。もちろん一番効果的なのは予習して不明な点をあきらかにし、復習をして知識を定着させることですが、そんなに時間はありません。何回もやれば自然と知識は定着するでしょう。
僕はほとんど一日も欠かさず受講しています。そうこうするうちに好みの講師も見えてきました。あまり慣れ過ぎて馴れ合いになってもいけませんが、親しく話ができる関係になれば効率もよくなると思います。相性というのがあります。僕が選んだ先生がいい先生というのではなく、僕との相性がいい先生であるということです。
最初がブロンズクラス（1,000分？）、次がシルバークラス（3,000分）そしてゴールドクラス（6,000分）。次はダイヤモンドクラス（10,000分）？ で、その次は何になるんでしょうか？ 楽しみです。
継続は力なりと信じてやっていきます。
（追記）
ついにゴールドクラス卒業です。進級するのはプラチナクラスでした。ダイアモンドクラスじゃありませんでした。あと4,000分（80日）で次のクラスに進級です。頑張ります。落ち着いた雰囲気でこのまま勉強したいので、中国行きは秋にするかもしれません。
I am going to quit job in this August. 60 is the retirement age for the employee in this company. Time flies like an arrow. How many times I told myself “If I am free after retirement, I would like to go abroad to learn foreign languages.” How many times I encouraged myself “If I am free, I would like to go to Beijing to learn Chinese to my heart content.” Now is the time that I do what I even dreamed when I was working for 38 years.
I have a plenty of time now. I am rich in terms of time to study languages, linguistics, and anthropology and I can enjoy drawing oil paintings. It’s a kind of paradise for me. I am the King in this paradise until the reality shock me wake up. Until then I would like to enjoy them.
I took a Chinese lesson last night. I asked her to correct my Chinese composition which I updated as “Omoni” in my blog. She corrected my article word to word, sentence to sentence. I can’t believe it! My blog could not keep its original shape. I made a lot of mistakes. It was a little bit shocking to me, because I had a certain confidence in that article in terms of grammar.
What made me to compose such a broken Chinese? Firstly I noticed that I might be under pressure of having to use newly acquired grammatical power to describe the things in the way of would-be an advanced learner of Chinese doing, so that I could show you my humble ability of Chinese. I didn’t want to use the word and wording that I used to use in daily conversation in Chinese because it sounds childish. Perhaps I would like to pretend to be an advanced learner of Chinese. I actually think it partly in Japanese and translated it into Chinese. I made mistakes in that process. What I’ve learned this time is that I have to compose Chinese sentences by using the words that I daily use and like talking to little children. Don’t use difficult words or wordings until you get used to them and don’t think it in Japanese. Describe them very simple and directory in Chinese. In that way I will be able to avoid big mistakes in Chinese, probably.
Don’t haste. It’s a long way to go.
I’ve got a Skype call from a Filipino English teacher recently. I took her class several times in an internet English school in my past. She wanted me to evaluate applicants who want to be hired in her newly founded school in Philippines. What a so many internet English schools there are in the internet! And there are still many young entrepreneurs to make a new English school over there. I can’t believe it.
Comparing with establishing new internet Chinese school, it’s easy to do an English one. Then so many English schools were founded in the internet. Because the entry barrier for the business is very low, and there are tons of human resources suitable for English teachers in Philippines if you don’t ask too much for your teacher.
I was introduced to them that I am an intermediate student beforehand. I took 4 applicants’ classes. After taking classes I told my English teacher my evaluation for them. She wanted to know if I want to take their class or not when she open her new school. Two out of four of the applicants are not attractive for my English teacher as they had very strong Filipino accents.
It depends on the price to take the class that I am content with their performance as an English teacher. Because I think I need to read English books and practice “Native method” and don’t feel any need for taking English conversation classes right now. The border line for paying money for these teachers who clear my criteria is 300yen/30min.
When people learn a foreign language, they go to school or take private lessons. Some people learn it by themselves. These people are learning the language relatively passively. The passive learning was well established method and no failure. In that method, student learn the grammar, repeat after teacher, listen to the CD’s but I think that is sometimes boring and not effective.
I am learning 3 languages right now. These are English, Chinese and Korean. I would like to take relatively active way to do. I write some sentences in foreign language freely and speak in the language with no restrains. Of course if you take this method too much, your target language become broken-language. So you must be very careful not to get in the trouble, but I still feel that this method is exiting and effective to get a certain skill to write and speak.
In the next article, I would like to write in Chinese in the way in which I use elementary Chinese only, if possible, without referring to dictionaries.
無料レッスンを３回受けました。アメリカ人があの料金でやってくれるとは驚きでした。４人のグループレッスンで、はじめて英会話して慣れるにはいいけれど、あのまま続けてものびそうにない。自分で勉強した成果を確かめるにはいいかも。
英語の歌のお気に入りは『The Green, Green Grass of Home』です。ゆっくりとしたテンポの古い歌ですが、物語性があって、なかなかいいです。
『The Green, Green Grass of Home』
1. The old home town looks the same
As I step down from the train,
And there to meet me is my mama and papa.
Down the road I look and there runs Mary,
Hair of gold and lips like cherries.
It's good to touch
The green, green grass of home.
Chorus:
Yes, they'll all come to meet me,
Arms reaching, smiling sweetly;
It's good to touch
The green, green grass of home
2. The old house is still standing
Tho' the paint is cracked and dry,
And there's that old oak tree that I used to play on.
Down the lane I walk with my sweet Mary,
Hair of gold and lips like cherries.
It's good to touch
The green, green grass of home.
Chorus:
3. Then I awake and look around me
At four grey walls that surround me
And I realize that I was only dreaming.
For there's a guard, and there's a sad old padre,
Arm in arm we'll walk at daybreak.
Again I'll touch
The green, green grass of home.
Chorus:
Yes, they'll all come to see me
In the the shade of that old oak tree
As they lay me
'neath the green, green grass of home.
Tom Jones
Joan Baez
もうひとつは『Blowing in the wind』です。若い人はもう知らないかもしれない。
『Blowing in the wind』
How many roads must a man walk down, before they call him a man
How many seas must a white dove sail, before she sleeps in the sand
How many times must the cannonballs fly, before they are forever banned
* The answer, my friend, is blowing in the wind
The answer is blowing in the wind
How many years must a mountain exist, before it is washed to the sea
How many years can some people exist, before they're allowed to be free
How many times can a man turn his head, and pretend that he just doesn't see
[Repeat *]
How many times must a man look up, before he can see the sky
How many years must one man have, before he can hear people cry
How many deaths will it take till he knows, that too many people have died
[Repeat *]
Bob Dylan - Blowin' in the Wind (Official Audio)
When I started to learn English there, I was a little bit nervous to speak in English. Because I felt I didn’t have enough ability in English to express myself or to state the stuff that I was going to do. Sometimes I got stuck in speechless. I was very conscious of that everybody was waiting for my next word in awkward silence. It was a kind of torture for me. A few weeks later, I gradually got accustomed to speak in English slowly with searching for next word or phrase while I was speaking. The point was to get the key word to convey my message to them. Off course if you have no idea about the issue, you get nowhere.
In these classes I met many wonderful class mates and teachers. They inspired me a lot how to speak, what kind of expressions should be appropriate and so on. Thinking back, I was taught by the teachers and class mates as well.
One of the wordings I’ve learned was “It has been another hectic week.” It was a phrase which was used by one of my class mate when he was asked by a teacher. “How are you doing?” I thought it was a nice expression, so I used it next class. And another classes. His name was S.
“How are you doing? S.” “I miss you. I loved her classes that you attended. I still clearly remember the classes we enjoyed talking everything. Do you remember my promise that I couldn’t fulfill. Are you still there? I would like to cherish the lovely time we shared at that time forever. Can you hear me?”
I originally wanted to write the incident that made the English Channel getting into a mess. But I gave it up. Because I would like to preserve the great time I had with wonderful people there.
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