執筆者 Modern English | 2012年05月17日 | Trivia
Do you know the difference between Japanese green tea and English tea? Actually, they come from the exact same plant! The difference is that English tea is fermented, while green tea is not. There are many different types of tea, all prepared in different ways. Why...
執筆者 Modern English | 2012年05月10日 | Trivia
What do you call hair growing on a man’s face? There are several different words! Hair that grows above the mouth but below the nose is a moustache. Hair that grows below the mouth is a beard. There are also names for different styles of moustaches and beards. Do...
執筆者 Modern English | 2012年04月26日 | Trivia
My car belongs to me. We don’t use the possessive pronoun ‘my’ in the third person or when speaking generally. ‘No my car day’ sounds like nonsense to native English speakers. To express this we would probably say something like, ‘No Car Day,’ just as there is an...
執筆者 Modern English | 2012年04月19日 | Trivia
We have a safety-pin, safety matches, safety-belt and safety-goggles, but no safety drivers. We say ‘safe driver’, but more probably, careful driver. Safety is a noun, the adjective is safe. Safety-driver is Japanese. セーフティードライバー...
執筆者 Modern English | 2012年04月12日 | Trivia
In English, ‘fight’ (never with ‘o’ at the end), means a verbal argument or physical fight. When Japanese translate 頑張って!to ファイトー, it sounds very strange to native English speakers. E.g. ‘I’m meeting a new girl tomorrow.’ ‘Fight!’ – would give completely the wrong...