English Recordings

The mystery of Japanese Consumers and electronics

In India, I bought a bottle of water. At first, I was quoted an extraordinary price. So, I asked for a discount and got one. But, my guide said that the price I paid was still much more expensive than it ought to be.

In short, Japanese are not very good at bargaining because it's not one of our customs.　Nevertheless, many Japanese feel free to bargain with the salespeople in major home electronics stores.

It is deeply mysterious.

インドで、わたしはボトルの水を買いました。はじめは、とても高い値段（ねだん）を請求（せいきゅう）されました。だから、私は値切（ねぎ）って水を安く買いました。しかし、わたしのガイドはその値段（ねだん）は適正（てきせい）な価格（かかく）より高いと言いました。

つまり、日本人は値切（ねぎ）ることが苦手だということです。それは、日本に値切（ねぎ）る習慣がないためです。しかし、多くの日本人は家電量販店（かでんりょうはんてん）ではセールスマンを相手に値切（ねぎ）ります。

おおいなる謎（なぞ）です。

The other day, I was with two Japanese and one American friend having lunch together. One of my Japanese friends was a medical student, whose dream is to live in a foreign country someday.　So then, he is really interested in ways to improve his English skills. While we were chatting, he got interested in my English ability, so he asked the American lady how my English sounded to a native speaker.

I was fearful to find out, but in my heart, I was curious what she would say about my English.

To my surprise, she praised my intonation in English after all! This is what I have been worried about the most, and tried to change for the past year. That was the happiest moment for me: being made aware of my progress.

I could feel certain that my way of practicing English -- making my voice-blog, which I haven't updated very often though -- was not in vain. （^^）

I have been slacking off on my recitation practice for a month, but I finally resumed it a couple of days ago!

Besides our talk of language-learning, we had a significant conversation, talking about our lives too.

It always makes me feel great to have a conversation with congenial friends.

The entry below is my entry form a year ago. Time is flying~~ !!!
(Dec 28th 2010)<(휴가 나온 아들>
• How was your day? / //(~How has your day been? )
• Today was an absolutely perfect white day!
• Trees, roads, houses, cars…. The whole world was covered with white.
• Happy! Well~~ so~~~~? Yes! Happy! Happy day! Today was a happy day for me.
• You know? My son got three weeks vocation from army, he came home this evening.
• Wahaaaa~~haaa~~ha~~ Can you see Betty &Zaang-A in the pictures ?
• welcome from/(of?) Betty and Zzang-a at the front door.
• My son got an enthusiastic welcome from Betty and Zzang-a at the front door.
• They were performing a big welcoming ceremony for my son at the front door, before took off his ammunition-boots.
• He arrived yesterday evening from Afghanistan , and came back home this evening.
• By the way my son show off well-muscled body to me, and the ate (떡볶이)rice cakes in hot sauce. Hahaha~~he is still a young kid, yet? He is falling asleep[dropping off to sleep] now.
*The first picture: today’s color– WHITE
*The second picture: gloves — How fun^_^/
*The thirdpicture: My son’s come back home- Some ceremonies

（Dec.8th. 2011)
• I attended the BBB year-end party, since I’m a member.
• ‘BBB’ is a free interpretation/translation volunteer organization where I have been volunteering.(=’BBB’ is a free interpretation/translation volunteer organization where I volunteer. )
• I feel this volunteer organization is very good and helpful for everyone, especially for (those) people who don`t know Korean.
• ‘BBB’ has nearly 3,700 volunteers across Korea who provide interpretation services in 17 different languages 24/7 via cell phone/mobile phone.
• Whenever/If ever you have any communication problems in Korea, you can just call 1588-5644.
• BBB volunteer interpreters will help you via cell phone in 17 different languages.
• By the way , this evening we BBB volunteer members had a farewell party with an awards ceremony and a dinner.
• Also, we had magic show, dancing, and a beautiful choral performance etc.
• This farewell party rewards the volunteers for their service, and also makes us proud to be volunteers.
• Oh, I would like tell (you = the reader) everyone about ‘BBB’.
• Here`s the ‘BBB’ homepage in English.http://www.bbbkorea.org/eng/
• If someone who cannot speak Korean visits Korea, BBB members will help you wholeheartedly
• I took these pictures today at the ‘BBB farewell party’.

Good night! (Thank you for reading. Please correct my mistakes. )

'At the time the murder was committed, I was travelling on the 8 o'clock train to London,' said the man.
'Do you always catch such an early train?' asked the inspector.
'Of course I do,' answered the man. 'I must be at work at 10 o'clock. My employer will confirm that I was there on time.'
'Would a later train get you to work on time?' asked the inspector.
'I suppose it would, but I never catch a later train.'
'At what time did you arrive at the station?'
'At ten to eight. I bought a paper and waited for the train.'
'And you didn't notice anything unusual?'
'Of course not.'
'I suggest,' said the inspector, 'that you are not telling the truth. I suggest that you did not catch the 8 o'clock train, but that you caught the 8.25 which would still get you to work on time. You see, on the morning of the murder, the 8 o'clock train did not run at all. It broke down at Ferngreen station and was taken off the line.'

We have an old musical instrument. It is called a clavichord. It was made in Germany in 1681. Our clavichord is kept in the living room. It has belonged to our family for a long time. The instrument was bought by my grandfather many years ago. Recently it was damaged by a visitor. She tried to play jazz on it! She struck the keys too hard and two of the strings were broken. My father was shocked. Now we are not allowed to touch it. It is being repaired by a friend of my father's.

On Wednesday evening, we went to the Town Hall. It was the last day of the year and a large crowd of people had gathered under the Town Hall clock. It would strike twelve in twenty minutes' time. Fifteen minutes passed and then, at five to twelve, the clock stopped. The big minute hand did not move. We waited and waited, but nothing happened. Suddenly someone shouted. 'It's two minutes past twelve! The clock has stopped!' I looked at my watch. It was true. The big clock refused to welcome the New Year. At that moment, everybody began to laugh and sing.

Joe Sanders has the most beautiful garden in our town. Nearly everybody enters for 'The Nicest Garden Competition' each year, but Joe wins every time. Bill Frith's garden is larger than Joe's. Bill works harder than Joe and grows more flowers and vegetables, but Joe's garden is more interesting. He has made neat paths and has built a wooden bridge over a pool. I like gardens too, but I do not like hard work. Every year I enter for the garden competition too, and I always win a little prize for the worst garden in the town!

As the man tried to swing the speedboat round, the steering wheel came away in his hands. He waved desperately to his companion, who had been water skiing for the last fifteen minutes. Both men had hardly had time to realize what was happening when they were thrown violently into the sea. The speedboat had struck a buoy, but it continued to move very quickly across the water. Both men had just begun to swim towards the shore, when they noticed with dismay that the speedboat was moving in a circle. It now came straight towards them at tremendous speed. In less than a minute, it roared past them only a few feet away. After it had passed, they swam on as quickly as they could because they knew that the boat would soon return. They had just had enough time to swim out of danger when the boat again completed a circle. On this occasion, however, it had slowed down considerably. The petrol had nearly all been used up. Before long, the noise dropped completely and the boat began to drift gently across the water.

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