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      <title><![CDATA[English Journal]]></title>
      <link>http://www.lifelong-education.net/english/</link>
      <description><![CDATA[This journal is written by Yoichiro Nishimura. <br>I am a programmer but also interested in English. ]]></description>
      <language>ja</language>
      <ttl>60</ttl>
      <generator>Chicappa! Blog</generator>
      
      <item>
         <title>Back in hometown</title>
         <link>http://www.lifelong-education.net/english/?eid=12</link>
         <description><![CDATA[It has been long since I wrote the last entry. It is hard for me to put entry regularly. I am too busy and lazy to do it. 

I returned to my hometown yesterday but I am going to go back to Tokyo tonight.
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         <pubDate>Sun, 03 Aug 2008 13:15:46 +0900</pubDate>
         <guid>http://www.lifelong-education.net/english/?eid=12</guid>
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      <item>
         <title>Busy days</title>
         <link>http://www.lifelong-education.net/english/?eid=11</link>
         <description><![CDATA[I should write this diary everyday but I am too busy to do it these days. Anyway I have changed one habit recently. It is a very big change for me. I used to get up just before going out. But recently I usually get up two or three hours earlier than before and I usually go to coffee shop to study something or read something. 

It costs to go to cafe but I can better consentrate than staying at home. Having the Internet connection is convenient but often destract me a lot. So it is good to be free from the Internet for a while.

--

Today I do not have MS Word so there must be a lot of strange English.]]></description>
         <pubDate>Fri, 18 Jan 2008 23:41:24 +0900</pubDate>
         <guid>http://www.lifelong-education.net/english/?eid=11</guid>
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      <item>
         <title>I'll be back</title>
         <link>http://www.lifelong-education.net/english/?eid=10</link>
         <description><![CDATA[I have stayed in Shenzhen for 4 weeks and I have stayed in China for 5 weeks in total. I am going to go back to Japan tomorrow morning. I could not learn or study Chinese at all but I can understand their way of thinking a little. I do not know if I come to China again but I feel it is beneficial for me to study Chinese and also English. 

Currently, their technology level is not as good as developed countries. But considering its population and educational standard, they are going to catch up with developed countries and China will become one of the most developed countries. It might take twenty years or more but it is a matter of time. If they speak English fluently, I do not have to study Chinese, but their English level is not so different from our English level. It might become better in future but I cannot expect a lot.

The best way to be competitive in business is to have skill that is difficult to acquire. In Japan, those who understand technologies and English are not abandon but not so scarce either. But those who understand technologies and English and Chinese are scarce. Of course, I have to keep studying technologies and English, but also have to try other things to expand my possibility. 
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         <pubDate>Sat, 12 Jan 2008 17:49:34 +0900</pubDate>
         <guid>http://www.lifelong-education.net/english/?eid=10</guid>
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      <item>
         <title>9th day</title>
         <link>http://www.lifelong-education.net/english/?eid=9</link>
         <description><![CDATA[Each country has its own English.

Chinese people often use this expression "no need of doing something". At least, my coordinator and one Chinese friend often use this expression. I do not know why they use this expression but it has something to do with Chinese language.

Korean people often say "Where are you going?” Usually they do not answer the exact place. It is just an expression like "See you". And I know that they have corresponding expression in their language and they always use that expression when they speak in Korean. 

Japanese people often sink during conversations. We hesitate to say things directly so we just want to add "I think" in front of sentences. But as we do not pronounce "th" sound, "think" becomes "sink".]]></description>
         <pubDate>Wed, 09 Jan 2008 21:09:57 +0900</pubDate>
         <guid>http://www.lifelong-education.net/english/?eid=9</guid>
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      <item>
         <title>8th day/I miss Japan</title>
         <link>http://www.lifelong-education.net/english/?eid=8</link>
         <description><![CDATA[I am going to go back to Japan. My life here is not so bad but I miss three things that I cannot have here.

Firstly, I want to eat Japanese food. Of course there are many Japanese restaurant here in Shenzhen but it does not teast good as in Japan. And it is more expensive compare to restaurant in Japan. I like Chinese food but eating Chinese food for three meals is too much for me.

Secondly, I want to take bath. I can take shower at my apartment but there is no bathtab. Sadly my apartment in Japan does not have bathtub either but I can go to "Sento" that is public bath in Japan.

Thirdly, I want to have good internet connection. Connections here are very poor. I can use it at my Office, at starbuck and at my apartment but none of them is as confortable as  in Japan.

Anyway I am going back to Japan this weekend and am going to enjoy these three things in Japan.]]></description>
         <pubDate>Tue, 08 Jan 2008 22:59:12 +0900</pubDate>
         <guid>http://www.lifelong-education.net/english/?eid=8</guid>
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      <item>
         <title>7th day/Doing two things at a same time</title>
         <link>http://www.lifelong-education.net/english/?eid=7</link>
         <description><![CDATA[As I wrote on the other day, doing two things at a same time is key to study effecientry. We can read books on commuter trains. We can listen to English when we are walking. We can write diary with English. It is often said that doing two things at a same time makes it difficult to concentrate. But what do we have to concentrate on when we are on buses. We should make use of the time.

The easiest way to make use of such time is to bring book or bring music player filled with studying material. I can concentrate more on trains than at my home. I can do anything at home but I can not do anyother things on trains. ]]></description>
         <pubDate>Mon, 07 Jan 2008 23:51:42 +0900</pubDate>
         <guid>http://www.lifelong-education.net/english/?eid=7</guid>
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      <item>
         <title>6th day/Schedule</title>
         <link>http://www.lifelong-education.net/english/?eid=6</link>
         <description><![CDATA[We are likely to be lazy if we have no schedule to follow. So I made up Test schedule for this year. Hopefully, I am going to follow and ideally I am going to pass all of them.

List of tests.
March 23rd Chinese Grade Pre-4
April 20th Database
May 25th TOEIC (L/R) 
June 15th STEP English Proficiency Grade Pre-1 Listening/Reading
June 22nd Chinese Grade 4
July 13th STEP English Proficiency Grade Pre-1 Interview
October 19th STEP English Proficiency Grade 1 Listening/Reading 
November 16th STEP English Proficiency Grade 1 Interview
November 23rd Chinese Grade 3

Most of them are difficult for me except for STEP English Proficiency Grade Pre-1. I failed this test twice when I was in high school that was about 11 years ago but I should be able to pass the test easily now.
]]></description>
         <pubDate>Sun, 06 Jan 2008 22:44:04 +0900</pubDate>
         <guid>http://www.lifelong-education.net/english/?eid=6</guid>
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      <item>
         <title>5th day/Going to Hong Kong</title>
         <link>http://www.lifelong-education.net/english/?eid=5</link>
         <description><![CDATA[I went to Hong Kong today. But it was a very very short trip. I stayed there only for a few minute and returned to China. I am going to go to Hong Kong next Saturday again and stay there for one day and one night and go back to Japan.

Time flies. I have been in Shenzhen for three weeks. I have only one more week to stay here. People in China are kind and have good skill but many of them do not speak English well. But we don’t have to speak good English. We can communicate through by writing it or even writing Chinese characters or Japanese characters or mathematical equations. I think I will not take a long to study just basic expressions to survive. Time is limited. I will have only a few months to prepare before coming to China again, I have a lot of things to do at office, and I want to study English more. I have to balance them well.
]]></description>
         <pubDate>Sat, 05 Jan 2008 02:28:44 +0900</pubDate>
         <guid>http://www.lifelong-education.net/english/?eid=5</guid>
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      <item>
         <title>4th day/Methods to study English</title>
         <link>http://www.lifelong-education.net/english/?eid=4</link>
         <description><![CDATA[I started using spell checker from yesterday. My spelling is too bad so I use MS Word to check it.


I said “Quantity is more important than Quality” the day before yesterday. But our time is limited. How can we make time to study English? My answer is this; we do not have to make time to study English. All you have to do is make time to expose you to English. You don not have to face your desk to do it. You can expose while you are walking, while you are on train and while you are playing video games. Just listen to English as much as possible; you do not even have to concentrate. Just relax and feel it. It might take a few months to realize your improvement. But it works. 

If you have plenty of time to study English. You can study English a lot but business can not be a good reason not to expose you to English.

Actually, I want to show you many ways to study English but I could not because of the time limitation. Do not be too serious to study English. Just feel it and enjoy it.

]]></description>
         <pubDate>Fri, 04 Jan 2008 02:49:08 +0900</pubDate>
         <guid>http://www.lifelong-education.net/english/?eid=4</guid>
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      <item>
         <title>3rd day/The Difference</title>
         <link>http://www.lifelong-education.net/english/?eid=3</link>
         <description><![CDATA[Before starting today's topic, I want to introduce “Rizza” and explain about her comment, she left two comments but they can be a little bit difficult for non-native speakers like me.

Rizza was my English teacher when I was studying English at CPILS in Philippines. She taught me English for 14 weeks there and I still keep in touch with her. I forgot her major but her English is very accurate in my opinion. And I think she is one of the best teachers at CPILS. My diary at CPILS is available at <a href=”/philippine”>”Diary at CPILS”</a>. Top page is written in English but I wrote diary in English. If you interested in it, please visit the site. You can find more about Rizza and my life at CPILS.

Comment form the first day.
+the purpose is noble--- <b>Hats off</b>!!!
When do you take your hat off? That’s the meaning. I do not want to explain more. You can guess the meaning. And you can remember better thru guessing its meaning.

Comment from the second day
+ i'm glad you <b>hit the bull's eye</b> ichiro—
We can beat Bull by hitting the bull’s eye. Bull’s eye is a good target to beat. So, “hit the bull’s eye” means “get the point”. 

It is difficult for me to use such sophisticated words but I should be able to understand the meaning at least within appropriate context.


Anyway I want to write about Today’s topic, the Difference. I have been to many Asian countries Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong and China. I am still in China now. I found a lot of differences and also analogies. 

The biggest difference is their way of thinking. Each country has its own history, religion and climate and all these things have formed its own mentality. Filipinos are hospitable and open-minded. They make much of their family but they sometimes do not work hard. Chinese make much of human network. They do not trust people at first but they trust their friends’ friends. So it would be very important to have good human networks to start business in China. Anyway, knowing their mentality is vital to start get along with them.

Even though they have quite different mentality, their educational level and their intelligence do not differ a lot. Some are really good at math and the others are not. Some are really good at technology and others are not. Any country has good human resource but the difference is some countries can not provide them with good chance of employment. It is much more difficult to get good job in Philippines than in Japan. 

"The World is Flat", there is no border on the Internet. There will be stronger connection between countries in future. And I want to take part in international business.]]></description>
         <pubDate>Thu, 03 Jan 2008 22:37:08 +0900</pubDate>
         <guid>http://www.lifelong-education.net/english/?eid=3</guid>
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      <item>
         <title>2nd day/Quantity over Quality</title>
         <link>http://www.lifelong-education.net/english/?eid=2</link>
         <description><![CDATA[There are many who think it is necessary to go to native English speaking Countries to master English. And those people tend to think that they can be good English speakers just staying in those countries. But it is not true. 

	I have seen many people in China, who have never been abroad but can speak English well. And I have also seen a lot of people who have stayed in foreign countries for many years but who can not speak English well. This means going abroad is not a silver bullet. 

	I think the most important thing to master English is Quantity. We Japanese can speak Japanese fluently but we have not studied Japanese a lot. I guess most of us have studied English more than Japanese. But many of us can not speak English. What makes us bad English speakers? I think we lack exposure to English. We need to read and listen to a large amount of English. Its quality does not meter. Only its quantity matters. Just expose yourself to English, and then you can be at least better English speaker.

	How can we expose ourselves to English? In Japan, most of us do not have to use English at all. In that case, it is difficult to expose ourselves to English. I think the best way is to read something or listen to something. Do not study it. You have studied English enough. Most of us have studied English at least for six years. It is enough. It is time to start exposing ourselves to English.

Of course, you should write your comment in English.^^ Writing comment is also good practice of English. And many of readers in this blog do not understand Japanese. Some are from China; some are from Philippines and so on. 
Anyway getting 990 in TOEIC test is just a milestone for me. I have to keep studying English. And as you mentioned, I do not want to be English teacher or English specialist. I am a programmer. English will help my career but I have more important things to study, technology especially Software Engineering. I can not be a winner big dog just by English.

Thank you for your comment, kpinkcat.
	It might take time to achieve your goal but it would not be so much.

Thank you for your comment, Rizza.
	I think I can not be better than you in English. I did not know the expression "to hit the bull's eye".
]]></description>
         <pubDate>Wed, 02 Jan 2008 23:59:26 +0900</pubDate>
         <guid>http://www.lifelong-education.net/english/?eid=2</guid>
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      <item>
         <title>1st day/Introduction</title>
         <link>http://www.lifelong-education.net/english/?eid=1</link>
         <description><![CDATA[Today is January 1st, 2008. It is the beginning of New Year. I think it is the best day to kick off something new. So I decided to keep my diary on this blog and decided to study English once again.

First of all, I want to describe my current English skills. The last score I got on TOEIC Listening/Reading test was 900, 440 in listening section and 460 in writing section. After getting the result I went to Philippines and studied English for 14 weeks. So I should be able to get higher score now. 

My first goal is to get 990 in TOEIC test. I think it would not take long before accomplishing this goal. I am going to get 990 hopefully within one year, by the end of 2008. I am going to use two strategies. One is to read a lot; the other is to listen a lot. I am not going to use specific way to get high score on TOEIC. Just exposing myself to English is the best way and shortest way to accomplish my goal.

I am going to use Hearing Marathon, CNN news and BBC news as listening practice and am going to use National Geographic, some other magazines and newspapers as reading practice. Speaking and Writing are not important for TOEIC Listening/Reading test but I write this blog to motivate myself.

I have not decided my second goal nor third goal. But getting some other specific qualification would be a good goal after 990.
]]></description>
         <pubDate>Tue, 01 Jan 2008 22:08:31 +0900</pubDate>
         <guid>http://www.lifelong-education.net/english/?eid=1</guid>
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