英会話スクール・英会話教室池袋西口校（東京都）のスクールブログ

Hi！NOVA池袋西口校です🌞

暑い日が続いておりますが、皆さんいかがお過ごしですか🥵

本日はベテラン講師！Matt先生より夏休みの思い出を聞いちゃいました！

たくさん思い出をシェアしてくれたので全2回に分けてご紹介します✨

I took some holdays and went down to Kyoto, a place I hadn’t been to for a long time. I wanted to visit a couple of places I hadn’t been to before, namely Arashiyama Bamboo Grove and Fushimi Inari Shrine.

They say every cloud has a silver lining. In fact when I got to Arashiyama Bamboo Grove early in the morning I was the only one there!

I caught the purple Randen train to Arashiyama very early in the morning. It was raining when I left but had cleared by the time I got there and I was able to get some nice photos!

The bamboo grove itself is not very long but is a very calm, relaxing place and the bamboo towering into the sky and forming a tunnel is quite memorable. After that I met up with my family and we took the Sagano Scenic Railway along the Hozugawa River, a nice slow ride in a vintage train from which we could see the river scenery. Upon arriving in Kameoka we transferred to a river boat and took a leisuerly 1.5 hour cruise back down the river to Arashiyama. There were some white water rapids along the way and it was a lot of fun!

That afternnon we went to Kinkakuji (or the Temple of the Golden Pavillion in English). Even though the day was overcast Kinkakuji still looked as beautiful as ever. Some people would say it’s the jewel in the crown of Kyoto. What do you think?

The next day…

Matt先生の京都旅行の思い出！素敵ですね👀

この写真は朝早くに訪れ撮影したそう！😲すごい！

観光地を見たときの感想や表現などもいくつか出てきましたね！

気になる2日目は一体どこへ行ったのか…！

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JR山手線、埼京線、湘南新宿ライン、東武鉄道、西武鉄道、東京メトロ
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Hi！NOVA池袋西口校です😎

暑い日が続きますが皆さんいかがお過ごしですか？

本日もRobert先生Week🤩✨

Robert先生からまたまた皆さんへメッセージです！

Robert’s dilemma

So, I am scheduled to get my second Covid-19 vaccination shot on August 10th. Does that mean it is safe for me to travel somewhere this summer vacation after getting the second job?

Part of me wants to go somewhere fun and exciting like Universal Studios Japan in Osaka. I have not done any travelling since I went back to the states in Summer of 2019.

The other part of me wants to just stay home this summer vacation to avoid any crowds along with the heat and humidity.

What would you do?

暑い夏はこれ！NOVAオリジナルグッズ🐰✨
可愛いハンディファンで乗り切ろう😎　カラーバリエーションも豊富です！

遊びに行きたいけど行けないジレンマ…😓について書いてくれました！

皆さんは夏休みどのように過ごしますか？🌴

お家時間が増えた今！語学学習をスタートしてみてはいかがでしょうか👀

オンラインレッスンもお任せ！無料体験レッスン開催中🌟

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JR山手線、埼京線、湘南新宿ライン、東武鉄道、西武鉄道、東京メトロ
池袋西口出てすぐ！
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Hi！NOVA池袋西口校です✨

本日は池袋西口校の人気講師！Robert講師よりステイホームの過ごし方を
教えてくれました(^^♪

Are you familiar with the saying “No pain, no gain.” ?
Due to the Coronavirus pandemic, In March of 2020 I stopped going to the gym to train and excercise. With the idea of StayHome to help prevent spreading the virus, over the following months I gained some ‘corona weight.’ I decided to finally do something about it this year.
I have been regularly doing workouts at home since April of this year. I invested in some resistance bands that have replaced the weights and machines I used to use in the gym. And I have recently made “No pain, no gain” the motto for my workouts.
No pain, no gain is actually an old proverb. It was made popular in the 1980s as an exercise motto by Jane Fonda and later used by people like Billy Blanks.
In the field of training or excercise, many consider this motto to have some truth. But does it really? The motto promises greater rewards for the price of hard and painful work. People who train and excercise or athletes are required to endure physical pain to achieve results. For this reason, many medical experts agree that the proverb is wrong for exercise.
However, I personally think this motto can give me a bit of motivation to continue my at home workouts, so I will stick to it for as long as I can.

NOVAうさぎ🐰と一緒にハイポーズ📸✨

“No pain, no gain.” 一度は耳にしたことがある表現ではないでしょうか👂

皆さまのモットーは何ですか？👀

NOVAのレッスンでは気になる英単語や日常のフレーズが学べちゃう！

無料体験レッスンは随時開講しております！！

★★池袋の英会話スクールはNOVA池袋西口校★★
JR山手線、埼京線、湘南新宿ライン、東武鉄道、西武鉄道、東京メトロ
池袋西口出てすぐ！
ご説明会・無料体験レッスンのお申込みは…
NOVA池袋西口校　☎03-3985-5677

Hi！NOVA池袋西口校です🥵毎日暑いですね…

本日は人気講師TOM先生より皆様に英語で
「皮肉」表現について教えてくれました！

Sarcasm? Nobody uses that!
by Thomas Lipschultz

Do you know about sarcasm? Yeah, I’ll bet you do. You’re a real expert on the subject, aren’t you?

If you actually are, then you probably realized that the sentences I typed above are sarcastic. But if not, don’t worry! I’ll help you to understand, as best as I can.

There is a word in Japanese for sarcasm: 皮肉. But sarcasm doesn’t seem to be used very often in Japan. At least, it’s not used as often in Japan as it is in English-speaking countries like the U.S.A., the U.K., and Australia in particular. In those countries, sarcasm is almost a way of life.

For example, if you’re having a bad day and someone asks you, “How are you?”, it’s very common to say, “Oh, just great. I’ve never been better!” But you say it with an angry tone of voice, and you really mean the opposite: “I’m unhappy. I wish the situation were better.” In the U.S.A., the U.K., or Australia, if you say this, everyone will understand your real answer. This is a very normal conversation.

Another way sarcasm is used is when someone makes a very big mistake. “Oh, look at the master at work,” you might say. Normally, this might mean that you think this person is very good at his/her job, but if you use an angry tone of voice, it wil instead mean, “How are you so bad at this task?” This may sound rude — and of course, it can be used to insult someone — but it can also be very friendly. You can use sarcasm to tease your good friends, and they will usually enjoy it and think it’s very funny.

Have you ever used sarcasm before? Do you think you’d like to try? If so, please be careful. Sarcasm is mostly about the tone of voice, so if you don’t say the words correctly, it may be easy for the person you’re speaking with to think you’re serious. He/She may feel very insulted by your words. So please try practicing sarcasm with your NOVA instructor next time, instead! Your instructor can tell you if you’re ready to use sarcasm with native speakers, or if you need a little more practice.

I know I almost never write blog entries for the Ikebukuro Nishi branch of NOVA, so I hope you enjoyed this rare, special occasion! Please take care, and I’ll talk to you again next time. 😉

ネイティブの「皮肉」表現😳
使い方も是非参考にしてみてくださいね！！

暑い日が続きますが涼しいNOVA池袋西口校へご来校ください！

体験レッスン・校舎見学随時開催中です👀

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JR山手線、埼京線、湘南新宿ライン、東武鉄道、西武鉄道、東京メトロ
池袋西口出てすぐ！
ご説明会・無料体験レッスンのお申込みは…
NOVA池袋西口校　☎03-3985-5677

你好！NOVA池袋西口校です🌻

前回に続いて中国語で甘い物シリーズ！

中国語の講師、周先生が和菓子の言い方を教えてくれました🤤

皆さん、中国語を見て「このお菓子かな？」と想像つきましたか？🧐

文字からは想像できても、実際に発音や読み方も気になりますよね…！

好きな食べ物、オススメのレストランなど是非！

池袋西口校で周先生とお話ししてみてくださいね🌟

★★池袋の英会話スクールはNOVA池袋西口校★★
JR山手線、埼京線、湘南新宿ライン、東武鉄道、西武鉄道、東京メトロ
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Hi！NOVA池袋西口校です🌞

本日はRobert先生が『Faux pas』についてお話ししてくれました✨
皆さんは、『Faux pas』とはどういうことかご存知でしょう😧❓

Be careful not to commit a faux pas while in a foreign country!

Faux pas /fo pɑ/ is an expression borrowed from French: faux (“false, wrong”) and pas (“step”). It means an embarrassing mistake in etiquette or manners.

Because of different rules of ettiquette between the States and Japan, I admittedly have commited some faux pas during my time in Japan. I will share one of them with you here.

As you all know, places such as hotels and restaurants sometimes provide a pair of slippers that are just for use in the toilet. Well, it`s easy to forget that you`re wearing them, especially after a few drinks. I have worn toilet slippers back to my table at an izakaya. Oops !

While it is considered a faux pas, a lot of foreigners end up doing this at one time or another.
Have you?

Faux pasの表現をしてるRobert先生(´▽｀*)

『Faux pas』はフランス語の発音になり、意味は(社交上の)失言や非礼となります🎩

皆さんは、海外に行ったときなどに『Faux pas』を起こしてしまったことはありますか❓😓

とても発音も難しいので、是非Robert先生と『Faux pas』についてお話ししてみてください🧐

★★池袋の英会話スクールはNOVA池袋西口校★★
JR山手線、埼京線、湘南新宿ライン、東武鉄道、西武鉄道、東京メトロ
池袋西口出てすぐ！
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Hi！NOVA池袋西口校です🏆

本日は池西に戻ってきた❕Michael先生がヨーロッパのサッカーの大会についてお話ししてくれました👟

皆さん、European Championshipsは見ましたか❓
イギリス出身のMicheal先生のチームが勝ってますね🤩

Micheal先生もすごく楽しみにしているので、
是非、池袋西口校で月曜日にMicheal先生とお話ししてみてください⚽

★★池袋の英会話スクールはNOVA池袋西口校★★
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池袋西口出てすぐ！
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Hi！NOVA池袋西口校です💡

本日はCallum先生が先週行った展覧会についてお話ししてくれました🗿

On 2nd, I went to Ueno park to see an exhibition of sculpture by Isamu Noguchi. The exhibition was very interesting and we could see the progresssion of his sculpture from his early work to the most recent. I enjoyed his most recent work the most. These sculptures were all carved from stone at his studio in Kagawa, Shikoku, using local materials. Isamu Noguchi was born to a Japanese father and American mother and he spent many years living in America but he always felt a strong connection to Japan and its cultural heritage.
We can see this strong influence throughout his work, whilst he also includes concepts from Western art theory. I recommend this exhibition to anyonbe who enjoys the beauty of natural forms.

Callum先生も自身で絵を描いたりしているので美術館や展示会に行くのが好きみたいです😳

是非、池袋西口校でCallum先生が描いた作品を共有して詳細についてお話ししてみてください✨

★★池袋の英会話スクールはNOVA池袋西口校★★
JR山手線、埼京線、湘南新宿ライン、東武鉄道、西武鉄道、東京メトロ
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Hi！NOVA池袋西口校です👥

本日はTom先生が英語のダジャレについてお話ししてくれました(* ´艸｀)

The Linguistic Merits of Puns and Dad Jokes
Thomas Lipschultz

Before I came to Japan, I worked as a translator for video games. My job was to take popular Japanese games and translate the dialogue from them into English, so people who don’t speak any Japanese can play and enjoy them.

My favorite things to translate were always bad jokes — specifically, puns (ダジャレ) and “dad jokes” (おやじギャグ). We have these same kinds of jokes in English, but because the two languages are so different, it’s a big challenge to adapt Japanese puns and dad jokes into English.

As an example, there was one game where a character who loves bad jokes saw a tree, and he said, 「気になる木だ。」 I translated this to English as, “Something about this tree in-tree-gues me.” Do you understand the joke? I took the word “intrigues” (which means “interests very much“) and changed the “tri” in the middle to the word “tree.” I think this is very similar to the Japanese joke, and English speakers who read it will feel just as cold as Japanese speakers who read the original line.

There are lots of popular puns and dad jokes in English, and translating them to Japanese might be a good way to understand the language a little better. Here are ten examples; can you understand what they mean? How might you say them in Japanese to express the same idea? (If you don’t understand any of them, feel free to ask your NOVA instructor to explain next time you have a lesson!)

1. Is your refrigerator running? Well, then you’d better catch it!
2. I wasn’t sure if that was a car speeding toward me or not. Then it hit me.
3. Having a boiled egg for breakfast every day is unbeatable.
4. A pessimist’s blood type is always B-negative.
5. Are you working hard, or hardly working?
6. You can tune a guitar, but you can’t tuna fish. Unless, of course, you play bass.
7. Denial isn’t just a river in Egypt.
8. I saw a documentary on how ships are kept together. It was riveting!
9. Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.
10. Today, my son asked me, “Can I have a bookmark?”, and I was so upset. He’s 11 years old, but he still doesn’t know my name is Brian!

And finally, here’s an English + Japanese pun I wrote a few years ago. Please enjoy:

Q: If you lose your suitcase, what is the best Disney/Pixar movie to watch when searching for it?
A: Finding Dory. だって、ファインディング・ニモ・ツーでしょう？

陽気なTom先生( ´∀｀ )

皆さん、Tomが作ったこのダジャレの意味分かりましたか？
ニモ・ツー、ニモツ、荷物ですね❕❕🐠(笑)(笑)

違う言語でダジャレを作るのは難しいかもしれないですね🤨
Tom先生が作った例文もとっても難しいので、わからないものがあったら
是非、池袋西口校の先生に聞いてみてください🐟

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JR山手線、埼京線、湘南新宿ライン、東武鉄道、西武鉄道、東京メトロ
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你好！NOVA池袋西口校です🍭

本日は中国語の講師、周先生が甘い物の言い方を教えてくれました🤤

皆さん

ぜんぜん漢字を見ただけではわかりませんね😅
周先生は甘い物が好きみたいです🎂

是非、池袋西口校で周先生と好きな甘い物を話してみてください🍩

★★池袋の英会話スクールはNOVA池袋西口校★★
JR山手線、埼京線、湘南新宿ライン、東武鉄道、西武鉄道、東京メトロ
池袋西口出てすぐ！
ご説明会・無料体験レッスンのお申込みは…
NOVA池袋西口校　☎03-3985-5677