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Welcome to MOA's Monthly Videocast. How is everybody doing?
Welcome to... 2010, January.
Speaking of January, have you already decided on your New Year's resolution?
Happy New Years to you! It's 2010.
So, I had asked you previously, ’What is your New Year's resolution?’
This means, have you set a goal for 2010?
Things you want to do, things you want to accomplish.
Maybe, lose a little weight, improve on your English.
So, different things you want to do and accomplish is called your New Year's resolution.
So, maybe you can share with your friends on your New Year's resolution this year,
but I also wanted to talk to you about how we celebrate New Year's in the States.
One of the biggest things we do is fireworks.
So, many people think fireworks on 4th of July, but we also have fireworks to celebrate the New Year's with a big ***,
which means a big start, kind of a bright start for the beginning of the new year.
Also, many of you may know, United States is a melting pot,
melting pot of many different cultures and backgrounds.
So, maybe if you're in California, you go to China Town, you can see firecrackers.
And if you go to maybe a population condensed with Japanese people,
they might be pounding mochi during New Year's.
So, it's a combination of many, many different ways to celebrate New Year's that you can see in one country.
Pretty cool.
Now it's time for Japanese English.
Have you ever been in a situation where you're talking to your American friend
and you say something and you're pretty definite it's English
and they look at you, saying, 'What did you just say?'
That we call, is Japanese English.
So, today we have gathered transportation words that you might want to check out for.
This is one. Have you ever said, 'accel'? This is actually, 'gas'.
So, if you wanna go faster, they tell you, 'Press the gas,' not, 'Press the accel.'
Another one is... Have you ever said, 'bike'?
So, if you say bike I'm thinking vroom, very fast, motor, but this in English is actually bicycle.
Bicycle is you peddle the wheels.
So, if you don't have any motor on your transportation, two wheels, this is called bicycle.
The last one for today is when you're driving and you drive over a nail and your tire goes shruuum.
What do you call that? Have you ever used the word, 'punk'?
This is wrong. This is actually, 'flat tire'.
So, when you wanna call someone for help, you have to say, 'Sorry, I have a flat tire.'
Because if you say, 'Sorry, my tire is punk,' they won't know what you're talking about.
Hope this helps. Take care!
Hope you enjoyed the videocast for this month.
So, lately do you feel like your English is improving? Have you been getting better every day?
I hope so, but for those of you who aren't, maybe you can make this your New Year's resolution,
to improve on your English in 2010.
By the way, for those of you who haven't started English yet, here at MOA, we are providing very good online English lessons
using books such as these and many other textbooks as well.
But, if you're seriously considering English, why don't you give MOA a call. Give it a try! Hope to hear from you.