実践ビジネス英語 Wednesday, April 8
1) Garcia describes evidence that both language systems are always working in a bilingual person's brain and that the mental effort needed to overcome conflict between the two strengthens one's cognitive abilities. Nissen asks whether his high school French, with which he can order in a restaurant gives him such advantages. But Umemura says a person has to use both languages at least most of the time to reap the benefits of being bilingual.
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Bilingual Advantages (4)
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2) interfere with
Impede, hinder. "I've read that using the computer right before bed can 'interfere with' our sleep." Or "His constant talking 'interferes with' my work." "Interfere" can also mean intrude, meddle in the affairs of other people, something like, "Let Mike and Hellen resolve their own argument. I don't think we should 'interfere.'"
3) cognitive development
Mental development basically, the ability to think, learn. Babies need lots of "cognitive stimulation."
4) obstruct
This is the verb form. The noun would be "obstruction." Something like, "Are there some kind of 'obstruction' in the drain? We need to call a janitor."
5) haute cuisine meal
"Haute" means high class, luxury, fashionable. Fashion designers release "haute" couture collections.
6) fancy-schmancy
This indicates pretentious luxury or something extremely elaborate. There's a sense of "Ooooh... Aren't we fancy?” "Aren't we special?" We also say "hoity-toity," meaning arrogant, thinking one is superior to others. For example, "She is so 'hoity-toity' just because she went to an Ivy League school."
7) entree
Bill means the main dish of a meal, usually in a restaurant. "Entree" can also mean entry into somewhere, such as, "Flying first class gets you "entree" to the special lounge.
8) aperitif
This is a French loanword, meaning an alcoholic drink before a meal. So you could say, "We had cocktails as an 'aperitif.'"
9) not count
Something doesn't qualify. It can't be included. For example, "That 'doesn't count' as a business expense. So we can't take a tax deduction. We also use it in a positive. For example, "Working on a charity fund raiser 'counts' as business experience? Put that on your resume."
10) at least bilingual
Speak two languages or more. “At least” has several meanings, including if nothing else, if only this. So you could say, "You don't have to be friends but you should at least be polite." Or "He should at least throw away the food wrappers on his desk, even if he doesn't tidy up the papers on the books."
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実践ビジネス英語 Thursday, April 9
1) Garcia marvels at how often Japanese words appear in English, including "futon" and "tsunami." She says she used to think "karaoke" was Greek. And Nissen says he once thought "honcho" came from Spanish. Umemura says honcho was probably popularized by U.S. soldiers returning from Japan. And Nissen describes how his father learned the word "skosh" while serving as a Marine in the country.
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Bilingual Advantages (5)
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2) crop up
Appear unexpectedly or occasionally, such as, "Various problems 'cropped up' during our trip, including a misplaced plane ticket and a lost hotel reservation." "Crop" can also mean cut part something off. I'd say usually a significant amount or part, not just a trim. Things like, "I decided to 'crop off' the last section of the report. That part wasn't necessary."
3) futon
Likewise "カラオケ" is "カァリオキィ" in America. It's also common to hear "キヨト(Kyoto)" and "トキオ(Tokyo)."
4) head honcho
The top boss of something, the top leader. I thought this was Spanish myself for a long time. You could say, "Carl is the 'head honcho' of this project. Direct all your questions to him." Or "We're getting a new supervisor next month. Any idea who our 'head honcho' would be?"
5) be popularized by
Be made popular by someone or something. For example, "That management technique 'was popularized by' a best-selling book." Or "That fashion brand 'was popularized by' a famous actress."
6) How about that
Carmen means "Wow!" about something. Isn't that impressive, interesting, memorable, etc? You could say, "Kevin was born in Finland? 'How about that.'" Or "'How about that' sunset yesterday. Wasn't it gorgeous?"
7) corrupted form
In this case, "corrupted" means changed from the original form. There's no sense of being wrong, just different, changed. If I said a "corrupted file," however that would mean a damaged or a tainted computer file.
8) Learn something new every day.
Seiji says that honcho was probably popularized by U.S. servicemen coming back from Japan, and Garcia says, "How about that. 'Learn something new every day.'" We often use this when we've learned some interesting or surprising fact. I used it when I heard that Helen Keller had the first Akita dogs in the United States. "Learn something new every day."
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実践ビジネス英語 Friday, April 10
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Bilingual Advantages (6)
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1[S]: Our current vignette talks about being bilingual starting with Carmen Garcia and her parents' determination that she master both English and Spanish. That must be very similar to your situation with your daughter, Heather.
2[H]: It is. She is and will be free to choose most things in her life -- from what toy she wants to play with today to what kind of career she eventually wants to have -- but one thing I do absolutely insist on is that she learn to speak both Japanese and English. That's partly for her sake and partly for mine.
Obviously she'll have many more career opportunities if she can speak both languages. And I think there are clear mental benefits. A friend of mine who's also raising a bilingual child gave me an excellent book on the subject before my daughter was born. And according to a study cited in this book, the onset of dementia was delayed by an average of four years in people who spoke two languages all their lives.
One expert said there was no known medicine that produced that much benefit. So, of course it's for her sake, but also I don't want to speak to my own child in a foreign language. No matter how much I study, I'll never be a native speaker of Japanese, and I don't want to have a linguistic barrier between us. I want to be able to fully express myself to her, and understand her completely in return.
3[S]: So what are you doing to develop her English abilities?
4[H]: My husband and I basically followed the one-parent-one-language approach. I speak almost exclusively in English to her and he speaks about 70 percent in Japanese. That's because I'm away at work during the day and I can't spend as many hours as I'd like interacting with her in English. To, again, quote the book my friend gave me, it said to achieve functional and willing use of a language, a child needs to get at least 20 percent of their total language input in that tongue.
Naturally more is better, so my husband also speaks English to her. And when I'm with her I talk a lot, a lot, a lot. I comment constantly on what she's doing. You know, "Good job! You put the beans in the cup!" And ask her endless questions. "Do you want to read this book?" "Did you
put the ball under the couch?"
5[S]: So are you the only English speaker she interacts with?
6[H]: No. We try to meet with other native English speakers when we can,
especially our friends with children. The book also recommended associating the minority language with fun as much as possible. So we set up English playdates at parks and children's play areas. We're also planning to enroll her an English daycare center soon, probably for two or three days a week.
7[H]: That sounds good. She's on track to being fully bilingual.
8[H]: I hope so. Though, veteran parents have warned us of potential
pitfalls in the days to come. According to the anecdotal evidence we've heard, children often try to reject the minority language around the age of three or four. It's a natural response. You know, learning one language is certainly easier than learning two. I'm sure it's easy to give in to go along to avoid the daily power struggle. But this is something that will affect her whole life.
So I'll have to stick to my guns and insist that if she wants to talk with mommy or ask me for something, she has to do it in English. Wish me luck.
【原稿チェック： Sei Shimura, Hiromi, Hiroko】
【ディクテーション： Sanae】
