札幌の英会話・TOEIC対策・こども英会話・中国語・韓国語・フランス語・スペイン語・ロシア語・ドイツ語・日本語教師養成講座・語学研修・翻訳通訳のIAY

Yes, it’s that time of year again. This Wednesday and Thursday, I paid my annual visit to the Sapporo Snow Festival.

First, I wanted to see the International Snow Sculpture Contest entries at West 11.

The winner of the contest was the entry from the Thai Team. It depicts a man wrestling with an alligator. Very dynamic!

The other entries were great, too, but I was especially impressed with the entry from the New Zealand Team, which is a “Taniwha”. Scary!

Then, as I walked past the other great sculptures, I found a very interesting food booth…

What? “Milk Tempura”? You’ve got to be kidding me!

Of course, I couldn’t resist trying such an unusual desert.

Yes, that’s really milk inside that tempura. It was actually pretty good (and hot!). I would have never thought to put milk inside tempura.

The next day, I made my first visit to the Tsudome Site, which started last year.

The bus ride took about 40 minutes from the Odori Site, so it’s best to visit it early in the day. Compared with the Odori Site, the Tsudome Site has many more things for children to enjoy, from slides and snow houses to snowmobile-raft rides and indoor play areas! Everyone was having a good time there, so I’m looking forward to bringing my daughter there next year (when she can walk).

There were only a few small food booths inside the dome, but outside, there was a much better selection.

As I looked around, a sale caught my eye - half price Jingisukan, provided by Sapporo Beer Garden! Just what the doctor ordered!

Of course, it was great. Makes me feel great to be in Hokkaido!

Sorry for the long absence. I was hoping to post something right after New Years, but things have been very busy so far this year!

As I’ve done several times in the past, I went on a short vacation over seas this January. This time: Hong Kong and Macau!

This is a shot of Tsim Sha Tsui, the area I stayed in. It’s on Kowloon Island, not Hong Kong Island (that’s mostly office buildings, and a bit more expensive). It was exactly what I expected Hong Kong to be; loud, bustling and exciting.

I took a stroll through Kowloon Park, which was very beautiful, in the morning one day. I was hoping to see some old men doing their daily Tai-chi like you see in the movies, and I wasn’t let down! Not only were there groups doing Tai-chi, but I saw someone teaching a young lady some Kung-fu moves, and look at these ladies!

They’re practicing some kind of swordplay! You don’t see that sort of thing in Odori Park, or anywhere else outside for that matter. Speaking of martial arts, I visited Hong Kong’s version of the Hollywood “walk of fame”, and I found hand prints of my favorite action star…

Jackie Chan! What an honor!

Later that night, I climbed Mt. Victoria on Hong Kong Island and was treated to a lovely night view of both Hong Kong and Kowloon Islands.

Breathtaking, isn’t it? I heard that Jackie Chan owns a house up there on the mountain somewhere. Talk about living in style!

Every December, I look forward to the coming of Christmas, just like most of us do. When I was younger, though, I had something to help me count down the days until Christmas:

This is an “Advent Calendar”, a special calendar with days numbered 1 - 25, for each day in December until Christmas. Every morning, you wake up and look for the next spot to open.

Today is December 1st, so here’s Door Number 1. Let’s see what’s inside…

Oh, look! It’s a little chocolate in the shape of a reindeer! What’s that? You can’t eat chocolate yet because you don’t have any teeth yet? That’s okay, Daddy will eat it for you this year!

Yesterday, at the local baby goods store, I bought something to help get my daughter started in her English education:

Sorry for the picture quality (it’s a picture from my new cell phone). She needed more space to roll around on, and this should give her plenty! Unfortunately, I had to cover it up with sheets and another mat right after this picture was taken, so she can’t really see the alphabet now. That’s her birthday in the back, though!

One of the local fast food restaurants has been running a campaign recently to promote their coffee. They’re giving away free coffee during a short span of time, depending on the day.

I didn’t know about this campaign at first, but the other day, something (someone) caught my eye…

Now that’s how you advertise coffee!

I was parking my bike next to the station nearby, and I saw this bright-orange bicycle.

I looked closer…

… Hello to you, too!

I enjoy riding on the folding bike? Well, alright! But, whose bike is this, anyway?

Yes, I know… but, which person’s bike is it?

Last week, on the way to one of my classes outside of the IAY office, I saw an interesting man sitting on a bench in Odori Park.

He’s a very popular guy, isn’t he?

In a recent lesson, we learned about martial arts, along with other forms of exercise and ways to keep healthy.

The picture at the bottom is of two people practicing tae kwon do, which I talked about before. I pronounced it as テコンド (”tekondo”), and a student asked me if that was really the correct sound. I told him that in America, we say タイクワンドー (”taikuwandoh”), but both aren’t really “correct”, because it’s from Korea. After consulting with one of our Korean teachers, I found that the real, Korean pronunciation is closest to テックァンド (”tekkwando”).

During the same lesson, I mentioned that tae kwon do is very similar to Japanese “karate”, but that it’s not pronounced that way in America; it’s said like カラディー (”karadee”). Even worse than that, we say that karaoke is ケリオキー (”kerioki”)! This is because English speakers base their pronunciation on how the letters look in English, not the original sound. Just like Japanese speakers change sounds of other languages to fit their language, so do English speakers!

I was introduced to a funny website recently: Translation Party!

This site uses the mistakes and imperfections in an automatic translation program to translate any phrase between English and Japanese repeatedly until it stops changing. Of course, the result is always quite different than what you put in!

Let’s start with this phrase: “Thank you for taking the time to read my blog.”

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Thank you for taking the time to read my blog!
into Japanese
私のブログを読むために時間を割いていただき、ありがとうございます！
back into English
Thank you for taking the time to read my blog, Thank you!
back into Japanese
私のブログを読むこと、ありがとうございます時間を割いていただき、ありがとうございます！
back into English
Read my blog, Thank you for taking the time to Thank you, Thank you!
back into Japanese
を読んで私のブログ、ありがとうにありがとう時間を割いていただき、ありがとうございます！
back into English
Read my blog, thank you for taking the time to thank you, Thank you!
back into Japanese
読んで私のブログは、あなたに感謝、ありがとうございます時間を割いていただき、ありがとうございました！
back into English
Read my blog, thank you, Thank you for taking the time to Thank you, Thank you!
back into Japanese
を読んで私のブログは、ありがとうにありがとう時間を割いていただきありがとうございます感謝！
back into English
Read my blog, thanks for taking the time Thank you thank you thank you!
back into Japanese
を読んで私のブログは、あなたに感謝感謝感謝時間を割いていただきありがとうございます。
back into English
I read the blog, thank you for taking the time to thank thank thank you.
back into Japanese
私は、あなたに感謝感謝感謝するために時間を割いていただきありがとうございますブログを読んでください。
back into English
I read the blog please take a moment to thank you thank you thank you thank.
back into Japanese
私はブログをしてくださいあなたに感謝感謝感謝感謝する時間を割いてお読みください。
back into English
Please read my grateful thanks for taking the time to thank you please thank the blog.
back into Japanese
してくださいあなたのブログに感謝してくださいに感謝する時間を割いて私に感謝感謝お読みください。
back into English
Please read thanks for taking the time to thank me please thank you please thank the blog.
back into Japanese
どうぞ私には、ブログに感謝してください感謝してくださいに感謝する時間を割いて感謝してください。
back into English
Me know, please take a moment to thank you thank you thank Please Please thank the blog.
back into Japanese
私にしてくださいあなたプリーズプリーズのブログに感謝感謝感謝感謝する瞬間を知っている。
back into English
I know the moment thank you thank you thank thank Purizupurizu please blog me.
back into Japanese
私は、今知っているあなたPurizupurizu私のブログしてください感謝感謝感謝感謝します。
back into English
I now know Purizupurizu thank you thank you thank thank my blog please.
back into Japanese
私は今Purizupurizu知っているあなたが私のブログにしてください感謝感謝感謝感謝します。
back into English
I now Purizupurizu please thank thank thank thank you to my blog you know.
back into Japanese
私は今Purizupurizu私の知ってブログに感謝感謝感謝感謝してください。
back into English
Now I thank thank thank thank Purizupurizu Please know of my blog.
back into Japanese
今私は私のブログを知っているPurizupurizu感謝感謝感謝感謝します。
back into English
Now I know my blog Purizupurizu thanks thanks thanks thanks.
back into Japanese
さて、私のブログPurizupurizu感謝感謝感謝感謝知っている。
back into English
Now, I know my blog Purizupurizu thanks thanks thanks thanks.
back into Japanese
今、私は私のブログPurizupurizu感謝感謝感謝感謝知っている。
back into English
Now, I know my blog Purizupurizu thanks thanks thanks thanks.

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This is why I don’t recommend using automatic translators.

In one of my junior high school classes, we practiced this vocabulary recently:

We learned the phrase “make biscuits”, but some of my students were confused by the picture; they thought that the man in the chef’s hat was making cookies. However, this is an American-based textbook (the setting of this unit is a “dude ranch”, a special type of ranch built for tourists to experience life on a farm or ranch). He’s not making “bisuketto”, he’s making… biscuits!

In the United Kingdom, “biscuits” are small cookies that are often eaten with tea. Japanese uses this version of the word. In America, “biscuits” are a kind of soft bread, the size of a dinner roll, that is served with dinner. These are the kind of biscuits that you can buy at Kentucky Fried Chicken, although we don’t usually put a hole in them. We often use them to soak up the extra gravy or sauce left on our plates, since biscuits are usually plain.