Learn Japanese Language – Do You Know That There Are 3 Different Japanese Symbol?

Learn Japanese for a real communication for your work, school project, and communicating with your Japanese mate properly.

Many people think that Learning to speak Japanese language is more difficult than learning to write Japanese. But, it is actually vice versa, because there are 3 different Japanese symbol called Kanji, Hiragana and Katakana, if you want to learn to write Japanese.

Normally, many Westerners think that kanji symbol is the only writing form we use in Japanese. It is true that we use kanji symbols more than hiragana or katakana symbols when writing something in Japanese. However, unlike Chinese people who use only Kanji symbols, we mix up all Japanese scripts.

So, when do you have to use which script? The answer is it all depends on a type of sentence used. Generally, the majority of Japanese textbooks says that Hiragana symbol is used when a word cannot be written in Kanji symbol, and Katakana symbol is mainly used to represent foreign words, or names which have adopted into the Japanese writing system.

However, it is always the case.

For example, “Thank you” in Japanese is “A Ri Ga To U”. Normally, you will write this word in Hiragana symbol, but in a formal letter, you should use Kanji symbol. Although it is not wrong to use katakana symbol to write “Thank you” in Japanese, not many Japanese people would do so.

If you travel to Japan, you would see how each Japanese Kanji Symbols, Hiragana and Katakana symbols are used

For example, Japanese Magazine normally use 80% of Kanji symbols, and 10% of Hiragana and Katakana symbols.

Another case is the singboard of the place in a subway. Almost all the sings are written with the Kanji symbols. By the way, we can write numbers in kanji symbols as well, but normally use the numerical sign to represent.

Also, Japanese language is changing everyday. There are new Japanese words in which old Japanese people cannot understand and those words are usually written by Katakana symbol or Hiragana symbol.

Although they are not proper Japanese language, many young Japanese people use such characters nowadays, and those words are normally abbreviated words.

That is why leaning to write Japanese is more difficult than speaking Japanese.

Takanori Tomita ? working as a Japanese translator in Tokyo Japan. His ?Learn Japanese Language? website is Learn Japanese Language for Real Communication

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Baby sign language- tries to sign the alphabet


www.mysmarthands.com http 17 month old baby tries to sign the alphabet as she sings it. She can also identify two words that I finger spell to her. For more info and videos visit: www.mysmarthands.com Article on how to sign with your baby www.howtodothings.com Article on the benefits of signing with preschoolers: www.babies-and-sign-language.com Join our baby sign language FACEBOOK group where you can post questions and get great resources: www.facebook.com For parents; learn how to sign with your baby videos: www.mysmarthands.com or babies and children I recommend Signing Time videos, flashcards and books. You can access these by going to www.mysmarthands.com And finally for an amazing information site on baby sign language visit: www.learnbabysigning.com.

What is the proper way to learn sign language in the U.S.?

Assume I know absolutely nothing about sign language at all. When a person wants to seriously learn the language (I’m assuming I would want to know ASL, rather than an other kind), how do they learn it?

With other languages, I would recommend that if you’re serious, to study at a university, but I have no idea how one learns sign language correctly.

I know there’s a lot of websites, which I would love if I knew one was reliable… Is there a website that’s known to be very standardized and reliable with it?

I’m a college student, starting my junior year at a small private university in southern indiana, USA.
I have no direct need to learn sign language. I have also recently learned there is ASL and signed english… Which ever would be more practical for me would be best… I know most (or all?) deaf people use ASL. I just want to know the language for the practical benefits of being able to communicate visually in daily life. Being able to communicate with the deaf would be a big added benefit though.
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Baby Sign Language – Thanksgiving Song to Sign

With Thanksgiving coming up in just a few weeks, I thought it would be great to share a great Thanksgiving song that you can sing and sign with your child or pre-school classroom.

For this particular song, you will need to know the following signs: Thanks– Bring your hand from your chin and direct it towards the person you are thanking. Thankful– This will be the same as “thanks,” but use both hands Sun– Make a circle in the air above you and then open your fingers to point down on you like the sun’s rays Moon- Make a crescent shape with your pointer finger and thumb next to your eye and extend it out toward the sky Friends– Link your pointer fingers together and again the other way Family– Sign the letter F with both hands by making a circle with your pointer finger and thumb. Then, form a circle in front of you with your hands See– Bring your pointer and middle finger out from near your eye

This song is sung to the tune of “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star:” “Let’s Be Thankful” Thank you for the sun so bright Thank you for the moon at night Thanks for friends that play with me Thank you for my family Thanks for all that I can see I am thankful yes indeed

This is a fun song to sing during the Thanksgiving holiday season. Children will have fun singing the song and they will be learning more signs as well.

Remember that I have a free video where I reveal my #1 secret on how you can drastically reduce your baby’s crying and temper tantrums which you find at www.babysignlanguageonline.com. Happy Thanksgiving!

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an Open Letter for President Obama (ASL and Subtitled)


**Subtitled for Sign-Impaired audience. An open letter in ASL (American Sign Language) to notify President Barack Obama of his name sign which was given by the Deaf community in USA. Disclaimer: This is a final project for a course I took last Fall, there are several name signs suggested for Obama– yet for this video, I chose just one name sign that I feel more comfortable and at ease to sign specifically for this video project. ******** **Credits for the amazing ASL Obama logo: Brian Milburn, Randy Jackson and Sheena Stuart..

“must Do” Tips to Instantly Improve Your American English

Do you want to improve your American English pronunciation and speaking skills but just don’t how to go about it?  Here are our “must do” tips to instantly improve your American English.

1. Always speak slowly.  One of the most common complaints I hear from people is that they have a difficult time understanding someone who speaks too quickly.  This applies to both native American speakers and speakers of English as a second language.  The goal here, of course, is not to speak too slowly, but slowly enough so that you have more time for your lips and tongue to reach the correct placement for sounds.  Speaking more slowly will instantly help make your accent less pronounced.  If you speak too quickly, your accent will sound heavier and your speech more difficult to understand.  This is because your lips and tongue do not have enough time to form sounds correctly. Use an appropriate speaking rate as your fundamental speaking skill.  This is the skill upon which every other skill is based.  Master this, and you will be doing great!

2. Pronounce all the sounds in words.  Pay special attention to pronouncing all the sounds in words when you speak.  Right now, you may be omitting the final sound, the middle sound, or an unstressed syllable in a word.  This can make your speech difficult to understand for your listener.  Focusing on pronouncing all the sounds in words will instantly make your American English pronunciation better.  It sounds easy, but it is actually difficult to do!   Start learning when you omit sounds by practicing reading aloud slowly.  Focus on each sound in every word as you speak, especially the final sounds of words.  As it becomes easier, start incorporating this skill into your everyday speech.  You will notice an instant change in your American English!

3. Stick to grammar you have mastered:  American English, just like other languages, has a specific word order to follow, as well as ways to form types of words.  If English is not your native language, then you are used to using a different grammar/word order system.  What this means is that you will naturally make mistakes in American English grammar, even if you have studied grammar rules.  Applying the rules can be difficult.  Here is your grammar tip: when speaking to others, try to stick to using grammar structures you have mastered. If you have only mastered simple sentences, then you should use only simple sentences until you can use more advanced ones successfully.  No one will think less of you for using simple structures.  Believe it or not, they won’t even notice!  What they will notice, however, is when you make a mistake.  So, always follow this rule!

4. Record your speech often.  The best tool for helping you understand what your speech sounds like to others is to record your speech.  Do this very often!  Awareness of the changes you need to make is the first step to changing your speech.  Listening to your speech will help in every area of American English: It will help you become aware of the mistakes in pronunciation, grammar, stressing, intonation patterns, pausing, word connections, etc.   Most computers have a built-in sound recorder that you can use for recording.  If yours doesn’t have one, any tape recorder or digital recorder will do.  You may need to have a microphone in order to hear your voice, so test out your equipment ahead of time.   Once you are all set to go, record your speech for 1-2 minutes as you talk about any topic you would like.   Now here is the hard part:  go back and listen to your speech and analyze it.  Try to be objective, and rate yourself according to how quickly you are speaking and how easy it is to understand your speech.  Also, make a note of any words you hear that have sounds omitted.  Remember, it is the final sound of words and sometimes the middle syllables that are most often omitted.    A good habit to get into is to write down words you hear that are accented and practice them.  

5. Speak loudly enough.  Speaking volume is a very important part of oral communication for every language.  Whether you are speaking to one person or ten people, you must be able to speak loudly enough so that your audience hears you comfortably.  How do you know if you are not speaking loudly enough?   If you tend to speak too softly, you may notice people asking you to repeat, to speak more loudly, or to clarify what you say.  Expressions on people’s faces can also let you know that something is wrong.  If you see people leaning forward in their seats, frowning, or turning an ear toward you, these are clear signs that you are speaking too softly.  How can you adjust your speaking volume?  It is not enough just to speak more loudly.  You will want to practice aiming your voice at different locations, starting at three feet away, then five feet away, then ten feet away, etc.  Each time you practice, find an object at a specific distance away and talk to it.  Look at the object and aim your voice at it.  You can also practice with another person as your helper.  Ask the person to stand in a specific place and say something to him/her.  If he/she can hear you comfortably, increase the distance and do it again. Speaking at an appropriate loudness will make you sound confident and in control; in the business world, these two qualities are extremely important!

I have been a speech pathologist for about 30 years. My company, Speaking Your Best,Inc.” specializes in accent reduction for all speakers. This is my passion, with my goal being to help individuals learn how to speak American English with confidence and clarity so that they can be a success!

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Is the ability to use sign language something that would look good to colleges?

I work with disabled students at my school’s Best Buddies club, though none of them are deaf or mute, I still want to try to learn sign language on my own.
If after a year or two of hard work learning sign language, and I’m able to create conversations and use it fluently in real life, do you think this will impress the colleges when I list it down on my college app?

Thanks.
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Winter Hokey Pokey in Sign Language


Most children probably already know and love the hokey pokey song, so I’d like to introduce to you a way to have a little more fun with it. In the cold winter months, you can’t help but to draw more attention to winter clothing and what you can do to keep warm outside. Your students will have a lot of fun singing and will be able to easily learn more vocabulary words and more about the winter season. You can introduce the idea by teaching the sign for winter, which is to shake fists and arms in front of body as if shivering. For the song, instead of using body parts, I suggest you substitute winter clothing to put in and out of the circle, such as this: You put your right mitten in,
You put your right mitten out
You put your right mitten in and
You shake it all about
You do the hokey pokey and You turn yourself around
That’s what it’s all about Continue the song and substitute “right mitten” with the following signs: Right/Left mitten – Hold out one hand and keep the opposite hand in a fist as if putting on a glove
Right/Left boot – 1) Pretend to pull a boot onto foot, 2) Make upside down B’s with hands and put together, or 3) Sign shoes – Bump fists together
Hat – Place arms/hands over head as if to put on a hat, or pat your head
Scarves – Make the motion of wrapping a scarf around neck
Coats – Pull arms/hands over shoulders as if pulling on a coat
Snow pants – Make sign for snow by trickling fingers down in front of self, and follow by the sign for pants by brushing hands up on legs
Socks – Point two pointer fingers down opposite each other Remember to have fun while singing and signing with your students. They’ll become much more engaged in the activity and learn while doing so. Stay warm! Remember, that you can find more ideas on my blog at www.babysignlanguageonline.com/blog

My name is Kim Taylor-DiLeva and I am an educational trainer and owner of Kim’s Signing Solutions. I conduct parent and teacher workshops throughout New York State and am looking to expand my outreach by offering workshops online and now offer these workshops to you via DVD. I create sign language products for classrooms and also still teach an occassional sign language enrichment program at a local preschool. I was a classroom teacher and elementary school librarian for over 10 years before finding my life passion in helping struggling children and their frustrated parents and teachers to find help through sign language.

For more ideas on signing with your baby, visit http://www.babysignlanguageonline.com/blog

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How to make language teaching in the U.S. dramatically more effective

by Philip Yaffe

“Why are Americans so poor at learning to speak other languages?” is asking the wrong question, because the answer is obvious. They don’t learn to speak other languages because they don’t need to. Or more pertinently, they have little or no opportunity to do so even it they want to.

The real question is: “Why does language teaching in the U.S. continuing aiming at a virtually unattainable objective rather than accepting the reality of the situation and adapting to it?”

When l was growing up in Los Angeles in the 1950s speaking another language (with the possible exception of Spanish) was hardly an option. Even hearing another language was hardly an option. If you turned on the radio, there was only one Spanish station, but certainly no German, French, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, or any other language stations. And of course television was worse, because there even Spanish was absent.

When I enrolled as a math and physics student in the early 1960s, I was required to take a language course, so I chose German, a language of science. This was a mistake. Of all my classes, German was the one that demanded the greatest investment of time and energy for the least return, including quantum mechanics and differential topology.

I graduated with a bad taste in my mouth for German or any other language. The proof that the time spent in the class was largely wasted occurred about a year later when I was confronted with a German. I could still say “Guten Morgan” (good morning), but that was about all. To communicate, we resorted to grunts, groans, and sign language.

I have since become fluent in two languages and have a working knowledge of three others. So what changed? Two things;

1. I got over my ingrained distaste for language learning.

2. I discovered a much more efficient way of going about it than what I had been subjected to as an adolescent.

I would therefore like to make a modest proposal: Language teaching in the United States should be completely overhauled. In particular, in the early stages the virtually unattainable objective of learning to speak a language should be scrapped.

Clearly, if students never have any opportunity to speak the language outside the classroom, then the chances of their learning to do so become infinitely slim. On the other hand, the same time and effort could be profitably turned to learning to reading and understand it.

Most people can master enough of the fundamentals of a language to be able to speak (poorly but nevertheless coherently), and to understand what is being said to them, within only a few months. The trick is to recognize that the major obstacle to language acquisition is not grammar. It’s VOCABULARY.

If you don’t know the verb you need, it doesn’t matter that you know how to conjugate verbs; you still cannot speak. If you don’t know the adjective you need, it doesn’t matter that you know how to decline adjectives; you still cannot speak. And so on.

Since vocabulary is crucial, then the largely unrecognized key to mastering another language is: first learn to READ it.

This, of course, may sound like heresy. But it is really common sense. There is nothing like being able to sit down with a newspaper, magazine, or even a novel in the language to reinforce both grammar and vocabulary. The more you read, the more your vocabulary will expand. And the more some of the language’s apparently bizarre ways of doing things will become increasingly familiar.

Once you arrive on site where the language is spoken, all the grammar and vocabulary you have stored up in this way will rapidly show its worth.

I am not a pedagogue, so I offer no definitive plan for implementing this idea in the classroom. But here are a few thoughts on the matter.

In the first year of the course, do not discourage students by testing them and grading them. The objective is to get them involved in the language, not to frighten them away from it. The more tests they take and the more they fail, or at least struggle with, the less involved they are going to be.

This does not mean no testing at all. However, this should not be to determine how much students know at a certain point, but to encourage them to learn more. I would therefore propose banishing tests that require students to translate from English into the target language, which almost invariably results in numerous mistakes.

Preferably, tests should be multiple-choice, asking students to recognize the grammatically correct sentence among three or four incorrect ones. At a slightly more advanced stage, they could be shown an incorrect sentence and asked to correct it, or to determine the infinitive of irregular verb contained in it.

Putting the emphasis on reading rather than speaking does not preclude an oral part to the course. It in fact requires it. However, during the first year, this would not be to master simple phrases such as “good morning”, “what is your name?”, “how old are you?”, “the post office is around the corner”. Instead, it would be to perfect pronunciation.

Students would be asked to read passages in the target language, with the teacher demonstrating the correct pronunciation. This would be particularly important with a language such as French, where virtually every word is pronounced differently from how it is spelled.

By the end of the first year, and probably before, students could start reading in the language, as much for pleasure as for tuition. These readings might include articles from newspapers or magazines, and even novels. For best results, the novel should contain a maximum of dialogue and a minimum of description. With dialogue, you can frequently anticipate and interpret what the characters are saying; with description you haven’t a clue.

When I was learning French, I used novels by Agatha Christie and the adventures of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs, because they are about 90% dialogue and 10% description. Hardly my favorite literature, but they served the purpose. I would also suggest Animal Farm by George Orwell and Candide by Voltaire. However, any novel with a high ratio of dialogue to description will do.

The purpose of reading in the language is to learn vocabulary. However, constantly looking up unfamiliar words would reading rhythm and damage enjoyment. Consequently, once students have learned enough basic vocabulary, their use of a dictionary should be kept to an absolute minimum.

In fiction, very few words are crucial for understanding the story line. Do you really need to know precisely what a room looks like? It’s enough to know that is large and elegantly furnished. Do you really need to know precisely what a landscape looks like? It is enough to know that it is isolated and windy. Moreover, words repeat. You will certainly see an unfamiliar word many more times throughout the text. At least one of those times, the way it is used will tell you exactly what it means, with no effort at all.

As a rule of thumb, once they have mastered basic grammar and vocabulary, students should be encouraged to use the dictionary no more than 2 – 3 times a page. Any more than this will make the exercise too tedious. They should just read and enjoy!

When they leave the course, chances are most students will not have any immediate need or opportunity to speak the language. But as long as they can enjoyably read it, they may very well continue to do so. The effort that went into the course will not be lost.

While living in Los Angeles, I taught myself to read French, with no idea that I would ever have any need to speak it. I maintained my reading knowledge of French for five years before coming to live in Belgium, where I began speaking it almost immediately. What a gratifying experience! Certainly much better than if I had gone through a traditional language course, only to discover that on arriving I had to start all over from scratch.

Philip Yaffe is a former reporter/feature writer with The Wall Street Journal and a marketing communication consultant. He currently teaches a course in good writing and good speaking in Brussels, Belgium. His recently published book In the “I” of the Storm: the Simple Secrets of Writing & Speaking (Almost) like a Professional is available from Story Publishers in Ghent, Belgium (storypublishers.be) and Amazon (amazon.com).

For further information, contact:


Philip Yaffe

Brussels, Belgium

Tel: +32 (0)2 660 0405

phil.yaffe@yahoo.com, phil.yaffe@gmail.com

 

Philip Yaffe is a former writer with The Wall Street Journal and international marketing communication consultant. Now semi-retired, he teaches courses in persuasive communication in Brussels, Belgium. Because his clients use English as a second or third language, his approach to writing and public speaking is somewhat different from other communication coaches. He is the author of In the ?I? of the Storm: the Simple Secrets of Writing & Speaking (Almost) like a Professional. Contact: phil.yaffe@yahoo.com.

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A Pay-Per-Click Advertising Crash Course

Pay Per Click Advertising

Whether you are here to learn Pay Per Click from scratch or to get a few proven tips and tricks on how to improve your existing ppc campaigns, it’s time to venture in to the world of pay per click advertising.

Pay per click marketing or “ppc advertising” seems so easy at first, but many entrepreneurs and marketing people will soon realize that it’s a struggle to achieve a good return on investment.

In this article you will get a proverbial crash course in PPC. I will explain pay per click marketing, give you some do’s and dont’s and you will also find money saving tips and suggestions on how to insure that your pay per click experience goes smoothly.

What Is Pay Per Click?

At the basic level, pay per click is the fastest way to bring ready-to-buy customers to your blog, website, or article. You pay to place your ppc ads high on the results pages of all the major search engines such as Google, Yahoo, MSN (Bing) and Ask. PPC advertising is effective because it matches searchers who are looking for what you sell with website pages that are prepared to pitch your products or services.

You should (if you manage your PPC campaigns correctly) see dramatic results in as little a a few days for a fraction of what it costs to place ads in traditional media like magazines, radio and television..

How To Pay Per Click

Marketing your products & services through pay per click is easy:

You develop a list of keywords representing the products or services that you’re selling.
You write targeted ads matching those keywords and upload the ads, keyword lists, and bid prices to the major search engines.
Your ads appear in the sponsored links sections when a potential customer performs a search using those keywords.
Searchers click on your ads and are directed to the most relevant page of your website, where you can captivate them with a great offer and turn them into a paying customer.

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Read on to discover how to pay less, convert more ppc visitors into buyers, and create a profitable marketing channel for your business.

Pay Per Click Search Engines

There are hundreds of Pay Per Click Search Engines that you can buy traffic from: Google, Yahoo, Bing, MIVA & Ask are just five examples. This number is increasing, and it’s becoming more difficult to determine which ones are worth using. That’s where my Top 2 Search Engine list comes in handy. I’ve narrowed down this huge list down to my favorites based on my own experience, ROI, and feedback from other pay per click advertisers.

1. Google Adwords: Google AdWords is the largest and most popular of all the pay per click search engines. In fact, it’s in a class all its own, with an index reaching over 10 billion web pages and 100 different language versions. Google provides great tools to help advertisers, including Google Analytics which is integrated with AdWords to help you discover which keywords perform and which you should cut. Again, Google is the biggest and best for volume, traffic quality and user interface.

However, it’s also the most expensive.

2. Ask Sponsored Listings: Businesses large and small are aggressively looking for ways to bring more customers cheaper to their site. Ask Sponsored Listings (ASL) is a great way to reach qualified consumers for less per click. You can attract quality traffic through ASL’s network which is comprised of over 100 search sites, meta search sites, portals, lifestyle, technology, travel and business sites. Some examples of these properties include sites such as Ask.com, Excite, evite, Match.com and Gifts.com.

A Pay Per Click Marketing Secret

Ask Sponsored Listings is a great resource for businesses and entrepreneurs looking to either start their paid search campaigns or to augment their existing ones. Ask Sponsored Listings is currently offering all new customers a 100% FREE account set up and assistance (note: Yahoo charges $200 for this service and Google doesn’t offer it at all) + a $50 credit towards your campaign!

Pay Per Click Management

Successful pay-per-click campaigns offer amazing returns and brand-building opportunities. But every ppc campaign needs careful management. Close attention should be paid to changing markets, bid wars get very heated and it pays to keep advert copy constantly adjusting. It takes time, and a whole lot of tracking to get it right.

Pay per click however, has the best tracking capability of any form of marketing today. With most integrated reporting systems (paid & free), you can see information for all the major search engine PPC programs, track where your visitors are coming from, what they do once they get to your site, and which visits convert into actual sales.

Then it’s up to you to turn around and do the most responsible thing you can with the data: make your pay per click campaign even more efficient.

Executing PPC Campaigns

Pay per click is a simple idea, but that doesn’t mean it’s easy to execute. A successful campaign requires constant keyword management, keyword selection, ad placement and scheduling, bid management, and more. So either quickly learn ppc management yourself or leave the pay per click management to specialists. PPC specialists take the guesswork out of PPC so you can focus on what really matters: running your business. Whether you’re a local retailer or a national advertiser, specialits will create and implement a successful PPC campaign for your business.

Are you running a “real” brick & mortar store? No worries. Manage your pay per click campaign well & it won’t be long before the customers are knocking at your door!

There are 100’s of Pay Per Click Search Engines you can buy traffic from. My two personal favorites are Ask Sponsored Listings & Google Adwords.

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