The words “we can” and “weekend” may sound the same to a non-native English speaker, so listen for the context.

“we can” will be followed by a verb, like “We can eat cake.”
“weekend” is a noun, so it will be preceded by an article, like “We can do it on the weekend.”

Popularity: 40%

It is interesting to think about how the word minute is pronounced. Look at these two examples:

1. Let’s read the minutes of last weeks meeting.
2. How minute is the impact of last weeks meeting?

The first one is pronounced mi-netz.
The second one is pronounced my-noot.

Popularity: 28%

What is the difference between using home vs. house in a sentence? It depends on the context, as we will see in a second. Today’s post explains this but also a quick lesson on pronunciation.

Knowing the difference between the letters l and r is difficult for Japanese. I often even see it written by my Japanese students incorrectly which tells me they do not even know the correct spelling, hence their pronunciation is incorrect too. Can you correctly say the following sentence (pick the correct word from the combinations seperated by a slash)

Soon we will have a/the festival of dolls where we decolate the homes/houses of/with girls.

The correct answer is:

Soon we will have the festival of dolls where we decorate the homes of girls.

Explanation: “houses with” means the physical place has girls placed on it. “homes of” is a more general meaning which is what is required in this sentence.

Popularity: 36%

Christmas is coming (less than 1 month away) and it includes some words that are difficult for non-native speakers. The pronunciation of the word wreath is one of those words. Adding the word Christmas before it can make it even more difficult to say.

To pronounce the word wreath , drop the “w”, say “reee” and finish off with the “th” sound.

Popularity: 48%

Today I am writing about illiteracy in support of “Stop the Abuse” an effort to unite bloggers to blog about something related to stopping abuse. I am lucky enough to have been given the opportunity to pursue not just a basic eduction but one in which I could learn about other languages and cultures. Although my current focus is on Japanese language and culture, I have studied Hebrew and Spanish and have travelled a great deal through out the world. So I am always amazed at why illiteracy still plagues this world.

According to a study produced by the United Nations, world illiteracy had dropped to 16% in 1998, but at the same time, a study publishedin 1998 by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) predicted illiteracy in the world would rise in the 21st century. So what could cause this? It seems that with all the available technology, every child should have the opportunity to gain the skills to read and write. But perhaps the technology that we have is only useful to those who are already literate.

It seems that the more technology we develop to help us in our daily lives, the more we are seperated from the basic things that allow us be what we are: human. This period of video games and television deprive children of the human aspect of growing up. When I was a school child, teachers forbid me and my classmates from a using a calculator because it would rob us of our basic ability to do simple math. In Japan, word processors have given way to speedily writing letters and emails, but at the cost of forgetting how to write even simple characters.

It would seem that we are lacking the discipline as parents and eductors to raise our children to become productive members of society. Even in America and Japan, two of the most advanced nations in the world, communities are suprisingly seeing their school children performing worse on tests and in fact becoming less and less competitive with the rest of the world. Outcries from parents are surfacing, and eductors argue over the best way to tackle this situation, but are we just missing the fundamental reason for this? Perhaps as parents, if we took responsibility for our children’s education instead of relying on the academic system, our children and perhaps the rest of the world’s children would overcome these challenges.

I believe the world can overcome the challenge of illiteracy, but only if we cooperate and continue to toil through the hard work required to achieve such a goal. Ask yourself how you would feel if someone denied you the right to learn. Or better, ask yourself how you would feel if you know someone else was being denied the right to learn.

Popularity: 57%

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