Today is Marina-sensei’s birthday! How old is she? Please ask her the next time you come to NEO.
4月になりました！新年度開始です。学生さんは春休みですが大人にはない春休。NEOでも通常レッスンは無くとも教材準備に明け暮れています。
では気晴らしに下の日本語を解読してみて下さい。
本野少四鹿金長線勝田。変菜感字画下田。
我が家の4年生男児が学校の学習発表会を終えて、簡単に各々コメントを書いて提出したようですが、本当にこう書いて出しておった…
ぱっと見た目は日本語に見えないでしょうが解読すると日本語です。答えは添付の写真にありますが多少文末に岡山弁を盛り込んでいます。（ほんの少ししか緊張せんかった。変な感じがした。）
担任の先生も書き直しをさせなかったあたりは、その頃がちょうど成績表をつけたりする忙しい時で、書き直しをさせる時間が無かったものとみます。平仮名を入れず、カタカナと4年生までで習った漢字を混ぜています。
日本語は数ある世界の言語の中でも比較的難しくない言語とも言われています。意義反論はあるかと思いますが、私もそう思っています。音声・発音もあまり難しくない。文法も格変化・活用もヨーロッパ言語程多くない。ある程度話せるようになるまでにあまり大きなスキルは必要でない。
ただ、TPOに合わせて表現や敬語を使い分けたり、書き言葉（表記）にすると平仮名46字・カタカナ46字・漢字を使い分けるので難しくなりますが、平坦な会話表現で押し通せば文法的に正しいまま意思疎通は十分にこなせます。
今朝、5月の連休用にキャンプ場を予約しようと電話をしていました。砂川公園の詳細をスマホに表示させようと通話をしたまま傍のデイブに指示したら、入力が上手く出ていません。どう何をタイプしたんだ？？
つながわ こうえん
「つ」じゃなぃ～ 「す」だよ～ でもこの「す」は摩擦音、「つ」は破裂+摩擦音。月と好きが似た音になるのです。英語話者には少し苦手な音です。
お暇な方は「つき・すき・つき・すき・つき・すき」を続けて言う練習でもしてみてください。
そして。2週間ほどスパチュラを自宅の台所で見失い探し続けていたのですが、今朝遂に見つけました。
ここずっと探していたのに見つからなかったものです。何を隠そう、少し前のブログに書いた、おまじないの言葉Magic wordを言いながら探したら、ものの2分で見つかりました。
Dave-sensei was on "Let's Enjoy English!" on Radio MOMO (79.0 FM) . Dave and D.J. Chiaki Kamibeppu talk in English and Japanese about cherry blossom viewing and Takamatsu. Click the button below to listen.
Dave-sensei will be on Radio MOMO (79.0FM) with D.J. Chiaki Kamibeppu on Thursday, March 25th (today!), at about 5:40 pm. They will talk in English and Japanese about Takamatsu, cherry blossoms and Spring break.
3月25日（木）5時40分ごろにDave先生がRadio MOMO (79.0FM) に出演します（DJは上別府千晶さん）。英語と日本語の両方で高松、桜と春休みについて話します。
Have you ever had a stomach camera test?
I had one for the first time ever during a health check on Monday.
First, a nurse took me to a small room and I sat in a chair like a dentist’s chair. The camera goes up your nose and down your throat, so the nurse uses medicine to numb your nose and throat or it will hurt.
The nurse asked which nostril I wanted. I chose right. She sprayed anesthetic up both nostrils and then tried to insert a plastic tube up the right nostril. It didn’t hurt but it was very uncomfortable.
“Your nostril is narrow”, the nurse said.
She took the tube out of my nostril and tried to put it up the other side. It went in but she said it was sticking out a little. Then a syringe was connected to the tube to spray another liquid anesthetic to the back of my nose and down my throat.
“We have to wait for a few minutes for the anesthetic to take effect. If you have any problem, press this call button.”
As soon as she left the room, my throat became numb, and I started to feel nauseous. Immediately after that, I felt like I was going to throw up. And then everything started to go white and fuzzy. I pressed the button a few times and I saw a nurse walk past the door, but I couldn’t speak to get her attention.... everything faded to white....
........
The next thing I remember, there were two nurses and a doctor in the room, and I was connected to a blood pressure and pulse monitor. Also, one of the nurses was holding my legs up in the air to get the blood back to my brain and my chair was fully reclined.
The doctor was talking quickly in Japanese and I couldn’t understand what she was saying. I slowly understood that I had lost consciousness. I started to feel better right away. Then the doctor and nurses discussed whether to do the stomach camera or not. I said I was fine, but the nurse said I was white as a ghost and my face was all sweaty.
After a few minutes I felt almost normal and said that I wanted to do the test. I didn’t want to come back on another day.
The stomach camera test was uncomfortable, but not as bad as when I passed out. I could watch the camera’s view on a monitor. It was interesting to see my insides on the screen.
The results of my test were good, no problems and the doctor said that I have a very nice stomach. She recommended another stomach camera test for me in 2 years, so I’m looking forward to that...
Dave-sensei was on "Let's Enjoy English!" on Radio MOMO (79.0 FM) . Dave and D.J. Chiaki Kamibeppu talk in English and Japanese about birthdays and age milestones. Click the button below to listen.