Buying a new computer is easy. But getting a custom-built computer can be an adventure.

English by Eric

My new custom-built gaming computer

Which presenters do you admire?
Why do you admire them?
How do they engage you?
What styles of communication are you most comfortable in?
These are some of the questions you need to answer. So let's research!

Presenting YOU 

START HERE: Different Presentation Styles

Let's Learn Most Common Verbs that you can't miss!

Learn Thai with Pailin

🥳 Let's learn Common Verbs in Thai 🥳

Hyvää huomenta ja hyvää viikonloppua! Uskaltaako sitä puhua enempää suomea työpaikalla suomalaisille työkavereille? Kyllä! Tässä toisessa jaksossa pohdiskelen suomenkielistä työelämää, miten töissä pärjää suomeksi ja oppiiko suomea töissä. 

Tervetuloa kuuntelemaan kielestä ja kulttuurista kertovaa podcastiani!

Suomea for you

2.jakso: Työelämä

粵語當中很多字有忌諱，我們一起看看有什麼字？
空屋，空和凶同音，所以我們會說吉
舌頭，舌和蝕 同音，所以我們會用脷
通書，書和輸同音，所以我們會用勝
所以記得過年不要買書（輸）要買褲（富）！



Ellieの嘰里咕嚕

空屋？凶屋？

One way to improve our language skills is by expressing our thoughts in the target language. For that reason, I have prepared an English conversation class “Express Yourself through A Conversation”. Please feel free to check that lesson here: https://www.italki.com/en/teacher/24647106/english
I have a lot of interesting topics to talk about. But of course, you are welcome to bring up your own topic.

In this episode, I want to show you one example of the discussion topic. It’s about my imaginary city, Subara City 素晴市 （スバラしsu ba ra shi）.   The name is derived from 素晴らしい（すばらしい）and 都市（とし）.   素晴らしい means “wonderful”, “magnificent”.    市 means “city” and when placed at the end of a word can be pronounced as “shi”し.   So here I name my imaginary city 素晴市（スバラしsu ba ra shi）or “Subara City”.  In this episode, I’m introducing English lessons, not Japanese. I just want to let you know how I made up the name.

The theme of the story is that you have just been elected to the council for Subara City. You have 6 billion Yen in your budget. What can you do? Listen through. Below here is a simple worksheet to give you more ideas.

Total budget: 6 billion Yen.

(1) Carbon Footprint
Main cause of pollution is old factories on the edge of the city. They have to be relocated.
Budget: ………………….. Yen

(2) Deprivation and Inequality
You need to establish projects to reduce the percentage of people living below the poverty line.
Budget: ………………….. Yen

(3) Congestion and Mobility
Although the ground in Subara City is considered not suitable for subway infrastructure, recent research has been investigating solutions to tackle the ground issue. This research needs funding.
Budget: ………………….. Yen

(4) Education and Qualifications
The number of grants for teachers to study abroad should be increased.
Budget: ………………….. Yen

(5) Language and Cultural Integration
More investment is needed to ensure that migrants coming to work in your city adapt and integrate into the society.
Budget: ………………….. Yen

Midori no Heya

Make a Difference in Subara City

Speaker 1: For me, having a dumbphone would be …dumb. I really like surfing the web on my phone to find out about things. If I hear the name of an actor I don’t know about, I can look them up, or if I‘m in a new place and I want to find a restaurant to go to, I can find somewhere easily. Plus, I love Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. I follow loads of celebrities and I love to watch concerts and live-tweet what is happening. Without my smartphone, my friends wouldn’t know what I was doing. It would feel very strange.

Speaker 2: I’m seriously thinking about getting a dumbphone. I hate how the battery on my smartphone is in control of my life. I always have to find somewhere to charge the phone when I’m out and I’m always worried about it. I also don’t like the way search engines record your history and use it to sell you things. I feel as though my attention is always taken away from everything I do with my smartphone because I use it so much. I was with a friend the other day and after a while, we were sitting there not talking, just looking at our phones. It was like our phones just killed the conversation. We didn’t even realize it was happening.

Speaker 3: I like the idea of a dumbphone. I’m just not sure if I would like it in practice. I travel a lot with my work, so it really helps being able to access my inbox when I’m out. If I didn’t, I would spend all my time in the office answering emails. I also have a favorite podcaster who I listen to all the time when I’m traveling. I can download his latest episode and pass the time when I’m on a flight or a train. I do enjoy being offline as I feel as though I am always using my phone to communicate, with email, Skype, phone calls, and text. But I think if I didn’t have access to the Internet most of the time, I would worry.