Episode#14 – Hitomi: An enthusiatic Linguist member from Japan

Hitomi – An enthusiastic Linguist member from Japan

• Hitomi is Japanese Linguist member lives in Japan with her three dogs. She had been in US for one year for her education and now she works in Japan. She has joined the Linguist four months back and she is enjoying her English study.
• She is the first member of Linguist Vox Community and regularly writes about her English adventure as well as her dogs.
• She usually spend at least one hour studying English and spend more time listening to audio contents from linguist library. Her work place is about thirty minutes away and she uses this time to listen to English contents.
• In her job, she has to write letters to customers in English and sometime she uses linguist system to correct her writings.
• We also talk about Steve’s podcast (which is going to start in a few days)
• She is one of the members of THY group and she enjoys talking in this discussion group. She loves to talk about food

Your linguistic friend,
Shashi

Listen online: (episode length: 24:55 minutes)

Linguivocal#episode 14

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Episode#13 – Blogging and English Learning

Blogging and English Learning :

 

• In recent times, blogs have emerged as an efficient language learning tools. More and more language learners use blogs to share as well as to work on their language learning.
• Initially I had started this blog to work on my English writings. I used to write about my progress in English. I also used to write about activities around the Linguist and this blog has helped me make new friends who have the same interest of English learning. Also blogging helps me keep motivated.
• Ken also has two blogs one in English and one in Japanese. Initially Japanese learners tended to write in Japanese only, but now more and more Japanese learners write in English.
• We have the Linguist Vox community where most of the Linguist members have blog. All learners write regularly and it is kind of fun as well as an English school. We can communicate easily with other language learners as well as tutors. Through blogging, we get new friends and we will be connected to outer language world.
• Do you have any blog where you write about your English learning and what is your experience?

Your linguistic friend,

Shashi

Listen online: (episode length: 24:49 minutes)

Linguivocal#episode 13

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Episode#12 – Smita: An Indian accustomed to the UK

An Interview with my wife: Smita

• In this episode I have talked to my wife about her English proficiency and life in the UK.
• She studied in convent (English medium) school and she had started to speak in English when she was three. She used to practice speaking English with her siblings and friends. She had put more emphasise on reading and speaking.
• When she came to the UK, initially she got problem understanding British accent but now she is used to it and can communicate with them fluently. She can not only communicate properly but can also take part in jokes. She has more or less become familiar with British culture as well.
• She has one colleague who is Canadian and she sometimes find it difficult to understand Canadian accent. She is now spending more time with her to learn Canadian accent.
• She advised me to practice speaking English with her (I’ve never thought in this way. She can be a good tutor for me and now onwards, I will try to speak in English with her)

Your linguistic friend,

Shashi

Listen online: (episode length: 19:39 minutes)

Linguivocal#episode 12

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Episode#11 – School and summer vacation

School and summer vacation :

• In this episode, Ken and I talked on School and summer vacation. In India, we get one month’s summer vacation, usually in the month of May. Our academic year starts on first week of June. We usually don’t have any assignments for summer vacation. We give annual exam in April and then we go for summer vacation and our results come out when we rejoin the school. So we usually are tension free during vacation.
• Some students join private classes during vacation while some join summer camps. We do lots of enjoyment and usually arrange some short trips to nearby places. When I was kid I used to go to my grandpa’s home. He lived in a small village and he had lots of sugarcane fields. I learned lots of things during my summer vacation like swimming and cycling.
• In Japan, summer vacation is also for only one month and usually in the month of April. Kids get lots of assignments in the vacation and they need to spend more time on their study. Ken also used to visit his grandpa’s home and he lived on an island. So he got lots of fresh fish to eat when he visits there.
• As we use Skype for recording, some times it doesn’t work good (like today) and quality may not be good.
• How about your country? When do you get summer vacation and how do you remember your summer holidays?

Your linguistic friend,

Shashi

Listen online: (episode length: 21:19 minutes)

Linguivocal#episode 11

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Episode#10 – Learning English

Learning English:

• In this discussion I have been joined by another Linguist member Ken. He is Japanese and lives in Osaka, one of the largest cities in Japan. He has been learning English for more than one year and he is also active member of the Linguist. He is very good piano teacher and he is musician by profession.

• In this episode we discuss about our English learning. How we started learning English, what was the reason behind learning English, various methods we have used to improve our English and some of our strategies about learning English.

• It’s a huge time difference between UK and Japan, so we got problem adjusting convenient time for both of us.

• As we both are learning English, you may find some mistakes in our discussion (perticulary by me) but that is part of learning process. The aim of our discussion is to improve our speaking skills and we are working on it. Hope you will enjoy this episode. We are waiting for your comments and your suggestions.

Your linguistic friends,

Shashi and Ken

Listen online: (episode length: 19:27 minutes)

Linguivocal#episode 10

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Episode#9 – Sport and Sexes

Linguivocal podcast epiode # 9

Listen online: (episode length: 09:38 minutes)

Yesterday, I read an article about sport and sexes in our linguist library. Now days, there are lots of concern about sex discrimination and equal opportunities. There is no doubt that women should be treated equally in every field. In today’s modern society, women are not behind us but they work equally along with men. It is common in society, perticularly at work place, woman get less pay than her colleague male worker. That’s the reason why the sex discrimination act is implemented in most of the countries. Women have organisations and there are human right commissions that fight for women for their equal opportunity and equal pay. However, sometimes the definition of human right is being stretched too much so that it creates dispute in society.

Now, there are increasing cases of sex discrimination in sport and women want equal opportunity in every sport. Some cases are based on human rights and they consider sport as a sort of human right. It is sometime hard to implement the definition of equal opportunity or human rights in sport. There are so many sports where strength and fitness are main traits of player and women can’t compete with men. Sports like soccer, rugby, NHL, and same sort of sport events, really need you to be tough and fit physically as well as mentally. These are outdoor sports and team sports, where physical fitness is prime important. In such sports, woman can’t compete with other men members of the same age. In scientific language, the growth of our body in boys and girls is same at certain period of age. However, after puberty boys grow faster than girls and they become more muscular and tough physically. So, even though some girls are good in a particular sport or sometime better than boys, they no longer compete with boys after puberty. Boys get more strong and wiry and tough even if they are the same age or sometimes smaller. I personally feel that this should not be an issue of human right. It shouldn’t be a human right for girls. If a girl is very good in soccer at school level, but then she is refused by soccer club then this should not be treated as a human right for that girl. This can’t be a human right.

The most important thing is that now sport is merely not a game but it is a huge trade and people invest lots of money on sport. So, it should be a club’s decision whether women are allowed or not in men’s team. After all it is matter of money and nobody wants to ruin. However, it also looks odd that woman is playing in men’s team in terms of physics as well as tradition. We are used to see some sports played only by men and it is hard to accept women in that sport. I think there are so many other ways to improve women’s role in sport, instead of fighting in the terms of human right. Women can create a separate women team and league matches. They can pressurise the government to improve sport facility for women so that more and more women can take part and become competitive player at international level. Now there are separate events for women at international level in various sports like cricket, hockey and so on. So it is not logical and ethical to argue for place in men’s team. There are so many sports where women and men can take part equally; like tennis, badminton, chess, holly ball where physical strength is not as important as in other games. I think it should not be a right for woman to be selected in men’s team even though she looks like competitive. Otherwise boys start to inter in girls team as it might be a human right for them to be played in women’s team and actually that will lead less women in women’s team.

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Episode#8 – Cold Calling

Linguivocal podcast epiode # 8

Listen online: (episode length: 09:38 minutes)

Yesterday I joined Tom Kaufmann’s discussion. He is Steve’s brother and he lives in Canada. He is in the business and he has written articles about cold calling for the Linguist library. I wasn’t familiar with the term ‘cold calling’ before reading his articles. I really liked his discussion and I enjoyed his discussion. He is very talkative as well humorous person. He makes jokes during the discussion and you have to be very picky to understand his comments. He really makes the discussion lively. Another reason to join this discussion was that I really wanted to know more about cold calling.

I am studying and that’s why, most of the time, I am at the home and I receive a lot of cold calls during the day. Most of these calls are from mobile companies. When I pick up the phone, the salesperson starts off with saying “Hello Mr. Shashi! How are you?” As I don’t know the person at the other end, I just say “I am fine.” Then he tells me that I have been selected by their company to receive a free mobile phone and it will be delivered to me within two days. I really get shocked and I just say “really”. Then he asks me about my current phone, about the handset I am using and the network I am using and how much money I pay to that company. After getting this information, he reveals about his companies chipper plans. Then he tells me that his charges are much less than the company with which I have contract and if I accept his contract I will get a free phone. Then only I come to know that this is a cold call. In fact, when you take contract phone from any mobile company, the handset will be free and it’s a deal from all the mobile companies. However, as a matter of fact, he is not telling me the new thing but the way he starts off, it really look like I am going to get a free handset.

It is really hard to avoid such calls. Initially I thought that it would be a rude or impolite to cut off the phone without listening to these people. However, now I have started dealing in a different way with such calls. When I understand that there is cold call from mobile company, I just jump to the point and ask them what their plans are. I listen to them and politely say I am not interested and thanks for calling and cut the phone off.

It’s really very hard to avoid such calls. Cold calling is a new strategy for companies to improve their sales. The reason is that the cost of phone calls has been dropping over a period and it is chipper to contact a person by phone rather than sending him postage mail. So, it is part of their sales strategy but it is the customer who gets suffered and we have to really find out new ways to avoid such cold calls.

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Episode#7 – Communication

Communication:

• Now days, I try to communicate with people as much as possible. Initially, I always felt that my English was not good and that’s why I used to avoide talking to the people. However, now I take more initiative to communicate with local people.
• I go out often and speak with people. I ask them my queries and listen to them. I try to figure out various new words and phrases that these people use commonly. I take most of the phone calls and speak with them confidently. I listen to the conversational contents and not to the contents which are merely recorded for language learning.
• I know one thing “practice makes man perfect” and I am doing the same thing….practicing more and more on my speaking…

Your linguistic friend,

Shashi

Listen online: (episode length: 09:08 minutes)

Linguivocal#episode 7

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Episode#6 – Inefficient English Classes and Books

English classes and books: Inefficient ways to learn English

• Yesterday I visited local library and found few English learning books. Most of these books were grammar oriented and I found none of these books efficient for my English learning.
• When I was in India, I joined a English class and through out the course I just learned the grammar and never improved in my speaking. Few of the classes that pretend they are good at teaching English, but they teach only grammar in their classes.
• I think it would be great idea to introduce efficient language learning systems like The Linguist at school level so that student can learn English in a proper way.

 

Your linguistic friend,

Shashi

Listen online: (episode length: 08:43 minutes)

Linguivocal#episode 6

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Episode#5 – Woman’s hour

 

Woman’s hour : Helpful podcast for British accent

• Recently I came across to a new podcast from BBC radio 4 called “Woman’s hour”. This podcast is basically meant for women but I find this podcast very helpful for my English learning. In this podcast, there are discussions between British women on interesting topics. These discussions are short in length about 8 to 10 minutes and you can download them on your mp3 player.

• This is a good way for me to understand British accent and to become closer to British culture.

• You can find this podcast here and if you are interested you just go the main page of ‘woman’s hour’ for more information.

Your linguistic friend,

Shashi

Listen online: (episode length: 07:46 minutes)

Linguivocal#episode 5 

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