May 11, 2007

Radio Show: Practice vs Play

So I do a "radio" show over the announcements at lunch. It's called "「便利な英語表現を使うぜ!」SHOW" (kinda translates to " The 'Use useful English phrases, dammit!' show" without the harshness nor swearing nuances of dammit, but the fun nuance).
Usually, I teach a saying or idiom. I have them repeat keywords and phrases after me (these cues are absent from the script below). This time I decided to teach the correction to a mistake I see all the time. They really liked this show because it was easy to understand and the kamehameha part is funny.
When I do these shows I have kind of a suave radio DJ thing going on. It slips into the youtubes from time to time. Oh, and I say "俺様" a lot. They love that!
Feel free to use it in your class; your students and fellow teachers will appreciate the effort. Making an effort is what it's all about over here. Besides, it will improve your Japanese!

今日(きょう)のキーワド(きーわど)はpractice.
まず次(つぎ)の文(ぶん)を聞いて(きいて)間違い(まちがい)を見つけよう(みつけよう)
「I play judo」
間違い(まちがい)に気付いた(きづいた)?
柔道(じゅうどう)の場合(ばあい)は「PLAY」という言葉(ことば)が合って(あって)ないよ!
「PLAY」のニュアンス(にゅあんす)は遊びっぽい(あそびっぽい)
またゲームっぽい(げーむっぽい)
一方(いっぽう)で柔道(じゅうどう)は武芸(ぶげい)。つまり元(もと)は戦い(たたかい)のこと。ゲーム(げーむ)の反対。
だから「I play Judo」じゃなくて「I practice Judo」
の方が正しい。
そして「I am a Judo player」も違って(ちがって)、「I am a Judo practitioner」
が 正しい(ただしい)。
「Practice」の意味(いみ)はこの場合(ばあい)には従事(じゅうじ)している。
そして「Practitioner」の意味(いみ)は従事者(じゅうじしゃ)。
すべての武芸(ぶげい)はそのようにして。
たとえば
I practice kendo.
I practice karate.
I practice the kamehameha!
さて覚えたい(おぼえたい)ならMr. B's English Cornerにどんと来い!このスクリプトがはってあるぜ。

5 comments:

  1. "Practitioner" sounds more like you're performing some mystic dark arts, though. Or, employing a religion.

    I think we typically address our rank in the a martial art when we talk about it in English. "I'm a black belt in Judo."

    "I'm a Judo practitioner," sounds like something that you'd only see in a textbook. Just my 2 cents.

    It looks like a fun little show you've got going on there.

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  2. Oh, and you forgot the 'n' in Kendo, I think. Or else there's some martial art that I'm not aware of, which is a perfectly plausible scenario. I don't profess to be a guru on the subject. Sorry about spamming up your comments.

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  3. gotcha typo.
    I am a judo practitioner does sound stiff. I was trying to have an equivilent to the phrase we had yesterday in class: "I am a Judo player" a few students said.

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  4. Yeah, you know, a "Judo Playa". It's kind of like a "Kendo Balla". Or, the ever classic, a "Karate Pimp".

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  5. I wonder if our children will still be using pimp in the future. That is assuming our children pick up American parlance at some point. I am a slang practitioner, beeyoch!

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