http://www.lang-8.com/9564/journals/rss Mattsun's latest journal entries Lang-8 Inc. Tue May 29 21:00:39 UTC 2012 Tue May 29 21:00:39 UTC 2012 Lang-8 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Lang-8
My answer to the exercise of TOEFL writing test above:
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Yes, I believe that this change improved the way people live. Nutrition, time and money are the key reasons as to why this statement is true.

Firstly, more people have better chance to get good nutrition. This is because even people who are really busy, lazy or hesitated to cook try to prepare meal by themselves. Usually these kinds of people tend to eat something not really healthy such as fast foods outside too often and to lack necessary nutrition from vegetables. But if they realize that they can prepare food easily and quickly, they would try to do it and eat outside less often. Instead that you eat something unhealthy at cheap restaurant, currently you can even get healthy food which can be cooked easily and quickly at economic price in supermarkets and help to take well balanced nutrition.

Secondly, this change has given people more time to spend in other things because they can save time preparing meal. Thanks to this, people can spend more time in their hobby or study for their jobs. This clearly implies that this change enriches their lives and improves the conditions under which people live.

Thirdly, preparing food helps you to save money. Generally speaking, it costs much more to eat outside than prepare food on your own. So if you cook and eat inside and save some money, you can spend it in your hobby or whatever you want. This is like you get higher salary and helps you a lot to make your life happier.

For those three reasons that are nutrition, time and money, I strongly agree that the change that food has become easier to prepare has improved the way people live.
(around 280 words)
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Well, this was the most difficult in terms of coming up with reasons... Anyway there's no doubt I need more exercise. Just keep up!=)

Posted at Fri Mar 25 20:37:26 UTC 2011
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/9564/journals/861582 http://www.lang-8.com/9564/journals/861582 Mattsun Fri Mar 25 20:37:26 UTC 2011
This is an exercise of TOEFL writing test, too. This is my answer.

======== ======== ========
I strongly agree that parents are the best teachers. I have three reasons why this is true.
First of all, they have the strongest effect on children when they are forming their personalities and characters. By the time children go to kinder garden or elementary school, they already have their basic personality or habits. Parents are the only adults who little kids are always with in these period. If kids are loved very much their parents, they are tend to be kind and generous to others because they are not hungry for love but have plenty, so they can think about others and give love to them.
Second, children spend much more time with their parents than school teachers. Parents can spend the whole life with their children. Thus they feel responsible and try very hard to raise their kids so that they can have happy life and contribute to society. Even after children have graduated from college and started working, parents can give advice to them about anything, for example, how to balance working hour and private time, or how to raise children. Parents can help their children to have happier life for really long time.
Third, children look very well at how parents actually act and behave, which means parents can send nonverbal messages to their kids constantly. In most cases, nonverbal message have much stronger influence than verbal message. For example, parents teach children how important greeting is. But who could follow that if parents always do not greet? Conversely, if parents do not teach it with words but show the importance by behavior, like they greet neighbors with smile or say good morning and good night to their kids every day, kids will surely understand and do it automatically.
These three reasons are why I believe that parents are the best teachers.
(around 300 words)
======== ======== ========

This time, it took more than 30 minutes to finish and check it, I tried to finish it in 20 minutes though. I think this is because I immediately started to write from the top, not made the outline first. (But actually it was kinda difficult to come up with the contents, too.)
I have to write the outline first and add the details next time!

Posted at Fri Mar 25 11:38:13 UTC 2011
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/9564/journals/861062 http://www.lang-8.com/9564/journals/861062 Mattsun Fri Mar 25 11:38:13 UTC 2011 example, new experiences, career preparation, increased knowledge).
Why do you think people attend college or university? Use specific
reasons and examples to support your answer."

This is an exercise of TOEFL writing test. This is my answer.

==================
Personally I think that people attend college or university so that they can get happier jobs and life in the future. There are three reasons why this would be possible.
First of all, you can learn lots of special knowledge and acquire specific skills which will be useful to your future jobs. College or university offer ideal environment for that to students. For example, now I am studying accounting and finance in my university under worldly famous professors who has many experiences in that field. I could not have acquired knowledge which I have now if I did not attend the university. Because of this, it is clear that I have better opportunity to be employed by companies which I want to work for, using this knowledge. If I do not have any skills, any dreams or your desired future can never come true.
Second, you have plenty of time not only to think about but also to actually take action for your happiness and future. Once you start to work, you do not have enough time for it. For example, you can face yourself, read tons of books, meet many friends and professors from various backgrounds or travel anywhere you want in order to seek for it. If you have the clear answers, you will be very motivated to work and have better chance to realize happy life you desire.
Third, you can meet qualification for some big and successful companies which promises you to offer good salary, secured job and welfare. Some of those companies officially states that they only accept people who have graduated from college or university. If you do not graduate and would like to go to these companies, I do not think there are any chances for people who have not finished college or university.
Because of these three reasons, I consider that people go to college or university.
(315 words)
==================

I tried to finish this in 15 min. But it took me around 25 min to finish this, which made me realize I need much more exercises. Honestly I don't really have problems with daily life. But this doesn't mean I can speak or write correctly and logically at all. I need this kind of practices so that I can use practical English in my future job.

Posted at Thu Mar 24 19:07:12 UTC 2011
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/9564/journals/860361 http://www.lang-8.com/9564/journals/860361 Mattsun Thu Mar 24 19:07:12 UTC 2011 I am not sure whether I can get correctly but this is what I heard:

========

You wanted it to be a surprise.
In all my life, I never thought I would be so lucky as to fall in love with my best...
There's a reason why girls don't do this.
(She cried so much that she couldn't continue.)


I'll do it. I thought... (H) Wait, I can do this. I thought that it mattered what i said or where I said it. Then I realized the only that matters is that you. You make me happier than I ever thought I could be. And if you let me, I'll spend rest of my life trying to make you feel the same way. Will you marry me?


Yes.



Posted at Sun Feb 27 16:21:30 UTC 2011
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/9564/journals/827115 http://www.lang-8.com/9564/journals/827115 Mattsun Sun Feb 27 16:21:30 UTC 2011
what should i do while i am a collage student (in other words, before i graduate and work)...?

i did an internship in Japan for 6 months and it was killing me.
i was like this: i worked from 8am to 10pm 6days a week, and i slept a whole day on Sun because i usually didnt sleep enough and felt so sleepy everyday. then Mon came and i worked so hard for such a long time on Mon to Sat...
i seriously didnt have any time and energy for investing in myself in the future. im crazy about books and usually read everyday basically FOR FUN. happily my curiosity is so strong and books satisfy it a lot. BUT i even couldnt do that during the period. how the hell could i study something that will be needed for myself in the future?

we, students, dont have money. but we have plenty of time. of course i have to say students are also busy with study, part time job or whatever. but compared to people working, we are absolutely so free.

so what i wanna do in a college is something which i have to spend so much time to acquire it.
so far i came up with 3 things.

1. learn and understand history
2. master English
3. study finance and accounting

seriously i think that if i study these things before i graduate and prepare myself for the future, my life will change in a good way.

id like to explain more details about those 3 things but now i have to study for the exam which will be the most difficult ever (in fact, its killing me!!! i have so many things to do).

Posted at Sat Feb 26 23:05:01 UTC 2011
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/9564/journals/826239 http://www.lang-8.com/9564/journals/826239 Mattsun Sat Feb 26 23:05:01 UTC 2011
1.
recently i sleep A LOT. i sleep for about 8 hours and i think this is too much. to make matters worse, i get up at around 10 am (absolutely TOO LATE!) as i usually go to bed at 2 am. i really feel i don't have time in the morning.
so i will try to do these things to solve this problem:
- go to bed by 1 am (this would help to get up earlier)
- make my room warmer (i guess i didn't wanna wake up and leave my bed this morning because it was cold in my room)

these sound only small changes, but i strongly believe these accumulation will lead to big improvement.

2.
in order to concentrate on my work in my room, i will try to keep sitting up straight in a chair. i will not lean back in my chair. i found that when i can focus on my work, im siting up and feel my head is clear. (im not 100% sure but i think this effect is proven by science) but conversely, when im study ineffectively and so slowly, i lean back in my chair. so i think if i sit up straight, this would lead to effective work.

ok now its the time to go back to my work...

Posted at Sun Feb 20 10:58:59 UTC 2011
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/9564/journals/818078 http://www.lang-8.com/9564/journals/818078 Mattsun Sun Feb 20 10:58:59 UTC 2011 it seems like every time i study hard (most times i need it... not willing to do that), i tend to escape and look back at my past mostly by seeing emails, photos, letters and diaries.
and i realize how important it is to know what i thought about in the past. first of all it is very interesting and sometimes hilarious! i bet you have lots of fun. secondly, i can return to the basis. it can remind me some lessons i gained from my experience but have forgot. lastly, i can feel i have progressed. for example, i saw an email i wrote in English before leaving Japan. it encourages me to study more.

i just wanna write this entry to keep in mind that i should save something i am thinking about now or something happening to me in a diary or whatever. it doesn't have to be a lot and very in detail.


how about keeping a short diary regularly?

Posted at Thu Feb 10 22:01:43 UTC 2011
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/9564/journals/804022 http://www.lang-8.com/9564/journals/804022 Mattsun Thu Feb 10 22:01:43 UTC 2011
good points:
go to the gym and work out
-> i invented jumping training, im gonna try to keep it. although i didn't run today, it doesn't matter for me.

prepare for a class and understand the content well
-> this is good. i didn't understand what the professor said because of his strong accent and intonation. but if i know what hes gonna explain due to my preparation, i can get it. im gonna review it with the textbook.

have dinner with my friends
-> yeah this is really good for improving my english in terms of both speaking and listening. especially speaking, it's kinda difficult to find a situation to improve it, so i should make the best use of it!! and of course, it was really fun! how the hell would i miss it!!!

bad points:
get up at 900 - 30 minutes late
-> i think this is because i went to bed late last night... at around 2 am i guess. and i was exhausted so i couldn't take a shower. i should do it at night and try to go to bed at 1am.

waste morning time
-> after i got up, i wasted some time using lap top etc... ill try to reduce the time to less than 30 min... meaning i have to leave my room in 30 min after i got up!

cannot reach my objective - textbook
-> i planned to read some textbook by the class but i couldn't make it cuz i woke up late and didn't calculate the time to finish it.

tomorrow, i mean on 25th, i try to read the parts and think about the group case of one of the subjects. also, try to prepare for the class on Thu.

i will travel around for 4 days in early Feb, so i have to prepare everything in advance!
here now im having a really, really precious time. i will do my best.

for those who have read this diary, i would like to say thank you. hope you enjoy this.

Posted at Tue Jan 25 01:02:15 UTC 2011
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/9564/journals/780154 http://www.lang-8.com/9564/journals/780154 Mattsun Tue Jan 25 01:02:15 UTC 2011 i've heard you need to keep it at least for 3 weeks to make it "habit". this is the really tough part and if you continue it for more than 3 weeks, it gets easy to do it.
i feel some progress through this week. i don't feel really though when running, i can run faster etc...

----- good points -----
get up at 830
-> this is what i decided to do yesterday and i achieved it! i went to the library to study. i could say i made the best use of my time in the morning. i felt i had a lot of time today! it was a meaningful day today.

go to the gym and run for 30 min

study for about 5 hours
-> i really concentrated on my work.

i kinda enjoyed my study
-> this is huge leap! cuz if you wanna go on doing something, you have to enjoy it! conversely if you feel its boring or something like that, you simply cannot do it regularly.
i heard today from my girl friend that there are 2 types of motivation: internal one and external one. internal motivation means you engage in something because of "curiosity" or feeling it's fun or like that. on the other hand, external motivation means you do it in order to get "reward" or avoid "pressure" from someone etc... basically you really cannot go on if your behavior is based on external one. to sum up, what im trying to say is if you are motivated internally, you can make it habit.
the reason why i enjoyed it is because i found it was fun to understand something that i didn't understand before or think about something deeply. and the subject seems so practical so i strongly believe if i master it, it will help me a lot in the future. this motivates me to study hard.

write diary
-----------------------

----- bad points -----
waste more than 3 hours:
after lunch, i went back to my room and took nap, talk with my girlfriends through skype etc i still have no idea about how to solve this. im even not sure if this is bad or not. apparently at least i have to shorten this time.

don't have dinner with my friends:
-> because i was exhausted as i finished everything i wanted to do at around 11 pm. try to finish what i have to do earlier than 7 pm. otherwise i waste precious time with friends... this time is so important not only because it's a good chance to improve my speaking skill as well as listening ability. it is but also because i can get some interesting and valuable info from my friends from other countries.
----------------------


i wrote too much today too. but it's not so tough cuz i didn't take not so much to make this diary. i wanna write less though.

for all of you reading this diary, thanks so much for taking your time. i hope you have a good day today (or tomorrow)!

Posted at Sun Jan 23 23:16:18 UTC 2011
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/9564/journals/778537 http://www.lang-8.com/9564/journals/778537 Mattsun Sun Jan 23 23:16:18 UTC 2011 i guess the reason why i cannot continue something for a long time is that i try to make it perfect and do it so seriously and hard. its not fun at all and just so tough for me. how could i keep it?
today i just wanna look back at what i did today and write some good/bad points or lessons.

good things:
go to the gym and work out
-> i did the muscle training and ran for 30 min. i do train muscles once 2 days and run at least for 30 min every day.
this is kind of my "new year's resolution", i have decided to be strong physically, and through the way, i will try to be strong mentally as well.
go to the library and study for around 2 hours
-> i can say i concentrated on my work. i was not distracted by the internet etc which i spend too much time and regret.

bad thing:
wake up too late... probably 9:30
-> from my experience, i absolutely can say if you don't use your time in the morning well, you cannot have a meaningful day. you just waste a whole day.
ill try to get up by 830 today, don't try too hard so that i can make it habit
take a nap
-> this is because i eat too much in lunch and go back to my room afterwards. i should have gone to the library directory.

mmm i think i wrote way too much, i will have to do it simply to spend less time.

thanks for reading this, i wish you to have a great day today:)

Posted at Sat Jan 22 23:42:13 UTC 2011
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/9564/journals/777059 http://www.lang-8.com/9564/journals/777059 Mattsun Sat Jan 22 23:42:13 UTC 2011 It was breathtaking. I really enjoyed it!

I had one thing that I was especially impressed by. It's about the Japanese referee.

In second half, after Netherlands scored the first goal, both teams got excited and the game became so wild.

But the Japanese referee was really, really courageous and self-possessed, and finally made the game calm.
Particularly, it was surprising for me that he gave the red card to one of the players of Brazil. If I were him, I wouldn't do it in such a very, very big game. You know, a red card has huge influence to the game...

I was so happy to be Japanese which is the same as him.

Posted at Tue Jul 06 14:18:45 UTC 2010
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/9564/journals/545534 http://www.lang-8.com/9564/journals/545534 Mattsun Tue Jul 06 14:18:45 UTC 2010 Now I'm drinking in my apartment alone and somehow I really wanna make new entry.

I feel a little nervous because only 1 and half month is left in Japan. I'm going to Germany for about 1 year to study business administration as an exchange student of my college.
Approximately 80% of the classes are conducted in English. But I don't have confidence in my English. Actually, today I had an English discussion in a class. One of the members is American. I couldn't understand most of what he said and tell them what I want to convey. I was really, really mad at myself.

But I know it takes too much time to learn not native language and in any case I should keep studying every day. Sometimes, I feel I've gradually got better at my English. It's one of the greatest pleasure for me!

Now I don't know what I want to write...:(

I have a lot of things to do and I'm taking a shower for a change. Thank you very much for reading this entry!

Posted at Fri Jul 02 14:21:50 UTC 2010
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/9564/journals/541284 http://www.lang-8.com/9564/journals/541284 Mattsun Fri Jul 02 14:21:50 UTC 2010
One of the way to understand the hight of your caliber:
"what kind of results you come to be satisfied"

Whenever I think about this, I recall "Ichiro" (baseball player of Seattle Mariners).
He never get satisfied with any his great records. He always aim to accomplish harder records.
(Correctly saying, I guess, he feels happy when achieving something great, but he immediately forgets it, and switches his mind.)

Successful experiences must be forgot at once.

When I reach an aim, I should consider the way to reach it easily and earlier, besides how I succeed.

Posted at Mon Mar 29 10:04:18 UTC 2010
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/9564/journals/425307 http://www.lang-8.com/9564/journals/425307 Mattsun Mon Mar 29 10:04:18 UTC 2010
MORNING: mountain climbing
I got up 6:30a.m. this morning and get to meeting place, a station at 7:00a.m. I promised my friend to meet there at the time. But my friend mistook the time so I waited him for about 30 minutes. It cost 30 minutes from a station to the foot of the mountain.
We reached the top of the mountain at 9:00a.m. This means we shortened the time required to leave the foot to the top by 20 minutes!! We felt we've achieved something. The aim of our climbing is 50 minutes.

NIGHT: English-presentation lesson
I learned many, many things. Now I'm very sleepy so when I feel I'd like to write them, I'll do it in next diary.

I continue writing diaries 3 days.

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Posted at Fri Mar 12 16:51:19 UTC 2010
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/9564/journals/404757 http://www.lang-8.com/9564/journals/404757 Mattsun Fri Mar 12 16:51:19 UTC 2010
Assignment
"Would you introduce myself including your academic background and explain why you would like to learn English?"

Introduction:
Hello, everyone. My name is Mattsun. I'm 20 years old and in my second year of ○○ University. I'm going to go to Germany to study from September, 2010 to April, 2011. And after that, I plan to do internship in a company in Germany for several months and take a trip to European countries.

construction:
3points, one, be in the department of business administration and two, why I wanna to learn English and three, my new hobby, mountain climbing.

body:
Ⅰ．study business administration
1. the most interesting field I looked for when I was an high school student
2. because of dynamic and close relationship with real world
3. now I especially study accounting hard because figures don't tell a lie and also, it gives me very helpful information
Ⅱ．reasons to learn English
1. to study abroad
2. willingness to work abroad
3.
Ⅲ．my new hobby, mountain climbing
1. to strain my mind and body by Japanese traditional way
2. to refresh my mind and body thanks to beautiful trees, a river and mysterious atmosphere in mountains
3. be able to view beautiful scenery on the top of mountains
4. almost every morning I climb Mt.○○


Posted at Thu Mar 11 16:03:22 UTC 2010
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/9564/journals/403547 http://www.lang-8.com/9564/journals/403547 Mattsun Thu Mar 11 16:03:22 UTC 2010
I establish 2 aims:
1. I write 7 diaries in a week in March. (but I need NOT write a diary every day. It's OK when the total in a week is 7.) I wanna express fluently in English what I wanna say.
I plan to write as many entries as possible in Lang-8.

2. I climb mountains 1 time at least in a week. The purpose is to train my mind and body to prepare for upcoming difficulty. I hope mountain climbing becomes my new hobby.

Tomorrow's plan:
9:00a.m. start to climb a mountain with my friends
11:00a.m. get to the top and have lunch
11:45a.m. start to climb down the mountain
13:30p.m. get to my apartment
14:00p.m. try lessons of English for free in an English-conversation school
15:30p.m. finish it
17:00p.m. do part-time job
21:30p.m. finish it
22:00p.m. study EU especially Euro
23:30p.m. prepare for the next day's lesson of presentation in English. (Concretely, prepare for introducing myself)


Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Posted at Wed Mar 10 14:34:24 UTC 2010
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/9564/journals/402136 http://www.lang-8.com/9564/journals/402136 Mattsun Wed Mar 10 14:34:24 UTC 2010 At the end of the seminar, there was question's time. And in the last of it, I raised my hand and spoke this:

"First of all, I don't have questions because I'm not good at English, and didn't fully understand. I want only to convey my gratitude. Thank you for coming all the way to hold this seminar and giving us powerful presentation.
Thank you very much indeed."

Then, he told me "You're so gentle. This is my first time to be said "Thank you" Japanese people's good point is "to tell their gratitude"."
I don't remember the detail, but roughly he told me so.

I decide to continue conveying my gratitude from now on.

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

= - = - = - = - = - = - = - = -

Today, I finished the exams!! It was a long way and so hard, but now I have a feeling of achievement. I'm glad.
I wish I could changed only one thing: I didn't prepare enough for today's test. It means I probably didn't have good score, although today's test is important.
But I don't regret so much because it was over and there's nothing I can do about it.
I'll reflect and improve next time.

Posted at Wed Feb 10 14:09:56 UTC 2010
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/9564/journals/368132 http://www.lang-8.com/9564/journals/368132 Mattsun Wed Feb 10 14:09:56 UTC 2010 These are good for me due to having a lot of knowledge of business.
Especially, accounting is great because these entertain me and give useful knowledge.
Preparing for exams is a lot of fun...

Then, let's start studying again.

Posted at Sun Jan 31 01:18:19 UTC 2010
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/9564/journals/355947 http://www.lang-8.com/9564/journals/355947 Mattsun Sun Jan 31 01:18:19 UTC 2010 I should get only a little sleep, which is enough amount not to disturb my concentration.
I'm also planning to divide sleeping hours into several short times in order to keep my concentration.
Then, I'll sleep about 3 hours and work for tomorrow hard.

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

Posted at Tue Jan 26 16:15:31 UTC 2010
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/9564/journals/351571 http://www.lang-8.com/9564/journals/351571 Mattsun Tue Jan 26 16:15:31 UTC 2010
First of all, I should get the handouts, the info about the exams, and the questions put in the past, because I haven't much gone to classes. Whenever I prepare for exams, I regret that I didn't much attend classes. But I always don't start to attend classes, though I understand it's not good...

I always want to think of everything positively. For example, in this time, I have the good opportunity to study business administration in many respects. I'm aiming to learn a lot of things.

At the same time, I'm planning to keep on learning English. Although I reduce the time to learn it, but I'll go on doing it every day. Also, of course, I want to continue writing diaries.

Then, I'm going to college, and working hard!!

Thank you for taking the time to read.


Posted at Tue Jan 26 02:10:34 UTC 2010
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/9564/journals/350747 http://www.lang-8.com/9564/journals/350747 Mattsun Tue Jan 26 02:10:34 UTC 2010
Before we gave interview, we had listening test for 20 odd minutes. It was difficult because speaking speed is so fast and I wasn't used to this type of test so I was at a loss to do the next during the test.

And after this, we made 5 pairs, and in turn, the pairs gave the oral exam. My turn was third.

The examiners were 2. First of all, we introduced ourselves in English for about 2 minutes. And I said like this:

"Hello, my name is "Mattsun" (of course, at the time I told my real name). I'm 20 years old. I was born in ○○ City in ○○ Prefecture. It's famous for its onions. Now I lived in ○○ alone. (* ○○ = a place name)

I like basketball, and also the popular basketball comic, "SLAM DUNK" written by Takehiko Inoue. I got my start for basketball from "SLAM DUNK". I've read it over 100 times until now.

Well,,, although the time was late when I decided to study abroad and started to learn English, so now I'm not good at English certainly, but I'm really serious and almost every day I learn English for 6 hours a day.

I believe my good points are that I'm hardworking, patient, and I have guts and competitive spirits. Particularly my best point is hardworking. I think this is the most important. Thomas Edison also says "Genius is one per cent inspiration and ninety nine per cent perspiration." I agree.

When I study abroad, I want to make a girlfriend with a foreign student. ,,, But seriously, the most thing I put my effort to is to speak up and express my thoughts and opinions in classes, and of course, to prepare for and review them. You might think these are natural and basic. But I think it's courageous and it's not easy to continue thoroughly to do it. And second, I want to actively talk to overseas students and make a lot of friends. This attitude will enable me to develop my ability to speak English and improve each other in many respects. And of course, talking with friends is a lot of fun. That's all, thank you."

I was glad to make 2 examiner and the friend taking the interview with me laugh when I said "When I study abroad, I want to make a girlfriend with a foreign student.".
It's by later February when I'll know if I go abroad to study.

Posted at Sat Jan 23 20:03:03 UTC 2010
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/9564/journals/348519 http://www.lang-8.com/9564/journals/348519 Mattsun Sat Jan 23 20:03:03 UTC 2010
I think the key is "continuation". I heard from persons who can communicate in English that they continued to learn English and then the day was suddenly coming when they were able to hear clearly, read quickly and of course make sense, even if they didn't try to change how to learn English. A number of people similarly said this. In other words, persons who cannot speak English give up before they reach "critical point". (Of course, efficiency makes the span long or short.)

But big obstacle is on this way. It's that until you reach "critical point", you cannot feel your development, for examples, you cannot hear and read English, and also cannot speak and write well. You will get to think "Oh, in spite of all your efforts, your English is only little better.".
In addition, beginners should memorize a lot of things, such as, words, expressions, grammars, pronunciations, and so on. This is another obstacle because it's boring and troublesome.

Then, what are important in order to continue? 5 points are important, I think, which are "enjoy learning", "have purposes and concrete aims", "think always about why you cannot speak foreign language, and how to improve it", "force yourself overwork", and "watch your step-by-step progress".

Let me see, I'm finishing once this entry, and if I'll feel like writing the rest, I'll do.
Thank you for taking the time to read this.

(One may say that although Japanese learn English 6 years when they are in a junior high school and senior high school, but most of them cannot speak English. This is long. So continuation isn't important.
But I think this is wrong. Because many learn it not to acquire it but only to pass examinations. This is NOT "really" continuation.)

Posted at Tue Dec 29 16:24:31 UTC 2009
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/9564/journals/324711 http://www.lang-8.com/9564/journals/324711 Mattsun Tue Dec 29 16:24:31 UTC 2009 I woke up once at AM7:00, but at the time I was very sleepy and I slept again. Finally I got up at AM10:00. This is nothing except wasting time.
I was supposed to study with my friends AM8:00~9:00 in our university, that is, not only I lost my previous time but also I didn't keep our promise.

I determine to never oversleep and to spend time more efficiently. I wanna communicate in English, so I should make plan and have more time studying English especially early morning and late at night,

This is my resolution. Thank you for your reading.


Posted at Tue Dec 22 14:13:31 UTC 2009
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/9564/journals/319125 http://www.lang-8.com/9564/journals/319125 Mattsun Tue Dec 22 14:13:31 UTC 2009 Although I'm a beginner of English, I'm planning to study abroad, and I wanna communicate well in English.
Thank you for your reading and I look forward to see you again.

Posted at Mon Dec 21 11:45:38 UTC 2009
]]> http://www.lang-8.com/9564/journals/318111 http://www.lang-8.com/9564/journals/318111 Mattsun Mon Dec 21 11:45:38 UTC 2009