May 12, 2009

Convenient Ideas to Fit Audio Books around Your Daily Routine

Filed under: Language Resources, Multimedia Infos, Reading Books — admin @ 2:41 pm

John Stott on the Bible and the Christian Life by John Stott might be an entertaining book, but busy life styles make that troublesome to do. Sometimes we don’t notice that extended journeys to the office and other chores may take up large chunks of our time. Working, caring for children or even looking after your home all reduce the free time you have for your hobbies. If you love learning and find it problematic to find any time, journeys to work may be an opportunity to enjoy listening to an audiobook. Using user friendly technology, it’s easy to indulge in It Takes a Village by Hillary Rodham Clinton by Download Audio Book Online, or audiobooks narrated by John Stewart when you are excercising.

Making the best of your day is fast becoming unavoidable these days. Audible books such as Thinking For A Change by John C. Maxwell available from Download Audio Book Online fill the dead time in our daily routine, whether it is waiting time in a physician’s office or buying groceries. Audio books are now obtainable to download as mp3 data files these include Pimsleur Japanese III Complete Course by Dr. Paul Pimsleur, so grab your mp3 player and hook it up to your car stereo and use the opportunity to check out the current best seller, for instance audio-books penned by Thomas Sowell without carrying heavy books with you.

The benefits of audiobooks include hiring or purchasing the instructional volume of your choice then listening to it in your own time. How about studying another language? Try an audio-book! Maybe innovative sales techniques matter to you, you can even discover religious or spiritual trends. A sizable selection of literary genres and titles exist. Whether you love history, or if you are nuts over politics even if your interested in self-help, it’s easy to download most titles immediately. Various plans are available; you can subscribe to a service and hire your choice of audiobook or else purchase the title outright.

Reading will always have its place, even so the most convenient way might be the myriad of audio titles available today. Some chronicles, such as audio titles recounted by Harry Beckwith, can be more gratifying when narrated by the author or an actor. Just reading a novel is not quite the same as enjoying audio books recounted by Malcolm Hulke, including refinements of an actual performance. Enjoying audio titles recounted by John C. Maxwell will add something special to your reading experience and frequently go much deeper the written words. So the next time in future when you consider purchasing a volume that might collect dust on a shelf, think of an audiobook as a different option.

March 15, 2009

Enriching Your Everyday Schedule with Audible Books

Filed under: Language Resources, Multimedia Infos, Reading Books — admin @ 6:19 am

Street Dreams by Faye Kellerman might be a gratifying book, but busy life styles often make that challenging to achieve. Long journeys to the office and day to day tasks might consume sizable chunks of time without you seeing it. A demanding career, taking care of kids or looking after your family all cut back the free time available to persue your hobbies. You can use the time spent commuting to catch up on those books you can’t get around to reading. With convenient downloads, it’s simple to spoil yourself with He Comes Next by Ian Kerner for sale from Download Audio Book Online, or audiobooks narrated by Ralph Steadman when you are busy doing other things.

Today multitasking now becoming a must. Audible books like Knowing God Intimately by Joyce Meyer by Download Audio Book Online occupy the squandered moments in our daily routine, it could be waiting time at the doctor’s surgery or possibly grocery shopping. Many audio books may be downloaded straightaway in mp3 format these include Split Second by David Baldacci, so make use of your mp3 player and hook it up to your car’s audio system and take the chance to listen to a thriller or a wonderful novel, like audible books penned by Shel Silverstein without dragging cumbersome books with you.

To learn more, we recommend you go to our incredible resource for Pimsleur Russian I, II, & III Complete Course by Dr. Paul Pimsleur suggestions.

Another advantage of audio titles is renting or purchasing the instructional volume of your choice and savoring it at your leisure. Do you wish to learn a foreign language? Try audio-books! Maybe the latest sales techniques are your thing, you can even explore religious or spiritual trends. Audio-books are obtainable in a tremendous assortment of titles and literary genres. Whether you like history, nuts over biographies or even interested in health and fitness, you can download most titles immediately. Various options are available; you can simply take a subscription to a rental program or purchase what appeals to you. Reading enthusiasts will invariably find a place for reading, even so the thousands of audio titles available offer convenience. Numerous stories, such as audiobooks performed by Dave Gorman, can be even better when recounted by the writer or an illustrious actor. Reading a title is not quite the same as savoring audio books narrated by Jerry Robbins, including refinements of an actual rendition. Savoring audio books recounted by Anita Shreve will contribute more depth to your enjoyment of reading and often go much deeper the words on a page.

The next time whenever you are thinking of purchasing the hard copy of a book that could easily gather dust on a shelf, think of an audio-book as a different choice.

February 5, 2008

Japanese Verb Myths: Part 1

Filed under: Language Resources — admin @ 10:08 pm

The road to understanding Japanese in littered with lies. These lies aren’t intended to harm. The fact is, in the beginning the lies seem natural and helpful. They help make the language ‘feel’ closer to our native language (English, most likely). Unfortunately, the more knowledge you try to pile on the top of these lies, the more your house of learning resembles a home built on a foundation of sponges. Instead of helping, these myths only make life harder.

At points, they can make you wonder:

  • “Why can’t I understand Japanese?”

  • “What’s wrong with me?”
  • “I must just be stupid.”

When I started taking a formal Japanese class a few months ago, I realized how harmful those ‘friendly lies’ can be. I noticed that a class full of people who had completed almost three quarters of a textbook still couldn’t conjugate verbs in a negative plain form. I realized that it was difficult for my classmates to naturally conjugate an adjective. It was more than simple memory slips - my classmates genuinely didn’t understand how verbs worked. Though they had the benefit of a native Japanese teacher, and classroom conversation time, still, the basic verb seemed to evade them.

I realised, as the class progressed, that my classmates were victims of a number of myths that I had also faced. These myths seem inherent in most of the learning materials for students. Unless you are the kind of person who looks at an inconstancy, and really searches to find out why that inconsistancy is there, it’s easy to drink in these lies, until they grow so big they claw their way out of your brain, and go skittering into the night. .

So over the course of the next week, I’m going to post up all of the myths I’ve learned about Japanese verbs, and how you can defeat them. Hopefully you’ll find them helpful.

Know Your Verb! (Some myths about Japanese Verbs as seen from a student of Japanese)

Desu = Is

If you think ‘desu’ = is, congratulations, you are about to defeat your first big myth about Japanese.

Let me make this clear:
DESU DOES NOT MEAN IS!

Not today, not tomorrow, not ever. Desu is a word that has no equivilant in English. In short, it makes what you are saying more polite. This is exactly, word for word, what a Japanese friend told me.

Okay, but what about:

Kore wa penu desu
This is a pen.
(This is possibly the most inane sentence ever)

Doesn’t desu mean is in that sentence?

Now we get to the real secret of desu. Desu will sometimes pretend to mean is, if it is the last word in the sentence, and if there isn’t a more active verb at the end of your sentence. It’s exactly the same thing as using the masu form of a verb to make a verb more polite (The Masu Myth we will defeat next).

So why does believing that desu = is give me problems?

Because, a whole bunch of the time, desu doesn’t mean is at all. Further, if you try to think ‘desu’ means ‘is’ it will only confuse you to what’s really going on in a sentance.

EG:

Kore wa penu ja nai.
This, a pen, is not.

(casual)

Kore wa penu ja nai desu.
This, a pen, is not
(more polite - not normally heard, but gramatically correct
and equivilant to penu ja arimasen)

Kore wa penu ja nai ‘n desu.
This, a pen, is not.
(I’m saying this to explain something - see previous post:
no da/no desu. Polite. Seen often.)

If you believe (as I did) that ja nai means ‘is not’ and desu means ‘is’, the last two sentances are a complete mind-twist.

Lit: This, a pen is not, is …WTF!

You may convince yourself: well, something like that is just an exception to the rule, and memorize it. But if you are forced to memorize everything that is an exception to the desu = is myth, eventually, you will quickly experiece desu burnout. You also really run into trouble when you meet the word has a meaning a lot closer to is: (what the Genki textbook calls the ‘plain form’ of desu, though calling it a plain for of desu is more of the ‘desu’ = ‘is’ crap)

Da
Is (in the sense of ‘this is a pen’)

I say a lot closer to is, because the word ‘is’ in English is a lot different than ‘is’ in Japanese. Japanese has a bunch of different kinds of words to express existence. The most common ones you will meet are:

da, aru (inanimate objects exist), iru (animate objects exist)

Also, because you tend to drop redundant parts of the sentence in Japanese, sometimes the word ‘is’ will be left off entirely. Finally, the word ‘is’ is wrapped up in every other verb, depending on how you conjugate it (which is why you don’t need to use a ‘to be’ verb to say, I am going to the store - Mise ni itte iru) We will get into that more as more myths are busted.

I hope this helps clear up points of confusion with desu/da.

Future myths busted:

  • The Masu Form (it’s not the real deal)
  • Adjectives and Verbs: One and the Same
  • How to conjugate verbs and adjectives without sweating blood

About The Author
Minna Shiawase is an avid Japanese student and fan of Japanese culture. Read more about Japanese grammer at her blog, AI Love Bunpou.

December 4, 2007

Language Translation To Count On

Filed under: Language Resources — admin @ 3:07 pm

What is more frustrating than not having language translation abilities? It could be that you think you have found them and find out down the line that they are nowhere near as good as you needed them to be. Regardless of why you need language translation services, there is no doubt that you need high quality products and services to use. You don’t need someone with broken language skills to do your translation work for you. The problem often is that you will not realize the quality of your language translation until you have had the ability to converse with the individual or company one on one. Most of the time, this is too late though.

So the question is then, how do you find the right language translation products and services that you need and that you can rely on? While this is difficult to give a clear cut answer to, it helps to know someone well enough on the other side. The good news is that those who speak other languages tend to know English anyway, so they can help in telling you if what your language translation services provide for you was accurate and that it made good sense.

When you begin your search for language translation, make sure that you consider several things. That old saying of, “You get what you pay for” rings quite true here. If you find that something is less than high quality, you are going to get burned later on. In other words, take the time to find the right options for your language translation before it gets too far down the road. Language translation can be done in many ways. For example, a real person could do the work for you. Or, you can find quality language translation software programs as well. Then, of course, there are all the other options in between to consider as well. And, do just that, consider them. Language translation is key to your success after all.

For more information please see www.language-translation-help.co.uk