So, one guy said, referring to those English-learning Japanese blogo-diarists who write everyday, "Well, their English is so good that they might have no problem writing diaries in English everyday.  No wonder it seems so easy they are doing that, y'know.  And . . ."

I couldn't help but cut in with some killing instinct in my cute big eyes, "Well, I believe 'writing English everyday' made their English better, and it didn't happen in just a day or two.  Considering what they have been through to get there, I guess there'd be million other better ways to praise their achievements."

While saying so, I felt huge rush of hate adrenaline pumping up through my entire body.  I really wanted this creepy little so hopelessly stupid & arrogant toad dead.  On what grounds did he come up with such a stupid notion?  

One of so many great things about their blogs is that you can compare their English now to their English at the very beginning.  It's just so mesmerizing and enlightening to see their improvements so clearly, which I suppose is the greatest encouragement to so many English learning bloggers.  Also, it must be so tough and difficult for them to keep on writing everyday, to which I pay my highest respect.

One very unfortunate thing about their blogs is that it's just tough to see how they've struggled to motivate themselves to write their diaries every single day.  All we see is pretty much the consequences, not the process.

They'd say, "I'm so lazy by nature.  So, if I skipped a day or two, I feel like I wouldn't be able to write again forever."  They are in fact very modest when it comes to their achievements.  Well, everybody thinks just like they do, but only a few of them can actually proceed to put into action.

Does it seem so easy?  Maybe for them it is INDEED easy.  And that's why their English has improved so dramatically to be able to write so fluently.  Which means those who think otherwise wouldn't be able to hack it?  Probably!

◆  JOE  ◆        

●      ●      ●
We're participating in ranking.

We'd really appreciate if you could vote for this blog, which cheers us up so much!

Who is your favorite blogo-diarist here on this English-Diary ranking site?  Mine's a Japanese kid living in the States.  It's just so good, and once you start reading it, you just can't stop it.  I'm totally a big fan.

Kids see things differently, but the way she describes things with her English is, to me, so mesmerizing.  It might be some sort of innate ability given to her, but she depicts and illustrates things comically yet precisely.  Best of all, she makes me happy with her English.

She calls sharks 'funny fish'.  FUNNY FISH!  Or, when she talks about a fish food for a tiny goldfish, she says 'fish food that can be very tiny or a little bigger than very tiny'!  A little bigger than very tiny, it just kills me so happily.

Probably the percipient radar she possesses is what I somewhat lost long time ago completely, and I know there's no way I can repossess it.  Honestly I envy her.  She's a real thing.  A gifted writer, that's what she is.

By the way, those blogs ranked between 100 and 150 here are usually the ones that haven't been posted for many months or have been apparently deserted or have been just opened.  Well, her blog is usually somewhere around there, though she writes often, like, every other day or so.  That breaks my heart, especially imagining what comes into her mind when she faces it.

However, she probably doesn't want and need my charity and compassion, which came from grown-ups' perspectives.  She seems to be a tough kid, and probably she'd go like, "Hey big guy, mind your own business!"

◆  JOE  ◆        

●      ●      ●
We're participating in ranking.

We'd really appreciate if you could vote for this blog, which cheers us up so much!

Some of those English-learning Japanese blogo-diarists post diaries revised & reworded by their tutors.  It's a great idea and certainly one of the best sources to learn English from.  However, I still wonder why there aren't many tutors pointing at the logical aspects of the common mistakes that we, English-learning Japanese bloggers, make.  For instance, I have seen none of them explaining why the following sentence is wrong.

"It must be a bad year for workers because many of them are leaving the country."
Why the sentence is illogical is that the clause 'many of them are leaving the country' doesn't explain why it is a bad year for workers.  To resolve this, one grammar site suggests that the sentence should be rewritten as; "It must be a bad year for workers, as evidenced by the fact that many of them are leaving the country."

So 'many of them are leaving the country' is a fact, and the fact is the evidence, not the reason.  You see?

Another common logical mistake that we make is something like,

"I went to the store with my friend because I wanted to buy a sweater."
When I read this, first I wondered if there's any special reason that the author has to go to the store WITH YOUR FRIEND to get a sweater.  Is it like a giant sweater that you need a big help from your friends to bring home?  If you need assistance from your friends to walk or talk or both, you might need your friends to go there with you.  Or something good happens if you go there with your friend, like you get a special discount or something.  Otherwise it sounds questionable, I think.

Second, I even think "I went to the store because I wanted to buy a sweater" sounds somewhat strange, for the following reason.  You don't usually go to THE store when you need A sweater, except there's only one store available to you to buy anything you wear.  Usually, you go to THE store TO buy a sweater BECAUSE it's on sale or other reasons.  To me, 'because I wanted to buy a sweater' is too weak a reason to sound logically correct.

Meanwhile, it might be a great idea to write English diaries without using 'because'.

◆  JOE  ◆        

●      ●      ●
We're participating in ranking.

We'd really appreciate if you could vote for this blog, which cheers us up so much!

A week ago, my son asked a question. "Is it true that Santa Claus gives me a Christmas present?"
"Why do you ask that question? Don't you believe in Santa Claus?" I asked him in return.
"Yesterday, while we were having lunch at school, one of my classmates said, "Santa Claus doesn't exist. It is your parents that give you a Christmas present every year. Anybody who thinks that Santa Claus gives you a present, raise your hand!""
"Then, what did you do?" I asked him with impish eyes.
"Well, no one raised their hand. SO, I didn't do it, either." He said.

"So that means you believe in Santa Claus? Or you doubt the existence of Santa Claus?"
"Truth be told, I'm not sure right now. In the first place, how can he enter my house at night? He doesn't have a key to my house. Besides, our house doesn't have a chimney."

"If you want to know the truth, you should act like Detective Conan." I advised him.
"So, can I shut Dad & Mom into a room all through the night of Christmas Eve? Then you two won't be able to put some presents somewhere in my house, I guess."
"If you wanna do it, go ahead. But, can you sleep alone with your sister during the night?"
"Noooo, I can't. I totally forgot the fact that I cannot sleep without you, Mom. I thought that's a good idea..." he said regretfully.

"Mom, if you are my Santa Claus, please don't hesitate to say so. Even if what you say is really shocking, I'm sure I won't feel hurt at all."
"Anyway, you'd better wait until Christmas. We'll see."
He didn't look convinced at my explanation, but he also didn't try to extract any more information from me.

Apparently, my son hardly believe in Santa Claus. Maybe he just wants us to tell him directly the truth about Santa Claus. What should we do? Should we tell him the truth, or leave it to take its own course?

On the morning of Dec. 23rd, my son & daughter accepted their presents. This year, Santa Claus came here 2 days earlier than usual. Maybe HE wanted to see their happy faces ASAP.
My son got 2 plastic models. My daughter got a lovely watch, which she called 'Ude-Tokei' instead of 'Ude-Dokei', and a fantastic picture story book.

Since then, he hasn't asked me who Santa Claus is. He's been wanting those models for months. Now that he got them, he is too busy playing with his models to solve the mystery of Santa Claus.
Or, the question "Do you believe in Santa Claus?" might not be so important to him now. 'Cause the person who gives him some wonderful presents is definitely Santa Claus to him.

◇ ◇　Karen ◇ ◇        

We're participating in ranking.

We'd really appreciate if you could vote for this blog, which cheers us up so much!

Most of Sheldons have been gone, and now Grishams seem to be the dominated figure on the bookshelves at BOOK OFF, if excluding that 'Potter' stuff.  It's always amazing to see how quickly most of Sheldon's books are gone even though priced 500 yen or more, while three of Dan Brown's bestsellers have been there untouched for months at the price around 300 yen.  I bet it was just a trendy thing in the past to read Brown, and it's long gone.  I just can't wait to see how Brown's new book, supposed to be released sometime next year, will be.  Like, another slam-bang bestseller or . . .?

By the way I know I might get a better deal with Amazon, but I'm the type that has to hold it with my own hands and feel it.  Yeah, buying a book is a far more sacred & spiritual event than merely obtaining a thick bundle of paper.  I have to feel it, I have to sense it, I have to smell it (if necessary), and I have to listen to the voice of the book that I hold in my hands.  Oh, yes, I'm crazy.

I know this might sound way ridiculous, but honestly the factors other than the story or author, such as the design, fonts, and printing condition play a very important role to make me decide to have it or not.  In fact, there were several occasions in which I've stopped reading a book because the book didn't meet with (or fulfill) one of the conditions listed above.

Well, the feelings that I get when I open the page for the first time stand as the predominant factor.  I guess, I am not that crazy after all, huh?

◆  JOE  ◆        

●      ●      ●
We're participating in ranking.

We'd really appreciate if you could vote for this blog, which cheers us up so much!

"First of all, 'diary' is usually something you write daily, and that's way it's called 'diary'," a friend of mine told me last night when we were talking about English-learning Japanese diarists.  Later that night I looked it up, 'diary': 1) a record of evens, transactions, or observations kept daily or at frequent intervals, especially a daily record of personal activities, reflections, or feelings.

Well, I'm not sure how 'frequent' it should be, but I can safely assume that something written once or twice a week might not be considered as 'diary'.  Karen, we may have a serious fundamental problem here!

Well, there are many English-learning diarists here on this ranking site, but how many of them literally keep diaries?  I mean, how many of them write everyday?  As a matter of fact, I've already checked it, and found out only a handful of them post their diaries everyday.

Then who are we, Karen, if we are not diarists?  Columnists?  Like, OP/ED columnists?  Well, that sounds so much cooler, though.  Yeah, from now on, we are columnists!  OK?  But that doesn't mean we have to move out from here or anything.  RIGHT?

◆  JOE  ◆        

●      ●      ●
By the way, December 23rd is the day of Festivus, yeah, 'A Festivus for the rest of us!' ●      ●      ●
We're participating in ranking.

We'd really appreciate if you could vote for this blog, which cheers us up so much!

I don't get it.  I just don't get it!

There are many bloggers list their blogs on にほんブログ村's 英語ブログ ranking site.  Here is my question: How come some of them don't write about English even though they categorize their blogs as English-Blog?  When you go there, you expect to read something about English.  Yet they predominantly talk about something else, like their pets, their families, Japanese dramas, and etc, ALL IN JAPANESE!  

Wouldn't you feel DECEIVED and BETRAYED?  I WOULD.  It's like going to an Italian restaurant and finding out that only Italian food they serve is pizza, and the rest is something unrelated to Italian food, like Indian, Mexican, Chinese, etc.  Then, you would cuss like "You shouldn't call yourself 'Italian restaurant'!" wouldn't you?  I WOULD, most definitely with a bunch of f-words.

Are they really English-learning bloggers?  How serious are they?  I just keep on wondering things like that whenever I go there.  And I think they shouldn't call themselves 'English-Blogger' if the majority of topics they talk about on their blogs aren't related to English.  Or at least they should get the hell out of the ranking site.  It's a matter of moral principle, don't you think?

Meanwhile, bloggers here on the English-Diary category are strict to the policy.  They all write in English.  (That's the way it should be!)  For that, I feel comfortable, and I feel like we are all in one big family that shares one thing in common no matter how different we are.  

I believe that bloggers here are true English learners, regardless of how often they post.  But there are bloggers who post their English diaries every single day!  If there were something like the Most Valuable Blogger award (MVB), it should be given to them.  

◆  JOE  ◆        

●      ●      ●
We're participating in ranking.

We'd really appreciate if you could vote for this blog, which cheers us up so much!

Obviously it's best to be 'grammatical and natural', but as we all know, life isn't so easy and we aren't so fortunate.  And from time to time, you may have to choose between 'grammatical but unnatural' and 'natural and ungrammatical' for your English to a certain degree.

And I LOVE, I mean, I LOOOVE those who would rather choose to be told 'your English is grammatical but unnatural'!  They think speaking & writing grammatically correct English is the most important thing.  Speaking and writing natural English is only optional.

Yes, that's beautiful, and I love them all, honestly.

They usually attack on the ambiguity of the term 'natural', saying "For instance, if you speak perfect regional slang, you might be considered very 'natural' in the region.  But you might not be so in other regions; moreover, your English might not even be understandable."

They'd proclaim "Natural in one place doesn't mean natural in other places."  (OH, YES!)

The same logic applies to idiomatic phrases.  They argue that the acceptability of idiomatic phrases changes as time goes by, saying "One idiom that was commonly used 50 years ago might not be acceptable and understandable now."

They'd conclude "'Once natural' doesn't mean 'always natural'."  (WAY TO GO!)

They say "as long as your English is grammatical, you are grammatical anywhere you go.  (THAT'S SO RIGHT!)  Grammatical means understandable, and that's why everyone understands your English wherever you go.  Also, something grammatical 50 years ago is still grammatical and still understandable!"  (ANOTHER MOMENT OF ENLIGHTENMENT!)

They'd declare the victory, "ONCE GRAMMATICAL, ALWAYS GRAMMATICAL."

OF COURSE, they all have guts and are fully ready to confront harsh criticisms, such as
1) People just like you, who claim 'grammatically correct English is the most important thing', sound almost always so helplessly & awfully Japanese, 2) I'm almost convinced, but tell me one thing - 'How come your English is so bad?', 3) Do you know what 'redundant' means?, 4) You might know what 'grammatical' is, but here is another - 'bad English'- that's what you don't seem to know or understand, 5) Before you mind the usage of prepositions, mind your redundancy rate, 6) Have you ever heard anything about 'begging question'?, 7) You are only saying that because you are too lazy to expose yourself to 'real' English.  Right?, 8) Before you mind the present perfect tense, mind 'pronouns', so that you can at least cut down your redundancy rate by 20%, 9) You are only saying that as an excuse for having failed to obtain natural English while you were in one of those English speaking countries.  Right?, 10) Are you one of those people who cannot say a word in front of foreigners, and pretend you don't speak English at all?, 11) A typical loser's mentality, that's what it is!

Oh, please don't get me wrong, these awful thoughts have never come across my mind.

◆  JOE  ◆        

●      ●      ●
We're participating in ranking.

We'd really appreciate if you could vote for this blog, which cheers us up so much!

Different people have different goals to achieve in English.  And that's why we have different ways to study English.  If your goal is to maximize your comprehension abilities, you'd spend more time on enhancing your vocabulary and the knowledge of idiomatic phrases.  Some people call such learners 'input-oriented English learners', or 'inputters' for short.   If your goal is to be fluent in writing or speaking, you'd mainly work on improving your writing and speech.  Some people refer such learners to 'output-oriented English learners', or 'outputters'.

But output-oriented English learners are also input-oriented, since you cannot write words that you don't understand.  And that's why there are some English-learning-blogger watchers call them 'ultimate English learners'.

By the way, there are English learners that claim themselves as 'outputters' but don't do much writing or speaking.  They are called 'pseudo-output-oriented English learners', or 'fake-outputters'.

One lady, a friend of Kei's, once told me she's so happy to be an inputter.  She reads one of her favorite Silhouette Books (those romance books like HarleQuin novels) everyday.  She reads it slowly, and she writes down every single word and phrase that she doesn't understand.  Then she spends great many hours to look them up on online dictionaries and writes them down on her so-neatly-arranged vocabulary book.  That's when she feels the joy of learning English.

She thinks she's so lucky to be an input-oriented English learner, because she doesn't have to confront her own English.  She said, "All you have to do is just learn.  You don't get disappointed by your own English.  And you don't have to deal with people constantly picking on your grammatical errors.  Above all, there're obviously less pain, less struggle and less confrontation."

And she concluded, "I think input-oriented English learners are so much happier than outputters.  It's just little bit troublesome to deal with those outputters who look down on us as underachievers!"

---------------------
By the way, please don't underrate those Silhouette Books.  They might not be considered as 'literature', but they are a great source to learn about contemporary English, seriously.  For those ladies who don't like literature or thriller, they are the best book to read.

◆  JOE  ◆        

●      ●      ●
We're participating in ranking.

We'd really appreciate if you could vote for this blog, which cheers us up so much!

I can't say I have a large vocabulary in English. In the first place, I don't like to study with 'building your vocabulary' type of books. I once tried one of those books, then a week later, I quit studying with it. It was SO boring. That didn't make me going.

Speaking of vocabulary, do you know the words 'active vocabulary' & 'passive vocabulary'?

LONGMAN Dictionary says;
active vocabulary = the words someone can use
passive vocabulary = the words someone can understand, but does not use

Just memorizing the definition of the word written in the dictionary is not so effective. By doing so, you might be able to increase your 'passive' vocabulary, but that won't lead to the acquisition of large 'active' vocabulary.
If you want to use a lot of words properly, you have to understand HOW people use the words. For instance, WHEN & WHERE those phrases are used. WHO uses them.

In order to know how the word is used, you have to come across the word on some dramas. All you need is to watch someone use the phrase in a real situation or conversation. If you bump into some phrases on dramas, you'll be able to use them in the same situation in your real life.

For instance,
If you want to ask a favor of someone politely, you can say, "I was wondering if you would..."
If you're saying something nagative about someone, you can say, "No offense, but..."

It is also important to know the speaker's facial expressions or intonation. If you put your feelings into phrases, your words will get more active & vivid.

Anyway, watch dramas or movies! And you'll be able to know how to use words & phrases effectively.

◇ ◇　Karen ◇ ◇        

We're participating in ranking.

We'd really appreciate if you could vote for this blog, which cheers us up so much!

To tell you the truth, I'm not sure what the Karen identity is like. I don't pay careful attention to concealing my real identity. I always talk frankly about my family, my opinion... All of them are true.

On the Internet, you could have a double identity, like, a Jekyll and Hide personality. If I want, I could be a 20-year-old 'knockout' or a 45-year-old handsome lady-killer ... but I don't wanna pretend to be a different person. I don't think it's fun to lie about myself.

I am a full-time housewife with two children. I am in my late 30s. That's me.

What if I lie about myself, like, "I've lived in Brooklyn, NY, for 10 years. I am a perfect bilingual"?
After reading this 'fake' profile, some people would overestimate my ability in English. They might regard my silly grammatical mistakes as 'native-speaker-like' expressions. Much more people might praise my English.

But that kind of praise would get me nowhere. I keep this blog not because I want someone to praise me but because I want someone to do justice to my English. All I want is your frank & candid opinion. I think my detailed profile might cloud reader's judgment. That's why I don't talk about my background so much, especially in the area of English abilities, whether it is brilliant or not.

I don't think some people are really interested in my personal history. But I thought some might wonder what OUR history is like (lol). As Joe said before, there's nothing romantic between Joe and me...
Are you a little disappointed? Or, if you are a big fan of his, you must feel relieved so much.
Only passion for English connects us. If one of us lose those passions, this 'Joe & Karen' combination will break up.

I don't hesitate to reveal my real identity, but I don't feel like talking about it right now. I don't know why, but I just want to leave everything as the way it is now. If you wanna know, I might tell you about my and our history in detail in the future. It could be 2 weeks later, six months later, 20 years from now, or NEVER.

◇ ◇　Karen ◇ ◇        

We're participating in ranking.

We'd really appreciate if you could vote for this blog, which cheers us up so much!

When I started this blog about 8 months ago, I kept maintaining it secretly. My only reader was my friend Joe.

One day he said, "You should write something in English being aware that some people might read your articles. If you know someone reads your pieces, you will try to make your English simpler & easier to read."

In my real life, I don't have any friends studying English. So I didn't know who I should tell about my blog. Then I realized, "If I participate in some ranking site, some might read my blog." That's why I registered my blog with the ranking site 'Blog-Mura.' Blog-Mura ranking has an 'English diary' category. "I might have a chance to talk to other diarists," I thought, and my expectations were fully realized.

The important thing is to write English thinking "someone might read it." Honestly, I don't feel depressed even if I don't get many comments on my piece regularly. Receiving a comment once in a while is good enough to satisfy me. I can think, "You read my piece! Somebody read my English!" That encourages me to write more.

My co-blogger Joe has kept posting. He said, 'the total number of visitors and comments has been declining ever since I came back here' kind of thing, but I don't think so. For example, I didn't get any comments on my blog during August. But I didn't feel sad at all. I just enjoyed writing English at that time. "No comment" didn't discourage me from writing English.

I will NEVER stop Joe. Because I invited him to write something in English on my blog. I'm always very proud of being his co-blogger and I officially announce that I am a big fan of Joe's. I'm not going to talk about our history in detail, but one thing; He is the one who praised my English for the first time & taught me the pleasure of writing English.

Don't stop posting, Joe, If you stop it, I will shut down this blog immediately.

◇ ◇　Karen ◇ ◇        

We're participating in ranking.

We'd really appreciate if you could vote for this blog, which cheers us up so much!