Life of a Japanese Polyglot in Singapore

My New French Learning Method!

2012-01-24T07:03:00.007+08:00

Happy Chinese New Year from Singapore!

I'm having two days off from work due to Chinese New Year holidays.

Being a non-Chinese, I don't celebrate CNY, so I'm spending my holidays holed up in my apartment, surfing the net, studying for the CFA Level II exam (which I will be taking this coming June), or otherwise just taking it easy.

The purpose of today's blog post is to share with you my thoughts on how we can boost the efficiency of language learning, with particular reference to growing our vocabulary.

The way I see it, there are two main pillars of what helps us expand our vocabulary in a foreign language, which are:

1) Reinforcement of old knowledge by means of revision and repetition;
2) Integration of new knowledge by means of importing fresh content into my study materials.

Both of the above are vitally important. If you want to achieve optimum results for a given amount of time and effort, you need to incorporate both activities into your daily learning routine, and avoid at all costs neglecting one activity in favor of the other.

Here is one example of how I put into practice the incorporation of the two main pillars mentioned above.

Presently, my daily French learning routine consists of watching French television news podcasts on my iPhone/iPad and learning the new words and phrases that appear in each podcast.

It's an extremely simple process, but it works well so long as I mechanically follow the rules below that I've set for myself:

Rule # 1: I will always keep three consecutive episodes in my library, no more and no less.

Rule # 2: When I actually get down to studying French, I will make sure to watch the three episodes back-to-back, in one sitting, always starting from the oldest episode first. Each episode averages about 15 minutes, adding up to a total of about 45 minutes. Given my busy schedule, this is about the utmost that I can manage per day.

Rule # 3: Upon completing each sitting of three consecutive episodes, I will make sure to download a new episode and delete the oldest one, thereby ensuring that the total number of episodes will remain unchanged, as mandated by Rule # 1.

This methodology works because it systematically ensures that I watch each episode three times before it gets deleted from the iPhone, thereby making certain that enough repetition of the same vocabulary words takes place, in order for them to be etched into memory.

In fact, repetition of the same words also occurs in watching consecutive episodes, because some news stories develop over the course of a few days (e.g. murder investigations, major accidents, natural disasters, etc.) and consequently the same subject matters might appear in the newscast over and over again.

Also, by constantly importing the new episode and deleting the old episode as mentioned in Rule # 3, I make sure that I come into contact with some fresh content everyday, thereby making it possible for new words and phrases to be incorporated into my vocabulary. Otherwise, I will be stuck with the same old content, and my vocabulary will soon stop growing.

The reason why I devised this learning method is because of my lazy personality. I'm a creature of habit, and I detest having to constantly look for some new innovative ways to enlarge my vocabulary. For one thing, it's extremely tiring, and for another, the results can be unstable at best, with no guarantee whatsoever of solid, continuous growth of knowledge.

By comfortably following an established routine, I don't even have to think what to do, and yet my French vocabulary keeps growing in a stable and predictable manner.

By the way, when I watch the podcasts, I take down the new words and phrases on a medium-sized flash card (10cm x 15cm, or approx. 4" x 6"), as shown in this picture. I note them down as and when they appear, and look them up immediately with my pocket electronic dictionary.

In order to save time, I normally write down the vocabulary words only, with no explanations, but as long as I give it a quick glance-over at the end of each podcast, I can remember their meanings anyway, mainly because these vocabulary words can be memorized in connection with a particular news story and its related sounds and images, which is far easier than trying to retain them by rote memory.

I believe that with the learning method mentioned above, I'll be able to make great headway in enlarging my French vocabulary this year. My goal is to acquire enough vocabulary such that I can read contemporary French novels without having to consult the dictionary by the end of May next year, which will mark the tenth anniversary of my French learning. It's a daunting task for sure, but I'm absolutely determined to achieve it at all costs!

For those of you who are language-learning enthusiasts like me, I hope you find the content of this blog post somehow useful for your language studies. Should you have better ideas or suggestions, please make sure to let me know!

Wish you all a magnificent Year of Dragon ahead!

Excellent Books to Improve American Accent!

2012-01-01T17:58:00.003+08:00

Happy New Year from Singapore!

This post is to let you know about my latest endeavor to improve my American English accent.

Specifically, I would like to introduce to you the 2 excellent books shown herewith on American English pronunciation, which have radically changed my perception of how I should vocalize when I speak English:

英語喉　50のメソッド
(In 50 Lessons You Get Eigo-nodo, hereinafter referred to as the Eigo-nodo book)

機関銃英語が聴き取れる！
(Understanding English Spoken at Machine-gun Speed)

Both of these books are co-authored by Kazuaki Uekawa and Jeana George. They are intended for Japanese learners of English like myself, who are interested in improving their American English accent.

The title of the first book, 英語喉 (Eigo-nodo), is a Japanese term which literally translates as the English throat. As the name suggests, this book explains in detail how we can improve our American English pronunciation by utilizing the throat.

I came across these books quite by accident. About 2 months ago, I was surfing YouTube and checking out some English pronunciation tutorial videos, and came across a video that was done by Kazuaki Uekawa, one of the co-authors of the Eigo-nodo book.

In this video, Mr Uekawa is demonstrating how Japanese learners of English can improve their pronunciation by vocalizing from the throat.

Check this out:

When I watched this video for the first time, I was flabbergasted because, although Mr Uekawa was born and raised in Japan, his American English accent sounded really natural to me, to such an extent that he can pass off for an American guy if you hear him talking on the phone.

I was equally amazed at the content of this video, because the idea of utilizing the throat to improve vocalization had never occurred to me before. Prior to watching this video, I had been trapped by the misconception that achieving a perfect American accent was all about how I shape my mouth and where I place my tongue such that the correct sound would come out, with no heed whatsoever to how we can make use of the throat to vocalize. Talk about being hit by a revelation!

After watching the video, I immediately Googled his name, and ordered the books on the Internet. As soon as I got the books, I began to study them in earnest, and followed the Eigo-nodo method conscientiously for about a month or so.

I'm really glad that I have done this, because I have made great progress in terms of improving my vocalization when I speak English.

There are a lot of detailed techniques that are mentioned in these books, but the gist of it is that, the essential difference in pronunciation between the Americans and the Japanese arises from the fact that the Americans tend to use their throat much more heavily than the Japanese, and as a result, their voice would come out sounding deep and well rounded.

Japanese people, on the other hand, have a tendency to generate the sounds entirely from the mouth, without using the throat, resulting in their voice sounding relatively flat and extremely high-pitched as compared to the Americans, with not so much vibration or resonance taking place in the throat area.

Up until now, I have been practicing this method for about 2 months, and my speech is presently undergoing a huge transformation. My American English accent is beginning to sound much deeper, more convincing and native-like than ever before.

Granted, making use of the throat is only one element that goes into creating a native-like sound, and I still have a lot of fine-tuning to do, as some of my vowels and consonants are definitely off. However, I feel that mastering a throat-based vocalization method is indeed a good starting point, and will form a solid foundation for acquiring a perfect American accent going forward.

I'm planning to upload another video on my YouTube channel for an update as soon as my vocalization stabilizes and gets rock-solid, so please keep a lookout!

In the mean time, I will continue dotting the i's and crossing the t's to refine my accent.

I hereby declare 2012 to be my American Accent Acquisition Year, and will make achieving a perfect American accent my New Year's resolution!

Here's wishing all of you a very prosperous and happy new year ahead!

My First YouTube Video in Cantonese!

2011-10-25T01:01:00.001+08:00

Hello again from Singapore!

I am writing this post to let you know that I have just uploaded my lastest video on my YouTube channel.

This time around, I have shot a video in Cantonese for the very first time!

Please check out this video. If you double-click on it to watch it on YouTube directly, you can choose to view it with English or Cantonese subtitles.

In my previous Mandarin video shot last year, I had already told my viewers that I would upload a video in Cantonese in the not-too-distant future. I'm delighted that I have finally made good on my promise, despite the fact that it took me more than a year to get around to it.

For those of you who understand Cantonese, I'd appreciate if you could give me your feedback as to whether you find my Cantonese understandable or not.

Also, if you are a beginner of Cantonese, I'd be delighted if you find this video somehow useful for your Cantonese learning.

Although Mandarin and Cantonese have a lot of things in common, speaking in Cantonese is definitely a big challenge for me, especially in terms of pronunciation, which is far more complicated for me compared to Mandarin.

By the way, I've finally made a decision to take off my sunglasses from this video onwards, as I've learned to become more confident in my pursuit of my biggest passion, which is learning foreign languages.

I've done an extensive search on YouTube and have yet to find any Japanese person doing a language-learning video in Cantonese, so I must be setting some kind of precedent here. It sure feels great!

I hereby promise everyone that I will continue to shoot more videos on YouTube, thereby continually challeging myself to new limits.

Talk to you again soon. Wish you all a prosperous new week ahead!

My Latest YouTube Video in English!

2011-10-14T18:05:00.004+08:00

Good Friday afternoon from Singapore!

I'm writing this blog post to let you know that I have just uploaded a new video on YouTube, after a hiatus of more than one year.

Please check out this video:

In this video, I am talking about my favorite method of learning French, which is to post French tweets on Twitter, using new words and expressions to continually improve my French.

For my French learning, I have shifted my focus from the input to the output, and I have been making conscious efforts to express myself in French by means of micro-blogging.

It's been roughly three months since I began tweeting in French, and I really love it. I feel that I can now express myself in French far better than a year ago, despite the fact that my vocabulary hasn't grown that much.

My intention is to keep developing my ability for output for the foreseeable future. I'm not in a hurry to expand my French vocabulary, as I plan to do it after I've achieved a certain degree of fluency in the language.

Also, as I've mentioned in this video, I would like to shoot more short videos going forward, especially in English, to improve my presentation skills.

I have to admit that my English accent isn't that spectacular (wearing dental braces does not help much either), but watching myself in the video enables me to analyze more objectively what my English pronunciation issues are, and what can possibly be done to improve my delivery, so I still stand to benefit from this video, albeit a bit embarrassing.

Anyway, I think it's a good thing that I've decided to become active again on YouTube, and I'd like to keep the momentum going.

For those of you who haven't yet watched my videos, please do so and let me know what you think. Your inputs are really valuable!

Thank you for your attention, and I wish all of you a nice weekend!

Began to Read an Adam Khoo Book

2011-02-13T23:21:00.001+08:00

Good evening from Singapore!

It's been ages since I lasted posted on this blog.

I've been telling myself that I should update this blog for the longest time, but I've just been putting it off out of laziness.

Anyway, in today's post I'd like to let you know that I've started to read a self-help book titled Master Your Mind Design Your Destiny by Adam Khoo with Stuart Tan.

I bought this book a few years ago, but set it aside without reading it as I got busier with my French studies. For some reason this book popped back into my mind today, so I pulled it out of my cabinet and began reading it.

Author Adam Khoo is a successful Singaporean business man who made his first million in his mid-20s, and who now works as a trainer in neuro-linguistic programming (NLP). This book is about learning to have the right mindset for success by replicating the mental blueprints of highly successful people.

Tonight, I've only read the beginning pages, but already I can tell that this is going to be a fun read, and I quite like Adam Khoo's writing style, which uses plain language without pompous vocabulary words. Although I don't read very fast, I expect to finish this book (about 350 pages in length) pretty soon.

If I find the knowledge of this book to be useful, I will surely put it into practice afterwards!

I'll let you know what I think of this book in the succeeding posts as I read along.

Talk to you again soon. Wish you all a wonderful new week ahead!

My Second Mandarin YouTube Video: Resumed Cantonese Studies!

2010-05-16T01:14:00.001+08:00

Good evening from Singapore!

I am pleased to let you know that I have just shot and uploaded my second video in Mandarin Chinese on YouTube.

Please check out this video:

For those of you who do not speak Mandarin, in this video I am talking about my recent decision to resume studying Cantonese, and about how I became interested in this language.

My only regret is that throughout the video I had to speak exclusively in Mandarin, because I am still way too shy to talk Cantonese in front of my viewers!

Previously, I studied Cantonese off and on for a few years, but only to a limited degree of success. Up until now, in terms of proficiency and fluency, my Mandarin Chinese is far better than my Cantonese, in which I can barely stumble along.

However, I really love learning Cantonese, not least because I love the Hong Kong pop culture, including Canto pop music, and Hong Kong movies.

Phonetic wise, I also love the sound of it, in comparison with some of the other Chinese dialects, including Shanghainese and Taiwanese. To me Cantonese sounds not only music-like, but also downright sexy!

What with my other language learning commitments and all (mainly my French studies), I had not studied Cantonese for quite some time.

But recently, I've decided to take up my Cantonese studies again, simply because I just couldn't resist the temptation!

Given my solid foundation in Mandarin (if I say so myself), I already have an advantage over other learners of Cantonese with no knowledge of Chinese, so if I really put my heart into learning Cantonese, I think I stand a decent chance of becoming fluent in the dialect in the not-so-distant future.

As for my method of learning Cantonese, I am making use of the audio podcast of RTHK's One Minute Reading column, where I can find tons of Chinese texts read aloud in Cantonese by the author of these articles. I download the related audio files from the Internet, and listen to and repeat after them over and over again to improve my Cantonese accent.

I hope my Cantonese can become good enough in the near future, such that I can gain enough confidence to shoot some Cantonese videos on YouTube. When that happens, I will make sure to let you know!

By the way, for those of you who understand Chinese, please do let me know what you think of this latest video, so I can improve myself.

Enjoy the rest of the weekend.

Talk to you again soon!

Learning French Slang at Full Throttle!

2010-04-14T12:45:00.001+08:00

For those of you who have not been following my Japanese blog, this is a continuation of the 2 latest posts, in which I've written that my laptop has broken down and that I've been making do with my iPhone for the Internet access.

As my iPhone's Japanese keyboard is also out of order, I am left with no choice but to blog in English, which is something that I'm not really accustomed to do.

Anyway, given that Yahoo Japan's blogging platform has poor compatibility with the English language, I will write my further English posts here. I will resume blogging at my Japanese blog site as soon as my laptop gets fixed.

I've been really busy with my work these past few weeks, but I've somehow managed to stay diligent in my French studies, and I've been hitting the books everyday.

Currently I am studying Dictionary of French Slang and Colloquial Expressions, published by Barron's. I started learning this dictionary on April 1, and so far I have covered the first 95 pages out of the total of 374 pages, amounting to a bit more than a quarter of the dictionary. The number of slang items learned is roughly 1,100 as of today.

Up till now, learning French slang has been an immensely enjoyable experience, and doing my daily learning routine after a stressful day at work really relieves my tension and lifts up my spirits! I can sense that my French is progressing by leaps and bounds (if I say so myself), and this is a wonderful feeling!

I'm determined to keep the momentum going, and I plan to finish learning this dictionary by the target date of July 14.

Talk to you again soon!

My First YouTube Video in French!

2010-03-13T13:39:00.000+08:00

Hello again from Singapore! Hope you are having a nice and relaxing weekend.

I am pleased to let you know that I have just shot and uploaded my very first YouTube video in French. Please check out this video:

I've been meaning to shoot this video for the longest time, but I've put it off until today, what with my busy schedule and all.

For those of you who are curious about what I'm saying in the video, I am talking about how I've managed to improve my French over the last seven years, through among other things reading many French books for children, listening to French audio CDs for children, and doing lots of grammar exercises.

I'd be delighted if you could let me know what you think! Please by all means leave your comments, so I can improve myself in the future!

Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Uncle Polyglot

Bonjour, tout le monde!

Aujourd'hui, j'ai finalement enregistré ma première vidéo en français sur YouTube.

Je suis toujours en train de perfectionner mon français, et je l'apprends tous les jours.

N'hésitez pas s'il vous plaît à laisser vos commentaires pour que je puisse améliorer mon français.

Je souhaite à vous tous un très bon weekend!

Meilleures salutations,

Uncle Polyglot

New Method for Mastering French Vocabulary!

2010-01-08T03:34:00.014+08:00

Starting from this week, I am doing a little experiment with a new method of expanding my French vocabulary, using my French CD-Rom dictionary.

I've found this method quite useful and amazing, and so I've decided to share it with my readers.

I call it "the railroad map method."

What I do in this method are as follows:

First, launch the French dictionary "Le nouveau Petit Robert de la langue française" installed on my computer.

Then, randomly pick out a word that I like, and look at the French explanation.

For example, today I picked the word amorphe, and found the French explanation: sans énergie, sans réaction. Furthermore, I found some synonyms of the word amorphe: apathique, atone, inconsistant, mou.

What is amazing about this dictionary is that each of these synonyms comes with its own hyperlink which allows me to click and jump straight to that synonym itself.

What I do in the next step is jump to one of the synonyms (or anonyms sometimes) to find out its meaning, and if this synonym in turn shows its own synonyms, I will jump yet again to find out the meaning of the new synonym, and I will go on and on like this until I reach a dead end.

In the course of jumping from synonym to synonym, I make a point of writing down in my notebook the words that I have learned in the sequence in which I found them.

After doing this for about an hour, my notebook will look like this:

It looks a bit like a railroad map with the name of each station. Each of these words is a synonym of its neighbors to the right and left, and therefore in this chain of words, one word is closely related to the next in terms of its meaning.

What makes this "railroad map" particularly useful is that, it can help you understand and memorize the meaning of these words far more easily than if you pick out the same number of words randomly and try to get them into your head by rote memory.

In fact, moving along the line from one word to another does feel like riding a train, where you see the scenery that is gradually changing from one minute to the next.

In the example shown in the picture above, it starts with amorphe meaning "lacking energy", and along the line you will see words meaning "fading", "flaccid", "smooth", etc, each one with a slightly different meaning from the next. Towards the end of the line, you will see words meaning "disgusting", "stinky", etc, which are totally different from the first word! It's not unlike riding the Orient Express from London to Istanbul.

In the same way as witnessing a gradually changing landscape from a moving train, looking at the "railroad map" and tracing the line of words related to one another will definitely help me retain these new words in my memory. It also feels like reading a story with an evolving plot. Either way, it's a big change from the monotonous memorization of a group of words listed in alphabetical order in a vocabulary textbook.

The only catch with this method is that you need to install this Petit Robert dictionary on your computer (for those of you who are interested, you can get it here at Amazon France), and that your French needs to be at least at an intermediate level in order to comprehend the dictionary explanation shown entirely in French.

I really feel that with this method, the previously daunting task of expanding my French vocabulary has gotten a lot easier, and I am more motivated than ever to study tons of new French words. Hope in the coming weeks I will be able to improve and sophisticate this "railroad map method", so that I can eventually acquire an extensive French vocabulary!

Many thanks for reading this post. Wish you all a wonderful weekend!

My New Year's Resolutions

2010-01-03T10:16:00.005+08:00

Hello again from Singapore, and a Happy New Year to all my readers!

I am writing this post today to let you know that I have just made my New Year's resolutions as shown below:

First of all, I will continue to work hard at French this year, and am determined to improve my French to the point where I can read French novels without consulting the dictionary. I intend to achieve this target by means of studying thousands of French words, idioms and slang. I would also like to improve my ability to speak French, by making conscious efforts to form sentences using the words and phrases that I have newly acquired.

Secondly, I've decided to update this English blog more often, so that I can expand my readership overseas. Currently, I am blogging far more frequently in Japanese than in English, and due to the language barrier my readership is basically limited to Japan only. I want to change this situation by taking away this language barrier and reaching out to readers from around the world. Seeing as I cannot speak or write in English as fluently as in Japanese, this will surely present some challenge for me, but I believe that practice makes perfect and that the more I write in English the more comfortable I become in this language, so I've decided to take on this challenge anyway.

Lastly, I will be posting YouTube videos more often than last year, in order to improve my presentation skills, be it in English, Japanese, Mandarin or French. Given that I'm still not used to making speeches, posting YouTube videos is a rather difficult task for me, but luckily the 4 videos that I have posted so far have received some favorable feedback from my viewers, so I'm really encouraged to shoot more videos going forward. I am currently planning to shoot a video in French, so please keep a lookout!

I am determined to make good on my New Year's resolutions mentioned above, and make 2010 another wonderful year for my personal development.

Here's wishing everyone a wonderful new year ahead!

Tweets: December 4, 2009

2009-12-05T09:46:00.000+08:00

08:35 さっきオフィスに着きました。今日も1日がんばります！

10:26 Am taking a short breather now from work. So much work to handle during the day!

11:37 Am feeling a bit sleepy today as I've slept for only 4 and a half hours last night. Luckily, it's Friday today.

Tweets: December 3, 2009

2009-12-04T01:10:00.000+08:00

01:53 やっと今日の仕事が終わりました！

01:58 As of now there are 14 followers of my tweets. The number has slightly increased from last week!

04:57 I've just booked an airplane ticket and a hotel room for my next vacation. I'm sure my vacation will be fantastic!

11:36 さっき起きました！今日はランチで人に会うので、これからすぐに身仕度をします。

14:09 ランチが終わって、スターバックスでゆっくりしています。午後3時から仕事です！

23:33 今日は苫米地さんの『年収が10倍アップする超金持ち脳の作り方』を読み終えました！とても面白かったです！

Tweets: December 2, 2009

2009-12-03T02:34:00.000+08:00

13:58 Finished learning today's portion of French idioms. Up till today I've learned about 250 idiomatic expressions. Will keep on learning!

14:07 今天早上，我聽了林憶蓮於1996年推出的『夜太黑』專輯。這張專輯我已經聽過無數遍，到現在還是覺得這是林憶蓮最好的專輯之一。另外，我也非常喜歡聽她在2005年推出的粤語專輯『本色』！

18:08 Am taking a one-minute breather from work now. Luckily today is shaping up to be a less stressful day.

18:10 Still haven't made the final decision on where to go during my vacation, which is coming up in just 3 days. I migh http://tl.gd/14e9k

Tweets: December 1, 2009

2009-12-02T01:47:00.000+08:00

02:14 What a day it's been! Just finished work and I can finally go home. I'm exhausted!

11:13 さっき起きました！これからフランス語の勉強です！

13:17 I've just finished learning today's portion of French idioms. Now it's time to update my Japanese blog with what l http://tl.gd/141mg

14:57 Arrived at the workplace. Will commence today's work in just a few minutes. Am feeling great as usual after a good night's sleep!

19:41 苫米地英人さんの『年収が10倍アップする超金持ち脳の作り方』を読み始めました。面白いです！

Tweets: November 30, 2009

2009-12-01T03:22:00.003+08:00

01:22 If possible, I want to go to Istanbul for my next vacation!

10:19 Woke up a short while ago. Am feeling wonderful after a good night's sleep. This week I will be working on night shift.

11:58 Just finished learning French for the day. Today I've learned another 25 idiomatic expressions. Up till now I've learned about 200 of them.

12:02 Given that my target is to learn 500 idiomatic expressions, I am about 40% done. I'm confident that I can achieve my goal in about 2 weeks!

12:58 我喜歡聽盧廣仲的第二張專輯『七天』！

20:36 Finished dinner just now, and I'm back to work! There's so much to do and quite frankly I don't know where to begin...

Tweets: November 29, 2009

2009-11-29T23:53:00.004+08:00

01:27 Just finished watching the movie "Deconstructing Harry" directed by Woody Allen. It was really funny and I laughted a lot during the movie!

01:31 Among Woody Allen's works, I like "Manhattan" the best, but I also like his recent works shot outside of http://tl.gd/137j9

01:34 Luckily my wireless Internet connection just got fixed. I will do my online shopping tomorrow. There are tons of books and DVDs to buy!

10:08 'Morning! Woke up a short while ago. Started my day by surfing the Net with my iPhone. It's going to be another wonderful day today!

11:40 Watched the Spanish movie "Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown" this morning. I've seen it a dozen times, but I still love it!

12:57 Now that I've finished my sumptuous lunch, I need to get back to my French learning!

14:37 Am taking a breather from my French learning now. I'm already halfway through today's portion. It's fun as usual!

14:40 正在聽大陸歌手孫楠於幾年前所推出的『燃燒』專輯。他的歌喉確實不錯，我很喜歡！

15:08 今日のフランス語の勉強がさっき無事に終わりました。これからネットで買物をします！

18:06 ネットでのショッピングは完了です！商品を厳選していたので時間がかかりました！

23:37 さっき夜の買物を終えて家に帰ってきました。面白い雑誌を買いました。ブログで紹介したいです！

Tweets: November 28, 2009

2009-11-29T01:09:00.002+08:00

10:54 Morning! Woke up at 9:45, but stayed in bed until just now, surfing the Net using my iPhone.

10:57 Will watch shortly the remainder of the movie "The 400 Blows". I have roughly 20 minutes remaining on this film.

12:11 Am now at Arab Street, sitting at a French restaurant, waiting for the food to be served. This restaurant serves excellent food!

12:48 I'm about to finish lunch. After I get back to my flat, I need to study some French as usual!

12:55 Finished watching the movie "The 400 Blows" this morning.

12:57 Now I want to see the movie "Stolen Kisses" by the same director.

15:27 I've just finished learning French for the day. I'm really thrilled that my French is improving day by day!

16:59 これから買物をします。と言っても、出かけるのではなくて、ネットでフランス語のイディオム関係の本を幾つか購入しようと思います！

23:09 There's something wrong with the wireless network at my place and I can't get connected to the Internet with my PC. It sucks, big-time!

23:12 Given that I can't surf the Net with my PC, I'll do some reading or watch a DVD to kill my time! Hope the problem will be fixed tomorrow!

Tweets: November 27, 2009

2009-11-27T23:41:00.002+08:00

01:48 今夜はフランス語の勉強中に仲良しの友人から電話が入り、そのまま長電話をしてしまいました。今やっと勉強が終わったところです！でも友達とのお喋りって必要ですよね！

10:48 我從3點鐘一直睡到了10點鐘，真舒服！現在正在一邊喝咖啡，一邊看『魯豫有約』。今天的嘉賓是電影『花木蘭』的導演跟幾位主演。我覺得趙薇很漂亮，很性感，人也特聰明。我也很驚訝地發現房祖名的國語講得超流利，真想知道他是在哪裡學會了這麼好的國語。

10:56 真的，我一點也聽不出房祖名的廣東口音，聽上去跟臺灣的男孩子一模一樣。我也想重新好好學習普通話！

12:42 又學了25條法語的成語，真是越學越過癮！

14:39 僕は今、フランス語のイディオム辞典で良いのがないか調べています。例文が載っていてイディオムの使い方が分かりやすいのが必須です。

14:53 とりあえずフランス語のイディオムは500項目マスターしたいです。1日25項目で、約3週間かかる計算です。イディオムができるとフランス語の理解度もグンとアップします！

15:07 やっぱり僕は単純暗記が苦手なので、イディオムもスラングも例文を通して学びたいです。

15:13 それにしてもフランス語のイディオムって、中国語の四字熟語ほど辞典類が充実していないので、良い辞典を探すのが結構大変です。

15:35 それにしても、英語でもフランス語でも、普通の小説を自由に読みこなせるレベルに到達するのって、すごく大変なことですよね。僕のフランス語は、まだそのレベルには到達していません。

18:55 今日は語学の勉強に関していろいろ考え事をしました。のちほどブログにまとめて発表します。

Tweets: November 26, 2009

2009-11-27T01:51:00.001+08:00

08:06 大家早上好！我睡到7點15分自然醒，感覺很爽快！

08:09 今天早上，我又看了一點杜魯福的『四百擊』。覺得這部電影挺好看！

09:07 One of my best friends in Singapore might be migrating to Hong Kong soon. I'm saaaaaaaad...

09:23 Could it be that if I twitter too much my iPhone batteries get used really fast? Maybe I need to recharge them more often!

11:15 I make a point of drinking a cup of water at least twice during the day. Believe it helps me control my weight and prevent bad breath!

14:22 My lunch break is finished. Took a little nap after lunch. Am feeling wonderful!

21:09 Finished work for the day, finally! Tomorrow is a holiday, luckily!

21:39 フランス映画『400 Blows』は、今朝から英語字幕に切り替えました。英語字幕は翻訳が上手で読んでいて快適です。香港産のDVDの中国語字幕は、「広東なまり」が強いことがあるので要注意です。

Tweets: November 25, 2009

2009-11-25T23:30:00.002+08:00

07:42 トリュフォー監督の映画『400 Blows』は昔のパリの様子を見ることができて、とてもいいです！

08:32 最近アメリカの放送局NPRを聞いてアメリカ英語の発音を研究しています。アメリカン・アクセントは本当に奥が深くて難しいです！

08:32 さっきオフィスに着きました。今日もがんばります！

10:06 Am taking a breather now...today is shaping up to be another wonderful day!

11:59 By the way, this coming Friday is a public holiday in Singapore, so we have a long weekend coming up! I still don't know what I'm gonna do!

20:07 終於回到了家，可以鬆一口氣！吃完晚飯之後，我還是會照常學法語！真是越學越有趣！

21:32 剛剛看完了今天的『魯豫有約』。今天的嘉賓是演員余榮光。我覺得他的人生故事非常精彩！他所做的努力與敬業的態度，很令人欽佩！

21:33 現在開始學習法語！

23:27 フランス語の勉強は無事完了です！これからブログをアップデートして寝ることにします！

Tweets: November 24, 2009

2009-11-24T22:55:00.002+08:00

07:06 Good morning! Had another good night's sleep and am feeling wonderful!

07:42 今天早上我開始看了法國著名導演杜魯福的電影『四百擊』的DVD。這盤影碟是在香港製作的，所以它的中文字幕不免有一點＂廣東腔＂，水準遠遠不如臺灣的中文字幕！我覺得中文字幕還是應該堅持使用標準國語！

08:09 既然這樣，這盤硬碟還是乾脆改用英文字幕觀賞吧！

10:29 One-minute break from work right now to do some stretching! By the way, I've got 9 followers of my tweets as of today.

15:25 Am taking another 1-minute break, as I was getting a bit drowsy. Did some stretching as usual to refresh my mind, and am feeling better now!

19:32 吃完了晚餐，現在是享用甜點跟咖啡的時間！真開心！

20:31 勝間さんの『断る力』を読み終えました！この本は読みっぱなしにするのではなくて、得られた知識を実践に応用したいです！

22:15 現在在一邊學法語，一邊聽蔡健雅的My Space專輯。超好聽，超舒服！

22:39 我最近一直在學法語的成語。覺得非常有趣。我希望能夠學會上百、上千條的成語！

22:50 今日の勉強は無事に完了しました！25個フランス語のイディオムが学べて、とても嬉しいです！

Tweets: November 23, 2009

2009-11-23T23:27:00.001+08:00

08:10 Woke up at 7:15 as usual. Slept for 7 hours straight, which is not bad! It will be another wonderful week!

10:32 Am taking a short break from work right now. Afer a good night's sleep last night I am feeling fresh as a daisy!

10:35 By the way I'm determined to finish work tonight at 6:30 sharp, on the dot!

11:25 I've found that my attention span tends to be longer in the morning than in the afternoon. Guess I should take fre http://tl.gd/11a1p

12:56 It's freezing cold in the office with the air conditioning on full blast! I've put on my leather jacket lest I be frozen to death!

13:41 Off to lunch now...finally!

14:28 勝間さんの『断る力』は、目から鱗の連続です！！！

17:29 1 more hour to go before I leave the office for the day!

20:05 My colleagues keep asking me why I'm wearing a smile all day long. Well, I'm just happy I guess! La vie est belle!

22:00 家に帰ってからしばらくインターネットで遊びました。これからフランス語の勉強です！

23:22 今日の勉強は無事終了です！これからブログをアップデートして寝ることにします！

Tweets: November 22, 2009

2009-11-23T07:22:00.002+08:00

00:39 今夜はInternet Explorerの調子が悪くて何回も勉強中にエラーメッセージが出ました。Google Translatorを昨日インストールしたのですが相性が良くないみたいです。

00:50 決定今晚不再上網了！會繼續看法國電影『去年在馬倫巴』的DVD。

01:20 I'm currently watching French movie "Last Year at Marienbad". The problem is that I don't understand it at all! It's too profound for me!

01:22 I am right now halfway through the movie. I'll watch the rest tomorrow. Think it's quite artistic and beautiful all the same!

01:41 現在正在收看臺灣Channel V的音樂飆榜節目。我已經很久沒有看流行歌曲的排行榜了，都不知道現在在流行些甚麼樣的歌曲！

01:49 剛剛看了蕭亞軒跟羅志祥合拍的MV。我覺得他們超酷！

01:56 排行榜的第一名原來是蕭敬騰的新不了情。我不怎麼喜歡他的唱腔。

02:04 Now I am watching The Practice, my favorite program!

03:18 Am lying on my bed now, getting ready to sleep. Have set my alarm for 8 tomorrow morning, as I don't want to oversleep.

03:21 今夜は苫米地さんの本を再度読んで、ようやくエフィカシーという用語の意味を理解できました！

08:24 Just woke up a few minutes ago. Have a feeling that it's going to be another wonderful day today!

09:00 剛剛吃完了早餐，現在就開始學習法語！

10:25 今朝は新しい方法でフランス語のイディオムを15個学んで見ました。効果が上々ならブログにて公開します！

10:31 剛剛聽了陶喆的太平盛世專輯，非常好聽！我覺得他還是適合唱R&B！

10:35 The Internet explorer is working well today, luckily! I know that it was the WordTranslator of Google Translate that was causing the error.

11:55 Just finished surfing the Net. Read my favorite blog, but I'm not gonna tell you which one. It was brilliant and thought-provoking as usual!

13:11 これから勝間和代さんの『断る力』を読みます。

14:48 『断る力』は半分まで読みました。これからまたフランス語の勉強に戻ります！

14:51 Like the concept of "return maximization" put forth in Ms Katsuma's book!

17:33 ただいまフランス語のイディオム勉強中です！現在ちょっと休憩中。イディオムは面白いです！

17:34 As of now I have 8 followers of my tweets. Hope the number can increase in the coming weeks!

17:43 今天下午看了鳳凰衛視關於中國跟阿爾巴尼亞兩國之間的經貿援助關係的紀錄片。內容非常有趣。我覺得鳳凰台製作的節目很有質量！我最愛看的節目是『魯豫有約』！

17:46 For those of you who follow me, do you find it disruptive that I switch from language to language? Code-switching constantly occurs to me!

18:39 勉強が終わりました！これから外に出かけて遊んできます！

21:00 這是我於今晚在新加坡的市中心拍攝的照片。我熱愛這個城市的紙醉金迷與繽紛燦爛！ http://twitpic.com/qhyxq http://twitpic.com/qhyvn

21:24 I've learned today that stress leads to oxidization and makes you age faster. Need to avoid having too much stress in life!

22:32 Just finished watching French movie "Last Year at Marienbad." Didn't understand the movie at all!

22:38 今朝は早起きしたおかげで、もう眠気が襲ってきました。日曜の夜に早寝できるのは幸せです。新しい1週間も快適なスタートを切れるでしょう！

Tweets: November 21, 2009

2009-11-22T00:16:00.003+08:00

10:38 Just hopped on a taxi, on my way to my hairstylist's. I'm really lucky that I've found a good hairstylist!

10:42 I've uploaded a new post on my blog and notified my Twitter ID to my readers. Will wait and see when I will get my http://tl.gd/10m4m

10:48 Arrived at my hairstylist's ahead of my appointment at 11. Will sit around and tweet some more. This is so much fun!

10:55 昨晚看了魯豫有約的錄像，這次的嘉賓是珠寶設計師萬寶寶。我覺得這個女孩子形象很特別，才華橫溢，又有一顆純潔善良的心，給我印象特別深刻！

10:58 據說方大同最近上了魯豫有約做嘉賓，我很想看那一回採訪！

11:13 Barely into my second day of Twittering, and I'm already hooked on it!

12:16 Just got a new haircut and I'm feeling like a new person!

12:19 There's always a million things running through my head, and I wanna say them out loud to everybody. Twitter enables me to do just that!

12:22 Am riding a bus now, on my way home. Need to do the laundry in the afternoon and also study French!

12:29 理了一次髮花了八十塊新幣，不過我覺得這筆錢花得很值得！

12:41 今天的午餐是海南雞飯！每逢週末，我一定會吃一次雞飯，真是百吃不厭！

12:48 正在享用美味至極的海南雞飯，同時在聽王菲的廣東歌曲。

12:51 By the way, my hairstylist is a Japanese guy. He is damn good!

12:57 I think embracing new technologies is a lot of fun! It's really cool that I can stay connected to the world through these fantastic tools!

12:59 I'm thinking maybe I can post these tweets on my blog at the end of each day as a summary of what went through my http://tl.gd/10n6i

13:03 The problem with iPhone is that the batteries get used so fast. I can hardly get through the day without recharging them!

13:06 Having said that, I still luuuuuuuuuv my iPhone!

13:10 Will I really get addicted to Twitter? I think I will!

13:23 Amazing! I've got 2 followers of my tweets already! I've no idea how they found my tweets!

15:08 I have just recharged the batteries of my iPhone! Now that they are fully charged, I should have no problem till the end of the day.

15:09 そんなことよりも、早く洗濯を終わらせて遊びに出かけるつもりです！

15:31 Just discovered how to type French characters with accents such as à, é, ê, etc on my iPhone. It's really cool that I can type French now!

15:38 我還不敢嘗試用法語寫我的tweet，因為我的法語還太差。不過我也不著急，到時候我的法語學好了，我會自然而然地寫法語。一切都不必勉強，順其自然就好！

19:20 Just woke up from a nap. Ended up sleeping for more than three hours. Didn't get to go out this afternoon, but it doesn't matter.

19:30 Got 3 more followers of my tweets during my sleep this afternoon. Not bad...

19:57 Normally when you get followed on Twitter, should I follow them back? I'm afraid that if I follow too many people http://tl.gd/10p41

20:28 我雖然愛聽方大同的歌，但是不怎麼欣賞他的造型，尤其是他的頭髮。另外我覺得他太瘦了，好像沒有怎麼鍛鍊身體。他要是再健壯一些，可能就會有一種氣魄。衷心地希望他能夠越唱越紅！

21:06 終於打掃完了我的房間，再過15分鐘我的衣服也會洗完！感覺真不錯！明天我會玩個痛快！

21:11 I've found that I can pack much more info in a tweet in Chinese than in English, given the limited number of char http://tl.gd/10pev

21:19 不懂現在外面在放映些甚麼好看的電影？我已經很久沒有上電影院看戲了。新加坡的電影院的問題是，冷氣開得太強，感覺像在冰箱裡一樣！

21:59 苫米地英人著『残り97%の脳の使い方』を夕食を食べながら読みました。2回目です。今後もまた読み直すと思います！

22:02 Now that I've finished my dinner, I need to get back to my apartment and study French!

23:03 ただいまフランス語勉強中。センテンス10個作成完了です。これから語彙収集に入ります！

Created My Twitter Account!

2009-11-21T14:15:00.003+08:00

Hello from Singapore!

This is to let you know that I have finally created my Twitter account yesterday!

From today onwards, I will be posting my tweets regularly on this blog, so you can see what goes through my mind during the course of the day. What's shown below is my tweets from yesterday.

If you already have a twitter account, please follow my tweets on Twitter! My ID is @UnclePolyglot. Looking forward to receiving your feedback soon!

Wish you all a wonderful weekend!

Fri, Nov 20

13:35 I have just created my Twitter account!

13:55 http://yfrog.com/1d7gxj View from Marina Square food court today. Cloudy in Singapore today.

14:41 眠くなったら、僕は足の指を思いっきり「パー」の形に拡げるようにしています。血の巡りが良くなって頭がスッキリします！！！

16:11 今、避難訓練中です！

21:53 iPhoneでTwitterを使えるアプリをさっきインストールしました。有料ですがランドスケープ・モードも利用できてとても便利です！

My Self-Introduction Video in Japanese!

2009-10-20T02:52:00.003+08:00

Hello again from Singapore!

I have just shot my very first video in Japanese and uploaded it on YouTube.

For those of you who are curious as to what I look and sound like when I speak Japanese, please check out this video:

Needless to say, Japanese is the language that I am most comfortable with, and shooting this video was way easier than my previous videos in English and Mandarin.

All the same, given my rather shy personality, I think I still come off as rather tense and awkward, even when I'm speaking in my native tongue!

Clearly, my presentation skills still have a long way to go, but I believe that I can improve myself bit by bit, as I shoot more and more videos and do a lot of show and tell, just like those elementary school kids in the US.

Anyway, in case you are wondering what I'm saying in this video, I am mainly talking about my greatest passion, which is learning foreign languages, and in particular I am elaborating on why French is my favorite language among the many foreign languages that I have learned so far.

Currently, I am planning to shoot a video in French, but given my limited French skills, it will take some preparations. Hope you can check it out when I do upload it, in the not-so-distant future!

I will talk to you again soon.

Have a prosperous week ahead!

My Self-Introduction in Chinese

2009-09-02T04:54:00.004+08:00

Good morning from Singapore!

This is to let you know that I have just uploaded another video on YouTube.

Please check out this video, in which I have made a self-introduction in Mandarin Chinese:

It was my very first time to shoot a video in Chinese, and I got really nervous in front of the web cam!

For those of you who speak Chinese, please by all means write your comments or suggestions, so that I can improve myself!

大家好！

這是我第一部用中文錄製的短片。

說實話，我對中文沒有太大的把握，請多多包涵！

如果您看了這部自我介紹的短片之後有任何意見或建議的話，歡迎您隨時寫進我的部落格。

我會把您的意見拿來作參考，以便我能夠精益求精，更上一層樓！

謝謝您的收看！

Uncle Polyglot

Bought American Accent Textbook

2009-08-31T18:38:00.005+08:00

Hi Everyone!

I have just uploaded my second video on YouTube. Please check out this video, which is about the American accent textbook that I've bought this afternoon at a local bookstore in Singapore:

As I have mentioned in the video, this is a learning kit specialized in accent reduction.

The reason why I've bought American Accent Training is that, after I had watched my first YouTube video, I felt that my English accent still leaves a lot to be desired, and I decided that I really should do something about it.

This learning kit cost me 72.48 Singapore dollars (approximately USD 50). If I can really master a correct American accent, I think it's well worth the price.

From today onwards, I plan to study this material bit by bit everyday, and get my accent gradually corrected. I hope by the time I complete this book, I will be able to speak English with a more natural accent.

In the course of learning to speak American English, I will be posting more videos on YouTube, so you can also monitor my progress as I go along. Hope you will check out those videos also.

As always, you are welcome to post your comments on my videos, as I would really like to improve myself.

Many thanks for watching this video.

Talk to you again soon!

My First Video on YouTube!

2009-08-30T14:53:00.006+08:00

Good afternoon from Singapore!

It's been quite a while since my last posting on this English blog. Please forgive me for not updating this blog often enough!

I am writing this today to let you know that I have just uploaded my first video on YouTube, to give you a brief self-introduction. I am wearing sunglasses in the video, so as not to entirely give away my identity.

I'd been meaning to do this for quite some time, but given that I'm not really technologically savvy, I didn't even know what kind of device I should get in order to shoot a video and upload it on YouTube, and as such I had put it off until today.

In order to put an end to my procrastination, I went to an electronics appliances store in town yesterday and finally purchased a web cam.

The installation of this device was surprisingly easy, and it took me only a few minutes to figure out how to shoot a video. Since it's so easy, I can do a lot of YouTube postings from now on!

As I have mentioned in my video, the purpose of this YouTube posting is mainly to record and measure my progress in language acquisition, be it in English, Chinese or French. As I am striving to improve my accent in these languages and my presentation skills, it will be fun to watch my videos again in the future and look back over the progress I've made.

After shooting this video and watching it myself, I have found to my astonishment that my English accent and intonation sound very stiff and awkward, and it's still very far from that of native speakers of English. Obviously, my English still has a long way to go.

All the same, it's really fun to shoot a video of myself and watch it on the Internet, as it gives me an opportunity to analyze more objectively what I look and sound like to the others. I think I can make use of my self-shot videos to pinpoint my problem areas and correct my accent, so that it can approach perfection bit by bit.

Of course you are always welcome to post your comments or suggestions on my videos, as I would love to know what you think!

Many thanks for watching this video today. I will come back with more videos in the near future.

See you again soon!

Relaxing Weekend on the Swiss-French Border!

2009-04-19T03:30:00.061+08:00

Greetings from Geneva, Switzerland!

It's been ages since my last posting on this English blog! I've been meaning to post a new article here for quite some time, but what with my recent transfer to Switzerland from Singapore and all, I've been putting it off until today.

It's really about time that I posted an update here, lest my English blog be completely forgotten by my readers. It feels great to be back all the same!

For those of you who haven't been following my Japanese blog, I've been posted by my company to Geneva effective March 1 on a training assignment, for a period of 6 months.

It's been more than a month and a half since I got to Switzerland, and fortunately I've been enjoying my new workplace and living environment to the uttermost.

Anyway, in today's posting, I would like to tell you about my little trip this afternoon to Hermance, a tiny village in the outskirts of Geneva.

View Hermance in a larger map

As can be seen on the map above, Hermance is located on the Swiss-French border.

From the center of the village, it only takes two to three minutes to get to the French border by foot.

The Swiss-French border runs along a tiny brook...

...and the two countries are connected by this little bridge.

This is the Swiss customs building, but it stands empty with no customs officers standing on duty.

The picture on the left shows the French side of the border, in the village of Chens-le-Pont.

This is the customs building on the French side. Like its counterpart on the Swiss side, it stands empty, with no officers checking the comings and goings.

After crossing the bridge into France, if you turn around and look on the Swiss side, here's how it looks.

Seriously, if you are not paying enough attention, you wouldn't even notice that you are crossing a border.

Out of all the border crossings that I have done in the past (US-Canada, US-Mexico, China-Hong Kong, Singapore-Malaysia, and the ever-unforgettable Panmunjeom conference room in the 38th parallel Demilitarized Zone between North and South Koreas), this is the most casual, peaceful and hassle-free crossing I've ever experienced! I forgot to bring along my passport today, but it turned out to be totally unnecessary.

Back on the Swiss side in the village of Hermance, I spent an immensely enjoyable time taking a leisurely walk in the quite streets, lined with old beautiful buildings.

This is a charming cafe in the center of the village.

Most buildings in this village have gray walls, with green-colored decorative wooden shutters attached to the windows.

In Switzerland, I've begun to appreciate the beauty of simplicity and minimalism.

I saw a lot of wisteria trellises in this town.

The light purple color goes really well with the gray background!

Almost everywhere I went, the streets were almost empty.

It is so quiet that the only sound you hear is that of the birds chirping.

You feel really peaceful here!

This is one of the very few restaurants that I found in the village.

Having meals while sitting on the terrace on a day like this must be really delightful!

I really love this view of the back alley!

To me, these buildings look almost medieval.

It's as if they got frozen in time, and they won't change their appearances for decades, if not centuries.

I sure hope that if I have a chance to revisit this village years from now, these buildings will still look exactly the same!

In the past few weeks, the weather in Europe has been exceptionally nice and warm.

I saw a lot of flowers in full bloom today.

I am so glad that I visited this town in the right season of the year!

My last stop was at the street cafe in the town center.

I ordered a piece of strawberry cake and a cup of coffee.

The cake was really delicious!

Sitting on the terrace and slowly enjoying the yummy strawberry cake was really heavenly --- honestly, I felt that it was so great that it should be illegal!!!

Though it's by no means a famous village, and most likely you cannot find it in your Switzerland guide books, Hermance is indeed a lovely town worth visiting.

Hope in the coming months I get to discover a lot more beautiful towns and villages in Switzerland. Of course, as and when I make new discoveries, I will bring you updates on this blog to share the enjoyment!

Talk to you again soon!

Watching ER Season 3

2009-01-11T09:20:00.004+08:00

Good Sunday morning!

Feels soooooo great to be back on my English blog after a long, long break!

My first posting for the year 2009 is about the DVD that I've been watching for the past few weeks, and some thoughts about language acquisition through watching DVDs.

The DVD that I am currently watching is ER season 3. I bought this DVD box set ages ago, but I stopped watching after only a few episodes as I got busier with my other commitments, mainly my French learning.

However, I resumed watching this DVD recently, after I bought a portable DVD player as a little treat for myself, for having finished learning my French-English dictionary shortly before the end of 2008. Luckily, this portable DVD player is region code-free, so I can play DVDs from any country on this player.

Coming back to the ER DVD box set that I've been watching, it is formatted for region 3 (Southeast Asia), and comes with English, Spanish, and Portuguese audio tracks and subtitles in English, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese and Korean. Maybe I can make use of this DVD to study Spanish or Portuguese in the future.

Up until very recently, seeing as my listening comprehension in English is not that spectacular (or so I thought), I had always made a point of turning on English subtitles whenever I watched English-language DVDs, but this time around, I've decided to go without the subtitles, so I can concentrate more on what's happening visually rather than trying to grasp every single word in the dialogue.

Surprisingly, I've found that I can understand each episode far better without the English subtitles than when I switch them on!

Maybe that's because I can pay more attention to the physical actions and facial expressions of the actors without the subtitles to divert my concentration. I am more convinced than ever that the important thing is not to try to get every single word that's being said, but to try to get the general idea of each story.

Anyway, I think ER season 3 is indeed fun to watch, and as I am now really hooked on this series, I expect to finish watching this DVD box set pretty soon. My sister told me that ER gets boring after Dr Mark Greene dies in season 8 (in her own words: ER basically dies when Dr Greene dies.), but that means that I still have 5 more exciting seasons of ER to enjoy!

Can't wait to find out how this captivating hospital story unfolds in the next few seasons!

Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

More Fashion Magazines!

2008-11-23T05:58:00.008+08:00

Good Sunday morning!

It feels really great to be back on this blog with a new posting!

In my last article, I mentioned that I had recently bought my first copy of Esquire.

In fact, in addition to Esquire, I had also bought my very first copies of GQ, DETAILS, and MEN'S VOGUE.

It is indeed a lot of fun to browse through these glossy American fashion magazines!

Lots of the ads they carry are for the same brands, but it doesn't hurt to see those ads again and again as I switch from magazine to magazine, as these ads are really cool and downright sophisticated!

Volume-wise, the thickest magazine among these three is GQ, followed by DETAILS, with MEN'S VOGUE being the thinnest.

However, curiously enough, in terms of their prices (newsstand price here in Singapore), the order is exactly the opposite, with MEN'S VOGUE costing the most, followed by DETAILS and GQ.

Sadly for the fans of MEN'S VOGUE, I read it on the Internet just yesterday that this magazine is closing its doors (view this article), and will henceforth become a seasonal supplement to VOGUE. The December/January issue will be the last issue sent to its subscribers. I'll be sure to get a copy at the newsstand before it's sold out!

Not being much of a reader, with these fashion magazines I focus mainly on the pictures rather than on the text of their feature articles.

The imagery is indeed inspiring and stimulating for me, and as I leafed through the pages, I've become more convinced than ever that these magazines are indeed works of art, and I definitely get more than my money's worth from these delightful publications.

In the coming weeks, I will look at these magazines again and again, be it during the break from my daily French learning or when I am flossing my teeth before going to bed. I'm sure that the imagery will slowly but surely seep into my subconscious mind, and my sartorial taste will be honed day by day!

I can't wait to make some delightful additions to my wardrobe in the coming months!

Will definitely keep trying, and let my frumpy self become a thing of the past!

Enjoy the rest of the weekend, and have a prosperous new week ahead!

My First Copy of Esquire!

2008-11-18T02:21:00.000+08:00

For the very first time in my life, I bought a copy of Esquire magazine yesterday, along with a few other male fashion magazines.

I've known about this American magazine since I was a teenager, but I never imagined that one day I would become interested in fashion, and would actually buy a copy of Esquire!

I flipped through this magazine from cover to cover twice yesterday. It is full of cool and inspiring pictures, and I'm loving it already! What's more, there are some interesting fashion and grooming tips inside, which can be very useful for a fashion novice like me.

I will go through this copy again and again, until next month's issue of Esquire comes out!

In other news, yesterday I bought (also for the very first time) a packet of oil-absorbing sheets!

The idea of buying oil-absorbing paper came to me when I was riding a bus 2 days ago, when I suddenly saw this teenage guy sitting across from me take out a packet of oil-absorbing sheets and started to wipe his face.

I was really impressed that this guy was actually making efforts to maintain a clean-cut appearance, and afterwards I was so anxious to get a packet for myself! At the age of 35, I still have a lot to learn from those kids who are half my age!

When I actually used the oil-absorbing paper, I was really amazed at the amount of sweat and oil that collects on my face in the course of the day. From now on I want to make it a habit to use oil-absorbing paper from time to time, so that my pimples can disappear one by one!

By the way, ever since I started this English blog, I've been searching for a specific purpose or direction for this blog. Maybe I can make fashion and grooming one of my major topics here, as it is a lot of fun, and it's definitely one of my areas of interest!

We'll see how it goes...

Bought More Fashion Manuals!

2008-11-15T12:02:00.000+08:00

Good Saturday morning!

Eversince my last posting on this blog, I bought a few more fashion manuals, as can be seen in these photos.

These are excellent fashion manuals, and I make a point of flipping through them every once in a while.
It is really well said that a picture is worth a thousand words. Just looking at these photos can really inspire me, and the imagery can leave a lasting impression on my subconscious mind. It sure beats plowing through those theory-oriented manuals with tons of text and no photos!

I might look almost the same as last week, but already things are beginning to change.

For starters, I've begun to experiment spraying some fragrance on my torso before leaving for work in the morning.

Currently I am using the male fragrance Polo Sport by Ralph Lauren.

My colleagues gave me this bottle as a gift a few years ago, but back then I wasn't that interested in grooming, so I left it unopened for ages.

Now that I've started using it, I can really feel the difference. Spraying some fragrance in the morning not only makes me smell better, but also lifts up my spirit, and really puts me in work mode before starting the stressful day at the office.

I know that there are hundreds (or even thousands) of different male fragrances out there, and I can't wait to try out more fragrances, in search of the one that suits me the best.

I will keep trying, trying, trying!

Wish you all a wonderful weekend!

Bought a Men's Fashion Manual!

2008-11-08T11:44:00.000+08:00

Hello, everyone!

It's finally Saturday again, and I can take some time to update this English blog.

It feels so great to be back!

A few days ago, during my lunch break from work, I was browsing a bookstore in the vicinity of the office and found this fashion manual for men.

I flipped through the manual from beginning to end, page by page, and decided to buy it on the spot. It provides some very useful tips on do's and don'ts on men's fashion items, and seeing as I am too shy to consult my friends when it comes to fashion, I think this manual can really come in handy!

At the price of 50 Singapore dollars (approx. USD 33 or JPY 3,300), I think I can get more than my money's worth from this manual.

Although in the workplace, I have been paying attention to my appearance and am quite proud of the way I look, during weekends, when it comes to wearing casual clothes, I am not much of an expert.

But I'm sure things will start to change with the purchase of this fashion manual!

I aspire to become a dandy, dapper, and downright cool Uncle Polyglot!

Wish you all a nice weekend!

Learned about RSS Today!

2008-11-04T23:50:00.000+08:00

I learned this evening in Blogging for Dummies how to track blog updates in newsreaders using RSS (Really Simple Syndication).

RSS allows me to keep track of the new posts of the blogs that I am following, by letting them appear in my newsreader every time there is a new entry in any of my favorite blogs.

Up until now, I have been going through my favorite blogs one by one each day to check whether there have been any updates, and this tedious task has been taking up a humongous amount of time and energy, so I'm really glad that I've found a way to simplify this exhausting routine!

For starters, I went to Google Reader (www.google.com/reader), and registered the whole bunch of cool blogs that I am currently following.

From now on, all I need to do is to access this page to get an update on what's new on my favorite blogs. Going forward, by using RSS, I will be able to save tons of time!

I am sooooo excited!!!

Bought "Blogging for Dummies"!

2008-11-03T07:34:00.000+08:00

Look! I went to Books Kinokuniya yesterday and bought Blogging for Dummies!

When I was at the bookstore, I already flipped through this manual from beginning to end at least twice. The more I browsed, the more I felt that this manual is useful, so I decided to buy it.

It would be great if I can use an idea or two from this manual, to make this blog a more interesting read for everybody!

I will keep trying!

Have a prosperous week ahead!

Back to Local Time Zone!

2008-11-02T06:46:00.000+08:00

This week, I am working on day shift again, so I need to quickly adjust my body clock in order to switch from the European time zone to the local time zone.

My tactic is very simple: in order to be able to get to sleep early on Sunday night, I sleep a lot less than usual on Saturday, and force myself to stay awake despite the temptation to take a nap during the afternoon.

So this morning, my alarm went off at 6:40 a.m., and I forced myself out of bed.

As I didn't get any studying done yesterday, I will definitely get back to my French learning this morning.

In the afternoon, I'll do my usual Sunday routine, i.e.,going to Orchard Road and checking out Books Kinokuniya, Borders Bookstore, and HMV, which are my favorite hangouts in Singapore.

Wish you all a very nice and relaxing Sunday!

Feeling Fresh as a Daisy!

2008-11-01T12:28:00.000+08:00

Good afternoon from Singapore!

My tumultuous workweek has finally finished, and I am right now sitting at my computer savoring the peace and quiet of Saturday afternoon.

Had more than enough sleep last night, and I'm feeling as fresh as a daisy!

Later today, I'll have to finish my chores, including vacuum-cleaning my apartment and the laundry.

In the evening, I am invited to my friend's birthday gathering at his apartment in the eastern part of the city. I will probably get him a bottle of wine.

By the way, this guy who's having a birthday today is a Swiss French, who for some reason speaks fluent Japanese and English, aside from French, his mother tongue.

It feels a bit strange to see this Caucasian guy speaking Japanese so fluently! Maybe I can ask him today how he came to be so good in Japanese.

Talk to you later!

TGIF!

2008-10-31T12:09:00.000+08:00

TGIF!

I don't normally use this expression, as I'm not a big fan of acronyms, but this is exactly the way I feel today!

It's been a long, long week for me, and I'm soooo glad that it's Friday today at last!

Come to think of it, the entire October has been a whirlwind month for me (and for people around the world), and I'm really glad that it's finally coming to an end!

Had yet another stressful day at the office yesterday, and I had to stay there until 2:30 a.m. I was able to get a lot done, but there are still some pending issues waiting to be resolved at work!

I hope that in November things will start to calm down such that everyone can lead a normal life.

I have around 1 hour before leaving for work, so I'll get to my French learning as soon as I finish posting this.

Wish you all a nice weekend, and a very prosperous new month!

Passed the Halfway Point!

2008-10-30T11:16:00.000+08:00

Good morning!

It's now 11:30 a.m. here in Singapore. (I still haven't figured out how to change the time and date settings, so when I post this, it will show a completely different time on this blog, probably that of the US time zone. As I'm not very computer-savvy, this presents a bit of a challenge!)

I have just woken up, and am sipping coffee now while I dash off this new posting.

It's been a really tumultuous week at the office with my immediate boss away on vacation, but it's great to know that it's already Thursday today! We are already past the halfway point of the week!

As I still have some time today before leaving for work, I'll study some French as usual. It's always a lot of fun to study foreign languages!

Talk to you later!

Finally, There is Some "Traffic"!

2008-10-29T11:14:00.000+08:00

I posted the announcement last night in my Japanese blog about the launch of my English-language blog, and went to bed at 4:00 a.m.

I woke up this morning at 11:00 a.m., and the first thing I did was to check whether there have been any visitors to this English blog through the link from my Japanese site, and lo and behold, there has been some traffic, and from so many different countries!

I am really encouraged! Many thanks to everyone for visiting this new site!

Going forward, I will strive to make this blog an immensely interesting site! I hope you feel that it's worth your while to visit this blog!

A million thanks once again to my dear readers for your support!!!

Cheers,
Uncle Polyglot

Taking a Break Now!

2008-10-28T12:08:00.000+08:00

Hello, everyone!

Though it's only Tuesday, it already feels like half a week has gone, because I had a particularly stressful day at work yesterday. I even dreamt about it last night!

Went to bed last night at about 4 a.m. without studying French, and woke up this morning at about 10 a.m., after dreaming about the client's order that I was supposed to place. I can hardly stand this level of stress!

Anyway, to make up for last night, I began to make French flash cards at 11:30 a.m. I am already halfway through today's portion, and am taking a break now for just a few minutes, so I can dash off this new posting on this blog. Expect to make around 100 cards once again today, and I will get them memorized over the lunch!

Talk to you later!

Home, Sweet Home!

2008-10-28T02:20:00.000+08:00

After a hard and stressful day, I've just returned to my apartment from work.

As I am working on late shift this week, I begin work at 3 p.m., and get off work at 12:30 a.m. (30 minutes after midnight).

But that's when things go smoothly at the office. For tonight, as there was some extra stuff that I urgently needed to take care of, I stayed in the office until 1:50 a.m. I am really exhausted!

Feels really great to be back in my own apartment, a humble abode as it may be!

Tonight, I will rest and surf the Net for a short while, update my Japanese blog, and get to my French learning as usual before going to bed.

As soon as I've mastered how to post a photo in this blog, I will start posting some pictures to visually demonstrate to everyone how I study the French language!

Talk to you again soon!

No Visitors Yet!

2008-10-27T10:48:00.001+08:00

I've noticed that there haven't been any visitors yet to this blog.

According to my StatCounter statistics, there has been a page-view by someone in Galicia, Spain, but that page-view only lasted a split-second, so it doesn't really count as a visit.

But I'm sure that there will start to be some visitors within the next few weeks, probably those who follow the link from my Japanese blog. That will be a start.

I think I will buy Blogging for Dummies and learn how to market this blog, so that it will be known to more people.

In the mean time, I will be patient.

This morning, I will study around 100 new French vocabulary words.

Went to Books Kinokuniya Today!

2008-10-26T22:08:00.000+08:00

I went to Books Kinokuniya at Orchard this afternoon.

The reason why I went there was that, I was looking for a beginner's manual on starting an English-language blog.

I flipped through a beginner's manual titled "Blogging for Dummies", and found that Blogger.com might be a good place for me to start my first English-language blog.

Also in this manual, I've learned about StatCounter.com, a website which provides a web tracker service. I have just embedded their tracking device into this blog site; it allows me to check how many visitors have come to view my blog site, and where those visitors are from. It's a really cool device!

I have yet to notify anybody about the launch of this blog site, but today I have put a link to this site in my Japanese-language blog (http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/gaikokugo_daisuki_ojisan) in an inconspicuous place, so it's possible that some curious readers will eventually find out about this English blog, and start visiting this blog on a regular basis.

However, I would be more delighted if my readership can grow into non-Japanese speakers of many different countries, as I do not content myself with getting my messages out to Japanese readers only.

In the beginning stages, I am going to take this nice and slow, but when I get into the swing of things, I will start to make serious efforts to make this blog an immensely popular blog among non-Japanese readers!

Started My English Blog!

2008-10-26T20:42:00.000+08:00

Hello, everyone!

My name is Uncle Polyglot.

I am a 35-year-old Japanese male living and working in Singapore.

I am a lover of languages, and have so far learned English, Chinese (Mandarin, Shanghainese, Cantonese), Portuguese, French, Spanish, Italian, German, Korean and Russian, achieving varying degrees of proficiency, aside from my native tongue, Japanese.

In this blog, I would like to share with you my everyday life in Singapore, with particular focus on learning foreign languages.

I hope you enjoy this blog, and share with me the joy of learning foreign languages!