English lesson through TV series ( 24 )

Today, I would like to tell you about what I have watched with Netflix.

That's 24, TV series in FOX network. 24 series which had finished last year in 2010 and series had continued up to 8th since 2001. Each series consists of 24 episodes which cover 24 hours about main character Jack Bauer who is federal agent in CTU in Los angels.

These series are very popular in Japan for long time. DVDs were usually released later by a few months along with Japanese translation but I didn't watch them at that time when I was in Japan because DVD rental was only available at that time. One DVD rental typically cost $3 per a few days, so it was pretty expensive for me. But situation changed since I came to United states because I can watch them with fixed $8 per month in Netflix whenever and wherever I want.

Used words and sentences in 24 conversation are not daily English, and they are used in federal agencies against terrorists, which however helps me understand a lot. Let me list up such new words and sentences which I learned throughout 24 here,

Words,
kindnap, testify, insane, hostage, assassination, detonate, swear, unleash, abuse, interrogation, DOD(department of defense), warhead, dispatch, privilege, formidable, propaganda, provoke, treaty, ,,

Sentences
What the hell is that ? What the hell is going on here ? What the hell are you doing ? Son of the bitch. Damn it. I swear I don't know anything about that.

These words and sentences are not often used in daily, so I think I don't have chance for me to use them. Additionally I could learned a lot of things other than words and sentences listed above, like how to say, and how to use English. Let's take "What do you want", "What are you talking about" as examples which are usually used in ordinary life. These sentences seem to be pronounced "Whadoyou want" and "Whareyou talking about". Each words are connected together without breaking between words. I hear so at least although native speakers may do not do so. We, not native speakers, are not used to that, so this is difficult point for non native speaker like me to understand what native speakers say. In addition to that, there is another difficult point for Japanese. It is structure difference between Japanese and English languages. For example, If I say "I have to go home" in Japanese structure, that is "I home go have to". So it needs some translation time for Japanese to understand English at early study stage. Throughout 24 series, I can reduce such time very much although I am still not able to understand all

I am trying to continue to use Netflix to improve my English skill.
If someone knows useful programs in Netflix, please let me know.



   

Netflix

Netfix, this is a great tool for me to get used to English listening.

Let me explain what Netflic is to those who do not know it. Netflix is the largest DVD rental and on-demand moive service company. Originally, service was only DVD rental, but on-demand service was added to services. You can choose whatever combination you like, for instance, only on-demand, only DVD delivery, or both of them. With on-demand service, you can see wide variety things like, movie, anime, TV-series, documentaries, and whatever you want to see. You, however, get to notice that many famous movies are not available in on-demand service, but available only in DVD delivery service. Damn it ! This is the only complaint for Netflix, which I think every time when I see "This movie is only available in DVD service". Nonetheless, I like it very much because I can see a lot of TV series as well as documentary videos from National geographic which are very helpful for me to learn daily English.
So I really thank to the founder of Netflix.   

Next time, I will write about what I have been watching and have learned from TV- series like, " Prison Break " and " 24 " although used words in such video are a little bit slang. 

How lazy I am !

It is more than 2 months since first post even though I decided to start this for my English training.

How lazy I am !

First of all, I would like to tell you about me briefly. This kind of introduction would be necessary when I meet somebody first time. So it's better for me to remember whole sentences so that I can introduce myself smoothly.
I was born and grew up in Japan and am currently working as a engineer for Japanese company. And last year, I was fortunately moved to the branch in bay are in California. This is great opportunity for me. I can learn a lot of things from my colleagues because engineers in the branch are from all over countries, for instance, India, France, Iran, china, Korea, Vietnam, and Romania. I can learn culture, religious things, and how to work. I can, off course, give them Japanese culture.

Since I came here, I realized that I need to improve my poor English. I can not tell them what I think in my mind well yet even though I want to tell my self and Japanese culture more. My reading level is enough, but listening and speaking are not enough to communicate with my colleagues in English.

Regarding listening, only way is to listen English as much as possible from TV, movie, and conversation with my colleagues. Last June, I found internet service "Netflix"which is very useful for me to be exposed in English environment. I can gradually get to know how to speak English throughout TV series in Netflix. I will write it later.

Regarding speaking, only way to improve my speaking is just speak a lot as much as possible. So I need to think a lot of things in English and need to prepare something in English in advance when I need them. That's why I started to this blog.

Therefore I will prepare here what I think and feel.