August 31, 2016　=========
☆ abundance （生活の）豊かさ
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When you have an abundance of something, you have a lot of it. You can use it to talk about wealth and money: My life is filled with abundance. Or you can use it to talk about things not necessarily connected to money. For example, Australia has an abundance of native wildlife. Or my hometown has an abundance of safe, beautiful beaches.
How about your own life? Is it filled with abundance? This is the Q & A question at the end of August in the Eigo Techo, so you can have a look at some sample answers in there. Then come to the Facebook page and tell me about all the abundance you have in your life. If you can’t think of anything, remember yesterday’s word, and pay attention to the abundance in your life and I’m sure you’ll find more and more!
See you next month!
Chris

August 30, 2016　=========
☆ attention 注目
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Attention is your focus or concentration on something. Today’s word is a noun, but it is often used with verbs such as crave, cry, hate, give or pay, so let’s look at how it is used with those verbs.
Crave attention – someone who craves attention wants everyone’s focus and concentration just on them.
Cry for attention – someone who cries for attention will do something (such as crying) to get another person’s focus on them. Children often cry for attention when they think their parent is ignoring them.
Hate attention – someone who hates attention does not like to stand out or have people focus on them.
Give/Pay attention – if you give something or someone your attention you look at it/them or think about it/them carefully.
Bye,
Chris

August 29, 2016　=========
☆ passenger mentality 受け身の考え方
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Have you heard this word before? When we talk about “mentality” we mean attitude, personality, or character. I’m sure you know what passenger is, right? If you’re in a car, there’s a driver and a passenger – the driver is active, the passenger is passive – the passenger doesn’t need to do anything to make the car go to the destination.
So, when we talk about a passenger mentality, we are talking about someone who has a passive personality; they do not take active steps in their own life to create the life they want. If you feel like you are stuck in passenger mentality mode, an interesting thing you can try is to rephrase your words and sentences into the active mode – in English, that would mean using “I” and words like “want to” rather than “have to.”
Bye,
Chris

August 28, 2016　=========
☆ invest 投資する
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Usually when we talking about investing, we are talking about money. As in, you invest a sum of money in a company or in shares or in some way, with the hope that it will increase in value.
Another way that we commonly use “invest” is with self-development, when we talk about investing in ourselves and our own education. For example, taking a workshop, attending a seminar, doing an online course and so on, are all ways to invest in yourself and increase your “value” either to yourself or to your company. Have you invested in yourself recently? Why – or why not?
Bye,
Chris

August 27, 2016　=========
☆ fulfill 実行する
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When you “fulfill” something, such as a promise, dream, or hope, you do what you said or hoped you would do. This month, I said I would renew my webpage… I have just a few days left! I hope I can fulfill this dream.
Did you set goals at the beginning of the year? Have you been able to fulfill them yet? What did you do to make sure that you did fulfill your dream? Did you have a plan or a schedule? Do you have any goals or dreams that you haven’t fulfilled yet? Do you need to spend more time on those or is everything going according to plan?
Bye,
Chris

August 26, 2016　=========
☆ reinforce 強くする
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If something reinforces an idea, or feeling, it strengthens it. For example, studying a little bit of English each day, such as this daily mail! 🙂 can reinforce your English ability and vocabulary without much effort. If you attend a workshop or meeting, reviewing your notes that night and the next day can reinforce your learning and memory of the content.
You can also reinforce an actual object to make it stronger. For example, in Japan, many buildings are reinforced to withstand earthquakes. In Australia, we don’t need to reinforce buildings in preparation for earthquakes, but depending on the area, some houses are reinforced to withstand cyclones and flooding.
Bye,
Chris

August 25, 2016　=========
☆ keep （約束などを）守る
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There are many different ways to use the word, “keep.” In fact, if you check your dictionary you might find about twenty or so different ways to use “keep” as a verb! Today, though, we’ll just look at the idea of keeping “something” such as a promise or an appointment.
When you keep a promise or an appointment, you do what you said you would do. Here are some examples:
I hope my brother keeps his promise to come and visit us during the holidays.
I just don’t trust him; he never keeps his word. (He never does what he says he will do.)
She always keeps her promises.
Can you use keep in a sentence?
Bye,
Chris

August 24, 2016　=========
☆ create 創造する
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Create can be used in two ways. Firstly, it can mean to produce something; to cause it to happen or to exist. For example:
This new product will create a lot of revenue for the company.
She is always creating new artwork.
I want to create a bright future for our family.
If you criticize him, you will just create a feeling of failure.
The other use for create is to mean “invent”, so when you create a new product, you invent it or design it. So, looking at two of the above examples:
We have created a new product that will bring in a lot of revenue for the company.
She is always creating new styles of art.
Have you created anything recently? What did you create?
Bye,
Chris

August 23, 2016　=========
☆ affirm 確認する
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When you affirm something that something is true, you state firmly and publicly that it is true. This is a formal word, and you’ll most likely hear it in the news or see it in the newspaper or in reports. For example, “The president affirmed the country’s commitment to peace.” Or, “He affirmed his loyalty to the country.”
Some other words with a similar meaning, that you might hear more often are: declare, assert, confirm, pronounce, state, and swear. Just for your information, the opposite of “affirm” is “deny.” For example, “The president denied the country’s commitment to peace.” Or, “He denied his loyalty to the country.”
Bye,
Chris

August 22, 2016　 =========
☆ believe 信じる
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“What you believe, remember, you can achieve.” Mary Kay Ash
Have you heard this quote before? Actually, there are many quotes about believing in yourself and achieving your dreams, so if you haven’t heard this one, I’m sure that you have heard something similar. What are your favorite “believe” quotes? Some of mine are:
“Believe you can and you’re halfway there.”
“Follow your dreams, believe in yourself, and don’t give up.”
“Surround yourself with people who believe in your dreams.”
And, this great one by Audrey Hepburn, “Anyone who does not believe in miracles is not a realist.” I love that one. 🙂 What’s your favorite?
Bye,
Chris

August 21, 2016　 =========
☆ determined 断固たる
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If you are determined to do something, you have made a firm decision to do it and will not let anything stop you. In my case, I could say “I am determined to finish my webpage upgrade this month!”
You’ll often hear this word used in relation to goals and achievement. For example:
I’m determined to run a marathon this year.
I’m determined to lose 5 kilos before summer!
I’m determined to get a promotion at work within the next six months.
So, how about you? What are you determined to do or accomplish before the end of 2016?
Bye,
Chris

August 20, 2016　 =========
☆ overwhelming 圧倒的な
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If something is overwhelming, it affects you very strongly, and you do not know how to deal with it. This is an important word for business – or even home life – for when you are trying to make something happen, like this month’s topic. Earlier in the month I told you I was tackling my home page and wanted to renew it this month. And although I understand the basics of using WordPress, actually creating a webpage is very overwhelming and time consuming for me!
If I just say my “to do” item is “renew webpage” then of course, it’s going to be overwhelming!! How do I do that? However, if I break it doesn’t into small, easy-to-accomplish steps, then it shouldn’t be so overwhelming… I hope! How about you, are you finding anything overwhelming at the moment? Can you break it down into smaller steps to make it less overwhelming?
Bye,
Chris

August 19, 2016　 =========
☆ strict 厳しい
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You can use “strict” to describe a rule or order that is very clear, precise, and must be obeyed completely. For example, “Our privacy laws are very strict.” Or, “Even if you follow a strict diet, you can still eat at restaurants if you are careful.”
Another way to use “strict” is to describe a person, such as a parent or a boss. For example, “Her parents were very strict when she was growing up.” Or “My boss is so strict about finishing projects on time that everyone has to do overtime.”
Are you a strict person? In what way? Do you think being strict is a positive or negative personality trait?
Bye,
Chris

August 18, 2016　 =========
☆ urgent 緊急の
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I guess one of the reasons a lot of people feel stressed (and frustrated!) is because these days, everything seems to be urgent! We are switched on, 24-7, there is really no down-time, which leads to the feeling that we must do everything and get it all done quickly, because… well, it’s urgent!
I often do things because I feel that thing is “urgent” or someone said “this is urgent.” However, soon after doing it, I realize that it wasn’t really urgent – it wasn’t critical that the thing be done immediately. It seemed urgent, but actually, it could have waited and been done later. Does this ever happen to you? How do you determine what is actually urgent, crucial for right now, and what can wait, and be done later?
Bye,
Chris

August 17, 2016　 =========
☆ stressed ストレスのある
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Here’s another feeling word for you, “stressed” … although I’m sure that this is probably a common word for most people, unfortunately! Is “stressed” a word that you use a lot? I do! I know that I shouldn’t use it so much, but it’s hard not to feel stressed with young kids, a business/job, study to do, and a house to run!
How about you? Are you often stressed? What makes you feel stressed? If you don’t often feel stressed, what is your secret? Can you share your tips and tactics on Facebook with me? I’d love to know!
Bye,
Chris

August 16, 2016　 =========
☆ essential 不可欠な
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Something that is essential is something that is extremely important or crucial to the situation or project. Since we’re talking about “Make it Happen” this month, then you could talk about the things that are essential to making your project happen, or essential to reaching your goal.
So, if “essential” is something that we definitely need, what do you call something that is not necessary, as in the opposite of essential? In fact, we say it is a “nonessential.” As you know, in English, when we make a negative, we often add “un” or “in”, but in this case, we add, “non.” Something that is nonessential is not absolutely necessary, it would be good to have, but it’s not vital.
Bye,
Chris

August 15, 2016　 =========
☆ frustrated イライラした
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Do you know many feeling words in English? One of the hardest things for me, learning to speak Japanese, is not having enough “feeling” words. When I cannot describe how I feel, I feel very frustrated. It’s a little bit like being a child again – we have lots of different feelings, but we don’t know the right words for them.
Do you ever feel like that? Do you ever feel frustrated because you can’t explain how you feel in English? If you do, then a good tactic is to make a list of all the words you use in Japanese and then spend some time making a bilingual Mind Map, or a list of words, or the “tangocho” vocabulary flip book. This way you have a list of words you can refer to when you feel frustrated if you cannot explain your exact feeling. There are so many different words you could use, so don’t limit yourself to, “frustrated!”
Bye,
Chris

August 14, 2016　 =========
☆ contribution 貢献
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“Contribution” can be used in three different ways.
Firstly, if you make a contribution to something, you do something to make it successful or to produce it. For example, “He was awarded a prize for his contribution to world peace.”
Secondly, a contribution can be a sum of money that you give in order to help pay for something. This is also sometimes called a “donation.” For example, “My company makes a contribution to the XYZ charity each year.”
Thirdly, this meaning is a little different, if you make a contribution to a magazine, newspaper, book, or even a blog page, you write something to be published in that magazine etc.
What kind of contribution would you like to make?
Bye,
Chris

August 13, 2016　 =========
☆ achievement 成果
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An achievement is something you have succeeded in doing, especially after a lot of effort. Other words with similar meanings are: accomplishment, act, effort, feat, deed.
We often hear about someone’s “greatest achievement.” For example, when Obama is replaced as President of the USA, we will probably hear a lot about what people consider his greatest achievement as president to be. If you were thinking about your own life so far, what would you consider your greatest achievement to be? Are you happy with that achievement, or are you still working on bigger goals?
Comment on the Facebook page to let me know!
Bye,
Chris

August 12, 2016　 =========
☆ benefit 利益
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The benefit of something is the help or advantage that you get from it. It could be a momentary benefit or it could be assistance or value in a practical way. I recently read a book that suggested that you keep track of your “income”, however the author suggested that you list up *everything* that was a benefit to you. It was a way to make sure you realized just how lucky you are each day.
So, for example, you can list your income, but you can also list benefits that have given you value that day. So last weekend, I received a lot of benefits! Not in money, but our neighbors gave us their old BBQ as they bought a new one. Another neighbor gave us four huge grapefruits – yum! And my sister cooked my family dinner and gave us leftovers for lunch the next day! So, there was no actual money as income, but as you can see there was a lot of benefit! What benefits have you received recently?
Bye,
Chris

August 11, 2016　 =========
☆ tactic 戦術
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When I was growing up there was an advert for a candy company that sold little mints called “Tic-tac” (You can see an image here: http://tinyurl.com/jj6nh4r). The idea was that you got two hours of fresh mint breath for just 2 calories.
The catch copy was “Tic tacs are my tactic” They reversed the two words to create the word “tactic”, clever, right? So if you had just eaten lunch and needed to go to a meeting, these little mints would be your tactic (strategy or method) to get fresh breath before the meeting!
I think this catch copy is also an interesting tactic, as it is clever and amusing to the brain… I still remember it after 20 years!
Bye,
Chris

August 10, 2016　 =========
☆ cost 費用
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The cost of something is the amount of money that is needed in order to buy, do, or make it. Here are some example sentences:
The cost of bread has increased recently.
The cost of living in Australia is actually quite high these days.
The selling price is so low at the moment that it doesn’t even cover the cost of production.
These two are similar in cost, which do you prefer?
How is Japan’s economy right now? Are costs high or low? In Australia, it is a good economy, and so things cost quite a bit, especially housing, which continues to rise in cost.
Bye,
Chris

August 9, 2016　 =========
☆ scope 余裕
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If an activity of behavior has “scope” to do it, then people have the opportunity to do the activity. For example, “My boss is great, he believes in giving staff scope for initiative.” In other words, the boss gives the staff the opportunity to be creative and come up with ideas and initiatives for the company. Another example, “Our company now has increased scope to develop new products.” This example, means that the company has more freedom or chances to create new products, perhaps because of more staff or more money.
This might not be a word that you hear very often, here are some alternatives that you might be more likely to hear:
Opportunity
freedom
latitude
room
space
Can you use scope (or any of the alternatives) in a sentence?
Bye,
Chris

August 8, 2016　 =========
☆ time 時間
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Do you know Douglas Adams, the British Author who wrote the “Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy” (銀河ヒッチハイク・ガイド) book series? One of my favorite quotes about time is from this book. In it he says:
“Time is an illusion. Lunchtime doubly so.”
He says that “time” is an imaginary concept that humans created to stop everything from happening at once. And of course, “lunchtime doubly so” in my opinion, means that nobody ever really has enough time for a proper lunch break, so ‘time doesn’t exist’ and even more true is that ‘lunchtime doesn’t exist.’ However, if you search the internet there are many different explanations of this quote. What do you think it means?
Bye,
Chris

August 7, 2016　 =========
☆ think big 野心的に考える
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“Think big” has actually become a kind of catch phrase for business people. In fact, if you do a google search for “think big” you’ll find so many different images and versions of this verb – yes, that’s right, it can be considered a verb now because it is so commonly used. So instead of it being the verb “think” plus the adjective “big”, it is actually a verb phrase as it is: Think big.
But what does it mean, really? In the simplest definition, think big means “be ambitious.” If you’re going to plan something, plan something that will be difficult to achieve, that will push you to grow and develop yourself in order to achieve it. So, instead of thinking small, for example, “I’m going to increase my income by 100,000yen a year,” think big and aim for an increase of 1,000,000yen. Or think bigger and aim to increase your income by 10,000,000yen a year!!! Have you been thinking big recently? I hope so!
Bye,
Chris

August 6, 2016　 =========
☆ dream 夢見る
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Dream can be used as either a noun or a verb. As a noun, a dream is the little movies you experience in your mind while you are asleep. For example, “I had the strangest dream last night! It was about XYZ…. “ It can also mean the unlikely situation that you would like to happen. For example, “As a child his dream was to become the president.” Or “My dream is to live on a farm and grow my own food.”
However! Today’s word is a verb. As a verb you can use it to say that someone saw the imaginary movie in their mind while sleeping. For example, “Last night I was dreaming about XYZ, it was so strange!” And of course, it can refer to the thinking of a situation you want to happen. “As a child he was always dreaming about becoming the president.” Or “Recently, I’ve been dreaming of living on a farm and growing my own food.”
So as you can see, it’s possible to use it as a verb or a noun in the same situation – just make the appropriate grammatical changes.

Bye,
Chris

August 5, 2016　 =========
☆ express 表現する
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Today’s word is about showing what you think or feel. If you express an idea or feeling well then others around you can understand what you feeling. Although it is an everyday word, it is often used in formal situations, especially when you want to express sympathy. For example, at a funeral, you might say something like these to the family and relatives of the person who died:
I wish to express my condolences.
Please let me express my sincere sympathy to you (and your family).
I’m very sorry for your loss. Words cannot express my feelings.
Of course, you can use “express” in everyday conversation, too! However, it is a word you’ll most commonly hear relating to people expressing sympathy.
Bye,
Chris

August 4, 2016　 =========
☆ allocate 割り振る
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This is an interesting word to use when “making it happen”. You need to know how to allocate work (similar to delegating) and also how to allocate resources and time to projects in order to get them finished.
For example, if you work in a company, then whenever you have a new project, you may have a certain amount of money allocated to that project as your budget for completing the project. Or you might get staff allocated to your project in order to help the project get done. And of course, you can allocate a certain amount of time each day or week to focus on the project.
Can you use allocate in a sentence? Come and tell me on Facebook and I’ll check it for you.
https://www.facebook.com/English-Now-501594796687899/
Bye,
Chris

August 3, 2016　 =========
☆ lay out 計画する
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Looking at the Japanese translation for today’s word, you might already know this word as “plan”, however, you can also say “lay out” and it means that you are presenting your ideas and explaining them clearly in order to develop a plan of attack. Here are some example sentences:
He listened closely while his manager laid out the plans.
Can you lay out your ideas for the project at our meeting?
It’s time to lay out our goals for the rest of 2016.
Can you use lay out in a sentence? Come over to English Now on Facebook and share your sentence, and I’ll check it for you. 🙂
https://www.facebook.com/English-Now-501594796687899/
Bye,
Chris

August 2, 2016　 =========
☆ delegate 委任する
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Another important skill for making things happen is being able to delegate. When you delegate duties, tasks, or responsibilities, you give those duties, tasks, and responsibilities to the other person. If you’re at work or even at home, if you try to do everything yourself, you’ll never be able to get everything done. I’m speaking from experience, I am hopeless at delegating to others and so I rarely get “everything” done! Ha ha
Are you good at delegating tasks to others? How do you delegate? Is it easy or difficult for you? Can you give me some tips on delegating to others?? Please help 🙂 If you’ve got some good tips for delegating to others, please come and let me know on the English Now Facebook page. TIA! (equals “Thanks in advance!”)
Bye,
Chris

August 1, 2016　 =========
☆ tackle 立ち向かう
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This month is all about “Making it happen” and one thing you’ll need to do if you want to make things happen and get things done is “tackle” tough problems. If you tackle a difficult task or problem, you face it and deal with it in a very determined or efficient way. It doesn’t just have to be a problem at work or home, you can even use this word for other bigger problems. For example, in Australia we often have bushfires and on the news you’ll hear things like “the firemen have been tackling the fire for over 24 hours.”
You might also hear this word when people are talking about sport, if you tackle someone in a game, you try to take the ball away from them, or if it is a game like rugby or American football, then when you tackle someone, you knock them to the ground! So, when you tackle your problems to get things done, basically, you are knocking them to the ground!
Bye,
Chris