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Today’s Word: turmoil

Today’s Word: turmoil

August 31, 2017 =========

☆  turmoil  騒動

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Turmoil is a state of confusion, disorder, uncertainty, or great anxiety. Other words with a similar meaning are: confusion, chaos disorder, upheaval. It isn’t a formal word, but you might not hear it so much in every day conversation. Here are some examples of how you might use it in relation to our Work-Life Balance topic:

Our company is in turmoil right now, after our manager quit suddenly!
Overwork and emotional turmoil is causing me a lot of stress and anxiety at the moment.
I just want the turmoil at work to be over, so we can relax and focus on work again!
We are facing a bit of financialRead more about Today’s Word: turmoil[…]

Today’s Word: viewpoint

Today’s Word: viewpoint

August 30, 2017 =========

☆  viewpoint  観点

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Someone’s viewpoint is the way that they think about things in general, or the way they think about a particular thing. So, this week’s Q&A is about paternity leave, which we looked at yesterday. “What is your viewpoint on paternity leave?”

So, how do you feel about paternity leave? Is it a good idea? Do you think it will encourage Japanese people to have more children? Did you realize that fathers could take a whole year of paid paternity leave, like I talked about yesterday? What is your viewpoint, paternity leave – good or bad? Necessary or unnecessary? What are the benefits and disadvantages?

Bye,

Chris

Today’s Word: paternity leave

Today’s Word: paternity leave

August 29, 2017 =========

☆  paternity leave  父親の育児休暇

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A friend of mine from the UK lives in Japan, with her American husband, and he is currently taking paternity leave. It’s paid – not full pay from the company, but the government subsidizes it so that you can take a full 12 months of paid leave – the mother and/or father! Did you know that?

I didn’t know that! I also didn’t know that Japan is 2nd highest in the world for the length of paid paternity leave. In Japan, the father can take 52 weeks of paid leave. The top spot goes to South Korea, which is 53 weeks of paid leave. Wow! IRead more about Today’s Word: paternity leave[…]

Today’s Word: issue

Today’s Word: issue

August 28, 2017 =========

☆  issue  論点

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An issue is an important subject that people are arguing about or discussing. It is often used with words like “raise the issue” or “key issue.” Here are some example sentences:

I’m planning to raise the issue of unpaid overtime at the next meeting.
One of the key issues in work-life balance is knowing what your priorities are.
I don’t want to confuse the issue any further.
There was no need to bring up that issue in the meeting.
We never discussed the issue, but I still think about it a lot.

Can you use “issue” in a sentence?

Bye,

Chris

Today’s Word: suffer

Today’s Word: suffer

August 27, 2017 =========

☆  suffer  耐える

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We usually use “suffer” to talk about someone enduring or going through pain. However, you can also use it to talk about suffering an unpleasant experience. Now, that experience doesn’t need to be that unpleasant… for example, have you ever been to a meeting which was kind of pointless? A meeting which was too long, or could have been talked about via email rather than in person? In that situation, you could use “suffer” for example:

I had to suffer through another pointless meeting at work today!

Another common way that suffer is used, is in the idiom, “suffer in silence” this means that you suffer or areRead more about Today’s Word: suffer[…]

Today’s Word: engage with

Today’s Word: engage with

August 26, 2017 =========

☆  engage with  触れ合う

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If you engage with something or with a group of people, you get involved with that thing or group, and feel that you are connected with it. One of the things that I found really helped my Japanese language learning when I was living in Japan was engaging with the local community. I could have spent all my time with other foreigners, but that would have meant I spoke English all the time. What a waste!

So, instead, I made sure that I went to local community events and tried to communicate with the locals. I lived in Mitaka, and there was a society called, MishopRead more about Today’s Word: engage with[…]

Today’s Word: impact

Today’s Word: impact

August 25, 2017 =========

☆  impact  強い影響を与える

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If something impacts a situation, process or person, it affects them. Throughout our lives we make decisions, many of which impact our lives in ways that we couldn’t imagine at the time. For me, the decision to apply for a homestay when I was 16 impacted my life greatly. I’m sure I’ve already told you, but when I was 16, I applied for a homestay in Japan – even though I was studying French at the time!

I ended up staying for six weeks in Okayama, and the impact that had on my life was immense! Firstly, I finished high school and then decided to study JapaneseRead more about Today’s Word: impact[…]

Today’s Word: forget

Today’s Word: forget

August 24, 2017 =========

☆  forget  忘れる

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Today’s word is an easy one! The useful phrase is also appropriate for the topic of work-life balance. “Don’t forget to get some rest.” You might think that you only forget “things” but it is fine to use today’s word with more abstract concepts like taking a break, or getting some rest, or practicing self-care.

Sometimes we can be so busy with everything we need to do at work and home, we forget to rest! Does that ever happen to you? My friend at my early morning run group said this morning that if I had some free time, I should watch a TV program that sheRead more about Today’s Word: forget[…]

Today’s Word: extend

Today’s Word: extend

August 23, 2017 =========

☆  extend  延長する

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If you extend something, you make it last longer than before, or end at a later date. Usually you’d talk about extending deadlines, but you can also extend business hours or opening hours. In fact, in Australia, during December, the shops extend their business opening hours a lot – so that everyone has enough time to spend all their money on Christmas presents!! Ha ha

Are there any times of year when the shopping hours are extended for a special event? For example, New Year? Are the opening hours extended for Christmas? I can’t imagine that they would be, but maybe Christmas is becoming more popular soRead more about Today’s Word: extend[…]

Today’s Word: get away with

Today’s Word: get away with

August 22, 2017 =========

☆  get away with  罪を逃れる

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If you get away with something, it means you do it without suffering any punishment or bad consequences. This is usually used in the situation where you have done something wrong or risky, but you could also use it in a work situation. For example:

I was supposed to go to a work dinner last night, but I got away with not going.
This week I’ve gotten away with not doing any overtime!
I can’t believe she got away with that, the boss should have punished her.

Have you gotten away with something recently? What happened?

Bye,

Chris

Today’s Word: address

Today’s Word: address

August 21, 2017 =========

☆  address  取り組む

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If you address a problem or a task, you try to understand it or deal with it. You concentrate or focus on the problem, and you definitely don’t ignore it.

One of the useful phrases this week is “I think we need to address this problem right away.” Using the daily word in a sentence is always a great way to learn and remember new words. Even if the word is one you already know, putting it into a sentence makes your brain think the word is important to you, so you’re more likely to remember it – and use it – than if you just lookRead more about Today’s Word: address[…]

Today’s Word: deadline

Today’s Word: deadline

August 20, 2017 =========

☆  deadline  締め切り

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A deadline is the time or date by which a task must be finished. Other words with a similar meaning are: time limit, cutoff point, limit, target date. I don’t really like long-term deadlines as I find it easy to get distracted! However, I found this interesting article a while ago, about how to use deadlines effectively.
http://www.lifehack.org/articles/featured/22-tips-for-effective-deadlines.html

These are a couple of the ideas I liked:
Find the Weak Link – the author says we need to find out what part of the task might delay or ruin the whole project and do that first.
and
Mark Excess Baggage – identify areas or tasks of the project that could beRead more about Today’s Word: deadline[…]

Today’s Word: pressure

Today’s Word: pressure

August 19, 2017 =========

☆  pressure  プレッシャー

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If you are feeling pressure from the people around you, or from life in general, it means that you feel you must do a lot of tasks or make a lot of decision in a short amount of time. Or you might be feeling pressure because people expect a lot from you. For example, if you start a new job, you might feel pressure to perform at a certain level so that you can create a good impression.

You might feel pressure if your job means that you need to make a lot of decisions in a very little time. Or you might have a deadline approachingRead more about Today’s Word: pressure[…]

Today’s Word: workaholic

Today’s Word: workaholic

August 18, 2017 =========

☆  workaholic  仕事中毒

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This is an informal word, and you wouldn’t really use it in a business situation. You’d use it to talk to friends for example. So, a workaholic is someone who works most of the time and finds it difficult to stop working, so they don’t have much time to do other things, like their hobby and fun things in life. I guess if their work is their hobby, then being a workaholic might not be too bad, but really, everyone needs a break and rest sometimes.

What about someone who does overtime every night at their company, would you consider them to be a workaholic, or isRead more about Today’s Word: workaholic[…]

Today’s Word: burnout

Today’s Word: burnout

August 17, 2017 =========

☆  burnout  燃え尽き症候群

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Today’s word is a noun, but you could also separate the words, to “burn out” which means that you make yourself exhausted or ill by working too hard. So, the noun, then, is the state of “burnout” where you are exhausted or ill as you have worked too hard.

Have you ever experienced burnout? How or why did it happen? Was it due to working too hard at your job or at home? You can also experience burnout just from having too much to do in general. Do young people – as in school age kids – in Japan experience burnout? I imagine their schedules are soRead more about Today’s Word: burnout[…]

Today’s Word: workload

Today’s Word: workload

August 16, 2017 =========

☆  workload  仕事量

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Your workload – or the workload of your company or organization – is the amount of work that you have to do. This word is most commonly used when the workload is too much, or too heavy. For example:

Mr. Suzuki had to cancel his trip due to his heavy workload.
We are hiring more staff in order to cope with the extra workload.
I wish I could change to a job that didn’t have such a heavy workload.
Since Kate left, we’ve all noticed an increase in our workload.

How is your workload? Is it too much or, just right? Do you wish you had more work or less?

Bye,

Chris

Today’s Word: lifestyle

Today’s Word: lifestyle

August 15, 2017 =========

☆  lifestyle  ライフスタイル

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Your lifestyle is the living conditions, behaviors, and habits that you typically choose. Back in the late 1980’s and 1990’s there was an American TV show called, “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous.” The TV show featured the extravagant lifestyles of wealthy actors, athletes, and business multimillionaires.

I guess this was one of the first “reality TV” style shows. Was that ever on TV in Japan? Did you watch it? Would you be interested in watching a TV show about the lifestyle of someone rich and famous? How would it make you feel? Would you feel jealous that your lifestyle was not as extravagant or would youRead more about Today’s Word: lifestyle[…]

Today’s Word: part

Today’s Word: part

August 14, 2017 =========

☆  part  役割

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This week’s quote, “Work is just a part of our life, not vice versa.” Now, in this quote, the word “part” means a piece or a bit of our life. In other words, work is one bit of our life, and we must make sure that our life doesn’t just become a small bit / part of our work.

Today’s word “part” means character or role. We each have many different roles or parts in our life, such as daughter, wife, mother, staff, coworker, friend, sister and so on. Balancing all these parts is the key to a happy life, right? Have you ever sat down andRead more about Today’s Word: part[…]

Today’s Word: balance

Today’s Word: balance

August 13, 2017 =========

☆  balance  バランスをとる

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If you balance one thing against another, you consider its importance in relation to the other. In other words, looking at our topic for the month, we are balancing our work and our life. We are balancing our time spent at work or on business and our time spent on personal pleasures and hobbies.

If you are looking to balance work and life, you might also look at the conditions of your job, for example, balancing out the working hours versus the time off. Or balancing the salary and the overtime you might need to do. What other things might you have to balance in order toRead more about Today’s Word: balance[…]

Today’s Word: encourage

Today’s Word: encourage

August 12, 2017 =========

☆  encourage  励ます

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If you encourage someone, you give them confidence. You can encourage them by letting them know that they are doing a good job and tell them not to give up. For example, my father always encouraged me to be whatever I wanted to be.

You can also encourage someone to do something, which is a little different – it means that you are trying to persuade them to do something. Naturally, you are encouraging to do something that you think would be good for them: such as encouraging someone to apply for a job, or to eat more vegetables, or to join a sports team. You areRead more about Today’s Word: encourage[…]

Today’s Word: manage

Today’s Word: manage

August 11, 2017 =========

☆  manage  なんとかする

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There are a few different ways to use the word, manage. You have most likely used it when talking about managing an organization or people. Or of course, managing time, money, or other resources. However, today’s meaning is a little different, it is similar to the meaning of “cope” or “carry on” in a difficult situation. In other words, if you manage, it means that you can cope or succeed in a difficult situation. Here are some examples:

Thanks for waiting, sorry I didn’t’ manage to get away from the office on time.
Don’t worry about me, I’ll manage somehow.
She lost her job last month, but she isRead more about Today’s Word: manage[…]

Today’s Word: delegate

Today’s Word: delegate

August 10, 2017    =========

☆  delegate  委託する

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If you delegate duties, responsibilities, or power to someone, you give them those duties, those responsibilities, that power, so that they can act on your behalf. Delegating to others most commonly happens at work: you can delegate work to someone else so that you have more time to do the work that only you can do.

Of course, you can also delegate tasks and responsibilities at home, too. My “birthday present” to my son on his 7th birthday was a washing basket and a camping washing line! The idea was that I would delegating his washing to him – of course, I would teach him andRead more about Today’s Word: delegate[…]

Today’s Word: prioritize

Today’s Word: prioritize

August 9, 2017   =========

☆  prioritize  優先する

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Are you good at prioritizing? I think being able to prioritize is one of the most important things for work-life balance, don’t you? Actually, the fact is, we’re always prioritizing the things we have to do and want to do. The question is whether we are prioritizing the right things!

The problem is that most of the time when we prioritize something it is an unconscious decision. What do I mean? Well, at night, I like to read novels as I’ve been reading business related stuff during the day, and yet, I have no time! However, I do have time to check Facebook and watch theRead more about Today’s Word: prioritize[…]

Today’s Word: neglect

Today’s Word: neglect

August 8, 2017      =========

☆  neglect  なおざりにする

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I recently read a blog post by a “guru” whose articles I like to read. She was talking about self-care and how recently she’d been neglecting her own self-care. Like the useful phrase says, “It’s easy to neglect your own care when you are busy.” In the blog post, she talked about ways that people (women in particular) neglect their self-care. Some of her examples were:

Skipping meals and using coffee to get you through the day
Not getting enough sleep
Giving up hobbies because you’re too busy at work
Feeling like you need to do everything, rather than asking for help or delegating.

What doRead more about Today’s Word: neglect[…]

Today’s Word: confuse

Today’s Word: confuse

August 7, 2017 =========

☆  confuse  混乱させる

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This week’s quote is from Hilary Clinton, saying, “Don’t confuse having a career with having a life.” I think this is really interesting, don’t you? I mean, her career and her attempts to become president of the US, must take up so much of her time, it is hard to imagine that she really has a lot of “spare time”…

To be president of the USA would be quite a career achievement, but I think it would be easy to confuse that achievement with “having a life.” Do you think that when she says, “having a life” she means this is the sign of success, andRead more about Today’s Word: confuse[…]

Today’s Word: flexible

Today’s Word: flexible

August 6, 2017 =========

☆  flexible  融通が効く

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If something is flexible, then it is able to change easily, and adapt to different conditions and circumstances easily, whenever they occur. So, your job might be flexible if you are able to take time off easily, if something happens that means you can’t work.

What is important to you in a job or career? Do you want flexible working hours? Is it possible to find a job in Japan that pays well but is also flexible? For many people, this would be the ideal job, right? Having enough time and money to do the things you want to do with your life, by having a jobRead more about Today’s Word: flexible[…]

Today’s Word: stressful

Today’s Word: stressful

August 5, 2017 =========

☆  stressful  ストレスの大きい

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If a situation or experience is stressful, it causes the person involved to feel stress. For example, you might have a stressful job, or a stressful situation at work, or a stressful relationship with your parents.

If you look online, you can find lists of the top ten most stressful jobs. The lists are all a bit different, depending on who is doing the survey, but taxi driver seems to come up in all of them! I always thought this would be an OK job – but actually, driving in a lot of traffic can be stressful, and if your customer is in a hurry or rudeRead more about Today’s Word: stressful[…]

Today’s Word: off-balance

Today’s Word: off-balance

August 4, 2017 =========

☆  off-balance  バランスの崩れた

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Usually when we talk about someone or something being off-balance, we mean that they can easily fall or be knocked over because they are not standing firmly. However, another way to use this word is when you talk about your life being unbalanced, so your work and life style are off-balance. You might be working too much, or even too little, so your life is off-balance.

Interestingly, there is a book called Off Balance, by Matthew Kelly, and in it, he says that striving for work-life balance is a mistake. He says we don’t actually want balance, we want satisfaction. And if we have personal and professionalRead more about Today’s Word: off-balance[…]

Today’s Word: fulfilling

Today’s Word: fulfilling

August 3, 2017            =========

☆  fulfilling  充実した

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Fulfilling is quite similar to satisfied. If something is fulfilling, you feel happy and satisfied with it or with what you have achieved. So you might talk about a fulfilling life, or a fulfilling career, for example.

Trying to find work-life balance is a lot easier if your career is fulfilling, right? Since we spend quite a lot of our hours at work, it would be a shame for them not to be fulfilling! But, I do know that a lot of people are fine with a job that isn’t fulfilling, but pays enough for them to have a fulfilling lifestyle during non-work hours.

Which would youRead more about Today’s Word: fulfilling[…]

Today’s Word: satisfied

Today’s Word: satisfied

August 2, 2017      =========

☆  satisfied  満足して

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If you are satisfied with something, you are happy because you have got what you wanted or needed. One of this week’s useful phrases is this question, “Are you satisfied at work?” This is a good question to ask a close friend, or family member, when you want to find out more about how they are feeling. You could also change “satisfied” to ask a similar, but slightly different questions:

Are you happy at work?
Are you challenged at work?
Are you respected (by your colleagues) at work?
Are you overworked at work?

What else could you ask? Can you think of another word to try instead of “satsifed”?

Bye,

Chris

Today’s Word: truly

Today’s Word: truly

August 1, 2017     =========

☆  truly  本当に

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Welcome to August! So, this month, we’re looking at Work-Life Balance. Do you think it is truly possible to find balance between work and life? Work-life balance is defined as proper prioritizing between “work” (as in your career and ambition) and “life” (your health, your pleasure, leisure, and family time.) Is it really possible to find balance between these things?

I think it feels like we are at work way too much, but really, there are 168 hours in a week, if you sleep for 8 hours a night, that’s 56 hours gone. If you work for 50 hours a week, that’s 10-hour days, quite long,Read more about Today’s Word: truly[…]