F2F Class Notes (Sonia)

Discuss the main difference between German and Chinese culture

Tabloid (n) (adj)(of or relating to) a type of popular newspaper with small pages that has many pictures and short, simple reports

e.g This article must be tabloid news

Source: https://breakingnewsenglish.com/1711/171118-train-punctuality.html

Train companies in Japan are renowned for their punctuality. Many people claim Japan’s rail network is the envy of the world. Others say you can set your own watch using a Japanese train’s departure. Most rail companies around the world apologize to passengers for delayed trains or cancellations. However, the operators of Tokyo’s Tsukuba Express line apologized for one of its trains leaving 20 seconds too early on Tuesday. According to the apology, the high-speed train pulled out of a station 20 seconds earlier than scheduled due to staff members failing to check the departure timetable. Even though the company issued the apology, it said it had not received any complaints from passengers.

Bosses of the Tsukuba Express said the train crew did not sufficiently check the departure time and failed to accurately perform the departure operations. The company made a statement in Japanese on its website. It “deeply” apologized for the “severe inconvenience” caused to passengers who missed the scheduled train, even though the next train was just four minutes later. Many people tweeted about the apology. One tweet read: “Tokyo train company’s apology for 20-second-early departure is one of the best things about Japan.” A UK commuter tweeted: “They apologize for being 20 seconds early, and yet you don’t get an apology from any major UK train company until they’re over 2 hours late.”

Vocabulary

intonation(n): the sound changes produced by the rise and fall of the voicewhen speaking, especially when this has an effect on the meaning of what is said

e.g i think its hard to copy the intonation of british people

sudoku(n):a number game in which you have to write a number between 1 and 9 in each small box of a 9×9 square

e.g sudoku is a habit I have to relax

numerical(Adj): about numbers

e.g are you a numerical person?

A numerical person might be more rational

anglicised(V): to make or become English in sound, appearance, or character

e.g he anglicised his name to make it more understandable

e.g its hard to anglicise a chinese name to an english name

Pronunciation

Sudoku/suˈdəʊ.ku

th words

l words