2011年10月27日木曜日

10/27 Number

Today I had the midterm exam on UCLA.
We made financial modeling to value a company.
It was not so difficult, but I wanted to get a perfect score, so I am not sure that I made it.

To prepare for this exam, I read annual reports these days.
Numbers have me feel secure because they are the same as in Japan.
However, I can't help reading them in my heart in Japanese.
Therefore, to some degree, it deprived me of the time studying English.
Anyway, I thought it awful, and then now I'm trying to count numbers in English.

It sounds awesome if I count numbers by each two digits.

31536000       thirty-one million five thirty-six thousand  
525600            five twenty-five thousand six hundred
8760                eighty-seven sixty
365                 three sixty-five
12                    twelve
1                      one

numbers are the same.
numbers are felt relieved.
I count them by two.


"we're one
but we're not the same
we get to
carry each other
carry each other
one..."

(U2 "one")

2011年10月22日土曜日

Weird Weeks

If I say...

this Monday, it means October 24th (the coming Monday)

BUT

this summer, it means the summer in 2011.

It sounds so weird to me.
I asked my conversation partner ( a UCLA student minoring Japanese) why,
but he also had difficulty in explaining why.

By the way
My conversation partner told me about

"hulu"
http://www.hulu.com/

you can watch dramas and animations for free in this site.
I watched "Rumbling Hears (KIMINOZO)" up to episode 3.
It was so serious, but interesting.
you might not be able to access this site from Japan, but it's a very useful site.

風邪を引きました。
大分良くなりましたが、今週末はおとなしく英語に触れ合いながら安静にしていたいと思います。

2011年10月18日火曜日

10/17

I finished a mid-term report!!
Yesterday I stayed up until two o' clock, so I think I will fall fast asleep tonight.
I hardly screwed up.
Anyway, this lets me focus on what I really wanna do.

These days, I have been reading the Oz.
Some people may say it's tacky but it's simple and easy for me to read.

Also some say the Wicked Witch was too weak.
You make a valid point !

I got into Financial Modeling.
Everyday, I use Excel and make a spread sheet.

どうもまとまってなくてごめんなさい。

2011年10月15日土曜日

10/14

I hit a wall.  The wall of English.

I can't help translating from Japanese to English.
I can't help thinking about "be" verb instead of active tense.
I can't help having trouble in listening to reductions the professor speaks.

In my class, some German woman can speak VERY fluently, and she also writes better than even ordinal native speakers.
I felt like a looser. but I asked her about advice of English.
She said
"watching movies a lot without subtitles and speaking with your friends a lot. And what's important is to avoid Japanese. you mustn't read Japanese, speak Japanese. It may be tough for you, but you should do."

I got more or less used to this life, so I would like to challenge a next thing.
I decided that I will take Japanese away.
Of course, I keep my tie to important things, but what I just do unconsciously and I regret later should be certainly thrown away.

then
verbs : To consider verbs firstly when I have something to say.
tense  :  To think about verbs firstly because tense tends to be closely related to verbs.
reduction : To record lectures on UCLA and then I re-listen to the lectures.

5pages report by Monday is freaking me out.
But I have to be up for shopping on Saturday.
Anyway, I try to make it ends meet.

Go for it !

2011年10月10日月曜日

10/9

Yesterday, I went to Universal Studio.
It was more exciting than I had expected.
Especially, I like the revenge of mummy and Universal Studio tour.
The former is a roller-coaster attraction, and the latter is a tour with a 3D show.
I went there with taiwanese friends. They're so considerate.
At some souvenir shop, I found a oscar statue for "Best Accountant".
What does it have to do with me?
It's because I thought it would be a nice trick when I had a team. For example, I can gift it to some team mate who is regarded as the most competent accountant.

というわけで
今日はひたすらにアニュアルレポートを読み込んでました。
財務諸表分析はやはり楽しいです。数字から会社の状態を読み解くのが特に。
日本と米国基準を比べるのも興味深いですし。
ちとパソコンの調子がいまいちなので今日は短めでこの辺で。

2011年10月7日金曜日

10/7

These days, it is so cold...
I found I'm repeating it many times, so I gotta change the theme.

Everyday I look for a good way to improve my English skill.
There are three problems about my English; Speed, Vocabulary, phrase.

First Speed
I can listen to and understand English spoken in TOEFL speed, but English in movies or lectures, 
which are for native speakers, is difficult for me.
I thought it results from many reasons, but major problem is that I can't tell "clause".
I mean, I feel I can't run after speaking when I can't tell where subjects and verbs are.
So, what I have to do is where the speaker stresses because subjects and verbs are also important for speakers. At first, I just catch up with Clauses, but totally I realized I had to pay attention to "syllable" (cont

2011年10月6日木曜日

10/5

It rained.
This is my first time to experience such a heavy rain.
I brought a compact umbrella, but it didn't help me so much.

the temperature kept low, 17 
so, I felt it so cold that I was forced to take out my sweater from my suit case.
In addition, the road was terrible.
The roads in LA are not maintained well, so I saw many puddles, sometimes like pond seriously.
When I arrived at school, I got my shoes badly wet.
In this way, today's weather made me mad.
but the sky cleared up in the afternoon. 
Anyway, I love sunny weather in LA.


というわけで
UCLA授業2回目でした。
やはり英語が速くてついて行けないorz
内容は理解できるから猛復習して復讐を果たすしかないけど
その分忙しくなってきついです。
加えて語学学校の宿題も非常にめんどくさい。
「ここ10年であったあなたの国での変化」
をテーマにレポート書かなければいけない。
既に寮で話題になるぐらい勉強漬けだけど、
この辛さを乗り越えれば英語面でも精神面でも
強くなれると信じてうまくやってみようと思います。

とりあえず自分だけでできることでは
Gleeが唯一の癒し。ホント演出が素晴らしい。

2011年10月4日火曜日

10/3

Today, I went to take a lecture on campus in UCLA.
The students whose classes are 105 or higher in academic program in UCLA extension can take a concurrent enrollment to one lecture with additional paying.
I am interested in Accounting, so I thought I was gonna take "Financial Statement Analysis".

There were several procedure I had to do, but I finally got a signature from the in structure of this lecture.
Hence, I got able to take the on campus lecture.
It deals with FCF and RI along with several ways of financial strategies.
I found it not so difficult, but the speed of the professor's speaking sounded too fast for me.
I realized that I have still a long way to talk with native speakers.
Anyway, I'm quite motivated now because I can confidently say I come to UCLA.
The lecture is held in the HAINES HALL, and it looks very dignified.
the picture shows it as follows...

I would like to do my best to keep up with the lecture !!

というわけでUCLAの授業を取ることになりそうです(まだ手続き必要
ネイティブの英語が速すぎて、良い刺激になりました。
授業の内容も財務諸表を使うFCF計算でちと混乱してしまい、
猛勉強して追いつく必要がありそうです。

加えて、要求科目もあるので正直無理目かなと思ってたんですが、
チャレンジして授業が取れるようになったのも良い経験になりました。
腰が引けていたのですが、背中を押してくれる人がいたことが大きかったです。
いつも頼りになりすぎてるのですが、でもやはり頼りになるなぁーと
思いを深めてました。
精神的に鍛えられて、それはそれで面白いし、
と同時に結局承認欲求を求める人がいつも信頼できるというのは
個人の領域を越えてそれはそれで素晴らしいことですね。

2011年10月3日月曜日

語源厨乙と思ってたけど素直に調べてたら意外と面白んだねの巻

First of all, I would like to introduce some ways to learn English.
I just came across them few days ago, I let you decide whether you'll try or not, but I found them very interesting.


1st thing is about memorizing the meaning of English words.
always I found it difficult to remember complicated English words.
For example, I take an example from the news dealing with Greece problem.
"vigilance" which means "being cautious".
it's hard to memorize it, but when I  get to know that  it originates from "vigil" , the Old French from Latin , meaning 'awake', it makes it better to remember this meaning.
In this way, if I search for original meanings, I can learn English words by heart more enjoyably.
You can look up the original meaning via detailed English-English dictionaries, or via this Web page ( if you're Japanese)

http://home.alc.co.jp/db/owa/etm_sch

Secondly, it's also a good way to paraphrase English sentences.

For example, I just wrote this sentence

"In this way,if I search for their original meanings, I can learn English words by heart more enjoyably"
I can paraphrase it to
"As the above shows, looking up how the English words were constructed helps me to keep them more cheerfully in my mind."

this way is great because it helps me to learn many vocabularies and expression ways.
I tend to rely too much on some particular ways to write English, so I found it useful.
and this Web page may help you with your paraphrase or looking up some synonyms.

http://thesaurus.com/

というわけで
1週間経ってこちらも慣れてきました。
「慣れてきた」とはどのようなときに感じるかというと、
特に夜に訪れる寂寞とした思いや強迫観念が緩和されたかなと思ったときです。
理由としては、生活の慣れと規律化による不安の排除や、
友達と楽に付き合えるようになったことが原因だと思います。


慣れてくる前は、というと
数年前に亡くなった知り合いがその死の訪れの数日前に
「悲しくはないが淋しくてしょうがない」と言っていたことを
振り返っては死と連想していたぐらいなので、まぁ辛いといえば辛いですよね。


ただ、こうした感覚も含めて留学というものなので、なかなか興味深かったと思います。
そして、相変わらず仕事や家庭に関するコミットメントについてぽけぽけ考えられましたし。
それに関してはまた後でまとめるとして、
ここで得た一時の安定さや楽さに拘泥して心の底からの目標を忘れる、ということがないよう
まだまだ挑戦にしないとなぁと思わされました。
いや、今日改めて背中押してくれた人のおかげなのですが。
いつも感謝です。

9/29

free writing

yesterday, I heard my teacher saying that free writing was good for speaking.
what is free writing?
Free writing means that you write freely without thinking. You don't need to mind the grammar error, vocabularies, and so on. It's very similar to the way of thinking about speaking English.

Then,after I write,  I'll check errors and correct them.
I sometimes have difficulty in speaking English fluently because of the lack of vocabularies and the grammar error.
I can handle it to tell what I think not only via words I said but also via body signs. However, it doesn't necessarily lead to the progress of my speaking skill.
So, I'd like to try free writing to improve my speaking skill.
Even now, I'm writing it in a free writing way. Therefore, if you find some mistakes, it's natural.


という感じで当分は
(英語)フリーライティングと比較的まとまったの
(日本語)雑感
という感じでブログを書いて行こうと思います。まだ手探りでごめんなさい。

こちらでは無事最上級クラスに入れました。
日本とは違って外国だと、
上級クラスほど文法が未熟だけど会話は問題無い、
という人が多いので会話面では
非常に刺激を受ける毎日です。


あと、今日は完了形を使うタイミングに関して授業を受けたのですが、
完了形という概念なかなか面白いですね。

「いつかは問わないけど過去に起こったことが続いて行くイメージ」
と言っていました。

契約概念が強い国だからなのかと色々と考えてましたが、
もう少し調べてみると日米文化の違いにまで
切り込めて楽しいかもと思いました(要はまだ調べてません汗

9/27

Today, no classes.
so, I slept after lunch, thenI bought some stationary.
I also wanted to buy sandals and a sweater, but I decided not to buy them yet.

I started reading WILEY USCPA. today, I read "Basic Concepts".
It was a little abstract, so I often got asleep when reading it.
but it was interesting and I enjoyed it because I could feel that I had done my daily duty.

From tomorrow, the class will begin. I'm excited because the level of my class will be clarified.
On the placement test, we had writing(20min), reading(30min), listening(35min), grammar(30min).
I think writing, reading and grammar test were easy. However listening test seemed difficult.
Especially, in the map question, I had difficulty in solving questions while seeing a map because the question book was stapled only at the left top of the book. So, I can say it was not the question of listening, haha.

授業までの空白期間も終わりに近づきました。
この期間は宙ぶらりんなので、淋しさを感じて辛いですが、同時に興味深くもあります。

人間は結局「ヒト」という生物が一定の他者との「間」に関係性を築くことによって
生かされているのだということを感じます。


欲求階層説というのもありますが、
自己実現を頑張れるのも基礎的な関係性ありきなので
大切にしたいと思う限りです。

Arrival

I've just arrived in LA.
I was worried about the Federal inspection, but nothing's happened.
I'm more or less accustomed to this area, so I've felt that I'm back rather than that I will start my new life.
Anyway, I've finished greetings to my friends.


I'd like to always remember my goals I mentioned before, but also I'd like not to think so seriously.
I know it causes needless stresses if I think too much about what will be going on about my life.
I'd like to have my feet firmly planted, then I'd like to attain my goals in the long run.

Study Abroad

On Sep. 25th, i'm gonna leave for California again.


Sep 25th ~ Dec 3rd UCLA Extension
Jan  3rd ~ Sep UCSD

I'd like to study the following three things.

1 USGAAP / IFRS
In this globalized world, international accounting knowledge is getting more and more importance.
I want to be a professional that plays internationally. So, I 'd like to gain the skill of USGAAP/IFRS.
I also plan to take the exam of USCPA.

2 English
It's needless to say English makes difference.
However, in japan, I find difficulty in having opportunities to speak English.
What is important is that whether I can convey my thought in English, so it is good for me to think and speak English a lot in the US.

3 True Humanism
I know one year is too short to attain the above things sufficiently.
Anyway, living in another country may make me more tough, because I may be gonna have a lot of troubles that I must solve for my self.
Besides, I would like to be a great Auditor. Great Auditor, I think, always listens patiently to speakers. Then, he/she responses kindly to them. He/she isn't satisfied with just giving his/her opinion, but he/she tries to make it clear  their problems for them to solve individually.  I would like to try to be a great Auditor in this stay.

I'm sure that I will sometimes have hard time,
but I think I will be more independent person thanks for that experience.