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How to improve your English

From my last two blogs here and here it very much looked like I was blowing my own trumpet about India. But that was not my intention when I set out to create this blog. My intention being to help, I feel every visitor should get some valuable information from my blog. So here are a few pointers to help you improve your command over English language.

1. Read. As much as you can. Newspaper, Magazines, Books, Novels, Manuals, Guides, Blogs, Screenplays, Comics, Website Articles. Anything and everything which is printed or published online. Reading will help you in many ways unimaginable. Always carry some book with you so that you can read while travelling in a subway or bus and waiting for someone in a bank or cafe.

2. Movies. Watch it with English subtitles. If you find it difficult to follow the accent and language of native speakers. DVDs with English subtitles are easily available. Over a period of time you will be able to switch off the subtitles and follow the movie on your own. For downloaded movies the subtitles can be downloaded separately. There are sites available online from where you get can download subtitles in English for all the movies. You need to search for it in Google.

3. Music. Listen to songs. Search and download the lyrics of your favorite songs (same as subtitles above). And have a karaoke sessions of your own.

4. Write. About what you feel. Maintain a diary if you can. Or write a blog. Writing is a very good exercise. If you set out to write regularly then words will come automatically to you. And if you are not sure of a particular phrase or word, then you can check it on Google for its meaning or synonym. Use tools like Microsoft Word as it has utilities like spell check and grammar check to rectify your mistakes before you publish. And if you find it hard to think of a word while writing then use your electronic dictionary. This way you will not forget what you write and you will be less likely to make mistakes while writing.

5. Hobby. Develop new hobby and read books or articles online to help you with the hobby as well as the language. Or join a community that interests your hobby so that you can discuss things or write articles to share you knowledge.

6. Make Pen Pals. That will reinforce you to write. You can make pen pals with guys who share similar hobbies or like similar books and movies as you. So you will have a lot to discuss in English.

7. Sitcoms. Are more verbose as compared to movies. Sometimes movies often follow silent treatment and the dialog are less as compared to a sitcom. Also because of the plot the Sitcom can keep you glued and very much into the flow of learning English.

8. Career Oriented Books. Many a times good books on a particular subject (Software Engineering, Instructional Design, Photography, Yoga, Cooking, Architecture, etc.) are published in English but not necessarily translated to Korean thus limiting your knowledge. So by reading your subjects in English you will be opening yourself to a vast ocean of resources.

9. Language Exchange. Something which is very common and widely accepted in Korea.

10. TOEIC, TOEFL, IELTS exams. Enrolling yourself for any of this exams will make it mandatory for you to study. Make sure you study in a group and read books like Word Power Made Easy, 30 Days to Powerful Vocabulary to improve your vocabulary and grammar.

Well I am myself not a pro in English and have a serious handicap with grammar (I still do not know where to put commas) but I feel I can write or express myself better. So if you feel you are happy with my level of English Language then you can use these pointers for yourself or for your students / friends whosoever is looking at improving his skills at English. If you have problems with communicating in English but have followed this article , then my friend you are very much on your way to become fluent in English.

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Seoul at Night

24 Apr 2010, I return to 서울 Seoul hoping to get a baseball for the NEXEN Heroes, and to get my netbook repaired.

Yummy and Durable

Ginseng-Fortified Stickiness

The dog days of summer are approaching, and I’ve got samgyetang on my mind. A whole chicken, ginseng, and sticky rice make the dish irresistible when the heat rises past the point where even fans can relieve me. Not only does sticky rice stick to the ribs, but it’s one organic half of the world’s first super cement.

The mortar was stronger and more resistant to water than pure lime mortar, and what Zhang termed one of the greatest technological innovations of the time. Builders used the material to construct important buildings like tombs, pagodas, and city walls, some of which still exist today. Some of the structures were strong enough to shrug off the effects of modern bulldozers and powerful earthquakes.

Their research identified amylopectin, a type of polysaccharide, or complex carbohydrate, found in rice and other starchy foods, as the “secret ingredient” that appears to be responsible for the mortar’s legendary strength.

“Analytical study shows that the ancient masonry mortar is a kind of special organic-inorganic composite material,” the scientists explained. “The inorganic component is calcium carbonate, and the organic component is amylopectin, which comes from the sticky rice soup added to the mortar. Moreover, we found that amylopectin in the mortar acted as an inhibitor: The growth of the calcium carbonate crystal was controlled, and a compact microstructure was produced, which should be the cause of the good performance of this kind of organic-organic mortar.”

Filed under: East Asia, Korea, Science Tagged: glutenous rice, samgyetang, sticky rice

Acupuncture Still Looks Like Quackery

Xinhua is gloating about a flawed study purporting to prove a acientific basis for acupuncture. Acupuncture still looks no better than the placebo effect. Elizabeth Armstrong Moore goes even further, and offers a nice summary before slipping over the edge of the cliff.

Nanna Goldman…[and her] team, which presents its work this week at Purines 2010 in Barcelona, inserted and rotated needles into the tender paws of mice and found that the biochemical blockade of adenosine soothed the mice about as much as giving them drugs that boost adenosine levels.

More specifically, both during and immediately following an acupuncture treatment, the level of adenosine in the tissue near the needles was 24 times greater than before the treatment. So acupuncture may relieve pain by simply tricking bodies into thinking there’s been minor tissue trauma.

And yet another pin in the proverbial coffin for skeptics like myself: The researchers even found that in “adenosine receptor knock-out mice” not equipped with the adenosine receptor, acupuncture had no effect.

So what do revelations about a 4,000-year-old technique have to do with modern technology? The better we understand exactly how needles relieve pain, the more likely we are to invent modern acupuncture kits that are affordable, portable, and safe.

From one study to rolling out a commercial product? e!Science News has a longer explanation of why the procedure works. Yet, Ed Yong quickly punctures the hype.

Many trials have demonstrated that acupuncture does have some pain-relieving effects – that is not in doubt. And as Steven Novella notes, unlike things like homeopathy or reiki, with acupuncture “something physical is actually happening… so it is therefore not impossible that a physiological response is happening”. But the big questions are whether this effect is genuine of nothing more than a placebo.

To answer that, clinical trials have used sophisticated methods, including “sham needles”, where the needle’s point retracts back into the shaft like the blade of a movie knife. It never breaks the skin, but patients can’t tell the difference from a real, penetrating needle. Last year, one such trial (which was widely misreported) found that acupuncture does help to relieve chronic back pain and outperformed “usual care”. However, it didn’t matter whether the needles actually pierce the skin, because sham needles were just as effective. Nor did it matter where the needles were placed, contrary to what acupuncturists would have us believe.

…There has been so much previous work in this area that the question “How does acupuncture work?” is better replaced by “Why are acupuncture’s effects largely indistinguishable from those of sham treatments?” The new study suggests some answers but it seems unfortunate to me that Goldman didn’t include any sham-needle controls in her experiments.

Moore at least failed Yong’s test, “…whether your average health journalist will know how this study fits into the bigger picture – whether it vindicates the use of acupuncture or whether it actually fits with a skeptical stance.” I might add, how ridiculously Korean newspapers and quacks will react to this “vindication”?

Filed under: Science Tagged: acupuncture, medicine

Random pictures - part 32

No bull - this place serves real meat. Seen in Konkuk University's party zone.

Hey, it's called random pictures, ok?

© Chris Backe - 2010

This post was originally published on my blog, Chris in South Korea. If you are reading this on another website and there is no linkback or credit given, you are reading an UNAUTHORIZED FEED.

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Oneweirdglobe.com

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Geoje Island and a Spaz Update

Saturday morning I got up bright and early to make it into Busan for the 10:30 ferry. I whipped out my camera and prepared to be the world's best little blogger...only to realize that I'd left my memory card in my card reader on the table in my apartment. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR ARGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Geoje Island is definitely worth the visit. I'd go so far as to say that tourists to Korea would do better to skip Seoul and just head down south to check out all of the craggy islands dotting the Korean coast. It's breathtakingly beautiful. I spent the day at Gujora beach, laying in the sun, building a sand castle (and yes I did get strange looks for that one), and picking up pretty shells. That night about 20 expats had a bonfire and roasted veggies and such over it.

Epic Spaz Updates:
1. Forgetting my memory card.
2. I'm sure there have been many updates related to ridiculous things I do before coffee. I am absolutely retarded before caffeine. As usual, I poured the second half of my coffee pot into my travel mug before heading off to work. No problem there, I didn't even manage to get any on my new white polo shirt (let's see if it lasts the day) and then I realized that there were white bits floating along the top. I opened the fridge again and sure enough my milk had gone bad. Aside from the travesty of wasting a cup of coffee made from freshly roasted Kenya beans was the fact that I had already had a cup of it with the sour milk and didn't notice. My stomach and bad milk are decidedly unhappy.

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http://aaaalexsadventuresinasia.blogspot.com/

Recent haul from the Russian shops near Busan station...

Alone in the City

Approximately 1 million people in Seoul are homeless.

Some gather in communities of 20-30.

Some brave their days in groups of 10 or less.

Some go it alone.

If you live in Seoul, you can help.

Learn how to volunteer with the Itaewon Global Village Center here.

And discover ”Feed Your Seoul” through PLUR here.

Now, if only I could find volunteer groups helping the homeless in Busan…anyone know?

Beijing Goes After Michael Corleone

Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama (L), South Korean President Lee Myung-bak (C) and Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao pose with elementary school students of their countries as they arrive to bury a time capsule and plant a tree in Seogwipo on Jeju island May 30, 2010.

“Listen, whoever comes to you with this Barzini meeting, he’s the traitor. Don’t forget that.” No matter how it’s translated, the PRC’s prime minister still sounds like the threat the Godfather warns Michael to expect.

It already seems Beijing has done well for itself from the Cheonan incident.

A diplomatic source who requested anonymity said Friday that China had proposed to the U.S. to conduct a joint investigation with the participation of the UN Command, China and North Korea. The source said China made the offer last week through its UN delegation in New York, and that the offer called for convening the UN Command’s Military Armistice Commission, which has lost its function over time.

The U.S. and China reportedly informed the South Korean government of the offer through the UN Command’s special investigation team for the Cheonan sinking following some final adjustments during China-U.S. strategic and economic talks in Beijing on May 24 to 25.

In response, the UN Command special investigation team told the South Korean government that they will ask China’s People’s Liberation Army to rejoin the Military Armistice Commission, and will request the North Korean People’s Army also send representatives to the Joint Observer Team. The UN Special Investigation Team also reportedly stressed the need to resolve the Cheonan incident through dialogue. The UN Command Military Armistice Commission composed a special investigation team on May 22 to look into the cause of the Cheonan sinking.

Now, with North Korea still selling nuclear technology, and Wen Jiabao getting his meeting in Seogwipo – a place I’ve visited I’d never thought to see in a news story about diplomacy – this entire incident looks like a win-win game for both the PRC and the DPRK.