So in the coming weeks you'll be seeing transformations such as:
into ->
so please stay tuned and look forward to these fantastic upgrades!
Saturday, 31 May 2014
New Updates for Blog
The main website has had a few updates and now it's time for the blog to do the same. Our current mascots Kate, Chloe and the gang are being redone by none other than Lorrainiaful!
So in the coming weeks you'll be seeing transformations such as:
So in the coming weeks you'll be seeing transformations such as:
Wednesday, 28 May 2014
Smiletalk website update
I am excited to tell you avid Smiletalk users and eager learners, about Smiletalks latest features. As you know the site at the moment is still in it's infancy and with each passing month we boldly stride forward to improve it for the users. This month we have added a more social element to the website but stay tuned because even bigger and better updates are in the works. Thank you so much for your support!
Now lets take a closer look at these new features!
The Latest Features
Smiles
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| English: Hitch-hiker's gesture Русский: Жест автостопщика (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Hey you, someone just gave you a smile! This means that they found your recording helpful and wanted to show their appreciation with a little smile. It's basically a thumbs up meaning you did a good job and just a little something to help motivate you!
This will help you decide on the content you can upload by seeing what people like. It will also help you to improve your posts by mimic the ones you made that got a lot of smiles.
Comments
We have finally created a comments feature! This means that people can now comment on your talk to tell you if it was helpful or not and to thank you for uploading. You can also comment on other users talk and maybe even ask for a specific talk! More features like this coming real soon
Plays
Now you can see how many time your talk has been played. If it is being played a lot then you know a lot of users are using it. You should feel proud that you are helping break down the language barrier!
Thank you all once again for your support and remember, by just sharing a few words you are helping billions of people by providing listening comprehensions
Tuesday, 20 May 2014
Kurumazaki Jinja Shrine
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| Kurumazaki Jinja 12 (Photo credit: aurelio.asiain) |
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| Kurumazaki Jinja 17 (Photo credit: aurelio.asiain) |
Kurumazaki Jinjain is located Kyoto! The Kurumazaki Jinja shrine may not be very big but it is very well known. The shrine includes a sub-shrine called the Geino-jinja shrine which is said to help those in the entertainment professions. Fittingly there is a large film industry near by so the shrine is often frequented by famous entertainers looking for a little luck. There is even a fence shrine (known as a Tamagaki) where the names of entertainers who have visited the shrine are written for everyone to see.
Inside the shrine there is a 'Kinen shiseki'. This is a small pile of stones that have the prayers of visitors inscribed on them. This sort of tradition can be linked back to Tibetan Buddhism in which six syllabled mantra of Avalokiteshvara was inscribed upon stones that were then placed along roads and river banks.
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| mani stones (Photo credit: taod) |
The shrine has many different types of cherry blossom tree that bloom at different times. This means that the shrine is covered in cherry blossom petals just a little longer than most other places.
This shrine honors Kiyohara Yorinari a Confucian scholar from the Heian period. The same Kiyohara Yorinari who is celebrated in the Mifune Matsuri festival.
Can we count on seeing you there next May?
Sunday, 18 May 2014
Mifune Matsuri
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| A set on Mifune Matsuri 02 (Photo credit: aurelio.asiain) |
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| Mifune Matsuri #58 (Photo credit: Christian Kaden) |
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| Guiding a boat during a festival. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
A beautiful ritual is then held to transfer Kiyohara Yorinari's soul into a boat known as 'gozabune'. Everyone is dressed in ancient attire and then they head along the Togetsukyo Bridge to board the boats. Their costumes are usually very eye catching and even little children will be dressed up in kimonos for the event.
Kiyohara Yorinari's boat is taken to the middle of the Oi river where it is parked for two or three hours. The other ships carrying artists and the like then pay their respects by approaching the boat and dancing or reading poetry or some other form of entertainment. Every boat has a niche role, a boat will be carrying musicians who play music, while dancers are on a separate boat and so on.
After all this excitement Kiyohara's soul is transfered to another temporary resting place to recover from the festival before the trip home.
Tuesday, 13 May 2014
Motivational Fun: Abe Chan
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| Common Myna found in Karachi (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Myna birds are part of the starling family and the Common Hill Myna is pretty well known for it's ability to copy human speech.
Abe Chan has a surprising grasp of the Japanese language and is able to carry out small conversations with it owner.
Here is a YouTube clip of Abe Chan trying to answer the phone for the family.
In English this is what they are saying:
Abe-Chan: Urm Hello, this is the Ono family. What’s wrong?
Owner: Abe-chan, you’re a little too early. Once the phone’s picked up, then properly say 'hello'.
Abe-Chan: Okay, understood.
If you would like to see more Abe-Chan Youtube clips here is a link to their Youtube account: https://www.youtube.com/user/newSuperAbechan
Here are a few Myna Related Facts!
- In India it is referred to as 'Farmers Friend' because it eats all kinds of crop destroying insects.
- Common Indian Mynas were brought to Melbourne in 1862.
- Mynas cause a number of problems since they are noisy and smell when they gather in large numbers. They are also very competitive and fearless and have been known to attack people.
I think if this little Myna can learn this much Japanese then you can too! You're no bird brain! stay motivated!
Friday, 9 May 2014
Greetings with Pictures: Test!
Lets review our greetings with some pictures. Test yourself to see if you know what the greetings are.
Different greetings are used at different times of day.
Morning
Afternoon
Evening
Night
How did you do? Did you know what they meant? Could you pronounce the Japanese words and read the hiragana? If that's a yes then you have mastered the basic greetings that we learn way back in Lesson 1. If you couldn't then maybe you should look again at Lesson 1 and possibly revise your Hiragana
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