『えいごで読む物語』シリーズでは、ランカル英会話に所属するメイトの日常や思い出をえいごでお届けします。

今回のテーマは「お気に入りの言葉」

アメリカ出身のGrewが、さまざまな国を旅するなかで見つけたお気に入りの言葉を紹介してくれました♪
英語を勉強しているあなたも、お気に入りの単語やイディオムを見つけた！なんて経験があるのではないでしょうか？

言葉の持つ面白さにも注目してみましょう:)

 

初心者の方は「インテンシブ・リーディング（精読）」の読み物として、こちらのシリーズを読んでみることをオススメします。
コラムになっているため、文章量が少なく、また単語・表現も日常的に使われるものが中心となっています。

そのため、じっくりと読むインテンシブ・リーディングで文章の組み立て方に注目してみてくださいね！
詳しくは下にまとめてみたのでチェックしてくださいね。

詳しい練習方法は以下を参考にしてくださいね♪

Intro

 Words are really important. We use them every day. Some of them have a deep meaning and some don’t. Have you ever thought about your favorite word? I know it sounds weird, but take a minute and think about it.  

We have words that we use in certain situations and we have words for every occaion, words that are fun to say and words that are hard to say, words for friends and words for enemies.  But, do you have one that you really like? 

Words connect us to others and we use them every day. They help us express ourselves and understand what other people think or how they feel. I make a point of asking people I know every once in a while, “What’s your favorite word?” The answer isn’t necessarily important, but it might help you understand your friend’s personality a bit more and it can be fun to think of all the words you know and try to come up with something.  

Favorite word

 So, take a minute to see if you have a favorite word.  But, first some rules. Oh, wait! There are none. You don’t have to have a reason for liking it. It can be a word with a deep meaning, but it doesn’t need to be special.  

 It can be a simple word, the first word you learned, something that you have only heard once in your life, or something said by someone you admire, you can also like it just because of the way it sounds.

  That’s how I feel about my favorite English word or technically two favorites. I can’t seem to decide sometimes between haberdashery and kerfuffle, depending on my mood.

 Their meanings are kind of silly and they sound even more silly, but when I say ‘haberdashery’ it feels smooth to say. I also think it sounds cool. ‘Kerfuffle’ on the other hand is just a funny sounding word and it’s nice to hear. 

  Try them out, see how they feel to you. They’re probably not your thing, but that’s ok.  Also in case you’re curious, haberdashery means a shop in which men’s clothing and accessories are sold. That’s it. Kinda silly right.  

  Kerfuffle is just as random as it means an argument or small fight, especially one caused because of conflicting opinions.  

Favorite words in other languages

 Kerfuffle is just as random as it means an argument or small fight, especially one caused because of conflicting opinions.  

 In Spanish I like the word ‘cerveza’ for two reasons. I like the sound and I like to drink seeing as cerveza means beer it is the perfect choice for me.  

In German, I love ‘deutsche’ simply because it’s the first German word I learned and it means German, simple yet effective. 

 The next one I’ve come to a solid decision on is Chinese. I lived in China for a while, studied the language before I went and learned more while I was there, but through all of it ‘火鸡’ Huǒ jī has remained my favorite Chinese word. It means turkey. The reason I love it is because of what each of the characters mean.  火 meaning fire and 鸡 meaning chicken. 

 When I learned this, I knew I would never forget this word. Fire chickens, is in my humble opinion a much better name than turkey. But, that’s where my list of favorite words comes to an end.  

Learning Japanese

 I am learning Japanese, so I’m  looking for a word that I can connect with, but so far none have stood out to me. I quite like しょうがない, but I have this feeling there’s a word out that that is more in line with my personality. If you’ve got any suggestions let me know.  I want to add to my collection of favorite words.  

  So, now I leave it to you. Did you think of a fun or interesting word that you like?  Do you need to take more time to think about it? Are there just too many words that are so cool that you can’t decide? Taking some time to really think about words can help us understand our own language and other languages more. 

Conclusion

 It helps us connect to the language and the people who grew up speaking those same words. Can you even imagine what it would be like if we didn’t have words? That’s not a place I’d want to live.  

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今回はグルーのお気に入りの単語と言葉の持つ興味深さをお届けしました。

覚えにくい単語や、苦手意識を持っている単語でも言葉の意味を知ることで言語学習がより面白くなります！
あなたもこの機会にぜひ、好きな単語を見つけてみてはいかがでしょうか？

LanCul英会話ではリーディングはもちろん、スピーキング、コミュニケーションにも役立つ学習動画を取り扱っており、教科書では学ぶことの出来ない、日常的でより実践的な多様な会話を学ぶことができます。
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