Of course, it’s also important (for) the other people to understand what you’re saying as well. So, don’t worry too much about sounding like somebody else. Don’t try to copy somebody else’s way of speaking. What you have to do is developing your own way of using English. Don’t forget, English is an emotional language. It’s personal language. It is the language you use to express the way you feel. So, don’t worry about sounding like somebody else. Use English as your language in your own way to express they way you feel. So, you don’t have to sound like Mr. Duncan. You don’t have to sound like some American. You don’t have to sound like anybody. What you have to sound like is you!
This is Mr. Duncan in
Pot calling the kettle black
This is a common idiom. Normally used to describe a person who is blaming another for the same fault that they have. For example, if I say to you, you are a lazy person. And I am also a lazy person; you could say that “Mr. Duncan, you are a pot calling the kettle black!” You are the same as me…. (만약 누군가 이상한 영어로 본인에게 뭐라고 하는데 뜻은 모르겠지만 뭐라고 응수를 하고 싶을 때 쓰는 “Same to you, too!”하고 비슷한 뜻이군요… 근데 “pot calling the kettle black” 이건 너무 길어서 … -_-;;)
This means “get to the point; don’t spend too much time to explain things”
All that glitters is not gold. (이건 어디서 많이 본것 같지 않습니까?)
Something that appears to be valuable on the outside maybe in reality completely worthless.
Easier said than done
It’s easier to talk about doing something than actually do it.
Waste not want not
If you never waste thing, then you will never loose thing. The more you save, the more you gain.
Look before you leap
This means to check out something before you do it. Make sure before you know what you begin.
Don’t judge the book by the cover
Don’t look at something and assume that is the way it is. Maybe a person you seem nice, kind and friendly, really isn’t.
Once bitten twice shay
This means you never make the same mistake twice. You learn from your mistakes.
Back to the drawing board
If we go back to the drawing board, it means we start all over again. We begin from the start (or we begin from the scratch…)
His bark is worse than his bite
Maybe a person appears to be dangerous, but in reality they are not. (數의 불일치… 이건 도저히 벗어날수 없는 한국식 영어교육의 산물입니다… -_-;;)
Don’t count your chickens before they have hatched (김치국 마시지 말란 말이네요… ㅋㅋ)
This means do not always assume that the things will go as planed.
Laugh all the way to the bank
This means to make money without doing very much work.
Throw the bay out without the bathwater
This means to draw away the useful things as well as useless things at the same time.
This means a person who is obviously intelligent and not easy to fool.
A penny saved is a penny gained.
This means even small action can have a big effect.
I hope these idioms have been useful to you and I hope you
enjoy my lesson.This is Mr. Duncan in
Welcome to my latest teaching video. I hope I find you in a good mood, and happy mood. Today we will talk about “Words”.
The English language is made up of literally millions of words. They all come together to make up the English language that we all know in love, but there is always something very special about the English, and that is the fact that new words keep appearing all the time. Many people write to me and ask me about slang, words that used nowadays by young people, and many new words that appear due to changing technology. For example, computers, with computers you have a whole new vocabulary to learn because computers already technical thing, and of course technical things nobody have their own special words. So the English language is quite special in the fact that the words can develop over time and words are appearing constantly as things around change.
Here in my hand I have a mobile phone (한국에선 ‘핸드폰’, 미국에선 ‘cell phone’, 영국에선 ‘mobile phone’). These are great things. I love mobile phones. I love making phone calls, and I love receiving phone calls. Oh.... I’ve got one now! Let’s have a look.
Ah, who is it. Yes,
hello…! Hi, yeah this Mr. Duncan. Aha, yes, what’s that? What I’ve won a competition? I’ve come first in a contest, really? That’s amazing… Oh my god, I can’t believe
it. That is such good news. Oh, thank you so much. Yeah?
Oh, that’s amazing. What have I
won? I’ve won a trip to
I just had some good news. I love receiving good news. I hate receiving bad news. The way we break news to people is very important. If you are telling people some good news, then it’s very easy to explaining it to them. Normally we all (약간 이상하게 들리기는 하지만 문맥상...) get very excited about it. Hey, guess what, you never believe it. Oh my goodness, something incredible is happened. You won’t believe it. It’s amazing! Of course breaking bad news is not quite so easy. We have to prepare a person for bad news. We have to make sure they are ready to receive the bad news. So normally we begin the sentence by explaining the fact that something is about to be said may make them unhappy. For example, I have some news for you, uh… and I think you should prepare yourself for this before I tell you. Or maybe that something that I really have to tell you … please sit down. We’d like to make sure the person is relaxed, we can offer them a chair, we can use our voice. We can speak to them in a certain way. Normally our voice will be very serious and very sumbak (이게 뭔 뜻인지 몰라도, 문맥상.. 조심스럽다… 뭐 그런 뜻인듯 합니다… -_-;;). So make sure that if you’re going to give somebody some bad news, maybe you don’t like your boyfriend any more, or girlfriend any more, maybe you have decided to say good bye to them. Don’t just say: I don’t like you. Go away… That’s not very nice… Break the news to them gently. Break it to them slowly. Break it to them kindly.
This is Mr. Duncan in