We're starting something new today. From now on, we'll be introducing one new English idiom per episode. We'll cover the grammar, meaning and emotional nuance of the expression before providing a few realistic examples.

Today's idiom is "the ball is in my court".

Brentoni's English Podcast

022 - "the ball is in my court"

Atsushi and I are both online Japanese teacher on italki.
On Oct 11th, 2022, Japan finally open border to international individual tourists.
We talk about making both new Airbnb experiences and teaching Japanese.

Atsushi
https://www.italki.com/ja/teacher/9451959/japanese

Akari
https://www.italki.com/teacher/916033
https://www.airbnb.com/users/show/24592207



Akari Talks Japan

Atsushiさんと日本観光の話

Superstitions, should you study them first? Let's figure it out. 🚩🚩🚩

All about Russian language 🌟

F#ck Superstitions 

Lütfen boşlukları doldurun. (Yorumlara yazabilirsiniz)

1. Odada iki ___________ var.
2. Adana'da ___________ yok.
3. Bu sınıfta çok ___________ var mı?
4. Babamda çok ___________ var.
5. ___________ hiç para yok.
6. ___________ cep telefonu var mı?

TurkishwithYunus

Podcast_1 / Basit Cümleler

"口" - kǒu

Meaning (字义)
Primary Meaning: The primary meaning of "口" is "mouth."
For example: 
她张开口唱了一首美妙的歌。 (Tā zhāng kāi kǒu chàng le yī shǒu měi miào de gē.)
 She opened her mouth and sang a beautiful song.

Extended Meanings: It can also refer to anything that resembles a mouth, such as an opening, entrance, or a measure word for people in a household.

Usage (用法)

The character "口" is used in various contexts in the Chinese language, including as a radical in other characters, in compound words, and in idiomatic expressions.

As a Radical:
    "口" is a common radical in Chinese characters, often related to speech or the mouth, such as "吃" (chī, to eat) and "唱" (chàng, to sing).

Measure Word: 
"口" is used as a measure word for counting family members or things with openings.

例如：
一家四口。 (Yì jiā sì kǒu 。) -A family of four.
两口井。 (Liǎng kǒu jǐng .) -Two wells

In Compound Words:

口语 (kǒu yǔ): Spoken language
 For example: 
他学习汉语口语非常努力。 (Tā xuéxí Hànyǔ kǒuyǔ fēicháng nǔlì.)
 He studies spoken Chinese very diligently.

人口 (rén kǒu): Population
For example: 
这个城市的人口超过了一百万。 (Zhège chéngshì de rénkǒu chāoguò le yī bǎi wàn.)
The population of this city exceeds one million.

出口 (chū kǒu): Exit or export
For example:
请从出口离开。 (Qǐng cóng chūkǒu líkāi.)
Please exit through the exit.

Idiomatic Expressions:
心口如一 (xīn kǒu rú yī): (literal: heart and mouth as one) 

Epitomizes honesty and integrity. It describes a person who expresses their true thoughts and feelings without deception, earning the trust and respect of others.

For example:
他是个心口如一的人。 (Tā shì gè xīn kǒu rú yī de rén.)
He is a person who says what he thinks .

口是心非 (kǒu shì xīn fēi):  (literal: mouth is, heart isn't)
it is an idiom used to describe people who are insincere or deceitful, saying one thing while meaning another. 

For example:
她总是口是心非，让人难以信任。(Tā zǒng shì kǒu shì xīn fēi, ràng rén nán yǐ xìnrèn.)
She always says one thing but means another, making it hard to trust her.

每日一字

Aujourd'hui nous allons parler de la glottophobie ou encore la discrimination linguistique. Connaissez-vous ce terme ? 
Le dictionnaire le Robert définit la Glottophobie comme "une discrimination basée sur certains traits linguistiques, notamment les accents."

French with Maeva

La glottophobie (la discrimination linguistique)

EVERYONE'S DOING THEM!
If you search the internet you will discover that workshops are a teaching opportunity that isn't focused on marketing, whereas webinars are built to teach and sell at the same time. It's a lot more about training and learning than it is about selling, but there will always be a pitch at the end of a webinar.

Then there are seminars...
An in-person seminar is more or less dependent on attendees' ability to physically attend the event, so there haven't been many of them during the Covid-19 pandemic, which has been problematic for some businesses but it has gone some way towards reducing carbon footprints.

Wikipedia has defined these 2 event types individually:

A seminar is ‘a meeting held for the exchange of useful information by members of a common business community.’

A webinar is 'an interactive seminar conducted via the World Wide Web. Usually a live presentation, lecture, or workshop that happens in real-time, as users participate through chatting, video-chatting, file-sharing, or asking questions with a microphone.’

Time for a masterclass!
Workshops progress from theory to practice, with a focus on grasping key tools or skills. Masterclasses are specialized classes in which students attain their learning objectives via in-depth practice and thorough guidance.

Listen as we discuss the hype surrounding online learning today!

BizPod - The Business English Podcast

BizPod Episode 11 - Webinars & Workshops

After 15 months, three Israeli hostages have left Hamas captivity as a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas took hold on the morning of January 19.

Dozens of Palestinian prisoners also walked free from Israeli jail as the skies above Gaza and Israel were silent for the first time in over a year, stirring modest hopes for ending the Israel-Hamas war.

The ceasefire deal, with an initial phase lasting six weeks, calls for the entry into Gaza of 600 trucks carrying humanitarian relief daily. Over the course of the deal's first stage, 33 Israeli hostages in Hamas captivity in Gaza will also be released in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners.

Many Israelis stayed glued to TV screens to glimpse the three hostages — Emily Damari, Romi Gonen and Doron Steinbrecher — being released as militants handed them over to the Red Cross on a packed street in Gaza City.

In videos released by the Israeli government, the women were seen weeping and hugging family members. Damari raised a bandaged hand in triumph.

The military said she lost two fingers in the Hamas-led militant attack on October 7, 2023, that killed over 1,200 people and resulted in the abduction of some 250 others.

Meanwhile, in the occupied West Bank, crowds flooded the streets around 1 a.m. on January 20 as white buses carrying 90 Palestinian detainees — all women or teens — exited the gates of Ofer prison.

Fireworks erupted, and several men climbed atop one of the buses to raise Hamas flags.

All of those being released had been detained for what Israel called offenses related to its security, from throwing stones and promoting violence on social media to more serious accusations such as attempted murder.

Khalida Jarrar, one of the freed detainees, told The Associated Press: "There's this double feeling we're living in, on the one hand, this feeling of freedom, that we thank everyone for, and on the other hand, this pain, of losing so many Palestinian martyrs."


Practice Listening, Reading & Comprehension

Gaza Ceasefire Brings Exchange of Prisoners and Hostages

In this episode we are going to learn 【Location】in Chinese. 
--------------------------------------------------
As a beginner, there're some vocabularies that you didn't learn before, and native speaker's speed seems too fast to understand. But don't worry, let's do it step by step. 
Step 1: listen and catch the words you know already, have a guess about the content.
Step 2: look at the text to check if you guessed it right. 
Step 3: listen one more time, repeat after it.
Step 4: practice until you can speak as the normal speed without looking at the text. 
--------------------------------------------------"
我家附近很方便。
wǒ jiā fù jìn hěn fāng biàn 。
My neighborhood is very convenient.
地铁站在我家对面。
dì tiě zhàn zài wǒ jiā duì miàn 。
The subway station is across from my house.
左边有超市和酒吧，右边有银行和体育馆。
zuǒ bian yǒu chāo shì hé jiǔ bā ， yòu bian yǒu yín háng hé tǐ yù guǎn 。
There is a supermarket and a bar on the left, and a bank and a gym on the right.
我家后面是一个商场。
wǒ jiā hòu miàn shì yí gè shāng chǎng 。
Behind my house is a shopping mall.
商场里面有很多餐厅。
shāng chǎng lǐ miàn yǒu hěn duō cān tīng 。
There are many restaurants inside the mall.
公司离我家一千米，走路五分钟就到了。
gōng sī lí wǒ jiā yì qiān mǐ ， zǒu lù wǔ fēn zhōng jiù dào le 。
The company is one kilometer away from my house, it's just a five-minute walk.
出小区后往右一直走，在第一个红绿灯路口左拐。
chū xiǎo qū hòu wǎng yòu yì zhí zǒu ， zài dì yī gè hóng lǜ dēng lù kǒu zuǒ guǎi 。
Go straight right out of the community and turn left at the first traffic light.
再往前走五百米，公司就在马路的左边。
zài wǎng qián zǒu wǔ bǎi mǐ ， gōng sī jiù zài mǎ lù de zuǒ bian 。
Walk for five hundred meters further and the company is on the left side of the road.