Today's English tidbit from Stairway to English has to do with the verb "to suppose".  Make sure to listen to my previous episode on "supposed" as well! "Supposed" functions as an adjective, while "suppose" is a verb. Listen in to find out an advanced use of "suppose" as well!

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Stairway to English: Short easy to understand episodes to improve your English grammar and fluency

A quick guide to understanding the verb "to suppose"

Money Money Money, Always funny 🎵
Today, we are going to talk about an Economic news.
Recently, USD price is really high. Let's take a look on the news of how it effect China.
今天我们就来谈谈钱～ 谈谈经济～🎵
最近美金涨很多，对中国有什么影响呢？
欢迎到 spotify, apple podcast, google podcast 收听

生词
人民币 Rénmínbì
美元 Měiyuán
兑 duì
汇率 huìlǜ
破 pò
百姓 bǎixìng

来源：https://www.sohu.com/a/586093540_121123709?scm=1101.topic:475520:110061.0.2.0-1101_topic:475520:110061&spm=smpc.topic_147.tpl-pc-top-feed.1.1663518109937KznKrsA_475520

News with zhe

#10 人民币兑美元汇率破“7”

[Conversation 1]

앤디 : 안녕하세요? 앤디예요. 이름이 뭐예요?
소라 : 소라예요.
앤디 : 소라 씨, 한국 사람이에요?
소라 : 네, 한국 사람이에요.
앤디 : 저는 미국 사람이에요.
소라 : 아, 그래요? 반갑습니다.

[Conversation 1]

Andy : Hello. I am Andy. What is your name?
Sora : I am Sora.
Andy : Sora, are you Korean?
Sora : Yes, I am.
Andy : I am American.
Sora : Oh, really? It is nice to meet you.

[Conversation 2]

앤디 : 소라 씨, 이분이 누구예요?
소라 : 미나 씨예요.
앤디 : 안녕하세요? 미나 씨. 앤디예요.
미나 : 안녕하세요? 앤디 씨.
앤디 : 회사원이에요?
미나 : 아니요, 학생이에요.

[Conversation 2]

Andy : Sora, who is this person?
Sora : This is Mina.
Andy : Hi, Mina. I am Andy.
Mina : Hi, Andy.
Andy : Are you an office worker?
Mina : No, I am a student.

[Grammar]

이다 :  attaches to the end of a noun to make it the predicate of the sentence.
이다 is used to express that the subject and predicate are the same thing.
The corresponding informal forms, 예요/이에요, are the same for both the descriptive 
and interrogative forms, with the interrogative form rising in intonation as it is pronounced:예요?이에요?
이에요/예요

[Vocabulary]

Korean : 한국 사람
American : 미국 사람
office worker : 회사원
student : 학생
name : 이름

Reading Korea.

Self-introduction

春节是中国传统节日中最盛大的节日，也是最重要的节日。人们会在家中张贴“福”字，也会吃“年糕”，有些地区还会贴上年画……人们利用这些谐音文化为自己在新的一年里讨个吉利。除此以外，中国传统婚姻中也保持了一些传统，这些传统有很多都蕴含着谐音文化。比如，中国的新娘子在结婚的时候，要跨过“火盆”，意味着“日子红红火火”；新人睡的被子底下塞满了花生、枣子、桂圆等食物，意味着”早生贵子“。

Learning Chinese culture with Miss Zhang

讨吉利的谐音——婚俗和民俗中的谐音文化

春に3段階（だんかい step）あるって、知ってた？「光の春」「音の春」そして「気温（きおん temparature ）の春」。今、日本は「音の春」あたりです。鳥の声がよく聞こえます。「ききみみずきん」がなくて、残念です。それに今年は「においの春」も楽しみです。3月13日から日本もついに、基本「マスクなし」の国になるからです。桜（さくら）のかおりを胸（むね）いっぱい、すいたいです。
スクリプトと文法や言葉のリストはこちら。
https://www.notion.so/52-3-318f5a0455b940eca214e061b93c8f39?pvs=4
楽しみ方はこちらを見てください。
https://www.notion.so/116c436c16ed4055a68ddb2c4624cd96?pvs=4

さて、週刊ジャンプと同じく、この「ききみみ」も1年52話でシーズン１を終えます。4月からのシーズン２では、ゲストと2人で話すスタイルをとるつもりです。中上級以上のレベル（more than upper intermediate level）になると思います。しかしながら、シーズン1についても、第1話にもどって、これから問題をアップしていく予定です。また、言葉と文法のリストも整理（せいり）し直しますので、引き続き、お楽しみください。日本語は、いつもあなたのそばにあります。
じゅあ、またね！バイバイ！

すずまりの日本語「ききみみ」ずきん

第52話　さよなら3月、また今度

🎙️ 1. Let’s Listen – Can You Hear the Difference?

First, let’s listen to these three words:

자다 (to sleep)
차다 (to kick)
짜다 (to be salty)

Now, let’s pronounce them slowly one more time:
자–다 / 차–다 / 짜–다

Can you hear the difference?

The key difference lies in the intensity of the sound and the movement of the mouth.

🧠 2. The Pronunciation Principle – What’s Going On?

Let’s break it down:

ㅈ (j) – Voiced sound
Your lips and tongue lightly touch, and then the sound is released softly.
You don’t blow out air forcefully.
👉 Examples: jada (to sleep), juiceu (juice), jihacheol (subway)

ㅊ (ch) – Aspirated sound
The tongue blocks the airflow, and then strong air bursts out as the sound is released.
👉 Examples: chada (to kick), chima (skirt), chokollit (chocolate)

ㅉ (jj) – Tense (fortis) sound
It’s much tighter and stronger than ㅈ.
You need to slightly tense your vocal cords and use more pressure with your lips and tongue.
👉 Examples: jjada (salty), jjok (side), jjigae (stew)

📌 In short:
ㅈ – Normal
ㅊ – Strong and breathy
ㅉ – Very tense and tight

💡 3. Pronunciation Practice – Repeat After Me

Let’s try these sets of words together. Repeat after me:

자 / 차 / 짜
조 / 초 / 쪼
줄 / 출 / 쭐

The more you practice,
the more your mouth and ears will get used to the differences!

If you’d like, I can also provide an audio version of this script, or help you record practice drills. Let me know!

한국어 발음 연습

한국어 ㅈ / ㅊ / ㅉ 발음 

En el episodio de hoy hablo con Nelly, futura abogada y creadora de contenido. En sus videos Nelly muestra las diferencias de la cultura española y la cultura británica de la mano de unos personajes muy particulares.

Blanca to go 

37-Diferencias entre España y el Reino Unido y la superación con Nelly.

Practice Listening, Reading & Comprehension

Visiting Peru

【北海道Hokkaido生活】
〈#149〉1月25日水曜日　天気/晴れ　気温/-11℃ 

・都道府県の中で一番大きい
・北海道人口：5,280,000人
・札幌市人口：2,000,000人
・北海道の西から東は、大阪から東京
・札幌市から西にある函館市までJR(列車)でだいたい4時間
・札幌市から東にある根室市まで車で6時間
・旅行の計画を立てる時
・東京の人もおどろく


都道府県/とどうふけん
函館市/はこだてし
根室市/ねむろし
計画を立てる/けいかくをたてる…計画を作る

レッスン待ってます♪