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Wednesday 31 October 2012

Beginner's Business English

Latihan mudah untuk anda yang baru nak bekerja atau nak belajar business English (jawapan kat bawah):


1.I'd like to ________________you to Encik Amri, he's our recruitment executive.
a)introduce
b)meet
c)assist

2. He’s our head of human resource = he's _______________ of our human resource department
a) in control
b) in charge
c) charge

3. I'm ______CEO of Melium Group of Companies. (There's only one CEO)
a)a
b)an
c)the

4. I remember faces well = I'm
a)good with faces
b)good at faces
c)good in faces

5. Do you have any _____________on you?
a) cards of business
b)business card
c)work cards

6. Another word for colleague is
a) worker
b)employer
c) co-worker

7. Our business is ___________. We have to hire more staff soon.
1.crawling
2.growing
3.growling

8) Ahmad always does __________ well.
a) job
b) works
b) his job

9. I'm _____ manager at Isetan. (There are many managers at Isetan).
a) a
b) an
c) the

10. I want to ___________for this Annual Geoscience Exploration seminar.
a) sign
b) sign up
c)sign in



Kalau anda nak latihan/belajar Inggeris, email saya maya.learnenglish@gmail.com



Answers: 1a | 2b | 3c | 4a | 5b | 6c | 7b | 8b | 9a | 10b

Monday 29 October 2012

What to say after a long weekend? Apa nak cakap/cerita lepas cuti minggu yang panjang?


Now that the long Raya Aidiladha weekend is over, it's time to get back to work. Bila time masuk kerja, normally kita akan tanya kawan2 ofis kita apa khabar, macam mana cuti dsbgnya. Macam mana nak cakap dalam BI pulak?
Selalunya 'catching up', small talk ni kejap je...mungkin 2-5 minit bila waktu masuk pejabat.

Ali: Hi Ahmad! good morning!
Ahmad:Morning!how was your long weekend?
Ali:It was great. How was yours?
Ahmad:Was fine. Went back north to see my parents.
Ali: Oh. Good for you. Got to go. I have some stuff to do.
Ahmad: Alright then. See you around.

Short and simple kan? Perasan tak setengah ayat atas ada perkataan missing macam 'it was fine. I went back north to see my parents'. Bila bercakap dan menulis memang lain sebab dalam English banyak benda yang dipendekkan bila bercerita dan tak macam bila menulis.

Atau...
Amin: Hey Halim. What's up?
Halim: Good. How bout you?
Amin:  Was good, bit tiring since I joined the qurban this year. Other than that, it was superb. Great experience.
Halim: Really? Wow. That must be something. I have to run. We'll catch up later? You have to tell me more about your qurban experience!
Amin:  Yeah, sure. I'll tell you more later. Bye.

What's up? Ialah soalan sama macam apa khabar atau apa cerita. Kalau tengok filem mat salleh rata2 akan gunakan what's up, what's going on, what's happening - semuanya boleh diterima dalam percakapan tetapi bukan penulisan.

bout you =about you
bit = a bit
I have to run = saya kena lari??? tak, bukan. Halim terpaksa pergi dengan cepat.

I ada juga terima sebelum ni emails sebelum ni bertanyakan macam mana nak improve cakap English, atau macam mana nak reply balik dalam English dengan spontan...antara tips saya selalu bagi ialah berfikir dalam bahasa Inggeris...senang perkataan yang nak dikatakan untuk keluar dalam bahasa Inggeris. Pasti dalam pejabat anda ada kawan2 yg memang suka cakap English, jadi bila nak cakap dengan dia, setkan yang anda kena fikir dalam bahasa Inggeris.

Happy working!

To know more about qurban or qurbani/hajj and it's meaning in Islam, go to: http://www.albalagh.net/general/zulhijjah.shtml 


Wednesday 24 October 2012

Happy Wednesday...and a Happy Aidiladha!

Cepatnya Oktober dah nak habis...dan Raya Aidiladha pun dah nak dekat. Sakan semua orang bercuti panjang.Jadi saya nak ucapkan kepada anda semua yang Muslim selamat menyambut Aidiladha :D  I'm definitely looking forward for Raya Aidiladha and spending time with my family. Kalau cuti panjang ni takde benda nak buat, boleh belajar English, bacalah posts saya yang tak seberapa tetapi insyaAllah bermanfaat bagi anda yang nak belajar. Kalau tak pun join saya kelas basic grammar to speaking English...saya email 3 lessons dan exercises untuk RM35 je....hahaha...promote pulak...serius ni :p (promo is over as at 2013).

Ok, hari ni nak jawab email Ralindra, ingat terus nak share kat sini supaya semua dapat belajar sekali:mau tanya perbedaan DO sama ARE ,
biasanya digunakan untuk kalimat tanya , cntoh seperti : what are you? Kenapa tidak what do you?

Sorry lambat reply Ralindra. Harap kamu faham explanation saya tentang irregular verb minggu lepas.Tentang soalan di atas, saya akan cuba jawab sebaik mungkin. Inilah masalah mengajar...sebab walaupun tahu benda tu untuk apa, macam mana nak susun ayat tetapi kalau hendak explain kepada seseorang kadang2 sangat sukar sebab nak pastikan dia faham :)

Untuk kalimat tanya, kamu boleh gunakan kedua-duanya untuk soalan. Ianya tidak salah. Kedua-dua juga digunakan untuk bertanya soalan dalam present tense.

Saya cuba bagi penjelasan lagi agar kamu faham:

Do yang digunakan sebagai auxiliary verb (atau helping verb) dalam bentuk present tense akan membuat soalan, ayat pendek atau ayat negatif dengan semua jenis verb lain, kecuali verb to be (is/are).
What do you think of the movie?
What do you like, vanilla or chocolate?
What do you plan to give them?

Apabila menggunakan are (atau is), dengan present continuous (atau present progressive) ianya membina ayat negatif. Ingat are ialah sebahagian dari verb to be.
What are you doing on Saturday?
What are you bringing to the camp?
Is he taking us to the hill?
Is she going to work?

Ok, tu je untuk hari ni, kalau ada yang berminat nak belajar melalui email, jangan segan tanya :D

Sunday 21 October 2012

Bring dan take...sama ke?

Ada mereka kata yang kata bring dengan take ni maknanya berbeza. Betul ke? Ya dan tidak. Sebab ianya juga bergantung kepada keadaan dan situasi.

Satu ialah bawa dan satu lagi ialah ambil. Ini adalah antara salah satu kesilapan orang Malaysia sebut, tetapi tak semestinya kerana bergantung pada keadaannya.

Bring digunakan apabila kita menggunakan pergerakkan untuk sampai pada suatu destinasi. 
Please bring me the cheesecake when you come over.
Bawakan saya kek keju bila awak datang ke sini.

Take digunakan bila kita akan bertolak/bermula ke satu destinasi, titik permulaan dari suatu tempat.
Don't forget to take the keys before you leave.
Jangan lupa ambil kunci sebelum awak keluar.

Macam mana pula dengan ni:
Bring your umbrella incase it might rain> (dibawa dengan pergerakkan ke destinasi)
Take your umbrella incase it might rain> (bawa dari permulaan destinasi anda)

Sebab tu kita kata 'take away' atau 'take out' bila kita beli fast food yang ingin kita bawa pulang dan bukan bring away :)


Thursday 18 October 2012

Tenses lagi ! -bila nak letak -s dibelakang sesuatu perkataan (verb)

Ini antara tips penting dalam belajar English, senang tapi ramai buat kesilapan ni bila cakap dan menulis! saya selalu dengan orang kata I means (maksud saya) which is wrong! Tolong ya, lepas ni jangan kata I means....yang betul ialah I mean.

Untung siapa yang baca entry ni hari ni...ingat tip ni, insyaAllah (with God's willing) korang takkan buat silap lagi!

Kita buat review sikit:

Present tense digunakan untuk apa?
Present tense digunakan untuk memberitahu tentang sesuatu yg berlaku sekarang, sesuatu yang kita buat tiap2 hari, benda selalu betul dan benda yang benar.

I go to work at 8am.
I walk to the lrt station.
The sun rises in the east.

Dalam present tense,jika anda menggunakan subjek he/she/it anda mesti tambahkan S kepada verb.

Salah :He walk to the lrt station. (x)
Betul: He walks to the lrt station.

Cuba lihat ayat dibawah. Yang mana betul, yang mana salah? For those on my lessons, you can do this and send in to me anytime.

1. He love to go to Penang.
2. They take the bus everyday.
3. I eats at the cafe.
4. The cat meow everytime he is hungry.
5. Shah like to cook.
6. I hate washing the dishes.
7.We brings our books to school.
8.She cook rice for dinner.
9. Victor learns music in Sydney.
10. Your mother like cheese cake.
11. I drives to work.
12. You showers in the morning.
13. We takes our breakfast at the cafe around the corner.
14. The mamak makes delicious roti canai.
15. I feels sick everytime we go on that road.

Senangkan tip ni?Ingat tau! Pastikan -s anda ditempat yang betul!

Kalau anda nak tahu lagi tentang kelas online saya, emel ke maya.learnenglish@gmail.com

Wednesday 17 October 2012

Tim decides to speak English


Hi,
Hari ni just nak share something yang takde kena mengena sangat dengan English lessons, but a cute story about Tim (our family friend's son) who got fed up of all sorts of languages bombarded to him :)
Over the weekend an old German family friend came to visit my family and I...anyway, that's not the story: p The story is that his recently 6 year old son, Tim (Herzlichen Geburtstag Tim! Alles gute von Tante Maya und Familie!) has decided to speak English by himself!
You probably wonder why or don't quite understand what I mean by this. You see, Andreas (our German friend) is married to Daisy, who is a beautiful Filipino lady and their son Tim, has been travelling around the world for the past 6 years. YES, TRAVELLING. So, Tim doesn't really have a place he calls home (although they are living in a beautiful kraton in Bali at the moment) because they travel around and spends several months here and there, from Germany, Jordan to Korea and anywhere Andreas's heart desires (bestkan...orang Asia jarang buat kerja macam ni...lol).
It all happened one day while watching cartoon in Vietnamese (in Vietnam of course) he said ''enough with this Quatsch (nonsense)!" and since then decided he was going to speak English. It is very confusing if your dad speaks German, your mom speaks Tagalog and everyone else speaks English or Indonesian (where they are staying for a bit now)!
I wish Tim all the best in learning English at his international school in Ubud, Bali (where their teachers are actually local Indonesians and not native English speakers...pelikkan, sebab kalau kat Malaysia orang yang hantar anak international school bayar partially for their children to be taught by native English speakers,tapi kat sana tak). 

Tim in Ubud, Bali


New words untuk siapa yang tak faham:
bombarded - bertubi-tubi. Kalau nak check la translate google dia akan keluar dihujani. So please jangan translate BM-BI suka2 ya...:)
fed up - bosan
recently - baru2 ini
desires - keinginan/sesuatu yang kita suka
kraton - kadang2 di eja keraton/kraton, bermaksud istana dalam bahasa Indon (dalam cerita ni saya sebut mereka tinggal di kraton sebab memang mereka tinggal di sebahagian tanah kraton di Ubud yang disewa
native English speakers - mat salleh yang memang cakap English (British/American)
Quatsch - nonsense (Quatsch bahasa Jerman)
Herzlichen Geburtstag Tim! Alles gute von Tante Maya und Familie! - Selamat Harijadi Tim!All the best from aunty Maya and family!)
...dan ya, saya boleh cakap Jerman :)

Friday 12 October 2012

Penggunaan s dan z dalam ejaan English dan lain2 perkataan

Hari ni ada orang email tanya saya kenapa ada setengah perkataan yang spelling dia ada s dan ada z. Dapat pula bos yang dulu kata jangan guna z, yang sekarang kata ok. Yang mana betul?

Topik ni saya pernah tulis dulu, semua perbezaan British English dan American English. Jadi saya ingat nak tambah sikit lah information dulu tu. (Maybe boss lama study kat UK, yang baru pulak ikut American English, who knows?).

American English banyak gunakan z : organization, realize, recognize
British: organisation, realise,recognise

(Pernah perasan tak kalau kita type kat google/blogger etc mesti keluar red lines yg kata spelling kita salah walaupun kita tahu betul? tu sebab dia follow American English...so make sure your spelling setting is on UK English if you are using UK English).

Of course selain tu ada lagi perkataan lain macam:
glamourous - glamorous
flavour - flavor
colour - color
favourite - favorite
centre - center
analyse- analyze
paralyse - paralyze
catalogue - catalog
dialogue - dialog
paediatric -pediatric
pyjamas - pajamas
aeroplane - airplane
cheque - check
dan lain2.


Thursday 11 October 2012

Bila nak gunakan huruf besar dalam Inggeris?

Kebanyakkan perkataan yang menggunakan huruf besar dalam English sama saja macam Bahasa Malaysia:

1.Pada permulaan ayat/ soalan : 
Perhentian Island is a wonderful place to go.
My house is the 3rd one on the left.
Are you going to the mosque later?


2.Segala jenis nama- tempat, orang, bulan, hari, hari perayaan, organisasi, agama, bahasa dan lain2.
Nama tempat: London, Geneva,  Beijing, Kuala Lumpur, Toronto. Uncle Ali is in Kuantan.
Nama orang: Ahmad, Ali, Michelle, Robert, Jacob, Mei Ling. Tina is washing the dishes.
Nama bulan: October, April, July, August. School starts in January.
Nama hari: Friday, Saturday, Sunday. I learn English on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Nama hari perayaan: Hari Raya, Chinese New Year, Thanks Giving, Christmas. They serve ketupat during Hari Raya.

3. Dalam Bahasa Malaysia, kita tak gunakan huruf besar untuk kata diri di tengah ayat. Tetapi English ya dan digunakan untuk diri sendiri (saya=I).
I love to cook.
I have an appointment at 2 o'clock.
The children and I are going for a short holiday in December.
Did you really think I did it?

4. Nama sesuatu dalam sejarah, buku, penulis
 My grandfather died in World War II.
Cinderella is a lovely story for little children.
Paolo Coelho is a Brazilian novelist.

5. Tajuk buku, movie, teater dan lain2
Real Steel, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Road to Terabithia, The Dark Knight Rises...
Ada juga yg tulis perkataan pertama dan huruf perkataan terakhir besar:
The chronicles of Narnia tetapi sangat jarang di gunakan jadi lebih baik gunakan semua besar kecuali
to, is, the, a, an, of yang di tengah ayat.

6. Kedudukkan seseorang - Miss Rachel Weisz, Mr. Coelho, Dr. Philips, Princess Kate Middleton

7. Nama yang dipendekkan - P. Ramlee, JFK (John Fitzgerald Kennedy) 




Saturday 6 October 2012

Program vs programme

Kedua-duanya mempunyai makna yang sama dan kedua-duanya betul. Bezanya ialah:

Program = American English
Programme = British English

Tapi sebab kita selalu gunakan British English adalah lebih selamat untuk kita gunakan programme untuk penulisan.

Friday 5 October 2012

When to use many and much?

Many and much means the same thing, a lot. However they are used for different situations.

Many is used for plural/countable nouns
Much is used for singular/uncountable nouns

Many dan much mempunyai makna yang sama iaitu banyak. Cuma beza kegunaan ialah many digunakan untuk sesuatu yg boleh dikira dan much untuk sesuatu tidak boleh dikira.

How many children were at the party? Berapa ramai kanak-kanak ada di parti tersebut?
There were 8 children at the party.
1.Berapa jumlah kanak2 dapat dikira.
2.Child - children (plural)

How much sugar would you like? Berapa banyak gula awak nak?
Just a little please. Bilangan gula tersebut tak dapat dikira.

Macam mana kalau how many spoons of sugar would you like?Disini gula dapat disukat dengan sudu jadi many boleh digunakan.

How much is the book? /How much does the book cost? Berapa untuk buku ini? 1 buku, singular.


So when do we normally use many or much in daily conversation? We normally use it in questions.

How much did the pisang goreng cost? (money is uncountable, tidak boleh dikira)
Berapa harga pisang goreng itu?

How many pieces of pisang goreng did you get for 2 ringgit? (pieces is countable, boleh dikira)
Berapa banyak pisang goreng awak dapat untuk 2 ringgit?