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Last week I talked about the words "holiday" and "vacation", and how they're used differently.

Today I'm going to talk about another way of saying that you don't have to go to work or school by using the word "off".

For example, the school is closed tomorrow. You have a day off tomorrow. Next week, you and your wife will be celebrating your 10th year together. So, you'll take the day off.

Let's say, you need to go see a doctor tomorrow. So you'll take the morning off.

You've been busy and you really need some time off. You wish you could take the whole week off.

If you don't work on Saturdays and Sundays, that means you have weekends off. Personally I work freelance, so I can choose to take weekdays off instead of weekends.

Now, I'll give you an example sentence. Let's practice together. Please repeat after me:

I'm taking the day off tomorrow.

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How did you spend your Golden Week holidays? Who knows, some of you may still be on vacation.

Now, here's one frequently asked question: What's the difference between "holiday" and "vacation". The simplest answer is they're pretty much synonymous. They both mean a period of time when you are not at work or school, and often involve travelling. It's just that the British go on holiday while Americans go on vacation.

One big difference is (that) we use the word "holiday" when we talk about a special day of celebration including religious holidays such as Christmas and public holidays like Independence Day in the US.

The Golden Week includes four national holidays and each year over 20 million Japanese go on vacation either at home or abroad.

Now. Would you like to try a quiz? You'll be given three options. Please listen carefully and choose the one that is TRUE. Ready?

1. The word "vacation" is more likely to be used by the British.

2. The British never use the word "vacation".

3. The words "holiday" and "vacation" are often used synonymously.

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An American friend of mine once asked me, "Hey, Junko, where is the W in answer?" I didn't quite get it. Then she rephrased the question. "How do you spell ANSWER?"

The word "answer" is spelled A-N-S-W-E-R. The letter W sits between S and E but you don't hear it. It's a silent letter. The words wrapping, wrestling, wrinkles also have a silent W.

There are many more words in English with silent letters. The words knock, knife and knee all begin with the letter K although you don't hear it. Autumn, column and condemn all end with the letter N but again you don't hear it. There's no G sound in the words daughter, thought, right, height, might, weight and tough. But when you spell these words, you'll see the letter G in them. Listen and fasten has a silent T while hour and honest have a silent H.

Now. Would you like to try a quiz? You'll be given three options. Please listen carefully and choose the one that is NOT true. Ready?

1. There's no silent letter in the word "Wednesday".

2. There's a silent letter in the word "rendezvous".

3. There's a silent letter in the word "psychology".

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When we learn English words in school, we learn what they mean, how they're used and spelled, but not how they sound. I understand teaching pronunciation is a big challenge. But students should at least be able to tell the words "apple", "cat" and "camera" have the same sound. So do the words "farm", "art" and "market", or the words "run", "duck" and "blood".

Contrarily, when you say "tennis court", "fur coat" or "caught a cab", these three words "court", "coat" and "caught" do not have the same sound, although they're often spelled the same in Katakana. And students should be able to tell they're different.

One solution could be to learn phonetic symbols. They tell you the way a word is intended to sound, which in turn helps with pronunciation.

Now. Why don't you try a quiz? You'll be given three options. Please listen carefully and choose the one that is NOT true. Ready?

1. The words mother, brother, father have the same sound.

2. The words mother, umbrella, apple have the same sound.

3. The words apple, pineapple, sandwich have the same sound.

Hi everyone! Thank you for tuning in to Time for English.

For Japanese, April is the month of new beginnings. Traditionally schools and companies start their new academic or fiscal year in April. Even the government's fiscal year runs from April 1 to March 31.

So, it's time for a fresh start. For those who made great resolutions back in January, now is the perfect time to see how they've been doing with their goals. What about yours? Did you make a new year's resolution? Do you even remember the goal you set out to accomplish? If you did make one, how is it coming along? If you're lagging behind, perhaps it's a good time to get back on track.

Personally, I made two resolutions for 2017. One is to spend more time with my mother. I'm doing pretty well on this. The other is to exercise more. To be honest, I could do better. I'm a lazy bum.

Now. Would you like to try a quiz? You'll be given three options. Please listen carefully and choose the one that is TRUE. Ready?

1. The Japanese fiscal year begins in January.

2. In Japan, the academic year begins in April.

3. Many people give up on their resolutions by April.

Hi everyone! Thank you for tuning in to Time for English.

It’s April. A new business year and school term start this month. For those who were determined to improve their English on the first day of January and somewhat failing to keep it, here’s a second chance to start it anew.

Watching movies and interview clips certainly help, but remember, reading books can also help. For example, books written by Haruki Murakami provide a wealth of casual conversation examples. Here’s one. In Hear The Wind Sing, a girl goes to the kitchen to fix something to eat. She opens the fridge and finds some bread, lettuce and cold cuts. She makes some quick sandwiches and brings them to her boyfriend and says, “No mustard, sorry”. The boyfriend’s answer: It’s tops as is. He means it’s just fine the way they are.

So, start small. Choose something short. Some of my early readings includes The Pearl by John Steinbeck, The Old Man and The Sea by Hemingway, The Fall of The House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe. Just a few pages, or even a few paragraphs a day is fine, but every day. Good luck!

Now. Would you like to practice the sentence together? Please repeat after me:

It’s tops as is.

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I was in a business meeting the other day. And a gentleman also attending the meeting said, "You can't compare apples to oranges". Are you familiar with the expression "apples and oranges"?

If two people or things are apples and oranges, they are fundamentally different and therefore not suited to comparison.

I'll give you some examples of how the phrase can be used in a sentence. It's no wonder John and Mary broke up. They are like apples and oranges. You can't compare classical music to jazz music. They're apples and oranges.

Interestingly, some people argue that apples and oranges are not that different. They're both fruits, about the same size and shape, both grow on trees and have seeds inside. What do you think?

Now. Why don't you try a quiz? You'll be given three options. Please listen carefully and choose the one that is TRUE. Ready?

If two things are apples and oranges,

1. they're no way different.

2. they're hardly different.

3. they're completely different.

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Last week I talked about hay fever and I used the expression 'sneezing like crazy'. This phrase 'like crazy' is very frequently used in daily conversation. It's colloquial, in other words, informal or conversational. It means 'to a great degree' or 'to an exceeding degree'.

For example, when you say you're running around like crazy, that means you're extremely busy. Let's say, you go to a party. You drink a lot, probably too much. You drink like crazy. You have a long-distance relationship. You're in New York and your boyfriend in San Francisco. You want to see him so much. You miss him like crazy.

Do you know what I want to do right now? I want to eat ice cream. I love ice cream like crazy! Oh, well. I'd better forget about ice cream. It's very late now. Instead, I'll give you a quiz.

I'll read three sentences. Please listen carefully and choose the one that is NOT TRUE. Ready?

1. 'Like crazy' is a colloquial expression.

2. Generally speaking, you don't miss things you don't like.

3. Colloquial means very formal.

Hi everyone! Thank you for tuning in to Time for English.

Today many people keep in touch through SNS like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat or LINE. When you meet new people, try to make friends with them, you may probably want to exchange SNS information, instead of, or in addition to, phone numbers. Then you can use this question "Do you have Facebook?" to find out if someone has a Facebook account. You can also ask, "Are you on Facebook?"

Now, you may want to learn how to answer these questions. Let's say someone asks you, "Do you have Facebook?" To answer this question you can say, "Yes, I do. I have Facebook. Or, "No, I don't. I don't have Facebook".

If someone asks you, "Are you on Twitter?" Your answer may be "Yes, I'm on Twitter" or "No, I'm not on Twitter". It can also be "No, I'm not on Twitter. But I'm on Facebook".

Now, would like to practice together? Please repeat after me:

Do you have Facebook?

Are you on Twitter?

Hi everyone! Thank you for tuning in to Time for English.

We are now twittering, primarily on what's being tweeted by President Donald Trump. We are by NO means political. We neither approve nor disapprove of President Trump. Our sole purpose is to help our listeners and readers learn English or improve their vocabulary.

We are constantly trying to figure out how to make English learning part of your lives and this time we've decided to try Twitter. More specifically we quote a recent tweet from President Trump every day, translating it into Japanese, picking up a word or phrase that might be interesting to you, adding some grammatical notes or example sentences from time to time.

If you're on twitter, please follow us and share with others! Thank you!

That's all for today. See you next time.