G'day, how's it going? Today I am going to talk about how I learn new English words and expressions when I am going outside. Please have a look at this street sign:
This sign teaches me a couple of English words, expressions and pronunciation lesson. The funny thing is that both ways are exactly the same name: DOBSON. What a coincidence!! Just have a closer look at them. After DOBSON, one says 'PL', while another says 'ST'. Do you know both meanings? What do they stand for?
'PL' stands for 'Place'. 'ST' of course stands for 'Street'. Do you know any other? For me, I know 27 sign abbreviations. But the most common ones are:
Ave = Avenue
Cct = Circuit
Cres = Crescent
Dr = Drive
Hwy = Highway
Jnc = Junction
Pde = Parade
Rd = Road
Next up, you can practise how you pronounce 'DOBSON'. Not dobson (ドブソン in Japanese), but be careful when you enunciate 'o' sound, which is not 'ou' nor 'o'. Precisely speaking, it should be sounded like 'dɒbs(ə)n'. Not 'o' sound but rather closer to 'a' sound. So, every time when I find interesting street names, I'll try to figure out how it sounds, which is a kinda interesting learning, I reckon.
Finally, despite being deviated from English learning method, you can train yourself and boost your sense of direction when you are consciously checking every single street signage. For me, at first I'd try my best to find a right place without searching Google map. Overdependence upon this sorta 'cunning' style is not good. But there is no doubt that I sometimes rely on this map hahaha.
Ok, folks. Please give my outside training method a go!
Thanks for reading today!
Have a good one!