When you say "プライベート" what do you mean? Sometimes, my students use this word. It creates some confusion. For example, look at this conversation between me and a student during a lesson.

Student: I went to India.
Me: Really? Did you go on business?
Student: It's my private.
Me: Oh. Sorry for asking. Anyway... [change subject].
Student: ???

"プライベート" is a word inspired by English. It uses one meaning of the English word "private". But what should you say? What do English speakers understand when you say "プライベート"?

Working together: Photo: lumaxartCo- is a common prefix found in many words. Co- comes from Latin and means together, with, joint, jointly (e.g. cooperate) or in association with (e.g. co-worker). So, verbs beginning with co- mean that something is done together. Nouns beginning with co- mean that someone or something is in association: that they are related.

An example is to cooperate. "Operate" means to do something or to perform a function. Add co- to operate and we get a word that means "to work or act together"—cooperate:

Example: The departments cooperated to finish the project.
Another way to say this is: The departments worked together to finish the project.

MindmapIt is nearly impossible to learn a new word like this:

legislation

alone. With no definition, context or relationships it is meaningless. You can make word maps to help you remember and understand new words better. This technique is to develop a thinking habit. If you do it enough, soon you will think in this way and your understanding and command of English will improve.

There are several ways you can arrange your word maps:

Free yourselfOften, your native language gets in the way of learning a new language. To some extent, this will always happen—your native language starts getting in the way. Trying to learn through it becomes like "scratching an itch through your boot", as the Chinese saying goes (隔靴搔癢).

So we need to get our native language out of the way. Easier said than done, surely! How do you do this? By connecting the language you learn directly to your world.

Let's imagine, for example, two Japanese learners of English: "Mr Think-in-Japanese", and "Mr Think-in-English". Mr Think-in-Japanese learns English vocabulary like this:

• dog: 犬
• angry: 怒っている!
• tired: 眠たい、疲れている