Nico Nico Douga Aug. 27, 2009年8月26日

Let’s translate the following into English:

つくづく思う。　
「自分は恵まれている」　と。
何より日本語がしゃべれる。
大学にも通うことができる。

I’m convinced that ~.

to convince sb=説得する

I’m convinced. = I’m sure.

I’m sure that~.

I’m really grateful.

I feel blessed.

I’m so lucky.

I’m so thankful.

Above all, I am grateful that I can speak Japanese.

I am especially grateful that I can speak Japanese.

And I can even go to university.

And that I can go to university.

And that I can go to university as well.
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difficult vs. difficulty
再就職は厳しい。

I’m having difficulty finding a new job.

It’s difficult for me to find a new job.

to have difficulty verb+ing

easy vs. easily

X She is easy to get sick. / She gets sick easily.v

大半が日本語をしゃべれず、
再就職は厳しい。
Almost = not
もう少しで終わる。／ほとんど終わっている。

I am almost finished. = I am not finished.

ほとんどの日本人は髪が黒い。

Almost all Japanese have black hair.

私の友達はほとんど皆日本人です。

Almost all of my friends are Japanese.

My friends are almost all Japanese.

My friends are almost Japanese.

Almost all = 90% or more

Most = the biggest percentage
“most” could be 51% or if there are 3 parts, it could be 34% (if 2 other parts are 33% each)

Or it could even be a small number, like 9% if the size or percentage of the other parts are smaller.