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[Willy_In_Japan]

I am sorry if this is considered off topic for this forum, but I don't seem to have access to certain areas of Daves. However, since this is a Japan specific question I hope it is ok.

I have encountered many Japanese students who write to me about 'School life' and I can't put my finger on it, but it just doesn't seem to be a natural way of talking about the subject. I did a google search on it, and it seems to be a more of a 'topic' and not quite a specific thing people talk about much.

Another one is 'goods'.... 'I went to the bike shop and bought some bike goods.' just seems a bit strange to me.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to use these two terms?

I guess what I am looking for is a suggestion for a simple and more natural way of talking about these two things. At least, from where I come from, people don't speak like that.

[Gordon]

What is wrong with "school life"? Sounds fine to me.
"bike goods" is a tad strange. I'd say bike accessories or parts if it is a necessity.
How do you not have access to all the parts of Dave's? Other than the moderator forum, what can't you see? There is a usergroup area with no user groups.

[Glenski]

School life sounds natural and normal enough for teens or university students. I imagine stories about classes and subjects they like or dislike, club activities, friends, etc. What have you found?

"Goods" is a typical unnatural use of the word. The nuance is lost in some dictionary translation. Much like "I bought some wear (clothes)." Depending on what the "goods" entail, I would probably teach them to say equipment or materials instead. If all else fails, get them to just say "things" or "stuff".

[Brooks]

their lives revolve around school, especially for the kids that go to juku.
And for those that are in clubs.
'School life' seems fine to me.

[JimDunlop2]

Actually, that may not be a bad English lesson.... Teaching how to correctly name items that can't be concretely categorized.... I.e. when to use "stuff" versus "equipment" versus "parts", etc. Also common are words like "junk, odds & ends, bits, spare parts, all kinds of stuff, a bunch of stuff" to name a few more.

It's so common for us, we don't even think about it. Sometimes we even make up words to refer to unidentifiables... Like a "whachamacallit" or a "doo-hickey" or a "thingamajang." For an intermediate and above class, it may make an entertaining lesson -- and one that may help Japanese people understand natural, spoken English a little better.

[Willy_In_Japan]

You misunderstand me. I know that you can say 'school life'.

However, sentences like 'I want to go to High School and have a good school life.' seem a bit off.

There is the idea of 'school life' and talking about school life.

I did a google search and found 'School Life' mainly as a topic heading, and then talking about the day to day aspects of school life.

Do you know many native speakers who say 'My school life is fun.' or similar?

Just like 'goods' there is nothing technically wrong with it, just not the way natives express themselves.

[Willy_In_Japan]

For some reason, I am not able to log in to my account to post on some forums.....and then when I go back to this forum, I have to log back in. It is probably this computer I am using.

At any rate, thanks everyone for the replies.

I too think it would be a good lesson. Sometimes it is nice to be able to check things with native speakers. Especially with things that aren't gramatically off. For example, I can find no reason to say that Japanese usage of 'campaign' is 'wrong', but certainly used in a different way than native English Speaking countries.

I know that 'goods' is an english word, and used from time to time, but of course I would say Motorcycle Equipment before 'Bike Goods' etc. However, if I was talking about a flea market, I might say, 'The market had many different types of goods'.

[JimDunlop2]

Willy, I've stopped correcting people in things like the usage of the word "campaign".... When I encounter an English word that gets used in a different way than in a natively English-speaking country, I tell my students that "campaign" is a Japanese word, (even though it originally came from English, it is now a Japanese word) and that they should use the English word instead...

[diogene]

I think the problem is that the terms are not being used appropriately. Sometimes substituting a synonym can help you decide to whether to use a particular word in a given context. In this case it would be much better to pair bike with a word like accessories, (spare)parts or equipment. The word "goods" itself works well in a more formal commercial or non specific context. Consider: "The goods were shipped last Friday." , "Japan manufactures and exports electronic goods." or "Willard specializes in transporting frozen goods." Compare "goods" to words like "commodities" or "products".

Using "school life" in a sentence like "'I want to go to High School and have a good school life." What does "school life" mean? Generally, when one says school life, they mean life at school. Consider a sentence that begins like "School life consisted of ...." which translates to "Life at school consisted of".

There is nothing wrong with "School life is fun." IMHO, university life is a lot more fun.

Putting a sentence together is not only about putting words together in the correct grammatical fashion. One also has to pay attention to how and when certain words should be used. This only comes with practice and exposure to a language.

Just my 2 cents.