My Poor English

elle · Joined: 27 Feb 2003 Posts: 334 Location: Nottingham, UK

catz, welcome to this forum. I clicked on your profile, and all I see is London, Banking and you are English. So I cannot size you up. Are you a boy/girl, young/ old? I am boy and old! Maybe all of us should update our profiles so that it makes more sense. I better set an example?

Nowadays, I do not seem to have a lot of time to read books or magazines, but I do a lot of research on the web, and that involves some reading. Reason, I am spending too much time on the computer and by bed time my eyes are tired out despite my new LC screen (not CRT). However I have done a lot of reading in the coarse of the day, albeit on a liquid crystal screen.

I always have a Oxford Concise dictionary to make sure of my spelling. I spell phonetically these days, but I can get things quite wrong at times and am forced to look it up.

I was told that nothing gives a worse impression to the other person than to see someone's bad spelling and bad grammar. It gives the impression that this guy's not too well educated. Which is not always true.

Because my mother tongue is English, English poetry is pleasant to my ears. I have tried, to appreciate Chinese poetry transalated into English and it simply sounds horrible. Yet if I heard it recited in Chinese, it sounds so exotic, despite the fact that I may not have understood a single word. So to appreciate poetry, it must be appreciated in the language it was written in, never a translation.

PingPing · Joined: 20 Aug 2006 Posts: 59 Location: KENT

Agree with catz’s point on ‘read on to make sense of an unfamiliar word in a sentence’. I read 4 books in August, I can’t expect to understand every word used. I use a postit note as bookmark and will write down the vocabularies that I want to find out later.

When I first came to England as a new immigrant, I understood that, in order to survive, I need to be able to use the language. I devised a way to train myself. I read things that are of no importance but will keep me interested, e.g. woman’s magazines and gossip columns. That way, I maintain a habit of reading and become accustomed to the language. If I have forced myself to read something serious, I would likely abandon reading completely. Some time later, I came across a book by Catherine Cookson, I found it easier to read and I am interested. Then, I read books after books by this same author (over 60). I found it easier to stick to the same author because I am more familiar with the words, expressions, sentence structure, story background …. I am still developing my language skill. I read more books by other authors but adopt the same approach, sometimes, it’s difficult to get use to the new way of an unfamiliar writer but I stick to it. Nowadays, I read books other than woman’s fictions, Jane Austen, Shakespares, management books, art, gardening ….

I use the same approach to encourage my son to read. When he’s young, I bought little toys but many books. At the beginning, I gave him picture books, cartoon comics, gradually increase to full text, he read the 1st Harry Potter book when he was 6 yrs old and the rest, except this last one, he said he’s too old for it (15)!. I believe this method works, I’ve been telling people who want to develop young children’s reading skill, they should start with something light then gradually build up.

Many new immigrants who claim they can not read in English and want to improve, I always recommend the same method. Start with something light, e.g. gossip column in the tabloid, automobile magazines, even fusion stories, after a few of those, they would grasp the meaning of those words used repeatly. The track is, BE PERSISTENT!!!

Elle, I think you use the other dictionary more than Oxford Concise. I mean the live dictionary (the wife) ;).

When I am sitting at the computer, I found the “spelling and grammar” and “thesaurus” are of great help, it’s much quicker than flipping the dictionary’s pages.

I’ve done some worked (self study) on poems by Dylan Thomas, Browning and Byron. No doubt they are beautiful. Wish I have more time to learn them.
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The struggle, first to survive, and next, to make sense of one's survival .....

elle · Joined: 27 Feb 2003 Posts: 334 Location: Nottingham, UK

Certainly, when formal education has ended, like school or college, we acquire additional skills and knowledge by reading, watching TV, and browsing the web. We acquire language skills as well as general knowledge, and develop our own sense of values and philosophies. And the window to our knowledge is through our eyes.

Pingping, from my reckoning, you have lived in England for 16 years. It is difficult for me to picture your invironment, but as you say you live in Kent, then you will have made friends with the locals, and mingled with local people. Thus, your views of life in this country must necessarily be different from that of someone who came and lived all their lives in Garrard Street. So in some respects your views and values of life, customs, and habits will be different from your relatives in Kwangtung that you left 16 years ago. So when you visit Kwangtung, do you notice a difference in your expectations, although I am sure you fall back into the old ways and manner of speech quite easily? What are your views about the transition that is taking place in your personality?

For the first time, you mention your son, who is 15 years of age. Do you have other children? Let me ask you whether you think that there is even a greater transition in his life? I assume that your son attended a local comprehensive, and that most of his friends are English boys. Does he not think like any other English boy of his age now? I assume that he has no problems with the English language but has problems with the Chinese language? Do you insist on speaking to him in Cantonese at home? Is he also studying Cantonese or Mandarin? And why did you choose Mandarin? Is your son going to University here when he is old enough? What would you like him to study? Or would you like him to take over your business? What are your plans for your other children?

I have asked you enough questions, and you will have to write an essay to tell us about it. What do you mean by fusion stories? I have not known of any fusion stories. Is it a bit like the food we get in fusion restaurants?

You last post was perfect. So relax and you will write well.

PingPing · Joined: 20 Aug 2006 Posts: 59 Location: KENT

Hi Dear All My Friends,

Just want to let you know that I am still here, still watching the forum. It's just that it has been very busy at work recently. elle posted some very serious questions for me to think about. I feel that it will need a good essay, or even a thesis to address the topics. It provokes deep thinking, something that I have not thought about previously.

I think that a proper subject for me to explore but this is going to take some time. At the same time, I continue to join other discussion topics.
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The struggle, first to survive, and next, to make sense of one's survival .....

PingPing · Joined: 20 Aug 2006 Posts: 59 Location: KENT

elle · Joined: 27 Feb 2003 Posts: 334 Location: Nottingham, UK

Fusion Sex, now that is very interesting. Please tell me more? LMAO

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