Topic: To Egg: about English learning @枫下论坛 The Rolia Forum

工作学习 / English / To Egg: about English learning -jabber(jabber); 2001-3-19 {1956} (#34611@0)
本文发表在 rolia.net 枫下论坛First of all, my English is not as good as you evaluated. See Mr. Tugu's comments.

I think one can make big progress in English learning only if he/she realizes the langauge is vital to his/her survival.

Here is a story. During the second war, US army recruited 30 soldiers and wished to send them into Germany. Of course, these guys needed to speak perfect German. ( Who among us speak perfect English? ) To train these would-be esponages, one officer issued a command: "If anybody failed in passing the test, he will be sent to the marticial court and sentenced to death". Surprizingly, all 30 soldiers passed the strict test finally.

Since there was Email service in China, I have been writing in English.
At the very beginning, I was very slow and my writings were completly Chinglish. As I wrote myself, I learned by evaluating other's reponse as well. After about 2 years, I began to think in English as I wrote. Right now, it is a hobby for me to write in this forum. Whenever I see you guys talk about something interesting, I would judge if I can express the same idea in English.

If you persist in learning, you will definitely be a good English writer. Writing is only a skill. The most important thing is thinking. Of course, I have gathered some interesting tips during the past years, which we may share gradually.

To reward your flatterings, I list some interesting idioms here:

1) No money, no honey.

2) No wife, no life.

3) No pain, no gain.

4) Like father, like son.

5) Love me, love my dog.

6) Much ado about nothing!

7) After me the deludge!

8) It's raining dogs and cats outside.

9) He is on a burning boat, but it is he who sets fire himself.

10) I love you guys more than I can say!

Think about these things, you will see that English langauge has its own beauty.

Chairman Mao taught us: "Good-good-study, and day-day-up!". :(-更多精彩文章及讨论，请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net

Thanks, Jabber, your advice is very valuable. I will follow your steps, try to write in English for this forum. Hope our friends can bear my poor writing. -diao_david(LoveBeer); 2001-3-19 (#34614@0)

so do I -eglington(_); 2001-3-19 (#34619@0)
It's more than my 10 years reading after hearing jabber.听君一席话，胜读十年书。 -firefox99(firefox99); 2001-3-19 (#34627@0)

Hi, Jabber, I like your words. -fly_eagle(monkey75); 2001-3-19 {196} (#34622@0)
Really sometimes I think you are a perfect person. Not only for your ability (java , English) , but also for your character ( kindness, backbone) . Hope you can understand my Chinglish. ha ha ha,

Please answer me: Am I Confucius? :-) -jabber(jabber); 2001-3-19 {112} (#34662@0)
English speakers like to flatter others. But if you say some one is perfect, people may have some other ideas.

555555,听我解释，请进 -fly_eagle(monkey75); 2001-3-19 {215} (#34729@0)
看来我的CENGLISH也不好，呵呵，我是真的感觉你很完美，没有其他的意思。对了，还记的我吗？ FLY_EAGLE，在TOKYO 的 NEW JAVA GUY，当初老问你问题的。还有顺便告诉我，如果夸一个人很好，没有缺点，真心的说，用ENGLISH该怎么说？

Have you already landed in Canada? -jabber(jabber); 2001-3-20 {366} (#34892@0)
It seems to me there are no similar expressions in English. As far as I know, we can express our appreciation by saying "It is so kind of you to do .....". In any case, we had better say "somebody is perfect". Of course, if you solved a big problem in your project, your boss may describe it as a "perfect solution". I hope you meet such wonderful things.

Not yet, I will leave for Canada in May. -fly_eagle(monkey75); 2001-3-20 {335} (#34991@0)
I have been very busy these days. Had the exams for java, had some project reports to do, and had to prepare for the things for Canada.Btw ,my boss always ask me to fix the bug.The bug is called my baby here. Thank you for your lesson. Ok, let me say , It is so kind of you to help us here. I do hope someday I can help you as well.

随便看看,老兄也犯了不少错误.也许阅读和听力不错. BTW,你的TWE拿了多少分? -guest:shou; 2001-3-19 (#34680@0)

没别的意思,看看我说的对不对. 以后多多指教,共同进步. -guest:shou; 2001-3-19 {248} (#34681@0)
Surprizingly, should be surprisingly
completly , should be completely
learned, should be learnt
flatterings, should be flatteries
"Good-good-study, and day-day-up!", should be "Good-good-study, up-up-everyday!"

Sorry, just my nonsense.

"Good-good-study, and day-day-up" is a piece of Chinglish I cooked up, similar to yours. -jabber(jabber); 2001-3-19 {1104} (#34705@0)
本文发表在 rolia.net 枫下论坛By the way. why not to be a language pathologist?

Thank you for correcting my typos. But I hope you won't do that any more. Living in the Western socienty, we should do as the Rome does.
Only Chinese guys can do such things: pick up other's typographical errors. I have ever written some scientific papers, but not a single colleage and friend are picky about my typos. The reason is two-fold:
1) My typo does not hinder their understanding; 2) They themselves also make a lot of typos.

Probably I should not make such comments. We Chinese guys like to show off by hitting other's week points. Tell the truth, if I have not been asked to review other's paper, I never make any negative comments. As you go along with your Canadian colleagues, you will see they usually prefer to praise you and avoid mentioning your mistakes. Of course, there is one exception: Your boss, your manager can teach you a lesson any time.

If we are working with a Canadian colleage and if we found a typo in his documentation, we had better pretend to be dumb or correct it silently.更多精彩文章及讨论，请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net

还是修行不够... -guest:guest; 2001-3-19 (#34733@0)

我一再申明是我自己的废话，呵呵，请不要以偏概全。再说一句：连TWE都不知道的，我也不好说什么了。去新东方再学学，“天天向上”怎么说的就知道了。是是非非，不言而喻。 -guest:shou; 2001-3-19 (#34851@0)

Sorry for dissappointing you. I have never taken TOFEL, GRE and ESL tests because I was a home-grown Ph. D in China. -jabber(jabber); 2001-3-20 {949} (#34878@0)
Young man, your attitude in evaluating people will bring you some unhappy things in the Western society. Showing respect for others is a basic behaviorial guide in the Western society. Tell the truth, I also don't know what DIN or DYN means though many friends use this acronym. By the way, I also don't know where that New Oriental Language School is located. Is it run by the Canadian government?

In English writing, people may use acronyms in some contexts. Without the context, few acronyms can be understood. If you talk 10 Americans or Canadians, at least 3-4 of them do not understand TOFEL, GRE, and ESL, let alone TWE. Of course, most Amricans know FBI, MIT, NATO, and JFK. But if you talk English speakers from China, you may found that many of them do not know NATO and JFK.

Arrogance is not a deed to a young man, even he or she comes from Peking University or Tsinghwa University.

No more comments. Good luck!

Really, what the heck are those DIN and DYN your guy talk about all the time? -guest:jian; 2001-3-19 (#34887@0)
首先，我再一次申明我没有任何其他意思。这里一些朋友都说你写得如何如何好，我就看了看，发现几个地方，仅仅本着大家探讨的原则说说而已。 -guest:shou; 2001-3-20 {487} (#34935@0)
网络本来就是大家互相交流，各抒己见的地方，你如果需要的是自己错了也不能说，那我说声对不起。如果你认为指出你的错误就是中国人喜欢怎么怎么着，我无话可说。年龄与这个问题更加没有任何关系，要说有也是年轻的有优势。我还知道“知之为知之”，不会误导他人，不会不承认错误，更不会做你正在做的事。事实上是你在对我进行各样的指责，仅仅因为我说了几个你文章里出现的错误？自大这个字我想不是应该用在我身上的。
我在国外一切好得不能再好，不论如何，谢谢你的忠告。下次rolia论坛的朋友聚会，有机会再当面向你请教。

9494，大家在一起探讨英语，不94为了这一个目的：good good study, day day up. -bingle(bingle); 2001-3-20 (#34939@0)
Shake hands ...I apologize. -jabber(jabber); 2001-3-20 {1271} (#34995@0)
本文发表在 rolia.net 枫下论坛Probably I got too sensitive at this point. Indeed, the understanding of the language depends the context. After reading your first posting, I guessed I have made some big mistakes. After looking into your second posting, I began to think about how to respond. I read two of your first entries again, I rushed to a conclusion that you were disapproving my English proficiency using some minors. Furthermore, I found it seemed you were too picky. Actually, if your two postings did not come together, I would not have taken it serious. Put it in another way, if you simply declare that Jabber's English writing is not as good as some people advocated and if you just listed my typos and grammatical errors, I would not have puffed.

Both English and Chinese languages can lead to ambiguities. This is the reason why English speakers like to use "I am afraid ....". Stating so, we can have freedom to admit we are wrong if the other people take it serious.

By the way, both "day-day-up" and "up-up-day" are Chinglish. Both of them are trash even we may found them in some very old Englis textbooks publiched 20 years ago. It is not worthy our memory. I used such a phrase simply to make some fun.

Sorry for misunderstanding. Apologize again.更多精彩文章及讨论，请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net

Jabber 真是大度，尽管 shou 可能也不是小心眼。Jabber 的英语水平非常棒，却并非没有错误。可如果强求人们只说没有错误的话，恐怕谁也不敢张嘴了。我本来想用英语写这个帖子，但发现自己不懂什么是TWE，心里一害怕，还是写中文吧。 -rolling(Rollor); 2001-3-20 (#35002@0)

Rollor, you are a good mixer. :-) -jabber(jabber); 2001-3-20 (#35014@0)

词汇问题：mixer是指和事佬，还是瞎搅和？:P -bingle(bingle); 2001-3-20 (#35041@0)

英语口语里 Good Mixer 的意思是"善于交际之人“ -diao_david(LoveBeer); 2001-3-20 (#35046@0)

我用词不当，Rollar大哥不要挖苦我了。我周五考车，过了我请客。 -guest:shou; 2001-3-20 (#35076@0)

Good luck for your road test! I will fuss about my driving too... -jabber(jabber); 2001-3-20 {324} (#35078@0)
I will go to the court tomorrow morning. I oversped two months ago. The speed limit is 25 miles per hour, but I drove up to 44 miles per hour.
My strategy is to play guilty and ask the judge for leniency. Doing so, I hopefully can elude the points to be imposed on my dricing record but I still need pay the fine. :(-:

Read my mouth, DO NOT DO THAT!!! -guest:Jian; 2001-3-20 {1361} (#35115@0)
本文发表在 rolia.net 枫下论坛You are finished once you plead guilty, the judge may grant some sort of fine deduction but the point will imposed no matter what. Expect a big insurance hike next year.

Go to the court tomorrow, look around courtroom see if the cop is there (if you remember how he looks like, if not, look by their badge number, you should have his badge number on your ticket.). 8 out of ten times they will not show up. Tell the judge you are pleading not guilty and witness not show and you’re free to go.

Normally cops won’t show up just for one ticket, the court will try to set up same court date for all offenders that cop caught. To play it safe, call the court today tell them you will not be able to attend court session tomorrow and ask for postpone. They will schedule another date few month later, postpone it again. Do this few times the cop will getting pissed off even if he was determined to screw you up and eventually give up.

Believe me I’ve got about dozen or so tickets in last 8 years, just by doing so I still managed to keep my record perfectly clean not a single dot on it. I still have another 4 tickets pending for this September’s court appearance but who gives a damn.

BTW, this tactic was acknowledged to be effective by an officer who sits beside me on a diner table during a fund rising party for Hospital for Sick Children.更多精彩文章及讨论，请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net

Thank you for your advice. -jabber(jabber); 2001-3-20 {712} (#35132@0)
In Virginia ( where I live now), the first-time offenders can usually get a waiver of their points. This is the reason why I would loke to go to the court. Of course, another reason is that I have time now----I am on bench. If I get an interview for tomorrow morning, I will not go to the court. Actually, I am a conservative driver and I have been trying to avoid such things. Going to the court is not a small business for me, because I am paid hourly.

It is not easy to play your trick in Virginia. If I want to postpose the date to go to the court, I must prepare some papers. Again, preparing the paper will cost me the time. If not for those points' sake, I would rather have paid the fine.

谢谢大家,我有信心考过路考.这里交规最大的宗旨是安全,人的安全第一.我想我需要注意的是如何保持速度,不低于路牌的时速要求,呵呵. 咱们俩互补就好了. -guest:shou; 2001-3-20 (#35125@0)

不用客气。祝你好运。给你一点建议：如果考官说你某个动作没做好，比如，你转弯太慢，你一定要辩解。告诉他你认为现在安全大于速度。有时他会考虑你的申辩的。（如果你没考过，我只好自己做饭吃。） -rolling(Rollor); 2001-3-20 (#35079@0)

I wonder. -atmgr(stan001); 2001-3-20 {769} (#35110@0)
I couldn't help wondering why being picked up on a couple of typos was that offensive. I even wonder more why scientists do not care about typos, as they have been a group with most rigorous academic training. Perfectionism and excellence are kind of synonyme that scientists all pursue.

Incidentally, it's quite fuzzy to think in western society people don't care about mistake or trying to avoid confrontation. But, typo would be kind of low level mistake that a trained scientist would like to spend time on. That doesn't mean western scientists are so careless on misprint.

In certain professions, one typo would cost one person's job, reputation and creditability.

Not that I never have typos. But, I am thankful to anyone pointing them out to me.

If the matter were just pointing out some typos, it would have never been a brouhaha. -jabber(jabber); 2001-3-20 {271} (#35127@0)
Mr. 图古 criticized my English writing, too (#34299). But I acknowledged it in a very positive manner (#34602). My misunderstanding began with putting #34680 and #34681 together. If they came separately, we would have ever forgotten them. Let's forget this matter.

Well, I didn't intend to point on anyone. I was very much interested in your discussion on the issue whether western people (esp. scientists and other professionals) would avoid confrontation or, if not, how they would confront others. -atmgr(stan001); 2001-3-20 (#35139@0)
我不知道分开和同时写有什么区别,整个问题的point是你自己要这么想,别人有什么办法呢?这个问题就此打住了,请不要喋喋不休,stan001和那位guest也别再讨论下去了,没什么意思。 -guest:shou; 2001-3-20 (#35156@0)

I am just intereted into the issues of cultural different between western and new immigrants. Nothing more than that. -atmgr(stan001); 2001-3-20 (#35179@0)

Sorry, what is TWE? -jabber(jabber); 2001-3-19 (#34704@0)

Test of Writing English -guest:; 2001-3-19 (#34782@0)

I think Jabber is far beyond that baseline. -albxu(Yukon); 2001-3-20 (#35003@0)

English study always start by learning how to use the word "FUCK".-Enjoy! -guest:Jian; 2001-3-19 {2131} (#34690@0)
本文发表在 rolia.net 枫下论坛Perhaps one of the most interesting and colorful words in the English language today is the word "FUCK." It is a magical word that just by its sound can describe pain, pleasure, love, and hate. In language, "fuck" falls into many grammatical categories. It can be used as a verb, both transitive (John fucked Mary) and intransitive (Mary was fucked by John). It can be an active verb (John really gives a fuck), or a passive verb (Mary really doesn't give a fuck), or it can be an adverb (Mary is really fucking interested in John), a noun (Mary is a terrific fuck), or an adjective (Mary is fucking beautiful). As you see, there are few words with the versatility of "FUCK."
Besides its sexual connotations, this incredible word can be used to describe many situations:

Greetings: "How the fuck are you?"
Fraud: "I got fucked by the car dealer."
Dismay: "Oh, fuck it!"
Trouble: "Well, I guess I'm fucked now."
Aggression: "Fuck you!"
Disgust: "Fuck me!"
Confusion: "What the fuck...?"
Difficulty: "I don't get this fucking business."
Despair: "Fucked again."
Incompetence: "He fucks everything up."
Displeasure: "What the fuck is going on here?"
Lost: "Where the fuck are we?"
Disbelief: "Unfuckingbelievable!"
Retaliation: "Up your fucking ass."

It can be used in an anatomical description: "He's a fucking asshole."
It can be used to tell time: "It's five fucking thirty."
It can be used in business: "How did I wind up with this fucking job?"
It can be maternal: "Motherfucker."
It can be political: "Fuck tip O'Neill."
And never forget General Custer's last words: "Where did all these fucking Indians come from?"
Also, the famous last words of the mayor of Hiroshima: "What the fuck was that?"
And last but not least, the immortal words of the captain of the Titanic: "Where is all this fucking water coming from?"

The mind fairly boggles at the many creative uses of the word. How can anyone be offended when you say fuck? Use it in your daily speech; it will add to your prestige.

Today, say to someone: "Fuck you!"更多精彩文章及讨论，请光临枫下论坛 rolia.net

What a -lumlumq(lumlum); 2001-3-19 {49} (#34706@0)
fucking good suggestion it is. thx...

xixi....

Then think about some fucking scenario; add them up on the fucking list. -guest:; 2001-3-19 (#34710@0)

Well, what are you fucking doing here? You are poisoning kids! -jabber(jabber); 2001-3-19 {43} (#34709@0)
---Better not to use four-letter words. :-)

Hey they aren't that innocent as you think man. Beside, what kind shit hole you can end up with if you ignore this F word? Here we have a walking example, just look at idiot Fu mingxia. hehehe!!!!!! -guest:jian; 2001-3-19 (#34723@0)

Jian, I were teasing you...:-) -jabber(jabber); 2001-3-19 {443} (#34883@0)
Of course, I have some live examples using the word "fuck".

1) If you do something stupid and get embarrassed before your colleagus, you may say "fuck me, fuck me".

2) One driver does not yield you as you are ready to cross the road. Then, you may shout "Man, you have the fucking stop sign!".

3) .....

Had better not use this word. If your using of this word brings misunderstanding, it is not easy to explain. Agree?

I just play dumb... -guest:Jian; 2001-3-20 {345} (#34905@0)
But seriously, don't you think she's basically screwed up for the rest of her life just because… I mean…after spending 3 god damn years in Qinghua she still can't read the word F- U- C- K? Can you believe it? They say they don't teach this kinda thing there but If that's the case, I think someone's behind need some reeeeeeal good kick.

我把Jian的文章打印下来，得意洋洋的拿给一个在中国踢球的外援看，他诡秘的笑了笑，也掏出了一张纸，题目是：《如何在球场上说一口地道的中文》 -bingle(bingle); 2001-3-20 {807} (#35260@0)
当我们驰骋在中国的绿茵场上，如果能够说一口地道的中文，将会使我们踢球的时候 - 事半功倍。

有一个词，是必须要熟练掌握的。因为它的用法比较灵活，灵活到了不可思议的程度。你可以用它来表达你的怒火，喜悦，爱，恨。“他妈的"，简写就是TMD。

我们可以用它来表示
- 喜悦：我们TMD保级成功了。
- 悲伤：TMD我们的俱乐部要完了。
- 怒气：让我去把那个TMD的前锋铲倒。
- 不满：这个裁判是TMD黑哨。
- 命令：快TMD传给我。
- 调侃：你刚才那一脚真TMD臭。
- 兴奋：TMD要发奖金了。
- 紧张：快TMD往前跑呀。

除了上述提到的例子，我们可以把TMD用在任何的地方，甚至用在句子里的任何位置。

- TMD，这个点球又射偏了。
- TMD这个点球又射偏了。
- 这个TMD点球又射偏了。
- 这个点球TMD又射偏了。
- 这个点球又TMD射偏了。
- 这个点球又射TMD偏了。
- 这个点球又射偏了，TMD。

记住，每时每刻，我们都可以用这个TMD敲门砖，融入中国社会。

haha, it's so funny. -lumlumq(lumlum); 2001-3-21 (#35510@0)

OH, Lets day day up -hearts(hearts); 2001-3-19 (#34703@0)
Thanks for your advice! -eglington(_); 2001-3-19 (#34731@0)
我觉得jabber写得非常好，简洁流畅地道，决不是那种先想好了中文再翻译出来的那种晦涩难懂。这点考什么试都学不到。 -guest:mimi; 2001-3-21 (#35435@0)