http://86139933.qzone.qq.com Fri, 27 Nov 2009 17:58:43 GMT Qzone zh-cn Copyright (C), 2005-2008, Tencent Tech. Co., Ltd. Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:31:34 GMT http://86139933.qzone.qq.com/blog/1257208294 UncleMartin 已停止在这里写新博文，请加入 QQ1401687220 继续支持阅览他的英语文章，谢谢！
http://1401687220.qzone.qq.com ]]> http://86139933.qzone.qq.com/blog/1257208294#comment 134218240 Tue, 03 Nov 2009 00:31:34 GMT http://86139933.qzone.qq.com/blog/1257208294 http://86139933.qzone.qq.com/blog/1257129071 Hello all! I am in the process of transferring all articles in this Qzone to a new one in order that all my articles will not be lost one day if no one keeps paying for the RMB20 a month VIP QQ membership fee should I be not around anymore one day.


Join QQ number 1401687220 from now on as I will only log on using this new number to keep talking to you folks.



http://user.qzone.qq.com/1401687220/blog/1257128302


[img]/ac/b.gif[/img] [img]/ac/b.gif[/img]
I applied for this new QQ number this morning in order that I can create a new Qzone to continue blogging about English language with the assurance that the content will be kept intact for as long as Tencent maintains its present policy of free QQ and Qzone service.


My VIP Qq number 86139933 is costing me RMB20 a month to keep and it will be suspended and deleted once no one keeps paying the fee. I don't want to lose all my effort in my lifetime simply because of the non-payment of the good QQ number. It works out at RMB240 a year which may not appear to be much. However, at one point in time, I may kiss the world goodbye and it is hard to ensure that someone will keep this QQ number active making payment to Tencent. My decision is simply based on this consideration.


So if you are a sincere follower of my English blogging, please make sure you shift over to this QQ number as I will stop posting in QQ 86139933 right from this moment. My plan is to keep that QQ number for 6 more months or maximum another year to make sure those who are not aware of it will find out what's going on there. ]]> http://86139933.qzone.qq.com/blog/1257129071#comment 134218240 Mon, 02 Nov 2009 02:31:11 GMT http://86139933.qzone.qq.com/blog/1257129071 http://86139933.qzone.qq.com/blog/1256957235 Copyright, Uncle Martin 2009

有感而发 (稀有地是全中文贴子)
http://bbs.oralpractice.com/viewthread.php?tid=7255&extra=page%3D1

敬请学员留意， UnlceMartin 老师只能帮助中高级学员
http://bbs.oralpractice.com/viewthread.php?tid=7253&extra=page%3D1 ]]> http://86139933.qzone.qq.com/blog/1256957235#comment 134218240 Sat, 31 Oct 2009 02:47:15 GMT http://86139933.qzone.qq.com/blog/1256957235 http://86139933.qzone.qq.com/blog/1256768142 Update:- Steven Lichen earned a master degree in linguistics at the University of Leicester, England subsequently, and he is presently an assistant director at the Online Institute of Beijing Foreign Studies University ("Beiwai").

Hi folks,


My name is Steven, 23. I am an English major, senior, of the Institute of Online Education, Beijing Foreign Studies University (better known as BeiwaiOnline). Currently I am working on my thesis on English Teaching Methodology. If everything goes as planned, I shall pursue my postgraduate studies in the University of Cambridge in late 2007.


During my four years of study in BeiwaiOnline, I was awarded the 'Star Student'(2003), 'Top Student'(2004), 'Excellent Monitor'(2004 & 2005) and I won the championship of a couple of English speech contests at either school-level or municipal-level(2004 & 2005). I was also the first student chosen to host an online English chatting program called VOB (Voice of BeiwaiOnline) and have produced 12 programs so far, in which more than 6,000 English learners nationwide took part.


Overall, I can safely say that my command of English is good. However, I know I can't use English skillfully and easily without Qlaoshi Martin's untiring guidance and lasting friendship. Here comes the story:


"Roughly three years back, I was very much frustrated with my own English learning. Although I worked hard, I didn't see myself making any noticeable progress. Under tremendous pressure from my parents' high expectations and my own ambitions, I nearly crushed down and decided to give up learning for some time and get some air off the campus.


So I skipped classes and played cyber games in an internet cafe not far from the campus. I played day and night but still didn't feel relaxed. On the one hand, those who were around me were truly 'beatniks' of my generation. They smoked heavily and shouted dirty words when playing CS (a bloody and violent game). I felt out of place among them. On the other hand, I got bored playing games online.


Finally I found myself reading on an international English learning forum. A member raised a question about how to do speed reading, so I keyed in a few lines as suggestions and left. The next day, I logged into that forum again out of curiosity, say, I wanted to know how things went on after the others had read my suggestions. What I saw indeed changed my life — a member named Qlaoshi Martin replied in the following words that I would never forget:


"Steven, your English is absolutely not acceptable by my standard. Your English is simply Chinglish!"


I was enraged by his words because nobody criticized my English like that! My English at that time might not be good enough but that was all I got, I couldn't bear Martin's harsh criticism.


However, I noticed Martin also added a very long essay following that topic. Guess what? That essay was a rewrite of my passage! He offered his way of putting the same ideas and that was amazing! My anger was replaced by joy, I read his rewrite again and again. For the first time, I found how interesting English writing could be; sometimes simply changing the order of words can make the expression much more idiomatic and readable.


I then tried to contact Martin and kept sending him my compositions. He turned out to be a very gentle and cultivated businessman (53 years old) living in Shenzhen but working in Hong Kong SAR. He, as a proficient user of English, is glad to help a serious English learner like me and rewrote all my compositions. As you can imagine, I benefited a lot from his unselfish and free tutoring."


In retrospect, though Martin is not a certified English teacher, he did help me master the keys to successful English learning — passion for the English language, perseverance in English writing and speaking and the habit of extensive reading.


Also, from an academic point of view, one's chance of mastering English relies largely on one's motivation of studying English as well as one's specific learning approach. Martin 'happened' to stimulate my passion for English and held me on the right track.


In my case, I am interested in English study but the lessons I received in middle school had taught me nothing except a reasonable knowledge of grammar. Before I came to know Martin, all English study methods I could think of were to look up every new word in a dictionary while reading (but failed to use an English-English Dictionary and failed to foster the ability of guessing the meaning of the new words), take notes of language points in intensive reading classes (but failed to grasp the discourse management and logic as a whole) — painstaking but to no avail. Then Martin told me to throw my dictionaries away, forget what I had learned about grammar and devote my time to reading authentic articles. His advice was shocking, even insane, to me at that moment. Nonetheless, day by day, I find his method really working! For example, 'correspondent' used to be a new word to me, but after it occurs three times in the articles I read, I managed to guess its meaning! Later on, because I recognized the word in a whole sentence or, say, a specific context, I felt quite at ease to place it in a sentence and then weave the sentence into a whole paragraph. In other words, Martin's suggestions guided me to the cultivation of a strong sense of discourse management.


As a living proof of Martin's unique English tutoring approach, I am more than happy to share with you the above story. And may all the blessings go to his new language project — Club QBEC — a platform for plain, natural business English.


Cordially yours,
Steven Li Chen



大家好！


我叫Steven ，23 岁，是北京外国语大学网络教育学院 (www.beiwaionline.com) 大四的学生，所学专业是英语教育。我现在正在撰写学士论文。如果一切顺利的话，我将在2007 年八月份左右赴英国剑桥大学攻读硕士学位( 专业方向暂定应用语言学)。


我在四年的大学学习中，我先后取得了北京外国语大学网络教育学院授予的"明星学员" (2003年秋) ，"优秀学员"(2004年夏 )，"优秀班长" (2004 和 2005 年夏)的荣誉称号，并于 2004年至 2005年间夺取多次校级和市级英语演讲比赛的冠军。同时，我也被选为首位VOB( 网院之声，一档多用户实时在线音频聊天节目) 学生主持人。截至2006年 2月，我已经制作并主持了 12次节目，逾6000 名来自全国各地的学员参与或收听了我的节目，深受好评。
可以说，我现在的英语应用水平是不错的。但是，我很清楚我现在的成绩离不开邱老师 (Martin Yau)长期以来给予我的指导和关怀。下面给大家讲述的就是我和邱老师之间的故事：


"大约三年前，我几乎对英语学习失去信心。虽然我很用功，但却看不到任何可喜的进步。家人的期望和我自己的高要求全都转化成压力，压得我透不过气来。于是，我决定逃课几天，到校园外放松一下心情。

我选择了一家离校园不远的网吧，玩起了网络游戏。游戏里的魔幻世界果然刺激，我玩得很入神，茶饭不思。可我心里清楚，游戏并没有给我带来放松的感觉。一方面，网吧里聚集了一群社会上的盲流，他们大口抽烟，互相吵闹着玩一个叫做"反恐精英"的暴力游戏，与他们为伍让我感到很不自在。另一方面，游戏我也玩腻了，不知不觉又想起了自己深爱的英语。于是我成了喧嚣的网吧里唯一静心浏览英文网站的人。


几天后，一个偶然的机会，我进入了一个使用英语的国际交流论坛。一位网友提出了一个如何快速阅读的问题，我碰巧知道些练习的方法，就回复了几句。第二天， 由于好奇心的驱使，我又进入了那个论坛，想看看其他人是如何看待我的回帖的。一个叫 Martin的网友跟了我的帖子，可他的话让我呆住了，屏幕上的那行字我这辈子也忘不了：


"Steven ，你的英语表达在我看是完全不能接受的，你的英文是蹩脚的中式英语！"
我怒火中烧，因为在他之前没有人如此严厉地批评过我的英语，我无法接受他的言辞。


然而，我看到Martin 在他的这句话后还发表了一个长长的帖子。凝神一看，我惊奇地发现那竟然是对我那几行建议的改写！仔细一读，对 Martin敬佩之情油然而生，改得太妙了！我的怒气全消了，取而代之的是学习的愉悦，平生头一次感受到运用英语语言的奥妙，有时候只是调换一下单词的顺序，整个句子读起来就变得通顺、地道多了！


我于是尝试着和Martin 联系并给他发送了几篇我的英文练笔。几次的交往和通话让我认识了一个阅历广博、温文尔雅的长者 (邱老师已经53岁了 )。他定居深圳，工作在香港，多年的英文实践造就了他用词平白浅易却能传达复杂情感的写作风格。我从他批改的文章中汲取了丰富的营养，也成就了我自身英语水平的飞跃。"


回顾我和邱老师的这段有关英语学习的探讨，虽然他没有受过系统的英语教学法方面的培训，但是他所提倡的学习法的确帮助了我掌握学习英语的不二法门——对英语的热爱，坚持不懈地练习写和说，并养成泛读的好习惯。


从学术的角度说，一个人学习第二语言成功与否在很大程度上取决于他学习的动机和他所采用的学习方法。邱老师"碰巧"激起了我对英语的热爱，并帮助我走上了一条正确的学习道路。
具体来说，我虽然对英语感兴趣，但我在中学学到的英文充其量不过是一些基本的语法规则。在和邱老师交流前，我主要采用的学习方法是：


1) 阅读，碰到生词就拿出英汉字典查； (这样做的坏处是第一，英汉字典并不能完全展现英语单词的全部涵义，必须学会使用英英字典，了解英语国家本国人是如何解释单词的；第二，根据上下文猜测词义是一项很重要的技能，总是查字典会产生依赖性 )


2) 上精读课时集中精力记录下老师所讲的一切语言点。 (这样做的坏处是只看到分散的语言点而忽略了作者对于语篇的把握和文章内在的逻辑性 )我学得很努力，但是收获甚微。

在和邱老师交流的早期，他曾劝我： "把字典丢到一边，把语法忘掉，专心读英语本国人写的地道的文章。" 对那时的我来说，他的观点是很难接受的，但我还是照做了。一段时间以后，我逐渐学会了根据上下文猜测词义，也明白了 Martin的一片苦心。举个例子，correspondent 一词对我来说曾经是个新词，我碰到它以后并没有查字典，而是先放过去。等阅读的文章多了，它的重现频率也越来越高，我逐渐明白了它的含义以及用法。这样做的好处是，我在记忆这个单词的时候是从句子和语境中记忆的，当我要用到它时，我能够很自然地把它放到一个句子里，然后把这个句子放到适合的语境中。一切都是那么自然，再不用为记忆单词发愁，更不用为记住单词却不会其用法而尴尬。


作为一个直接得益于邱老师指导的英语学习者，也作为邱老师的忘年交，我很高兴能和大家分享我的学习经历。同时，我也希望更多的朋友加入邱老师的英语沙龙， 因为你所加入的不仅仅是一个商务英语培训机构，更是给自己一个机会来享受平实的英语所带来的事业上的成功和
精神上的愉悦！


Cordially yours,
Steven Li Chen 李晨 ]]> http://86139933.qzone.qq.com/blog/1256768142#comment 134218256 Wed, 28 Oct 2009 22:15:42 GMT http://86139933.qzone.qq.com/blog/1256768142 http://86139933.qzone.qq.com/blog/1255997902 I was talking to a prospective student online late last night after the daily evening online English corner program. She runs a trading company and has a presence in the Alibaba.com site to promote her business.

She talks to American and European customers in the main. Her major issue is with the older Americans who speak with heavy accent. She admitted that she had thrown in quite a bit of money to use one-to-one American teachers to help her with talking and listening in her city, and that really helped her a lot. At least, she can speak pretty well by now.

My advice to her on the American accent is to expose herself to spoken American English as much as possible. This is pretty easy in our modern internet age. There are online radio toolbars we can install in our computer so you can listen to American broadcasts 24 hours a day. Otherwise, you can also install Winamp, Windows Media Player, Apple Quicktime Player, etc to tune in to American radio broadcast channels. There is no quick and fast solution to the accent problem. We just have to train our ears and hopefully over the longer term, we become more familiar with the accent.

This student also mentioned that she would like to start a Cambridge BEC course from elementary through advanced level. I advised against this since she is already running her own business. The BEC certificates are necessary only if you are looking for a job. The time is long and cost is high if the training is taken on a one-to-one basis. All she needs is the English associated with trading.

I can share with you my personal experience as well on contacting American business prospects. I was calling from Hong Kong at night when everybody was sleeping, placing cold calls to the USA. We do not know each other. The first few seconds are the most essential as that decides if you can proceed further. Getting the name of the business prospect is pretty tricky as the American name may not always be Peter, John or Mary. They have funny names which may be hard even for native speakers to pick up sometimes. If we ask the prospect to spell the name out, there is a high chance that we will not get it still as the name can be given again in heavy obscure American accent. This is a hopeless case like asking Chinese English speakers who pronounce the alphabets badly. I have very bad experience asking for email addresses to be spelt out to me over the phone. It is absurdly hopeless.

Before closing, I must emphasize here that an independent language consultant or trainer myself, I can tailor to your personal needs to cut short the training time and benefit most from the online training. I also provide online English language service support if you need someone to help you on the more important English documents. I enjoy writing as this is a good way to prepare one to talk effectively. If you need training in writing, just let me know and I can train you to write effectively as well.


http://my.oralpractice.com/index.php/uid-78626-action-viewspace-itemid-5679 ]]> http://86139933.qzone.qq.com/blog/1255997902#comment 134218240 Tue, 20 Oct 2009 00:18:22 GMT http://86139933.qzone.qq.com/blog/1255997902 http://86139933.qzone.qq.com/blog/1255944383 Earlier this afternoon, I was busy re-writing some blog articles to show English learners how to write in proper English. Then an OP [ 囗语陪练网 囗语通 OralPractice.com ] student came online to throw me one line like this, without even saying hi or hello:-

"What are you doing, man?"

I am an older person and I know how to use English properly. I hate to be approached like this. I am sensitive to the use of English. These English learners here don't understand English and they are copying the movie dialogues or the American stuff without thinking.

I would expect an openner like this:-
"Hello there! May I have a word with you if you are not tied up sir (or teacher)?"

That said, if one can use English like this, s/he is unlikely to approach me. S/he must be pretty good in the command of the English language. But just don't yell at me with MAN or much worse DUDE.

I can see no sense to train a student who is insensitive at all in the use of language. English language is not just a language for fun, but a western culture with all the etiquettes attached. Please think over this carefully before you embark on this pretty tough English learning journey as the road is rough and long. ]]> http://86139933.qzone.qq.com/blog/1255944383#comment 134218240 Mon, 19 Oct 2009 09:26:23 GMT http://86139933.qzone.qq.com/blog/1255944383 http://86139933.qzone.qq.com/blog/1255941499 I stumbled upon a Qzone article after posting the last re-write. I would like to share this with you folks. This lady teacher wrote something about her training center class. The English is horrible to the highest degree. She simply doesn't know how to express herself in proper English. OMG! (Excuse me) I don't know why she thinks she can teach others English. Let me show you hers and my re-write here.

The one in blue italics is my re-written version.

klaus is my friend. we have known each other for five years. and he can speak French, German, English, and Spanish. he is always proud of his country. and he has told me a lot about his country. He is from Germany. his country has many neighbours. France, Poland, Sweden, Switcherland, Russia, Italy, Spain, England and etc. the people in his country can speak many different languages. when he was school, he must study three languages. and it was a big headache for him. when he came here every time, he would ask me to help him. and always i haven't asked any money from him because i have regarded him as my friend. as a reward for this, he asked me how could he help me? then i told him to help me in my classroom in the training center.
Klaus is my friend with whom we have been friends for five years. (Klaus is a friend of five year's standing.) He speaks French, German, English and Spanish. He is always proud of his country Germany that he has told me a lot about that country. Germany has many neighboring countries like France, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, Russia, Italy, Spain, England (?), etc. People in his country speak many different languages. When he was at school, he had to study three languages which was a big headache for him. When he comes here, he will ask me to help him almost without failure. I never ask him money for the help as I treat him like a friend. To repay my kindness, he asked me one time how he could help me? I just told him to help in my classroom at the training center.
like today, this evening. it's my new Class C time. and i cost one hour for my students in the class. the rest one hour i gave it to my friend, Klaus.
Take today for example, it was a new class Class C that I was assigned to. I taught one hour only and let Klaus my friend to teach another hour.
[ Uncle Martin’s remark: Not so sure if the writer means that she only charges the student for one hour at her rate, and let the friend teach the other hour for free or at his rate. Puzzling that she used the word COST.”
at the beginning, i told my students to give me one sentence to describe an apple. but each one wouldn't repeat the before one. there were about 8 students who came my class this evening. and i totally used english in my class. after they giving each sentence in the class, i put all their sentences and connected these sentences together. and later i made an article. in this course, i told them how to think in english.
As I started the class, I told the students to give me one sentence to describe an apple, but they were not to repeat what had been said. There were 8 students in all at the class that evening. I used English only throughout the class. After they had given me the sentence, I put all the sentences together to create an article. I told the students to think in English during the course.
in the second step, i gave them three new words in the blackboard, and then i gave each word's explaination in other sentences. in this way, i told them how to use sentences to explain each new word.
The next thing I did, I put three new words on the blackboard. Then I explained each word using a sentence. In other words, I trained them to explain in English the meaning of a word.
in the rest one hour, Klaus, he helped me do the rest work in my class.
a good evening. i have begun my new class C.
Then I gave the remaining hour to Klaus to finish up the class. It was a wonderful evening. I had kick-started my new Class C.




]]> http://86139933.qzone.qq.com/blog/1255941499#comment 134218240 Mon, 19 Oct 2009 08:38:19 GMT http://86139933.qzone.qq.com/blog/1255941499 http://86139933.qzone.qq.com/blog/1255937994 The Original Article:-
My first time to attend English training
Several days ago,I attended the English test of Hang Zhou EF with my colleagues. And I luckly pass the test. English is a trouble for me, I think the most difficult thing in the world is to learn English well.
When I was in my middle school, my worst course is English. But now, English is more and more important, which has became a necessary tool in my work. So I must study hard and learn it well.
Today,I spent an hour to ride to the EF. My first class is "Exotic Dinner". In my first class, I said a little word, because I couldn't catch the word from my foreign teacher. I just like a spectator. This feel is very very very bad. To avoid the situation, much time and more hard to study is necessary.
I didn't satisfy my first class,but I believe I'll be good next time.

Re-written by Uncle Martin:-
My First English Training Class
Several days ago, I took an English test at Hangzhou EF with my colleagues. Luckily, I passed the test. English is troublesome for me. I think the most difficult thing in the world is learning English well.
In my middle school days, I did badly in my English course. Yet these days, English is getting more and more important to me as it has become an essential tool at work. So, I must study hard and learn it well.
Today, I spent an hour on the road to reach EF. The topic for the first class is Exotic Dinner. I said a few words only in the first class because I couldn’t catch a word from the foreign teacher. I was just like a spectator. That feeling was really bad. To avoid that, I really have to study harder and put in more time.
I didn't do well in my first class but I believe I would do better next time. ]]> http://86139933.qzone.qq.com/blog/1255937994#comment 134218240 Mon, 19 Oct 2009 07:39:54 GMT http://86139933.qzone.qq.com/blog/1255937994 http://86139933.qzone.qq.com/blog/1255935564
http://bbs.oralpractice.com/viewthread.php?tid=7126&extra=page%3D1
As of late, I discovered one phenomenon when it comes to the use of spoken English in China. Well, this is certainly nothing new or exciting. However, it is just becoming more and more pressing as more people can now handle simple conversation already. It is in the light of this that a better training method has to be introduced that I would like to talk about this here.

At English corners and from interaction with my own students or occasional chatters, I can safely conclude that there is a big shift in oral English requirements. Let's leave behind those who are still struggling or stammering. There are more and more English learners or users who can speak easily on simple things. In short, they are not scared or ashamed to open their mouth and say something in English. They can conduct a simple conversation rather effortlessly.

However, these people begin to feel the pain that they can't go deeper into a conversation. They cannot express their feelings and emotions. They can't easily talk about politics, science, philosophy, religion etc. As a trainer, how can we help these learners?

Well, I have written a lot about how to make ourselves great English users from my experience as an advanced English user for 44 years and from my own observation and training. Sometimes, I find it really boring myself having to repeat the same thing again and again. I don't know about you if you are bored as well reading my blah blah blah again and again. People like to read Chinese writings discussing how to learn English as if that act alone is studying English. They never get started.

I am addressing English learners who have reached intermediate level or even higher. So these people must have the ability to read the simple English I am using and if they can understand my writing, there is no reason why they can't start writing something. I know you folks may not agree with me that writing is a pre-requisite to speaking. I understand that the actual speaking is another skill or art in itself. However, writing gives you the opportunity to sort out the English quietly in your mind first when no one is waiting there for an immediate response from you (in a conversation). Use your imagination. Create a dialogue as if you are talking to someone. Write down the dialogue of both parties on a piece of paper. If you are lazy, record it with your MP3. Unless you are living in an entirely English environment, you have no choice but to drill yourself on paper or by recording. In an entirely English environment, you just have to go out and talk to people. By and by, you will pick up what you need to make yourself a great talker also, unless you are really dumb.

In view of this new development and strong demand on this kind of training, I decided to focus on this area. I am going to prepare dialogues to show our English speakers to talk with subtlety. Tonight at eight, I will talk to four students again. The focus will be on creating such dialogues. I will show you how to do it. As there are 4 students in each training session, you have to book in advance. If you miss the 8pm session, you can talk to me directly in the OP (Kou Yu Tong). I will consider setting up one more session from 10pm to 11:30pm. Certainly, you can book ahead as this will be a daily training session. Well, I look forward to talking to you soon.

A note to those who join me in the English corner session. We will chat in voice using Skype for its good conference call feature and sound quality. However, the font size of text messages of Skype is small for my aging eyes. I would request that you join my QQ 86139933 at the same time. Then I will put you under one group under QQ to make use of the text messaging feature there as there in QQ the font size can be increased for easy reading.


Note:-
The following 3 paragraphs are for those who do not know much about my background. If you already know me well, you can skip these.

Those who have a better understanding of my background know that I was dragged into the English language education business just out of curiosity. After I quit my first career as an international business executive, I joined a language center back in Hong Kong and I was then heavily involved with the interviewing of foreign teachers by international calls placed to the five major English speaking countries like England, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and North America. These teachers were then placed with training centers, schools and universities all over China.

Before that point in time, I never bothered about what was going on in China as my career took me to a lot of countries other than China. I began to wonder how the Chinese in mainland China were learning and using English then. A friend then told me that there were English corners running regularly in Shenzhen City. Some English corners are run in the weekday evenings. In the main, these are run on the weekend when people are free to attend. I went up with my friend to Shenzhen City from Hong Kong on a Wednesday late afternoon and also on Saturday evening to stay overnight to await the English corner which runs on Sunday. Since then, I have met a lot of English learners and users from all parts of China as Shenzhen City is a melting pot of young college graduates from other provinces who flock into this young and energetic city for opportunities.

I really have no idea what it was like before 2003 before I became interested in the English language education in mainland China. However, I found out that there were a lot of poorly written or compiled and cheaply printed books. The voice tapes were dubbed by Chinese rather than native English speakers. Errors could be picked up easily throughout the book. There were errors of commission and typographical errors. The Chinese spoke English with very ugly and inaccurate English sounds. Yet China is really a dynamic place with rapid changes. After a few years, this unwanted phenomenon was gone. These days, all MP3 files are dubbed by westerns who speak native English. Occasionally, you will find some recordings done by Europeans with funny European accent. The printing of books are excellent. The number of publications available has increased so much that one has a hard time deciding what to get at the bookshop. In a country where law enforcement is not always exercised, you will find a goldmine of free English learning resources uploaded to hundreds of websites. If you are smart and skilled in internet surfing, you don't spend a cent to get all you need to make you a great English speaker. There are simply more than you can take. In reality, you should just focus on one or two learning material if you are a beginner for your own benefit. ]]> http://86139933.qzone.qq.com/blog/1255935564#comment 134218240 Mon, 19 Oct 2009 06:59:24 GMT http://86139933.qzone.qq.com/blog/1255935564 http://86139933.qzone.qq.com/blog/1255606517 http://bbs.oralpractice.com/viewthread.php?tid=7073&page=1&extra=英文到底该咋整？ (中译英)
Source:-
http://www.oralpractice.com/topic/yuanchuang/76.html

I don't often use these three letters. This time, I have to use them. OMG!

OMG! I have fallen into a trap. How the heck you mainland Chinese folks can write so long and in elaborate details on these things? Anyway, it's done at last - a very long piece translated into English for English learners. You don't tell yourself that you have already mastered English if you cannot read the Chinese original and repeat in English i.e. almost like simultaneous interpretation as echoed by the same blogger in another blog entry I translated and posted here earlier today.

注册半个月来，嘿嘿，有不少朋友加我，找我练习。。
非常荣幸，也非常高兴。
朋友很多，讲到我口干舌燥，发现啊，大家都很热切的期望提高口语，可是就是苦于难于提高，仿佛没有办法和途径。
所有问题归结起来，就一个，这英文到底该杂整嘛？
我把我的建议写这儿，大家自己来看下，看了的就别问了，没看的就问下看了的。

After registering myself as a member here for half a month now, haha, quite a lot of friends come to me to seek me out to practice English. I am very honored, and also very pleased. There are so many friends that I talk to until my mouth dries up. What I discovered is that verybody is eager to raise their level of oral English skills. Yet it is hard to raise their standard, as if there are no solutions and no way out. Summing up all the problems, we come up with only one: At the end of the day, how can we learn English really?

首先，我觉得首先就是要端正下学习的态度。。中国经济发了疯，中国人也疯了，什么都想速成。市面上太多什么英文速成，几十天内张口说英语，几十天内又记多少词。。。其实大家都被误导了，学英文根本没这回事。学习没有捷径，学英文更是如此。学英文只能循序渐进，没有别的方法，不要听信什么狗屁专家学者说，尤其前面带“中国”头衔的。新东方也没有教你捷径，新东方也是在传达一种精神。

First of all, I feel that we have to sort out our learning attitude. The Chinese economy has gone haywire and so are the Chinese. Everything has to be accomplished at speed. There are too many crack English courses in the market. You can open your mouth to speak English after tens of days. You can remember so many words after tens of days..... We have all been misled. There isn't such a thing in learning English. There is no short-cut in learning things, much more in learning English. We can only approach it progressively and orderly. There isn't any other method. Listen not to these bullshit specialists especially those which wear titles with "China" in the front. New Oriental has never taught you short-cuts. New Oriental is also passing on to you a spirit in learning.

想想我们学汉语的，我们真正能够随意阅读和书写的时候，应该是在四年级后，大概八岁到十岁，不懂大家是不是，反正小弟是，也可能是小弟天性愚钝。也就是说我们在一个全中文环境中，也花了整整近十年才基本上掌握这门语言。想想您学英文，你学了整整几年了呢？ 注意”整整”。。一年？两年？三年？那你还急个什么呢？告诉你们，一个留学生在全英文环境中，过雅思托福出国后，要基本听懂课程，要花近一年时间，想要完全听懂广播之类的，要两到三年，想要彻底完全掌握英文，要生活好几年后，这还是比较努力的学生。想想在中国的您，你还急个屁啊，坐下来，慢慢做吧，急不来的。这是长年累月的过程。

Think of us who learn Chinese. The time that we can really able to read and write freely is when we have completed Primary 4, roughly between age 8 to 10. I don't know about you, but at least I am like that as I may be a little bit dumb. That is to say that under an all Chinese environment, it has taken us exactly 10 years to have a basic grasp of this Chinese language. Think of learning English yourself, how many FULL years have you been studying it? Note - FULL years. One year? Two years? Three years? Then why are you in a hurry? Let me tell you this. A student who is going abroad to study, after passing his TOEFL, will under an entirely English speaking environment takes almost one year to understand the course. In order to fully understand a broadcast, it takes him 2 to 3 years. In order to fully master English, he has to live there for a few years. This is student who is working rather hard. Think of you who is staying in China. What the heck are you in a rush for? Sit down and do it slowly. You can't just rush into it. It is an accumulating process that takes years.

第二，英文是门技能，不是知识，不是一本书，两本书就能搞定的。技能就是种感觉，感觉是什么？就是你痛了就要大喊“ouch”，你要打的见车就想大喊"taxi !" 这就跟饿了想吃饭一样，当饿了你不会这样想：那么根据生物学书上说，我们人类饿了需要进食。而是直接去开冰箱找吃的。这就叫做技能。有人喜欢把知识和技能分开说，觉得知识是知识，技能是技能，说英文不是知识，是技能，还老自认为这提法很新。其实技能是高于知识，向上的进一步升华。老师教我们的英文那就是知识，而如何将英文用出来，这就是种技能。英文最终我们需要用，就得必须将学到的语法词汇阅读统统用出来，条件反射似的用出来，一秒两秒的反射出来。这也是英文较之其他学科头痛的地方。一道数学题你可以花数小时将其答出来，而英文在用时，别人跟你讲话，你必须在一两秒内给予回应。时间太短，短到我们连想一下汉语的时间都没有。所以一般都要求必须直接从感觉到英文，脱口而出。我打你一拳，你就得立马叫“ouch”，不能先想下，“哎哟！”然后再叫“ouch！”。马云告诉那些学MBA的，你们要是将MBA学到的东西全都忘了，就算你毕业了。他不是真叫你忘了那些知识，而是让你将他们化为技能存于脑中，而不还是一条条的管理条例列于书中。英文的最终目标也一样，忘掉词汇语法句式，不经过大脑，张口就来。那你就成了。

2) English is a skill. It is not knowledge. It is not something you can pick up after studying a book or two. Skill is a sense. What's a sense? If you are hurt, you will shout out loudly "ouch". If you like to flag down a taxi, you will shout out loudly "TAXI"! It is like when we feel hungry, we will go for rice. You will think like this when you feel hungry: “Then according to biology books, when humankinds are hungry, they need food.” You will go straight to the ice box to look for something to eat. This is skills. Some people like to segregate knowledge and skills. They think knowledge is knowledge, and skills is skills. Saying that English is not knowledge but skills, they think they are saying something innovative. In actual fact, skills is higher than knowledge. We need to use English ultimately so we must put into use the grammar, vocabulary we have learnt like a reflex that takes a second or two. This is a headache with English compared with other subjects. A mathematics problem may take you a few hours to work out a solution. With English, you are talking to others that you have to respond in a second or two. The time is too short, so short that we don’t even have time to come up with the Chinese. Therefore, generally there is a requirement that you can sense the English directly and blurt it out. Should I punch you, you will shout out OUCH at once. You won’t think about it first. ALAS! Then you shout out OUCH afterwards. Mayun told those who had done an MBA course. First of all you must forget what you had learnt in your MBA course, even after you had graduated. He is not telling you to forget the knowledge, but to tell you to convert them to skills and store them in your brain, rather than having them as pieces of management rules listed in the books. The ultimate aim of English is the same. Forget all the words, grammar and sentence patterns. If you can speak as you open your mouth, without ever going back to your memory, you have made it.

第三，如果硬要说学英文的捷径的话，那么捷径就是比别人花更多的时间。俞敏洪来了次成都，他讲了很长段话，我就记得两个事，一，那天他剃了个大光头。二，他举了个生动的例子。他讲他在美国开车，如果你开六十码，别人开六十五码，（不好意思，具体小俞在美国开多少码，我记不清了，反正就这意思），一两小时后，你想再追他，你会发现很难很难。人跟人的差距也是这样慢慢拉大的。想学好英文，那么也就只有勤奋和坚持，每天多学，日积月累。

3) If we insist that there is a short-cut in learning English, then that short-cut can mean much more time spent in the end compared to others. Yu Min Hong was in Chengdu once. He delivered a long talk. I could only remember two points. 1) That day he shaved his head bald. 2) He cited a very lively example. He talked about driving a car in the US. If he was driving at 60 miles, others did it at 65 miles (I am sorry I don't know exactly how many miles it was. I can't remember clearly. Anyhow, that's what he meant.) After one or two hours, I wanted to catch up with him. Then you would find it really very very difficult. The distance between one person and another is also increasing slowly on the same principle. If you want to make it good learning English, there are nothing more than working hard and persistence. Learn more each day. It will accumulate as days and months pass by.

还要就是一定要循序渐进，就是一定要坚持每天学，有规律的学，这点非常重要，以上都是废话，对不起你白看了，但这点一定要记住，每周每天花一小时，比周末一天花七小时效果绝对要好。学英文一定要有规律，每天看每天学，不停的刺激大脑，刺激到你想什么都是英文词先蹦出来。每天坚持一两小时，效果绝对要好过你某一天心血来潮学上一整天。

What's more? We have to approach this gradually and orderly. We must persist and learn every day. Learn orderly. This is very important. Those are bullshit again. You wasted your time rading them again. But this point you must bear in mind. Spending an hour a day throughout the week is absolutely more effective than spending a total of 7 hours on a weekend. There must be regularity in learning English. Read and learn everyday. Keep your brain excited. Get it so excited that you will pop up an English word first whatever you are thinking about. Insist on doing this for one two hours a day. The effect is absolutely much better than spending the whole day studying whenever you feel like doing it.

那么坚持是件很困难的事，苏格拉底叫学生每天回家做下摆摆手，一年里也只有圣哲柏拉图每天能坚持下来，何况叫我们这些凡人每天看一个多小时英文。我们需要解决的办法，如果以上内容都是废话，那么下面的解决途径才是最重要的。对不起，你们又白看。

Then, persistence is a very difficult thing. Socrates told his students to shake their hands when they got home. In a year, only our saintly philosopher Plato was able to do this everyday consistently. What about asking us English learners to read English for more than an hour everyday. The solution we need (???) If the above is bullshit. Then the solution offered hereafter is the most important. I am sorry that you have wasted your effort again.

第四，如何坚持。看过很多书，唯有一本不相干的书《电影剧本写作基础》有讲到如何坚持，个人觉得非常中肯。这是一本由美国好莱坞一剧作人syd field撰写的书，里面第十二章有告诉我们，如何每天能够坚持坐下来写作。原话很长，简单讲。当你坐下来写作时，会遇到各种阻力，换到我们中国环境是，我们会想去吃吃东西，看看电视，上上网，出去逛逛，“这就是各种各样的阻力。在编造出各种理由和借口不去写作这方面，我们是大师。这是创作过程中的“障碍”。你怎样去对付它呢？很简单。你如果知道会发生这样的事，那在它发生时，承认它就罢了。当你擦拭冰箱，削铅笔或吃东西的时候，应该意识到你正在做什么。体验一下阻力！这不是什么大不了的事情。千万别泄气，别内疚，更不要自责。只要承认它们是阻力──你马上会掉过头去干正事。不要假装没有发生这样的事。它们确实发生了！一旦你对付了阻力，你就可以准备动笔写作了。实际上写作是一个协调的学习过程，你越写得多，它就变得越容易。（原话，摘自第十二章，写电影剧本）”以上内容只需把“写作”二字，改为“学英文”。意思就是讲，分心是肯定会发生的，当你分心的时候，不想学的时候，要意识到你在分心，要继续坚持学下去。就像最后一句所说，英文也是一个协调学习的过程，你越学，它就变得越容易。以上内容就是目前世界上克服惰性和让我们能每天坐下来坚持学英文最好的办法了。。

4) How to persist? I have read a lot of books. Yet only a book which is not connected with learning English entitled "Fundamental Move Script Writing" talked about how to persist. I found it very precisely to the point personally. It was a book written by Syd Field, a script writer in Hollywood. In Chapter 12, it says that if we can sit down persistently and write something everyday. The original wording is rather long. Simply said: "When you sit down to write, you will encounter different kinds of resistance." If we swap that in to the China environment, we will think of eating something or watching TV, going online for a while, or going for a walk. This is what we call the sort of resistance we will encounter. We are the great master when it comes to giving various reasons and excuses for not writing. This is the hurdle in the process of creating a movie story. How can you tackle that? Very simple. If you know what is going to happen, then when it happens, you just admit it. When you are cleaning the ice box, sharpening your pencils or eating something, you should know what you are doing. Experience the resistance! Those are not big deals. Never dispair. Don't feel guilty. Don't curse yourself. Only if you admit those are resistances, you turn round and do what you should be doing. Don't pretend ever that nothing has happened. Those things did happen. Once you have sorted out the resistance, you will be ready to pen your writing. In reality, writing is a coordinated learning process. The more you write, the easier it will become. (The original wordings, adopted from Chapter 12 - Writing the Movie Script) From the captured content, simply replace writing with "learning English". What we mean here is that drifting away from what you are doing is sure to occur. Whenever you know your mind is drifting away, and you don't like to learn anymore, you must understand that it is your mind drifting away. You have to persist and continue with your studies. Like the last sentence there, English is also a coordinated learning process. The more you study, the easier it will become. The content above is telling us the best method in the world to overcome tardiness and let us persist in learning English.

废话了很多，其实写这么多字最终就两个字，坚持。不好意思，以上内容你们又白看了。相信你能看到这里，也算是一个很有耐性能够坚持的人了。坚持再坚持，努力再努力，这也是美国精神。以前在美国教学多年的马来西亚老师曾跟我长谈，告诉我你不要老讲我们课程难，你要是在西方一些大学，你根本没机会这样说，你去说，人家只会讲，work harder.更加努力一些。

So much bullshitting. However much I write about, it can be summed up in two words: word hard, persist. You have wasted all your time reading the above. I believe if you can read all the way down to this part, you can be counted as one who is persistent enough. Persist and persist again. Work hard and work hard again. This is American spirit. A Malaysian teacher who taught in the States before told me that I should not just keep saying that the course is difficult. If you just happen to be in certain western universities, you simply don't have the chance to say so. If you say this, others will only tell you to work a bit harder.

所以废话这样多，英文学习其实也就是大家都懂的，努力跟坚持。
好意思，以上内容你们都白看了。

What about this load of bullshit so far?
Surely everybody knows what it is all about learning English.

希望您能够在英文学习上成功。
坚持，坚持，再坚持。
努力，努力，再努力。

I hope you will make it a success in learning English.
Persist, persist and persist again.
Work hard, work hard, work harder again. ]]> http://86139933.qzone.qq.com/blog/1255606517#comment 134218240 Thu, 15 Oct 2009 11:35:17 GMT http://86139933.qzone.qq.com/blog/1255606517