[转帖]On learning English----Forword Cactus and thanks the witch

发布者: slowpoke | 发布时间: 2005-10-14 03:03| 查看数: 16333| 评论数: 10|帖子模式

Author: bobo

Source: https://www.enfamily.cn/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=338

My dear friends….

I have just read Cactus’ post (in Original Writing Section) on Learning English word by word in one breath. I really admire her diligence and determination. At the same time, the essay reminds me of the days in high school when I spared no effort to study English and makes me feel quite regretted about the time wasted idling around during my four years in college. At this opportunity I would like to share some of my experience and learning techniques that I can recall with all of you in this big family.

First of all, attitude is everything. Lots of people hold the famous excuse that I am not gifted to learn English or I am born to fail English. But is this really the case? The real thing is nobody is born able to learn English well, even the native speakers. I can still remember my English teacher once told us….she said “Claiming a lack of talent is nothing more than a superficial excuse or a vain effort to prove laziness and procrastination valid.” This is absolutely true. I believe it’s the lack of drive and passion that should bear the blame--Just see how many people regard passing exams as their ultimate goal of learning English and how many college students say farewell to English when they passed CET4. It’s essential to abandon the pure pursuit of marks and instead concentrate on laying a solid foundation of mastery of the language.

Secondly, Rome was not built in a day. As the old saying goes, accumulation is important in English study. Memorizing sentences and passages is very helpful, as Cactus said in her post, I totally agree with her on this point. Because it is the best way to understand how a verb or a phrase works, how several similar words are distinguished, how a clause is structured, how a passage is formed, how the author’s opinion is conveyed and it’s the easiest way to memorize new words, too. Saying this dose not mean you have to spend hours every day just reading and reciting, memorizing a small paragraph each day will make you feel much confident in your writing.

Thirdly, I suggest everyone listen to English more often and watch some foreign movies if you have enough time, but the most important thing is to make sure there are NATIVE speakers in it. You will be benefited a lot by simulating their accents and gestures. When I was in high school, I was mad about LiYang’s crazy English, shouting in English made me very famous in my grade (ha…ha…). Although I am not as crazy as what LiYang expected English learner should be, he did exert great impact on me and the way I learn English.—practice makes it perfect.

While it is easier said than done, persistence does pay off. Try your best and you will make it. Wish everybody good luck!

Sincerely yours

BoBo

Cactus, english, learning, thanks, witch

最新评论

Cactus 发表于 2005-10-14 20:34:36

Dear Bobo,
First,I'd like to extend my gratitude for your attention and warm comments on my article that I wrote three years ago, and I'm also very glad to see you sharing your own learning experience with us.
I do apologize for not being able to reply to you in time, for I had problems loging in this forum in the past a few days until I made it tonight.
You seem to still be in your college, but with such an amazing efficiency in this foreign language already. Actually,I noticed it from the very beginning in English Family, though we had never chatted with each other before.
I can't agree with you more in several points in your article, especially that the study of English is not merely for passing some tests, such as CET or TEM, etc. The utmost goal is actually to communicate with foreigners and the outside world in English. I appreciate your practise of shouting in English, for I used to even talk to myself on my long way back home from the libarary or part-time job, since I got no partner to practise my oral English. Fortunately, we get this chat-group now, which enables me to voice chat with different people almost everyday. I wish I could be also voice chat with you someday, for I'm convinced that only speaking out loudly helps us to make the rapid improvement.
I wish we could exchage ideas even more in our articles in the coming days.
Yours sincerely,
Cactus

bobo 发表于 2005-10-17 23:21:44

Dear Cactus.
I am so sorry about not writing you back in time, cuz I didn't know that my post had been already transferred to this section by slowpoke for quite a few days. In fact I should have noticed earlier. I have already graduated for about 3 months actually. After an unsuccessful attemp to become a postgraduate, I decided to try again, so I devoted myself to the study everyday, I hope I won't screw it up this time.
You mentioned voice chat in your last letter, and it seems you are enjoying yourself in the satisfaction of real communication in English. Although it must be a wonderful experience talking with you and I am looking forward to it, I really can't afford the time, because I have to get myself well prepared for the entrance examination a couple of months later. What a pity!
I have tried voice chat with Sarah, the lovely fifteen-year-old middle school girl in our group, for several times before, but it finally ended in an awkward situation each time due to the bad network service. We are shouting to each other but still can't hear clearly......really annoying.
Well....time to ditch here and hit the books, nice talking to you.

 sincerely yours
 bobo

Cactus 发表于 2005-10-18 09:46:55

Dear Bobo,
I think either College Entrance Examination or the Postgraduate Qualification Examination is no longer merely the exmaination of knowledge but also the test for perseverence and courage. Many students even try several times in the process in order to achieve a quite satisfying result at the end. That's why I sincerely wish you would laugh at last and laugh best in this life-struggling battle.
I could understand what you said about the unconvenience in voice chat resulting from the poor net connection speed. Once, my laptop was broken, but two of my little brothers were voice-chatting with each other, I could only be a listener but speak nothing at all. Unfortunately, the net connection that night was also poor, they failed to make themselves heard in English however loud they try to shout. Eventually, they were speaking in Chinese, which made me burst into laughter. Anyway, voice-chat is totally different from textual chat and it's of far more fun. I wish I could voice-chat with you when you are free after the preparation for the test.
By the way, I still get a quite personal question for you, say, is English your major and will you still choose it as your potential major for the postgraduate study? 
All the best with your examination,
Sincerely yours,
Cactus

bobo 发表于 2005-10-18 21:42:18

0cm 0cm 0pt">Dear Cactus.
<

0cm 0cm 0pt">Thank you very much for your consideration and encouragement in your last letter. To my surprise you wrote me back so quickly. When I got back home from library this evening I found your reply lying quietly in here.
<

0cm 0cm 0pt">Actually I was majoring in computer, computer science and technology to be exact, during my four years in university. I think it’s basically a very creative and imaginative subject but sometimes programming with computer is a little tiring and time-consuming, although I have the consideration that gaining some knowledge of economics or management might be beneficial hereafter, I am not going to give up my own profession in the near future. Meanwhile I will continue my efforts in studying English, I think it will be of great help in my further study—there is huge amount of material and essays written in English after all.
As to the entrance examination, politics is my biggest headache, the concepts and contentions make me sick. I can still remember how I prayed devotionally before tests that I wouldn’t be dragged into water by it. I know there is no shortcut to goals except hardworking—to get ahead you have to work long hours and take short vacations—I am working on it.
By the way, I just read your novel in the earlier post so I guess you are studying literature, am I right? And would you mind telling me which language did you choose as your second? I am also curious about that.
It’s a great delight to read your letter and posts.
Best wishes,
 
 Yours
 Bobo

slowpoke 发表于 2005-10-19 18:06:50

Dear Bobo,
I happen to be in your area too despite the possibility that I may one day switch to another area for good. You are right, computer science is actually a very creative subject. It is true that programming can be extremely boring and time-consuming. It rings true to me, an electrical-engieer-turned computer geek. I believe virtually every CS student has had experiences of burning the night oil struggling to get the programming assignments done in time. It is not necessarily because our workload is greater than others' but because, if we were interrupted, it could take considerable time to keep up with our own progress.
When I was going to school, I used to sit in the computer lab working on a class project 50+ hours in a row. I ate in the lab. I brought my food, which happened to be enough for 2 days (but I swear, working that long non-stop wasn't intended. It's just a coincidence.) so I didn't even have to go out to eat. People came and went and saw me sitting there all the time but no one was surprised, because no one thought I had never left since two days ago. This is just an extreme example. It was crazy and I never did that again afterward. But I am sure my experience does not sound as astonishing to a majority of CS students. That said, whatever you are suffering today will pay off eventually. So I am not bitter. Fortunately programming is the most elementary but small part of the area. One has to learn to drink the pool water before he can become a swimming champion. You are on the right track. Information technology is still booming and I am anticipating another and a larger boom in the coming decade that will fundamentally change our lives, like the one we have witnessed in the 1990s. I am proud being part of the history.
Bobo, you strike me as a person with determination and an excellent English writer. Thank you for making time here. I wholeheartedly wish you good luck with your endeaver in everything you are dreaming for, and wish you could share more with us when you have time.
Sincerely,
Slowpoke

bobo 发表于 2005-10-20 19:16:12

0cm 0cm 0pt">Dear Slowpoke,
<

0cm 0cm 0pt">It’s really delighted for me to read your letter here and I am very grateful to receive your wishes and inspiration. I particularly appreciate the saying “whatever you are suffering today will pay off eventually” in your letter, because that’s the way I look at it too. I guess everyone being involved in this field is fully aware that keeping busy is his commonplace in the daily life, however nothing could approach the pleasure of getting a project done or a problem solved which may have made you headache for quite a few days—the pleasure of accomplishment.
<

0cm 0cm 0pt">Your workaholic experience in the lab in the last letter reminds me of mine when I was in my third year in college, the last assignment in that semester is a simulation of operation system in groups of 4 persons using your most familiar language. While others are busy goldbricking and searching the internet for some kind of “finished product”, a classmate and I formed a 2 men group and decided to program a sound project. We devoted all our time and energy to the project and worked from dawn to dark in the next 10 days and we eventually made it. Now looking back I can still feel the joy after times of disappointment, frustration and racking our brains.
To be quite frank, I really admire your learning and English ability and I am quite curious about your life abroad, would you mind telling me what was it like to study and live in a totally different environment?
 
 
 Sincerely yours,
 bobo

slowpoke 发表于 2005-10-21 15:38:24

Dear Bobo,
Yeah, Operating System is one of the toughest CS classes and it can be horrifying if you run into a tough professor. Your experience sounds familiar to me.
I don't think I am smarter than anyone else in English. You can tell I am still struggling through my writing. If my English has been improved quite a bit since a few years ago, I would like to attribute it mostly to the environment.
My student life here just like any other international student's was extremely busy yet fulfilling. I think I was lucky, because I didn't have much time to think whether I liked a life like that or not, but just strived to keep up with my school work. Other aspects of life at the time, like language, might be a little bit overwhelming at the beginning, but I was able to manage it. My life now is quiet. I am a traveler. I have a passion to discover a new place where I have never been. I am a curious reader, an internet wanderer. I read everything on the internet. Now writing is my new-found interest...
Sincerely,
Slowpoke

nine 发表于 2005-12-27 17:14:03

good articl for me,bobo analyzed very intensively,what he said makes me remind as if i was the student,wasting much time idling around."Rome was not built in a day",yes,it is very good,attitude is everything,and persistence is everything!thanks a lot!!!

Stone 发表于 2008-5-7 08:53:14

Why I did not join you guys at the beginning. Only found myself regreting when it was too late.

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