Ask for a 2000-word composition: gains and losses in learning English (Chinese)

Stimulated by classmate Z, I can't help but reflect on my English study.

Z said that many of his friends in China, those in Britain and those in China are excellent translators even though they speak English fluently, but Z said that he had never seen Chinglish, which speaks English to the core but is fluent. He also said that even in colleges and universities in Beijing, and even in English major classes, many teachers taught themselves incorrectly. So that's why he came to China to learn Chinese, even though there are many people teaching Chinese in London now.

What I said at that time made me very depressed! ! ! How dare we learn pants after all these years? Chinglish from the beginning! That's right. Just look at Z's Chinese. People send text messages in Chinese characters, and the speed is simply a brush. They still use idioms easily when they speak, and they all use them correctly-he has been here for less than a year! Z's suggestion is that authentic English pronunciation is the most important, and it is illustrated with vivid voices. The simplest sentence: How are you today? If you put the stress in front of different words, the meaning and information conveyed are completely different! Whether it is polite greeting, expecting a response or sincere concern, it all depends on the importance of pronunciation.

When we learn English, few people care about such details. In oral English learning, if we emphasize the fluency of sentence expression, the clarity of conditioned reflex logic and the correctness of pronunciation, such teachers are rare. Counting the English speakers I have listened to really makes me feel as comfortable as massaging my nerves, including Mr. Wang Qiang and Mr. Dong Lei in the interpretation class, and a bridge responder. There are many students who have not scored low in the G test, but there are also a few who are fluent in spoken English with local accent, but they are really fluent and even fast.

Reflect on your own experience and detours in learning English;

I first learned English at the age of 5, which was relatively early among my peers. At that time, CCTV had a large-scale English learning program called "The Story of Maser", which was an adventure story about a giant who looked like Shrek who ate a clock and came to court. My mother bought a full set of teaching materials and tapes, and asked me to learn pronunciation from TV. She told me grammar and words, and when I was free, she asked me to listen to the tape with my walkman and recite the text, and check it every day. My dad said he would learn abcd every day before he learned Aberdeen. Indeed, when I first learned hanyu pinyin in grade one, I really couldn't tell it apart. Under the pressure of my mother, I finished learning four sets of textbooks, so that when I was teaching English from grade three to grade six, the textbooks were too simple for me, but I couldn't skip a grade because of English. Because I have memorized a lot, I like talking very much and feel that my spoken English is particularly good. Now it seems that it's just those sentences that are tossed and turned, but it's just proficiency. In the fourth grade, the school asked me to take part in the English story speech contest in the whole city. The teacher didn't know the notice until three days before the contest, so I quickly found a children's edition of Snow White and A Midsummer Night's Dream to drive the ducks to the shelves for me. I even won the third prize in the city. To sum up, this stage is to let a child have a feeling of not excluding English, but also taste some sweetness and have a basic interest. It also gave me a little sense of language and understanding, although it was because of my mother's "persecution" at first.

In junior high school, because the school has some exchange programs with schools in the United States and Australia, there are foreign teachers who can communicate with us in the first and second days of junior high school. The school is rich in resources and gives us many opportunities. English is still simple and interesting to me. Relying on the previous foundation, English has maintained a good level. After the second semester of junior high school, I basically turned to the exam and faced the senior high school entrance examination. In the third grade, a girl named Diana was transferred to the class. Because her mother was transferred back to work in China, she has been in England with her mother. Later, Bobo and I became very good friends. Although my English was not bad at that time, I was not at the same level as her. When the foreign teacher communicated with us, her English seemed to be blurted out without thinking. Because I like Princess Diana very much, I gave myself the same name as her and brought back a bunch of picture books, British tabloids and magazines related to Diana. When I was bored, we stole class and read tabloids. She translated sentences that I didn't understand. The first time I saw the open and bold tabloids in the west, I was quite dumbfounded. Looking back, although junior high school English scores have been among the best in the grade, they have not been significantly improved and expanded, and they have followed the school curriculum step by step.

It is a comprehensive retrogression in high school. Miss Jin, an English teacher, speaks Tianjin-style English. In English class, she always reads words and texts from her student number 1. Speaking grammar means copying books or finding someone to write example sentences on the blackboard; Exercise classes always take textbooks to help read answers. In the exam-oriented high school education centered on the baton of college entrance examination, English learning itself has deviated far from the direction. Coupled with Mr. Jin's tireless pursuit of "destroying people", the English performance of our class was always the lowest in the whole grade before the third year of high school. My interest in English once fell to the bottom, and my basic knowledge was full of holes, not to mention expanding and improving. So that I didn't fully understand a bunch of clauses, participle structures and independent nominative cases until senior three. The first two years were nothing. In the end, Miss Jin was fired under the double pressure of "joint petition" in our class and complaints from parents to the principal's office, and she was replaced by a special-grade teacher who stayed in the United States in her early years and worked as a translator for the district chief all the year round. Mr. Ren provoked the burden of turning the tide, and the salted fish in our class turned over and got 129 in the college entrance examination, which was neither high nor low. However, English is still like a tall building with unstable foundation and unstable chassis. The deterioration of speaking and listening is particularly serious.

Learning English in colleges and universities is like eight immortals crossing the sea, showing their magical powers, especially in the era of information consultation explosion, I am not afraid to find English learning materials. VOA and BBC who want to learn English decently must have heard of it. They all have the experience of asking questions to foreigners around the English corner in the past. The China Journal also bought it. Levels 4 and 6 are the minimum test standards. American movies have become the slogan of improving English, and all kinds of exams and training have made everyone rush. Watching piles of people munching on GMAT from morning till night in the library every day, English learning is really painful and happy for us. Although others think that they are "good at English", I have thought deeply about what is "good at English".

Take myself as an example. There should be no problem studying for the exam. Chinadaily and browsing English original books, manuals and websites are not too big obstacles. However, if articles such as CNN and economist are deep and even mixed with a lot of metaphors and personal comments, there is still a long way to go to accurately understand the author's vivid and spicy style without obstacles. When I talk to many native speakers, there is nothing wrong with the basic daily conversation, but if you can express your ideas in depth, it still needs to be honed. Although listening to bbc and cnn can basically understand 80-90%, when two native speakers talk in very lively but vivid English, you will find that there is still a gap between your listening and reaction, and even a lot of you can't understand. As Zander said, the word "ocean" may be metaphorically expressed when he was chatting with the British, so as to show the vivid humor of the interlocutor. He put it another way. I sound difficult to get along with. Teacher Wang Qiang also said that as soon as he arrived in the United States and got out of the airport, his self-confidence at home was completely lost. Even beggars on the street speak American slang and proverbs that are very authentic but you are not familiar with. Looking at it from another angle, how many people talk to the announcer in our daily communication meeting? So BBC or VOA is only the most basic but necessary listening training. I remember that in the interpretation class, Teacher Yang gave us a short exclusive recording every day, so that we could prick up our ears and let the whole class write this sentence. Few people understand what it says. Later, I learned that it was the cries of vendors recorded in his London market. He repeatedly shouted: "The fruit is very fresh, xx a catty!" Sir Yang, let's guess the identity of this person. To tell the truth, the first feeling I heard at that time was that the voice sounded very similar to that of our domestic drug collection and waste collection, but I didn't understand the name. What I want to say is that this is completely different from the standard bbc we have heard, but it is the most vivid and practical English.

Whether English is good or not, in my opinion, depends on the purpose and scope of your study and application. If you use English as a tool, you can communicate with each other basically and be fluent enough. Accurate aesthetic expression and pronunciation are not necessarily required. However, if you want your language to sound like enjoyment to others, and to make people who have just met you feel that you have extraordinary personality charm, excellent education, and can make yourself more authoritative and entrusted with heavy responsibilities, then fluent English is far from enough. And getting a high score in the exam is only the basis for you to make an upward leap on a more solid platform.

Although Zander's words stimulated me a little, I do agree that what he said is right. Pronunciation is very important. What Teacher Dong Lei emphasized to us most was to insist on reading according to the meaning group. Sir Yang said that our realm is to cultivate ourselves to fascinate examiners with our own voice, and the only way is to listen to our own recordings after listening to the translation. If you can't bear to listen to it yourself, you will know how harsh the examiner is when listening to your recording. I'm still not satisfied at present.

Another profound experience is that English learning needs both short-term surprise and long-term mobility. If it takes you a while to improve your English to a very high level, but if you are lazy for a while, it will definitely drop at an unbearable speed. I know this lesson very well. If I stick to my English level in my early childhood, my English will not be like this. This is the same reason that if you don't write Chinese characters for a long time, your words will dry up and your thinking will be short-circuited.

So try to extend your tentacles as wide as possible. Movies and magazines, literature, business, academic, official and folk words should all be touched, even swearing. With more contact, I don't worry that I can't think in English. If you want to learn English well, you must first open a window and be good at seeing the outside world. Good English can in turn open a wider and better world for you. Words in the world need an L, and that is language.

NND, even if it is not a pure and authentic London accent, can't I keep making progress towards the standard London accent? Remember that learning English is a road of no return, and language is not just the simplicity behind it.

Share to Sohu Weibo