Dear auntie Maryk, Thank you for telling us so much about the accent in Canada, it's really very interesting to know that even you, a native English speaker, sometimes can hardly understand the different accent English with strong variations. It's like...different dialect, isn't it?
Sometimes learners of English, including me, get confused and frustrated when they could hardly understand what the native speakers of English are talking about on television. They might think, "I've learned English listening and speaking for so much time, but I still can't understand a bit of what they are saying, am I wasting time? What is the use of my English study?" Now, I think, we don't have to worry about that too much any more. Those speakers on television are probably saying something with heavy regional accents, which might possibly have varied little or much from the mainstream accent that we've been learning. See, even a native speaker may have problem understanding them, why should we, whose first language is completely different from English, be depressed when we have that problem?
In the road of English study, how to keep the interest alive is quite an issue. Many people get detered when they encounter some problems, with less and less confidence and interest. Actually, any different accent will not sound that hard-to-understand only if we keep learning on. Altogether, we should not be frightened of those seemingly horrible problems in our English learning path.
Language is only something for communicating. Best regards, Panpanpan.
Dear Dave and Flyheart, It's so nice reading your replies to each other! There's really something special in them, and such feelings does warm my heart a lot. Yeah, it's really like a family here, I think I have been doing the right thing staying this forum.
Yeah, Dave, I bet you are an excellent oral English teacher. As you once said, you might not be able to solve those lots of examination problems, which we Chinese English learners have no difficulty with, but you will have no problem at all making a conversation or an interview with the President of the United States. Your remark impressed me a lot. What you have been learning is exactly the real tool for communication, the much more useful, practical English, which is really the Achilles' heel for most of us learners. Your experience of having been in English speaking countries for so many years would certainly do your teaching career good. I can easily imagine how lively and responsive your classes must be...As a matter of fact, such extra classes are exactly the things I have been longing for. In which I can learn not only those written, and stale expressions like the examples you gave, but also more useful and interesting knowledges about the language. I always feel funny, even, a little ridiculous, when I hear my niece reading loud the classical dialogue, "How are you?" "I am fine, and you?" "I am fine, too, thank you". It has almost become sutra something. I believe our English teaching system is in great need of more useful and practical expressions to meet the huge demand. And Dave, you are exactly one of such well-armed teachers. Dear Flyheart, I can't agree with you more about your suggestion to English majors. We Chinese always say, "The level is right out of the poetry." (功夫在诗外。I'll be grateful to see your nicer translation.:)) I can clearly feel the pressure that many young English teachers feel when they suddenly become a teacher, being in charge of English for fifty or more students in a class. Usually it's hard to ask the young teachers themselves to speak fluently and naturally in English. The thing is jsut what you mentioned above. There's many ways to enrich our life experience. Whether one can or not get his life experience enriched depends on how one sees the matter.
Have a pleasant weekend! Panpanpan.
