Dear Charles,
Long time no chat! Congratulations on your opportunity to visit Queensland University of Technology in Australia. Having a chance to experience other culture and broaden your knowledge is always a good thing. As a knowledge seeker who spent eight years in college (both full time and part time), perhaps I can share some of my college experiences with you.
It seems that you’re a bit concerned about not being able to understand the Australian accent and thus miss out on some lecture materials. Based on my experiences, formal English is formal English, however the local accent can deviate from what you learned, the written language is almost the same universally. I visited the Australia Daily Newspaper website several times and had little difficulty understanding the Aussie’s written English, it’s not that much different from the Canuck’s. Throughout my post secondary education, I have had various instructors (professors / lecturer) from places other than North America, although at times I couldn’t catch some of the words or terms they said due to their strange accent, I could still understand them, given the context, and with the help of the text books or reading materials. Throughout my years as a student, I would say that I could understand the pro’s lectures about 95% of the time. I have more problems understanding text that were written in an extremely academic way than most lectures. I realize that your case may be different because I have been hearing Canadian English for over twenty years.
I think the best way for you to get accustomed to the Australian accent is to listen to the English channel of Radio Australia. My youngest brother’s applied mathematic professor, Dr. Chang, originally from Malaysia, was an Australian trained Ph D, from University of Sydney, and my brother didn’t have too much difficulties understanding him, it just took a little bit of getting used to.
As to the written English part, as long as you have a notebook computer with the Golden Mountain Dictionary installed, you’re home free! I found this dictionary to be highly useful for any English learners, and it can surely help you reach 95% comprehension level in your reading. I am still using this Golden Mountain Dictionary every night when I tirelessly do my one hour reading in English.
So, no need to worry, dear Charles, things won’t get out of hand. Do a little bit of homework before hand and you will feel right at home once you get there. I have met many visiting scholars from China here in Canada and they all are very very diligent people. I remember one lady who came here for six months to study medical science. She spent day and night at the public library and never took even one weekend off to do any sightseeing. We used to have to bring take-out food from the restaurant to her apartment because she said she couldn’t afford the time to come out to have dinner with friends. That’s what I call commitment! I am sure she must have brought back a wealth of knowledge to China when she returned, the only regret was that she never got to see our world renowned Banff and Jesper national parks.
You and 3Pan are both very patriotic man. China will be a much better place if everyone is doing his/her fair share to build up the country, like you do. I have much to learn from you fine gentlemen as to how to truly love and make contributions to my residing country, Canada. It struck me the most when 3Pan said “Blood is denser than water!”, 血浓于水! I was deeply moved by that Chinese expression. I am very grateful for the opportunity to come to this forum and share our thoughts and ideas with one another. I look forward to the day that I can personally visit the mainland and experience the culture and friendship first hand.
Best wishes for your future trip to the southern continent.Neil
