Wednesday, July 15, 2015

陳杏仔同學來函及本人復信


To Jimmy (Justin) Lai:

O, dear Jimmy, so you think there is 'fun' with English writing ?  You must be kidding!! I can't write anything with my first language, my own native tone, Taiwanese, and I can barely write my second language, Chinese, fluently, and cohesively.  And now I have to write with my third language, the barbarian English, the bean sprout like letters and words for which I have chance to start to learn at my teens.  But then, that's where the problem comes in.  You see, according to expert, the best age to pick up a new language in terms of pronunciation is at the earlier age the better.  When it comes to the formal language acquisition, i.e. reading and writing, older age may be better because they are better learners.  However, personal interest, motivation and learning capability obviously vary from learner to learner.   As such, some are rather natural, and some are rather contrived.   Therefore group of the same feathers flock together; so there are China town, Italian town, German town, French quarter ... in existence through this country/world. 

We did acquire the English reading and writing skills from TAIDA FLL department half a century ago.  Without extended exposure and continued opportunities to practice these skills thereafter, our abilities diminish.  When comes to writing, I found myself often trying to 'translate' the languages per se from one pattern to another.  So to reply or not to reply to your 'Fun in English writing' in English?   And if I do, will or will not my English be good ? ..... That are the questions. 
Well, as Scarlet O'Hara says :  I can't think about it right now. If I do, I'll go crazy. I'll think about that tomorrow.... 

Once again, Jimmy, thank you for another free editorial lesson.  I really enjoyed it. I take my hats off to your English/Chinese writing and editorial skills ....

Cindy

Sent from my iPad

Hi, dear Cindy:

Thank you for responding to a recent article of my own writing, which is regarding “Fun with English Writing (3).”

To begin with, let me define ‘fun’ in this way- it is a pleasure or a source of merriment. Why does there contain fun in writing English?  It is because English is not our native language.  When writing in English, people will inevitably ‘create’ some styles of their own, including words, idioms, grammar, etc. based on Chinese or Taiwanese original mentality. These ‘invented’ styles may not be acceptable or applicable to formal English writing. Therefore, certain kind of fun does emerge. And that is the reason why I set my title as “Fun with Writing English.”

In our generation, I don’t think there are many who can write in our native language- Amoy or Taiwanese, officially regarded as a dialect.  Instead, we learned Chinese, the second language, as you put it. We can speak or write Chinese much better than Taiwanese, which was not officially taught at school in our times.

Supposedly, we classmates should have acquired advanced knowledge of the English language at Taida, which in return, unfortunately did not provide us adequate or appropriate courses of English writing.  After graduation, some were lucky enough to go to English-speaking countries, and continued to have good chances of speaking and writing in English.  Others were not so lucky. However, whichever group you belong to, most people take it for granted that all Waisenxi (外文系) graduates must have a good command of English. Whether it be true or not, we should at least try to live up to others’ expectation.

Sometimes when your descendants- children or grand children happen to find your English better than expected, you might proudly tell them, “My English is still good! (阿嬤/阿公寶刀未老!) And that is what I learned at Taida. (都是台大教的)!

Wherever you live, nobody cares about what kind of culture you are trying to hold on to.  Usually, in specific towns of different cultures, such as Japanese, Korean, Chinese, or Italian, exotic culture is handed down from generation to generation.  This does not mean that they can deliberately avoid using English in speaking or writing in an immigrated country.  When they file tax returns, they use English; when dealing with City Hall, they speak English, when enlisted, your grand kids speak English; when at a restaurant, dishes on menu are written in bilingual, Chinese and English, for instance.

Let me make it clear that nothing is further from my intention than to ridicule anyone else’s English.  Rather, I am willing to discuss, or presumably help all of the classmates with the standard English usage, finding a best solution to the problem of writing better English.

Let us be reasonable enough to realize a fact: we are studying English together behind the closed doors; we should not be under any emotional or psychological pressure that we shall be laughed at by others.

Any classmate is encouraged to tell each other his/her opinion and share it with the rest of us.  As a proverb goes, “live and learn.” (活到老學到老).

Please remember that good students at school might not still be able to speak or write perfect English after graduating for so many years. The fewer chances with which you are using a foreign language, the poorer your proficiency becomes.

Finally, the kindness with which Cindy is making her comment is appreciated despite the fact that her kindness is regrettably mixed somehow with bitter criticism in the beginning.

Best regards,


Jimmy (Justin Lai)- 賴正雄

07/15/2015


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