Hi, everybody. I'm Mick from China. I chose to come to this writing forum because I love writing. Although my mother tongue is not English, I think it lots of fun to write something in this foreign language. I began to learn English not too early in my life, since junior middle school maybe. But my interest in this funny language has continued to grow all through the years. Now, I'm teaching Chinese students (non-English-majors, to be exact) writing in English. Some of my students began their English learning ever since their 4th grade in the primary school. Still, when I was grading and commenting on their writing exercises, I came across the problem shared by all teachers teaching English to non-native speakers. In fact, I felt how difficult it is to unknot the knot that has long been made by someone else and how impossible it is to change the grooves in wooden board or the spot pattern of a leopard. The students just write in the English language naturally following their 'inborn' habits in writing in Chinese. Their articles make an English reader feel as if a Chinese were speaking to him, using English (sometimes seriouly broken). I'm both dismayed and interested in this curious phenomenon. That is why I have lost my heart and interest in this kind of teaching. I come here to learn more about writing in English in the hope of assimilating ideas from others which are helpful in teaching writing. I hope that you can help me and that my contribution here will be of any help to others as well.
Hey there! Welcome to the forums. Not much to say about the teaching really, other than that its something i'll probably one day experience as I hope to teach Spanish/French to English students and they will more than likely do the same.
Hello Mick, Welcome to the Writing Forums. I can understand your frustration. People who are not exposed on a daily basis to a foreign language are unlikely to think in sentences in that language. Rather they think in sentences in their own language, then map the words on a one-to-one basis, with the occasional rote-learned idiom thrown in. This leaves the translation structured as in their native tongue. They are also likely to misunderstand subtle differences in the connotations of the translated words. Even native speakers, at least in English, have trouble with subtle differences between synonyms, so it is certainly understandable. But the positive note in all this is that every difference you manage to make is a victory to be savored. If you haven't explored the site yet, you should probably do so soon. Newcomers often gravitate to the Lounge, the Word Games, or the Review Room, but there is much more to be discovered if you poke in the corners. Remember to check out our FAQ as well! As for the Review Room, new joiners often wonder why we do things a bit differently on this site than on other writing sites. We emphasize reviewing as a critical writing skill. Training your eye by reviewing other people's work helps you improve your own writing even before you present it for others to see. Therefore, we ask members to review other people's writing before posting work of their own. The Review Room forums on this site, therefore, are true workshops, not just a bulletin board for displaying your work (and on that note, please only post each item for review in one Review Room forum). See this post, Why Write Reviews Before Posting My Work? for more information. Enjoy your stay here, and have fun!
Hey Mick........well hopefully here's something that'll help you.........hina and India tie at being best in knowledge of English compared to every other place.......well yah, if they dunno it........then it's a different story........If they do.........they know it well.
Thanks for your help. Thanks for your greeting and timely guide. I'll read the articles in the Review Room and learn from others. If possible, I'll also try my hands at giving suggestions of revision to folks here. I hope we can gain mutual improvement.
Thanks for you suggestion Yeah, I can agree with you no more. I think there's a lot more for us to learn about the specialty of a language. Up to now, I myself has yet learned very little about the ancient version of my native language.
