“外国语论坛“感悟

靳京

Dear all,

This forum is truly an exciting place and opportunity for our Chinese who are interested in learning and sharing one or more foreign languages. Whatever subject posted here should start with some interesting questions (even in Chinese about foreign language studies) for others to follow. I do not think this forum is some where someone should post his or her articles or advertisement for people to read or evaluate. This should've been a place like "English Corners" every where 25 years ago on college campus, foreign languages book stories and public parks in Chinese cities.

Questions:

1. What are we spending so much time here for?

2.What do I truly want from this forum?

3.What do I have on my mind awaiting some authentic answers from the perticipants?

4.What do I need in terms of language study from here if ......... (I am looking for a job.....I am going overseas and further my education.....I have questions on my English study......  I have questions about US educational system......  I want to meet more friends, what types?  ..........so on and so forth.

5. What informstion did I actually learn or get from this forum. Has s/he been helpful and friendly to me?

Those are questions I used to have, to name only a few.  Please advise!!

北京文化人儿

请问，您说这个论坛哪方面还不够友好呢？

莹火

I think there is no need to set up rules for what to talk in this forum, except ads and nonsense. We need native speakers (who seems may not knowing how to log in), we need who loves English or any other languages, we need who need to learn whatever they want here... What does this forum need? Customers! Whast does this forum lack to get customers? Not many people speak English? No, it's the forum keeper have nothing to sale. No one bring on any topic or question, no one reply any topic or answer any question. But this responsibility is not just for the forum keeper. Anyone who loves this BBS and speaks English could take a part of it. So let's break the silence and start to talk! Whatever we like

Let me try to answer first three of your questions:
1. I come here often 'coz I love my city！
2. Turly want? Well, I think I'm not here to better my English, haha.
3. I wonder if we could put some English articles which are published as books here with writers name, book's name and what so ever.  Is that legal?

And I think since there are many who do not speak English, who "think" their English is not good, who think they are writing something others do not understand or may make other misunderstand (such as me), I suggest we translate what we say into Chinese whenever possible. , R& g; f: b$ ~1 B* `) N

我觉得除了广告和废话意外，没有必要去规定在这个论坛里写什么。我们需要外国人（可能根本看不懂怎么注册），需要喜欢英语或者其他外语的人，需要想在这里学到一些英语知识的人...这个论坛需要什么？当然是顾客（受众）。为什么英语论坛的顾客这么少呢？因为大多数人都不会英语？我觉得因为版主没有什么要卖出去的东西。没有人发表新话题也没有人提问，没有回复也没有回答。当然这不是版主一个人的责任，每一个喜欢这里的会讲英语的人都可以分担这个责任。所以会说的就不要再沉默了，想说啥就说啥嘛！

我来回答一下你说的前三个问题：
1. 经常来这里是因为我爱自己的城市啊
2. 真正想要什么？恩，反正不是想在这里提高英语，哈哈
3. 我有个问题是，我们能不能在这里发表其他人出版的文章，写明作者和出处？这样合法吗？

既然有人不讲英语，有人认为他们英语不太好，还有人觉得自己在说一些别人都不明白或者会引起别人误解的事情(比如我，哈哈)，我建议尽量把中文也写出来。

靳京

Hi,

1.I'm so glad to see some response upon 3 months.

2.Please allow me to clarify my point here for what I said the very 1st time I was here at the forum(I'll have Chinese translation bellow). When I was 1st time here, I did not see or find active conversations among people, so I started some questions I had at the time hoping some people could follow up and began talking, then more and new questions would pop out, and more people'd join in, nothing else.

3.I was by no means unfriendly to anyone. Maybe there were some misunterstandings. Questions I raised were actually for myself about the forum. My point was to animate the FOREIGN LANGUAGES forum itself through getting feedback and starting more conversations. If I did offend someone here, Please accept my apology. I am a Beijing native myself who was born and grew up in this beautiful city. I do hope that we can share our common ideas about English study.

4.I am very grateful to Ying2Huo3 about porper Chinese translation from English, maybe for other languages,too.

Thank you.

翻译:

1.时隔三个月看到有人响应真的很高兴.

2.请允许我对三个月前第一次来访所说的话进行一下澄清.我第一次来访时,没有看到或发现参加者之间有活跃对话气氛, 所以我把当时自己的几个小问题提出来,希望看到的人能跟帖并开始交谈. 这样,更多更新的问题就会跳出.也就会有更多的人加入对话, 仅此而已.

3.我个人绝没有对任何人不友好之意. 也许会有一些误会. 有关论坛我所提出的问题都是为我自己提的. 问题的关键是在于通过得到同仁的反馈和进行会话,从而达到活跃论坛气氛.如果我真的让人不高兴了, 请接受我的歉意.我自己也是一个在北京生长的老北京人,只是真诚希望大家能通过论坛分享英语学习的心得.

4.非常感激荧火对英文做适当中文翻译的建议,也许对其它语种也应相同对待.

.......

第一次发帖翻译:

该论坛真是个令人兴奋的地方,而且为我们对外语学习和分享提供了机会. 在此刊登的无论是什么主题,应相应提出一些有趣的问题(甚至是以中文提出,只要是有关外语学习的).这样便于其他同仁跟帖. 我不认为该论坛只是一个刊登文章或广告供人阅读和评价的地方. 它本该是一个类似25年前在城市各大学校园,外文书店和公园里的"英语会话墙角"(例如当时的皇府井外文书店,紫竹院公园等).

问题:

1.我们为什么在此(论坛)花费大量时间?

2.我想从该论坛得到什么?

3.在等待坛友真实的答案时, 我自己在想什么(我自己想说点什么)?

4.就外语学习而言,我从该论坛需要什么,假如.......(如:我正在寻找工作.....我要出国留学进修...... 我对美国教育系统有问题......我想认识更多的朋友,什么样的朋友....

等等).

5.我要从该论坛获取或得到什么信息? 他/她对我是否有帮助, 是否友好?

以上是我过去常想的问题, 只举几个而已.请赐教.

靳京

Dear all,

There are some participants suggusting we go to some other forums in other countries. I wonder why? This is on earth the right place for us,isn't it? I was trying to bring up topics, here is another one for anyone to join in and discuss about:

Memories of 1980s

In the mid-1980s when I 1st picked up English as my foreign language,there was something new going on very quietly in the puplic. I remember at the time we did not have as much language environment,audio-visual equipment as today.Therefore, people began to get together automatically for a brand-new creation called "English Corners" starting from college campus, then to the public parties and Foreign Languages Book Store in Wang2Fu2Jing3 Street.

 The opening ceremony in Purple Bamboo Party on one Sunday in the Summer was an everlasting experience I had ever had in my life. The most outstanding figures in foreign language education at the time like Chen Lin and Zhang,Daozhen were present with speeches being delivered and their college students of English who were trying the best to guide people in small groups with questions and anwsers. People truly enjoyed the harmony and friendship with faces and smells. English as a Foreign Language was flowing so naturally among groups with the help of the college students ，and even foreigners who were attracted from all over.The pleasant picture was still like yesterday.

Nowadays, we have internet, English textbooks of many different kinds and all types of movies in native languages, How come that we can't build up a channel to take advantage and talk on the net, even though we can't see each others'smelling faces? Let's go for it. Please follow up and leave your messages if you like the way I am doing right now.

Questions:

1.What did the people have on their minds every Sunday when they rushed to the parks?

2.Why did they spend so much time over there?

3.Were they kind and friendly to each other?

4.Are "English Corners" still existant today?  

Let's have the word FORUM truly mean by that.

翻译：

有人建议去走访国外论坛网站，我不知为何？这里然倒不是我们自己的论坛吗？我一直设法提出一些问题，下面是一篇信息，希望能激发人参与和讨论：

八十年代的记忆：

八十年代中期，我开始学外语时，有一个非常新颖的事开始在公共场合进行着。我还记得那时没有象今天这麽好的语言环境和视听设备。为此，人们开始很自动地在一些公共场所聚集，在当时是个全新的创作叫做“英语（会话）墙角”，先从大学校园开始，然后扩展到公园和王府井外文书店。

一个夏天周日的紫竹院公园的开幕式给我一生留下了最难忘的一刻。在当时外语教学上的重量级人物都到场了，象陈林和张道真。讲演在进行当中，而他们的学生却专心地以提问和回答的形式指导着分成小组的人们。大家充分享受到了见人见面、和谐友好的气氛。在大学生们的帮助下，英语在人群中自然流畅，甚至吸引了很多老外前来。愉快场景酷似昨天。

今天我们有因特网，英语教材和母语电影多如牛毛。我们为什麽不建立起自己的渠道，利用网路进行交流呢，尽管我们不能看到彼此的笑脸？大家一起来试试吧！如果您乐意，请您跟帖留下您的感受。

问题（欢迎参与）：

1。当年，人们每周日带着一种什麽心思急匆匆赶到公园？（要是你今天有这样的机会又会想些什麽？）

2。他们在那里花时间是为什麽呢？

3。他们彼此之间友好融洽吗？

4。“英语角”今天还存在吗？

我们一起让“论坛”这个词不失去它的原意。

*另请提出宝贵意见

靳京

Ok, let's change to another topic:

He is taller than I - OR - He is taller than me ??????????? 

To my understanding, the correct statement is "He is taller than I", meaning "He is taller than I am (tall)". But I always hear it and see it written as "He is taller than "me" rather than "I".But why?

Can someone give me an answer???

Thanks ahead of time.

好吧.我们来换一个话题:

"He is taller than I" 和 "He is taller than me"两个句子哪一个是正确的?

据我理解而言,"He is taller than I  "的说法是正确的.意思等于 "He is taller than I am (tall) ". 但是我总是听到和看到这句变成"He is taller than me  "而不是"He is taller than I ".可是为什么呢?

有人可以给出一个答案吗?

感谢在先.

莹火

In the mid-80s, I am still in primary school! I believe it is in grade three taht I started to learn English. When I was in high school, I went to an English corner once, well, I don’t feel like it. Not the kind of talking to strangers then.

I guess in your time, English corner is a big deal for people who want to learn English. But in the 1990s, English is a “must” in schools and exams. And then computers, books, internet, we have so many resources to use, so, things change.

English-corner people just like the other groups of people. People join groups because they truly love something or they have strong wish towards something, gather around for something they share. Such as our photograph group. Why are we gathering every weekend? Spend most of it in Hutongs? How do we treat each other? I think the answer is over there.

Does English corner still exist? I think so, in many ways. And I know one which could be an upgrade English corner in some way. Founded by an Englishman, a worldwide organization, called Toastmaster Club. They are not just bunch of people gather together to speak English, they have program to help people “improve the communication and leadership skills”, there are volunteers keep the club running, and they are just using English as their language. I’ve been there with them several times, the group is just as wonderful as the photograph team.
   

八几年的时候我还上小学呢。我记得应该是从三年级开始学英语的。上高中的时候去过一次英语角，但是我一点也不喜欢，那时候不太擅长和陌生人打交道。

我想你说的那个年代，英语角时人们学英语一个很重要的途径。但是90年代的时候，英语课已经是学校里的必修课了。之后电脑、书籍和互联网，人们能学英语的途径太多了。英语角就不再那么显眼了。

         参加英语角的人和参加其他群组的人一样。因为热爱某件事情、心理怀有某种强烈的愿望而聚集在一起的人。拍记队就是这样的群体。为什么我们每个周末都聚在一起？花那么多时间在胡同里面？怎么对待彼此？我想答案显而易见。

         现在还有没有英语角？我觉得有，也许形式和以前的不一样了。我知道一个英语俱乐部，感觉有点像升级版的英语角，很多很多年前一个英国人建立的国际非营利组织，ToastMaster Club。
  那里的人不光光是聚集在一起说英语，他们有规范的课程帮助人们“提高沟通和领导能力”，从组员中自荐、选举成员来让每个俱乐部运营。我和他们活动过几次，喜欢那个组织就像喜欢拍记队一样。

Toastmaster的网站:  http://www.toastmasters.org/

* Z3 T, v" k4 O7 i# x- C z' D @

[此贴子已经被作者于2007-12-2 11:14:44编辑过]

靳京

Thanks, YingHuo, for sharing your story.

You are absolutely right that not everyone likes the "Corner". My emphsis today is the novelty at the time when people started English but had no place to voice it out for the lack of language environment and good guidence.Therefore, to lots of people, that day at Purple Banboo Park was like a blast that pured down Spring rain for the thirsty field, when the most outstanding figures at present and Americans later from their embassy showed up, in particular. So, more and more people got together every Sunday. Many of us have been good friends for years, and as always.

Nowadays, I AM still happy to hear that the Corners has been much advanced with programs of all different kind going on and on.

To tell you the truth , I felt like talking at that time to someone so much but failed to find the place that I went home talking to myself in the mirror with different tones pretending there were 2 people around. Funny,wasn't it? However, it wasn't fiction.

荧火, 首先谢谢你的故事分享.

你说得很对,是有很多人不大喜欢"会话墙角".其实我在今天重提老话,重点是强调在当时人们开始学习英语,由于缺乏语言环境和适当的指导,人们没有地方能练习英语,所以对很多人来说, 紫竹园那天的开幕式让大家打开了表达的闸门.特别是那些重量级人物的到场和后来美国大使馆人员的不断光顾.使得每个周日参加进来的人员越聚越多. 我们当中的很多人从那天相识都成为多年好朋友,而且一如既往.

今天"墙角"是鸟枪换炮了, 还不断加进那么多的各类不同的新节目,听起来仍让人兴奋.

说句实话,想当年,我实在想找人侃侃英语,可就是找不对地方.只好回家,自己面对着镜子跟自己用两种声调换对话, 就象似有两个人在场一样.让人见笑了. 可是这些都是事实啊.

[em07]

FengShui

Was that story too far from us? I am even younger than 7 floor by then. Can we change some topics here?

Haha....

 

[em12]