You can do it!

lonelyhero · 发表于 2008-7-6 08:49

As a new canadian from mainland china, like me, the english level is really limited. In my LINC school, I found my chinese classmates' average english level in in the range of level 2 to level 6. SOme of them, prepared for a long time, and even landed several years ago, therefore, they realized the limitation of the enlgish level thus they took several classes in china, when they came here, ususally their english level can ba as high as ESL level 8 to level 12.

To improve english level in a short time is very challenge. I met a couple, the husband (LINC level 2) and Wife (Level 3) had studied in the ESL classes in a full time base, guess what? 10 months later, the wife reached the level 4 while the husband got level 2.5. Is there level 2.5 ? I doubt it. I believe that he did not improve that much so as to get the level 3 but the instructor wanteed to encourage him therefore gave him a weird blench level.

I am not going to blame anybody here. I would like to say that it is really not easy to improve english, especially without enough time. We do need a job, we do need raise our family, we do need to study in the University or colleage as soon as possible, we do have limited english level we we came here (Can we really place our blames on the education system in CHina? if your answer is yes, go and talk to those from Korea and Japen, you will change your mind. I think the reason is mainly due to the huge diferences between our language and western lauguages).

It is our dream to reach our english level as high as level 12(the high school student's level) so that we can get professional job easily or go to universities without any language barriers. As a newcomer in this city, I do get more than enough infornmation from this website and I am willing to contribute to our chinese community something positive. In this article, I am trying to tell you some tricks from my personal experiences in englsih study so as to help all those new canadians to overcome the language barriers as fast as possible,

lonelyhero · 发表于 2008-7-6 09:56

This article is written for those new immigrants who wish to improve their english to level 12 within 1 year ( 12 months exactly). It is written in english just because the auther does not have enough time to type chinese. THe auther is a busy guy and is facing job searching, house searching and girl friend searching etc etc. The author apologizes for those typos and grammar mistakes in this article. The author's habit is writing whatever in his mind first and waits till has enough time to review it.

I may spend more than 1 month to finish this article, therefore the reader's patience is strongly recommended.

本文是为那些和我一样想在一年内吧英语水平提高到本地高中毕业生的水平的中国大陆新移民而写。英语高手免进。

本文为作者原创，在本文连载完毕，语法错误得到修改之前，禁止转帖。多谢

lonelyhero · 发表于 2008-7-6 17:59

Table of contents

Chapter 1 The importance of english  in Canada

chapter 2 The chinese english from the north to south
   2.1 chinglish
   2.2 chinese accent

Chapter 3 The Canadian english from the west to east

Chapter 4 some myths of english study

Chapter 5 How to improve english to an appropriate level ASAP
  5.1 How to improve listening
5.2 how to improve oral communication
   Pronunciation
   accent change
5.3 how to improve writing skills

Chapter 6 useful resources (recommended books and websites)

billzhao · 发表于 2008-7-6 19:23

不错不错，小伙子慢慢写，大家等着欣赏大作

lonelyhero · 发表于 2008-7-7 08:30

The importance of english

You will laugh at this topic. Even your dog knows english is important because this is a englsih speaking country and even the dogs bark out english. Definitely, it is not the truth.

If you ask 100 chinese immigrants or refugees, 105 will answer you that english is too important. But how about in their mind? I definitely believe lots of chinese do not think it is necessary to spend time on english at all. I met several chinese, from mainland and Hongkong, They had come here more than 20 years and still speak no englsih. I had several classmates in LINC, some level 2 , some level 3 or 4, they all had come here more than 4 years. How could? They hold chinese university degreees and had come here more than 4 years still studied in level 2-4, it is not understandable if you do not agree with my comment that they do not think english is so important to their life at all.

Good news is you can survive without speaking english at all. There are tons of bussinesses run by chinese and they need workers. When I came here and wanted to get a job, a chinese laddy told me : go to T&T, they are hiring. OMG, such a good news.

Not just chinese people can survive without speaking englsih. They are lots of migrating workers (basically farmers) work in canada (most of them from south america or central america, they speak no englsih at all). One laddy who gave me a speech said she had a project to help some people in Onteria, and all villagers there speak spanish only. One of my friends who works as a manager of the accounting department in a company told me that in her compnay just 2 to 3 people speak english, all the others speak portigalese. And my another friend, she worked in a Russian company and always had problems to communicate with her workers.

You can see, english is not a must if you just wnat to stay here. I met a guy who came here 2 months ago and I do believe he could not speak english very well. He told me he was going to buy a convinience. That's it. Do business! that is majority chinese guys I met want to do, especially for those have language barrier.

But, english is VERY IMPRTANT. I will give you several examples so that you can judge it by yourself.

(To be continued )

lonelyhero · 发表于 2008-7-7 14:13

The importance of english

I met a guy in a workplace where we worked together. He had come here for around 4 years. He believed that it was just waste of time to study english in school therefore he worked always, in chinese businesses. After work, his entertainment is gambling in Casino.

When he got the first job in a western company, he was really very happy. But the problem is he could not understand any english at all even he claimed at least his english is level 6 three years ago. The supervisor did not like him and also sent him to some heavy tasks or simply sent him home if it was not too busy. He was very angry to this and said he would quit.

One of my colleague told me his decision, I simply answered: he will be here tomorrow for sure. He did show up agian. My other colleague asked me how can I know that? Here is my answer: he could not speak english at all, so only thing he can do is to accpet the chinese to bully him or the westerners to do so, he has no other options at all. It is painful but it is reality.

He complaint several times to be discriminnated. But I would like to say it is kind of bully or stagma. It is the safest way to bully a guy who could not speak english, so, even you complain to the manager, because your language barriers usually you could no texplain things well, basically you could not get any thing you want. For the stamga, usually, people believe those who do not speak english are basically uneducated people, or they even believe you are lazy and have problems for learning, they do not like to talk to you , let alone give you any chance.

After all, you still can work in chinese businesses or simply do business by yourself, therefore, you still can say english is not that important. I wish you can peg on your opinion after you read the following case:

To be continued

9527 · 发表于 2008-7-7 16:06

无生有 · 发表于 2008-7-8 04:04

终于见到了一丝分云之光，OMG，一定GO下去啊

无生有 · 发表于 2008-7-8 04:08

喜欢这份“舍我其谁”之精神

lonelyhero · 发表于 2008-7-8 09:05

原帖由 无生有 于 2008-7-8 05:08 发表 0 j( O8 I8 e9 C
喜欢这份“舍我其谁”之精神

谢谢兄弟。艰苦的加拿大移民生活教会了我很多很多。

lonelyhero · 发表于 2008-7-8 09:27

The Importance of english

I read a post in chinese forum. This case is very interesting and I guess lots of similar experiences some immigrants have. It is originally a posting to seek help.

A cantonese guy who went to a grocery to buy something. The owner is a philipino. I have many philipino friends and also knew some of them were not very nice. Some people may jump into conclusion that chinese was disciminated. Wait a minute, discrimination is a big word and it is a criminal offence here. If you are not going to sue somebody. it is better to sonsider it in an easier way, like I am doing, concluded it as a bully or stagma.

THe cantonese guy did not understand englsih, but he obvious had a stronge personality. He argue to the owner for something they could not understand each other all. In short, the owner did not understand what he wanted to do, and the guy was angry to the owner, maybe even complained to be discriminated. who knows.

The outcome is, th eowner called the police and the guy was given a ticket for tresspass. If you are sued by tresspass, now doubt a fine of 1000$ will be yours, enjoy it please. It is from candaian law and you can never defence for this. But I do think it is unfair to the chinese guy.

What is called a business? what is called a convenience store? Is that somewhere i can go in without asking for the owner's permission first? Does the owner welcome you go shopping in his/her store? Obviously, it is almost a public space. It is not a tresspass. I do believe it is because that the chinese guy did not know how to explain things happened, and the owner said bad things such as he affected his business and tried to threat him so on so forth. The guy got the ticket for his lauguage barriers not just his behaviors.

Oh, my god, it you still do not think english is that important, please do try to have a better personality to avoid fighting with foreigners( i know some of chinese immigrants who could not speak english asked too much to their countrymen, a little bit things can make them furiously angry to you. Maybe they simply wanted to get remedies. "Come on, my fellows, I was bullied and be quiet always with foreigners, please let me scream out with you guys". That is definitely a correct and smart choice. I stronely support you and if you could not get somebody to blame with, next time, simply call me and I would never refuse)

To be continued

lonelyhero · 发表于 2008-7-8 14:11

The importance of english

I could not forget that day when my professor asked us if we knew a famous case happened in canada. We all said no and then he began to show us a vidio. A guy in the airport in Vacouvor was tasered to death. We saw the police hit him the first time one the chest and he fell down and 4 policemen tried to arrest him, at same times, the another policeman hit him two more times on his legs. He died right away.

I was completely shocked by this accident. We, one Ontarian, one BC girl, one girl from Novo Scotia and 3 immigrants, we discussed this case for more than 30 minutes. Please forget about human right and race discrimation and those political issues, I just want to say the main reason for this accident is the guy who did not know any english. He was going the airport to pick her mother up, but her airplane was delayed ( it iws normal). He was very upset and did not know where to seek help. Instand of trying to figure out what's going on, he started to throw his laptop to the chairs. Somebody called the police and then the scenerio I mentioned above happened.

It is in Vacouver and there 70% residents are chinese, but this guy was a Portigal or maybe other European, otherwise, hundreds of thousands chinese would scream to protest race discreamination. OMG, chinese people are really frigile. It seems to me some of them do not have enough confidence to be equal with others therefore they are always very sensitive to a case like this.

Of course, definitely, the policemen have serious problems,they need more training to be qualified. But, to me, I saw the problem came from his communication skills. He did not know how to explain him, how to seek help in english, And unfortunately, there is english, french and chinese info desk, but absolutely no that small european info service.

The guy used his valuable life to tell us how important english is in this country. I wish you guys do not like to be tasered as well. To do this, nothing is more important to study english right NOW.

lonelyhero · 发表于 2008-7-8 14:13

I would like to take a break before moving on the next topic. When I come back, I wish you are not tasered so that you still have energy to discuss english study with me. see you soon

lonelyhero · 发表于 2008-7-8 14:29

FYI, The video showed that guy was tasered to death, from youtude (this is that one we discussed)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_0xAwIlNS8

小老儿 · 发表于 2008-7-9 11:18

原帖由 lonelyhero 于 2008-7-8 15:29 发表 i& I- S5 v6 s) b
FYI, The video showed that guy was tasered to death, from youtude (this is that one we discussed)
2 h9 w7 g2 b/ N1 i
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y_0xAwIlNS8

What did you mean by 'tasered'? Did you want to say 'tired'? Please don't go for too long, 'cause everybody's waiting here.

lonelyhero · 发表于 2008-7-9 12:34

原帖由 小老儿 于 2008-7-9 12:18 发表
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What did you mean by 'tasered'? Did you want to say 'tired'? Please don't go for too long, 'cause everybody's waiting here.

well, taser is a brand name in US, it is famous for its product called portable high voltage self defense device (中文可能叫高压电棒）. In canda, all policemen are armed with such a device.

Because it is famous in this field, therefore,all this devices were called taser now. and it also cam be used as a verb, means use such a device to hit somebody. Like google, it is a search engine, but if you say something like: use the search engine to search the infomation in internet, can be simplized as : google it. here google works as a verb. Taser is the same like this.

小老儿 · 发表于 2008-7-9 13:05

Thanks.
I can't find it out from all my dictionaries.

織紗千影 · 发表于 2008-7-10 11:06

xb.su · 发表于 2008-8-1 09:14

where is the 'host (LZ) of this building' going?
come back and keep your words
finish your work and write the posting
for people who share the same ancestor with you
here need a hero

xjs · 发表于 2008-8-13 02:20

:zhichi:

StarHelena · 发表于 2008-8-13 17:25

原帖由 lonelyhero 于 2008-7-6 18:59 发表
* B& o: w0 r& @; y( l9 B+ vTable of contents- P  |% L- o# l; b4 u) _

- d& \! j4 f0 A! k6 J6 F# mChapter 1 The importance of english  in Canada
- M+ L& @2 H# ~, d- }/ }  o3 y
8 @- W$ ^1 p9 }$ O) h, Fchapter 2 The chinese english from the north to south8 _) h3 F7 G0 [8 e. ]
   2.1 chinglish+ i& o' z* m  j2 G
   2.2 chinese accent
" e. }5 d. P6 f2 ~" d# y
+ b+ h' `( j9 M( zChapter 3 The Canadian en ...

i am more interested in Chapter 5 and 6, Look forward to it!

wpbaby · 发表于 2008-8-23 19:34

Hero, come back please.

lader · 发表于 2008-8-24 04:51

Where are you?To be continue okay?

lonelyhero · 发表于 2008-8-24 09:14

原帖由 lader 于 2008-8-24 05:51 发表
1 ^/ f4 o1 R5 |& VWhere are you?To be continue okay?

谢谢。最近找工作，太忙了。没时间来。再说，虽然我在这里受到了一些人的鼓励，但也受到了无中生有的攻击和谩骂。不是我招惹了谁，而是有些人不喜欢新来的人比他们牛。他们认为新来的就应该英语比他们差，找不到工作，否则他们心里就不平衡，就会谩骂。而且这些还受到了某些斑竹的支持。所以，今后我会换个地方写的。我完全相信这将成为对新移民最有帮助的文章之一。我去另外一个中文网Edmonton人网站写，我会完成的。

[ 本帖最后由 lonelyhero 于 2008-8-24 10:17 编辑 ]

jofen · 发表于 2008-8-24 12:52

原帖由 lonelyhero 于 2008-8-24 10:14 发表
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0 z: O. f) k4 a) X7 n谢谢。最近找工作，太忙了。没时间来。再说，虽然我在这里受到了一些人的鼓励，但也受到了无中生有的攻击和谩骂。不是我招惹了谁，而是有些人不喜欢新来的人比他们牛。他们认为新来的就应该英语比他们差，找不到 ...

能否贴一下在埃人网上的网址，期待ing...

starrry · 发表于 2008-8-24 16:32

ignore these jerk, you did a good job!
I like your post, and really impressed by your examples.

原帖由 lonelyhero
( e! S8 [1 Q6 v6 y# r% g7 F再说，虽然我在这里受到了一些人的鼓励，但也受到了无中生有的攻击和谩骂。不是我招惹了谁，而是有些人不喜欢新来的人比他们牛。他们认为新来的就应该英语比他们差，找不到 ...

抓狐购物 · 发表于 2008-9-6 17:08

Justing · 发表于 2008-9-30 22:05

楼主不会是英语专业出身的吧？

billzhao · 发表于 2008-10-1 08:49

原帖由 lonelyhero 于 2008-8-24 09:14 发表 ; H3 i) w3 R* Q; m& p. p
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7 b) f1 z! t$ d0 K谢谢。最近找工作，太忙了。没时间来。再说，虽然我在这里受到了一些人的鼓励，但也受到了无中生有的攻击和谩骂。不是我招惹了谁，而是有些人不喜欢新来的人比他们牛。他们认为新来的就应该英语比他们差，找不到 ...

不会吧，谁会那么无聊而去攻击你呢？
希望继续你的大作。
很好，很有见地。

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