Many people are seeking a better way to learn English, some seem to have found and are working on a right track, while some are not so fortunate… which side you are on, maybe what I am talking about here could be a little helpful to you.

1, Don’t translate. As I know many Chinese students have made it a practice to translate what he wanna say into Chinese and then English, frequently translating between these two languages, so that we can easily tell that s/he is speaking Chinglish. But we can change it. The best way to speak real English is firstly to learn to think in English, even using the simplest English sentences. The other day I came across a bilingual German who speaks very good English in a blog community. When I asked her how she did it, she told me that she thinks even dreams in English. Wow, that sounds so reasonable and feasible, isn’t it?

2, Try to imagine. When we are memorizing a new word, try not to memorize how it’s written in Chinese, but to imagine the image the word refers to. We should immediately have an image of the corresponding object, when we see a noun, the image of the action when we see a verb. So that we build up a better relation between words and real life from which we can benefit a lot in expressing our ideas.

3, Chat online. Well, as I mentioned in the article “my experience in chatting groups”, chatting online especially with those English native speakers can be very helpful for us to apply what we have learn into this virtual language environment, to organize a sentence to respond immediately… and by typing into the chatting box we are strengthening the memory of how a word is spelled.  Do remember that’s the only benefits we can get in doing so, we can’t improve our pronunciation and accent, and listening skill.

4, listen more. Why an illiterate can speak? Because he can recognize what a certain pronunciation means. Relatively, without a good language environment, we Chinese tend to read much more than listen. So listening should be the weakest part for us. No one likes to talk with those always asking “ pardon” or “ sorry but could you say it again”. As I can see, most of us focus too much on spelling, not its pronunciation. So my advice is to bear in mind the relation between its pronunciation and meaning. That means when you hear a word “bird”, what crosses your mind is not the word “bird” itself, but its meaning, the image of a bird. When it comes to speaking, even you can’t spell it right, you still can say it right in a face-to-face talk.

The points above are just my personal opinions, flaws are inevitable, well, you don’t have to buy them, just take them for reference, OK? Meanwhile, hope you share your ideas with me, and let’s make it together. ^_^

Last night my bro text me that he was home on a long leave, and asked me if I am going home on tomb-sweeping day. Yes, I am. Dunno how things are between he and his wife, getting better? I doubt.

Seems that many people are stuck these days, like the weather gloomy and blue all the time. Have been losing sleep for a couple of days, I do look wan and pale, no wonder every time my partner would pull a long face when she saw me spaced out as if I was unwilling to be there.

My hair unkempt, my eyes drowsy, my life is a mess… I always slouch…I hate myself. Why can't I just make myself a little bit useful. emmm, I gotta change a new look before my mom see me, or else I have to face the music. So the most important is to take a good rest and have my hair cut.

Why the power don't go off after midnight as last spring, so that my roomies and I couldn't make it to stay up so late every night. Even sometimes I tried not to stay up, I just can't bear a dim beam of light or a slight noise from under my bed. What can I say when Ray has to pull an all nighter for his second bachelor's degree.

Sorry for crapping up here, maybe that’s the best way to vent my feelings.

Anyway, I do hope he will pass this exam, too.

Never heard anyone said "I don't like music", like no one would doubt his/her good taste for beauty, no one would deny his/her good taste for music. So it's stupid enough to promote his value on Music and so...

I don't buy your words doesn't mean you are wrong, but that we have different value system that we formed through different life experience, and most of the time we stand in a different place, to look at it from a different perspective. And maybe what we're talking about is showing us a different aspect of it.

If you happen to see people that think alike, you should be happy, otherwise, why bother to go upset or irritated?

To love is like to get on a bus. But it’s like playing game with you that your bus just doesn’t seem to be coming while the other buses coming and going.

When it finally comes belatedly, it comes in couples, and then you get lost which to take, for fear of missing the best. Not until you get on the bus will you get the answer.

We have different routes leading to the same place, all up to your choices. Maybe, to take the shortcut way, you gotta wait, if you can’t bear waiting, ok, you can get on those buses after which you gotta switch to another to get there. Some fast, some slow, some never stop…

And there are some people who thrust onto a jam-packed bus struggling all the way, some who mistken his bus and have to get off halfway or switch...and some who miss their destination but have a good time during the journey... and some other...

For their comfortalbe buses, many young people thought they were young enough to wait, then it turned out that many of them were losing patience...and left randomly with a passing bus, leaving behind all they had spent for nothing. It's the persuit of perfection or the unworthiness of quitting that left them wating and waiting ???

For some, the bus is not coming, never ever...Nothing to complain, they should have known it and quit waiting sooner.

However, miracle happens. The bus he has been waiting for so long comes when he is about to leave.

Maybe in years, some lucky dogs may have their own cars and don't have to wait in a bus station any more...but another problem comes--the shortage of parking space. Problems will never end.

It's like a long march to get a driver's license, and that's definitely true in GuangZhou. 8 months was all it took to finish all the tests, one by one, amonge which i gotta wait for almost 2 months for the next... Well, it's not always the case, some lucky dogs just spent 4 to 6 months for all these.

Anyway, I did it!!!!

The driving test was in this morning, thank god, everything went smoothly , and it took no more than 3 miuntes to finish the section. You know what, I really stressed out last night and lost some sleep...but it just turned out much easier than i expected.

And it's just this guy who last went out with us in the long distance training under the symbol C, that failed the drving test.(don't know him? check out "On The Way" in my Jan's issue for more)... Poor him !! He should have studied the rearview mirror and made sure there was no cars coming behind when he started moving the car...that's his weak point,deadly, he always repeated the same mistake!! For god's sake, does he ever know what rearview mirror is used for?? Is it for decoration?? 

...

I am going to sign up for BEC higher next Monday, and it will cost me 1160 yuan,(610 for entry fee and 550 for training fee), a big sum of money to me  ... you see, broke Dan as I am !! Well you may ask why it takes so much, to tell you the answer, it changes according to the exchange rate between RMB and Pound...emmm, I just learned that china CPI has hit a new high of 7.1% in Jan.

It's kind of like risking the money! So, i gotta go all out for the best, I swear!!!