There is a 英语学习五大忌(zt) elsewhere on this board. I have written something similar a few years ago at Tianya under a different penname. The same article has since been re-written as 英语学习7大忌. It is not as well written as the other one posted here. For whatever it is worth, here is my version.
(重贴声明: Previously posted at 第 4 and 5 楼
http://www.rainlane.com/dispbbs.asp?BoardID=11&ID=16395 10:08:57
学英文 7(i) 大忌 Yeti: 2005-7-23
http://www.rainlane.com/dispbbs.asp?BoardID=11&ID=16395(i) In the original article at Rainlane, the title was 6 大忌. #7 was added in a few days later.
This is an extended version of a very old article I wrote for 2 different forums 2 or 3 years ago. The original article was entitled 学英文四大忌. It is written in a mix of Chinese and English. There are lots of mistakes in both text.
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我的中文输入能力甚差。是一字一字。的找。此段短文，断断续续的写了三天才完事。 其中别字甚多，请包涵
学英文四大忌：
(1) 一 暴十寒
上了一个学年的英语，一放暑假便抛之脑后。暑期过后，以前所学过的已忘了十之八九，又要从新学起。此是事倍功半。
You spent a whole school year studying hard for your English. Once the summer holiday comes, you left it all behind. By the time you went back to school again, you would have forgotten the most of it. It is back to square one--what a waste of time and effort.
学语言如学武功一样，要拳不离手。说到武功，学语言真是有点象学武，
Learning a language is the same as learning martial arts. You have to practice everyday. In fact, there are certain similarities between the two.
学了几个散招，胡乱的练了几天，能有用吗？你一定要练都能从心所欲，不用经大脑已能发招，这才有用。 If you only learn a few techniques, and practice for a few days, would you be able to use it when the time comes? You have to practice and practice until it becomes part of you. It will only be useful if you can use it without thinking--a reflexive action.
(2) 死背单词。
此点以前已有题个。现在转载如下：
我在网上看到不少人常问如何去背 多多 单词，更有人要 背字典 。
I often told them ： "sure, you need to build up a large vocabulary, but you cannot build up a "working knowledge" of English by memorizing lots of new words.“ In fact, sometimes it is counterproductive to do so. Many people ended up with lots of words in their heads but are totally confused as to which one they should use in a given situation.
Instead, you should learn phrases. Combination of words and whole sentences are the only way to learn English properly. Certain words usually pair up with definite counterparts.
To give two examples:
(i)A student needs to translate 平静的海 into English.
He/she searches his memory for 平静 and comes up with words
such as : quite, tranquil, still, hush etc.. Now which one should he/she pick ?
Chances are: quiet and tranquil. There are the odd ones who will make the mistake of using still and hush. Were his choices right : yes , quiet and tranquil probably are allright.
Is it good English ? Do good English writters write it like that ? Well, the
answer is "not quite". They don't. They use "the/a placid sea."
(ii)Another very common example is : 蓝天.
Almost everyone translate it as "blue sky." Nothing wrong with that. There are lots "blue sky"s in fiction, songs, everyday conversation etc..
But what surprised me was no one in any Chinese forum I have encountered so far, mentioned "azure sky", a rather common term.
And what makes me furious is that when I suggested it , some people even thought I was wrong, or at the least, thought I was speaking from the ivory tower.
They exhibit the attitude of "why should I know this extra word", isn't the guy who already gave the answer "blue sky" had done the job for me ?
What is my point ?
My point is : read, read and read. Listen, listen and listen --that's the only way to learn . Don't just open a book with a collection 100 000 individual words, isolated from any context, and try to memorize them one by one, please.
Suggestions for teachers :
(i) Invent your own version of the game of Scrabble and let students play with it.
Make up some game boards similar to Scrabble, make up some blocks (using paper , I guess) for the words but with lots of commonly used alphabets so as to make it much much easier to play.
Make up a list of "special bonus words" each week. When students use those particular words in their game, they get extra points.
(ii) Flash card game
Students are given a list of words and they make up their own flash cards. On one side of the card , the student(s) makes up a picture as a hint, on the other side, the answer. Play in pairs or in groups ( competition) to guess the answers based on the picture.
你若是有学过武，不论是国术，空手道，西洋拳
汉国( 苔？抬？？ can't find the right cha ra c t e r ) 拳道。。。。等等. 都有指导你要练combination, follow-through,单一招是无大用的。 直如学单词而neglect了combination of words and phrases一样。
(4) 乱点 鴛鸯谱
这也以前有讨论过。
假如你有一中文词，你想找英文的双等，你翻开字典一看，拿了最顺手的一个便以为“得米”。这就是有不小人 把 “规范”成为 “canonical", China News 把 礼仪小姐 错 译为 "ritual girl" ,的主因。
(Speaking of "China News" they once wrote something like this " parts of the people to be sent to different places" . I was wondering which part goes to where ? Arms and legs go to Beijing; heads go to Nanking; torsos goes to Sichuen....etc.. :-)
As usual I have gone off in a tangent again !
你如要学好英文，一定要有一本Thesurus和一本英-英词典。 最好是有一本Usage dictionary:e.g. Collins Cobuild (**注)1)。 你从中英词典找到英词后，去 英-英词典再看一看。这样，闹错的几会便小了。
(注1)我本人并无此”武林真经“，是别人介绍的。我在书店看过，Amazon.com 的review也说不错。你如有兴趣，这是他们的网址：
http://titania.cobuild.collins.co.uk/index.html ( 5) 一字一字直译
一字字的直译是大忌。 每一种语言有其独特的结构。
东方的语言和欧洲的更有大差别。 Preposition, article, 更要小心，否则大闹笑话：e.g. 我去为自己烧饭，然后自己食了 便成为：
I will cook myself and then eat myself. (我把自己煮来吃了)
( I will cook FOR myself and then eat BY myself.)
这就是别人所称为”Chinglish"的语法。
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以上是本人一孔之见。如任何人觉得这是无理之言，就当它是耳边风可也！-
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6： 怕丢脸不敢与外国人谈话
你越不开口，越不会进步。 学如逆水行舟，不进则退。
你越退步，越不敢开口，你就 trapped in a vicious circle.
请想一想， 你若是 “白人”，(native-English speaker),如是英文不好， 那是不大光彩的事。但你是 “非英语母语人事‘，英文有错，无人会觉得其怪
(Boy, this is really taking a long time, so let me switch back to English.)
Look, when you talk to Native-English-Speakers, they automatically expect your English not to be perfect unless they detect no accent from you. In which case, they know you are local born and would expect the reverse: no error in your English. So don't worry about making mistakes because that is already expected of you.
*** AND***, don't feel shy or taken aback when the "老外”听不懂 and start asking you to repeat. Remember, they do that to each other too. "老外s are more direct. They are not like orientals who will "pretend" they did not notice so as to "save face" for one another.
I have a very strong accent I cannot get rid of. Friends and colleagues of many years still ask me to repeat when they don't nderstand me. Sometimes I even have to spell out the word to get the idea across. ****Don't be afraid to ask the speaker to repeat what he/she has just said. That is far far better than to have misunderstood the message.
Even if you have to ask more than once, the other person would understand because he/she know you are a foreigner.
Let me assure you that you will NOT be look down upon as a dummy. As I have said earlier, you will only be look down upon as an illiterate if you cannot use your OWN mother tongue well. During causual conversations in faculty parties, English teachers often complaint about the poor state of prepareness new Chinese students have, but they ALL know these students are new to the country and they DO understand and sympathize with the predicament these new immigrants or students face.
On the other hand, teachers all look down on the local born who cannot speak English properly : those who say " hey man, like you know, I mean, you know, like that thing is just , you know."
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I am sure if you are a Chinese language teacher in China you would probably have the same feeling. You would talk about how bad the "Chinese" language skills those students from overseas have, but you do understand they are learning the language as a second language. On the other hand, you probably would not look kindly at Chinese students who cannot master even basic Chinese.
So, if you cannot understand what others are saying to you, just politely say "Pardon me, I did not catch that". And if you still don't get it the second time , just say " I am sorry, I still didn't catch that, can you repeat that one more time, slowly, please." No one could refuse such a polite request.
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7. 為考試而讀書
(The original article was entitled "学英文四大忌." But since its inception, I have had added more material. Here is another part that I have written some time ago.)
7. 為考試而讀書 Study only for the purpose of passing an exam.
This is known as treating the symptom and not the cause. Chinese
call it “治標不治本。“
If all you are interested in is passing an exam :level 4,6, 8, or nth, one of the ways to do that is to study and memorize standard tests, solution booklets , 什麼“武林真經” ﹐“天書”, “秘笈” ﹐and look for quick tricks and shortcuts, 找“絕招” ﹐“秘訣”,” 速成方法” 。Well, my friends, you will end up “走火入魔 freaking out.“
These quick fixes will only help you temporarily. In the long run, they may not be of any benefit, or may even be harmful to you. If you want just to pass the exam and then forget all about it, you can take a chance and “study solely for the purpose of passing an exam.” However, witness the many people who have passed levels 4,6, 8,… exams with high marks but cannot write a simple business letter, do a translation of the description of their companies, or write the welcoming messages to hotel guests properly. Why is that ? That is so because studying for an exam : mostly multiple questions on grammar, set-form essay writing…, will not adequately prepare you for the real world.
If you are contented just to pass an exam, then read no further.
However, if you want to use English as a working tool later on, or
is planning to study overseas, read on.
Studying solely for the purpose of passing an exam narrows your scope. You will tend to learn and memorize “standard forms.” Language, however, is fluid. Let me draw a parallel between learning a language and learning martial arts.
Those of you who have some training in a martial arts know that you start with basic techniques (散招) , then you proceed to set forms 拳套(in Japanese and Okinawan Karate, the term is Katas) You can practice these over and over again until you can do them forwards and backwards. But when you are put into the ring to fight someone in a match, do you think you would win ? Not likely. Do you fight like the way as described in some martial arts stories (武俠小說) where the hero goes through the individual technique one by one in the sequence ascribed in a kata ? No way.
Now go to visit a few of the “writing practice sites” for Toefl, GRE, CET-4, whatever, and you will see that people submit essays in a set format : Theme, pro, con, conclusion. I asked one girl who submitted several such essays for correction why there is so much sameness to these essays.( 千篇一律。) She said that their teachers asked students to memorize lots of these “standard essays” and , in an exam, just repeat what they have memorized. This is hardly considered as “creative writing.” It may work in countries where uniformity is a virtue, but if you are in a western University where individuality and creativity are highly valued, your work will not be appreciated. (And the professor would not cry because he thinks you are so great and he is so insignificant because he could not memorize the 4 volumes of the New Concept in English.)
In the real world, there is no set forms for essays. Each situation is different. Even the standard business letter must be adjusted to meet the individual situation. And when it comes to spoken language, just how many different “set forms” are there? So, if you want to learn English for practical use, or for going overseas for further studies, you will have to broaden your scope and learn all the different facets of the language. You have to apply what you learn as you go along.
Yes, learning new words, doing multiple choice exercises are important, but to actually make the language work for you in a conversation and in the writing of an essay, you need more than just learning new words and doing multiple choice questions. You must learn to write in many different forms, on many different subject; you must read profusely and practice your spoken English as much as possible.
Many of these "1000 important phrase", "5000 sentences that will make you proficient in English" is helpful, but no panacea to learning English well. Ask yourself the following question: "How many sentences are there in one English novel ?" Now, muliple that by the number of worthwhile novels and how many sentences you have? If you read one novel a week, in a year, you would have been exposed to so many different sentences that the 1000 or 5000 must learn sentence will look like a drop in the ocean. So, read, read, and read extensively (but not indiscriminantly.)
