In the Essay “A Way With Words, or Away With Words: Effect of Texting and IMing on Language” by Timothy Barranco , the author discusses about the usage of text and the negative impacts that text messages might make on standard English. As the author points out in the introduction, some people believe that the wide usage of text language among teenagers, a result of the growing popularity of instant communication such as text messages or instant messages (IMs), are damaging teenagers ‘ language skills and impairing their ability to use proper English. As those people argue, teenagers have a hard time differentiating formal English and text English after using the later on instant communication for a long time, and it results in research papers that are full of text abbreviations as well as other forms of improper and informal English. However, the author makes the counterargument claiming that many evidences actually suggest that there is no need to worry about the negative effects that text language might bring to young people. Moreover, as the author argues, text language is necessary and important in the evolution of language, and it adds a creative spirit into the writing of youth.
The author makes plenty of evidences to support his claim, and most of them cite from various experts on language. For example, in his first evidence, Barranco makes use of the findings of two researchers from the University of Toronto. According to their research, the usage of text language and other forms of informal languages actually holds only a small percentage in the writing of text users. As the two researchers conclude, one cannot possibly use abbreviations and informal English fluently and correctly without getting to know its proper form as well as components.
In the second evidence, the author quotes a professor of linguistics from American University in Washington D.C. After analyzing the data collected, the professor concludes that teenagers generally give up text language and other informal writing for standard writings as they enter colleges. According to the professor, few abbreviations are used among college writings, and the selling is good. In other words, as the author states, the potentially negative effects of text usage among teenagers are not lasting.
The author also draws other similar form of evidences, often analysis of data by experts, to support his claim. Nevertheless, I am the most convinced by the evidence drawn from his personal experience, which is more convincing and persuasive than a collection of data from sources unknown and impersonal. The direct experience of the author also supports the claim made in the previous evidence which suggests that a transition to college life reduces the usage of informal text language. As the author admits, as a college student he uses text language less frequently since his audiences are primarily businessmen, professors, and others who prefer formal language. He also adds that his peers and friends are also restricting informal usage of English as they enter the adult working world too.
Finally, the author reiterates that the formation of text language plays a vital role in keeping standard language alive and new. In other words, if the standard language cannot adapt to the adding of languages like text language, it will be gradually out of the scene. Here the author uses examples of great writers like William Shakespeare and Charles Dickens to illustrate his point that throughout the history English language has been modified to reach its full potential in expressing ideas. Most important of all, as the author put it, we shall embrace the introduction of text language while knowing that some informal and shortened usage of words like “b4” (before) will never ever replace their predecessors.
Monday, November 16, 2009
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Blog Assignment 6
In the essay “The Publication of Your Personal Profile”, the author, Megan Ramirez, talks about the potential risk of using social networks like Facebook and MySpace where the users’ personal information as well as privacy have become exposed to public eyes. In other words, basically everyone can have access to your personal profile by creating a Facebook account, regardless of her identity. That person could be your employer, a family member, a friend, or in the worst case, a total stranger. Quoting the author’s own words here, the users of social networking websites “are allowing their private lives to be published.” (Ramirez).
As the author pointed out, the fact that most Facebook users’ profiles are restricted, which means only accessible to friends, does not help with protecting the personal information since Facebook users tend to accept friend requests from people they don’t know. The same reason also explains the statement previously made: basically everyone can access others’ personal profiles by creating a Facebook account. Here the author used a quotation from the book “To Catch a Predator” to explain and support the point that most people easily accept requests from strangers: “An appealing picture, a friendly query, a similarity of interests, or someone who just seems ‘cool’ is often more than enough for kids to make exceptions and let someone into their site that they don’t, in fact, know” (Hansen 135)
According to the author, among the many risks of having your personal information under the public scrutiny is that the same personal information can also be reviewed by your potential employers. In other words, the personal details found on your Facebook can be determining factors of whether or not you will get the job you want. For instance, as the author explained, if you put pictures of you engaging in illegal actions, your potential employer might reject you after seeing those improper pictures. Using a paraphrase gained from an interview with Carrie Ramsey, a staff member who works in the human resources department, the author shows that even though most employers do not view the social networking pages of their potential employees, they still might decline a potential employee if they saw inappropriate pictures on his pages. From the interview with Ramsey, the author writes that “She (Ms. Ramsey) has never looked at a potential employee’s personal web page because she wants to focus solely on the skills and experiences of the potential employee. She does say, however, that if she had seen that potential employee engaging in illegal activities on a personal page, she would not decide to hire him or her” (Ramsey)
As a result, the author eventually concludes that people’s social networking profiles “are written representations of themselves” and that “people should decide how they wish to be portrayed and create their profiles accordingly”. (Ramirez)
In other words, users of social networking sites can be more protected from the risk of being publicly scrutinized if they do not put damaging or incriminating information on their profiles.
As the author pointed out, the fact that most Facebook users’ profiles are restricted, which means only accessible to friends, does not help with protecting the personal information since Facebook users tend to accept friend requests from people they don’t know. The same reason also explains the statement previously made: basically everyone can access others’ personal profiles by creating a Facebook account. Here the author used a quotation from the book “To Catch a Predator” to explain and support the point that most people easily accept requests from strangers: “An appealing picture, a friendly query, a similarity of interests, or someone who just seems ‘cool’ is often more than enough for kids to make exceptions and let someone into their site that they don’t, in fact, know” (Hansen 135)
According to the author, among the many risks of having your personal information under the public scrutiny is that the same personal information can also be reviewed by your potential employers. In other words, the personal details found on your Facebook can be determining factors of whether or not you will get the job you want. For instance, as the author explained, if you put pictures of you engaging in illegal actions, your potential employer might reject you after seeing those improper pictures. Using a paraphrase gained from an interview with Carrie Ramsey, a staff member who works in the human resources department, the author shows that even though most employers do not view the social networking pages of their potential employees, they still might decline a potential employee if they saw inappropriate pictures on his pages. From the interview with Ramsey, the author writes that “She (Ms. Ramsey) has never looked at a potential employee’s personal web page because she wants to focus solely on the skills and experiences of the potential employee. She does say, however, that if she had seen that potential employee engaging in illegal activities on a personal page, she would not decide to hire him or her” (Ramsey)
As a result, the author eventually concludes that people’s social networking profiles “are written representations of themselves” and that “people should decide how they wish to be portrayed and create their profiles accordingly”. (Ramirez)
In other words, users of social networking sites can be more protected from the risk of being publicly scrutinized if they do not put damaging or incriminating information on their profiles.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Assignment 5
Even though the Communist Party eventually won the Chinese Civil War that lasted from 1926 to 1950, different versions of the Civil War’s history have been written by both the Nationalist and the Communist Parties. In the China Mainland, where the Communist Regime is the government, the tales of the Civil War are mainly made up of all the glories and victories of the Communist Commanders. Likewise, in Taiwan where the Nationalist takes the rein of power, the stories of the Civil War somehow become a series of heroic and victorious tales that nevertheless ends in a glorious defeat and retreat. The true account of the Civil War, however, remains obscure, and while the two sides of the Taiwanese Strait are still holding firmly on their own versions of the history, not many people have actually considered to find out the truth back to that chaotic era.
Born in Taiwan and spent my early childhood with a Nationalist grandfather who once commanded in the Chinese Civil War, I undoubtedly was informed of the Nationalist version of the history. I held it to be absolute and unquestionable (Of course, I did not know it could be questioned) until I visited China Mainland on a business trip with my family. We stayed in the Chinese Capital, Beijing, for approximately half a year, and in the mean time I learnt a great deal of “the other side” of the story or, to put it more correctly, the winner’s interpretation of history
In the Communist version of the Chinese Civil War, the Nationalist Party as well its soldiers was a gathering of selfish and corrupted people. According to the Communist, the high officials of the Nationalist Government were only seeking for their own benefits and thus took away the civilians’ profits and harvests. Also, the Nationalist soldiers were mainly looting people along the way throughout the Civil War. As a result, the goal of the Communist Party was a holy one: to liberate the people from endless suffering under the Nationalist Regime. The Communist soldiers acted bravely on the people’s side and taught the poor, the rural people, and those who lived in the remote areas essential knowledge such as writing and reading. They also helped to build irrigation, harvest, and most important of all, redistribute wealth for the impoverished farmers and workers. In short, the Communist was portrayed to be the very symbol of justice while the Nationalist was the source of all that evil and unjust.
The same history, in the Nationalist version, forms a sharp contrast with the Communist one, even though it took place in the same space and time with the same people involved. In this version, the Communist Party was a hodgepodge of criminals, robbers, thieves, and some power-thirsty hypocrites. In the name of fighting against Capitalism as well as building a perfect Marxist paradise of the poor, the Communist made empty promises and exploited the wealth of the civilians for their own profits. They conducted a multitude of looting, enslaving, and unfair trials before and after they came to power, while the Nationalist, despite their eventual loss, fought bravely against the Communist and had the people’s support. Unfortunately, as the story goes, the Communist was backed by the Soviet Union and the Nationalist was weakened by the previous war against the invading Japanese forces, so the Civil War ended in the Nationalist’s final defeat and retreat. The retreat to Taiwan, interestingly, was termed “migration”, and it was still a glorious event in which the selfless Nationalist soldiers helped the civilians from boarding the leaving ships to rebuild their households in Taiwan.
Facing an apparently contradicted “fact” of a history half a century ago, I have nothing but to say that maybe both accounts of the Civil War are true and false. Both the Communist and the Nationalist have omitted the dishonored aspects of their pasts while adding more dramatic effects to the glorified parts of the very same history. The result, as we see, is a distorted account of truth that will hardly be uncovered again.
Born in Taiwan and spent my early childhood with a Nationalist grandfather who once commanded in the Chinese Civil War, I undoubtedly was informed of the Nationalist version of the history. I held it to be absolute and unquestionable (Of course, I did not know it could be questioned) until I visited China Mainland on a business trip with my family. We stayed in the Chinese Capital, Beijing, for approximately half a year, and in the mean time I learnt a great deal of “the other side” of the story or, to put it more correctly, the winner’s interpretation of history
In the Communist version of the Chinese Civil War, the Nationalist Party as well its soldiers was a gathering of selfish and corrupted people. According to the Communist, the high officials of the Nationalist Government were only seeking for their own benefits and thus took away the civilians’ profits and harvests. Also, the Nationalist soldiers were mainly looting people along the way throughout the Civil War. As a result, the goal of the Communist Party was a holy one: to liberate the people from endless suffering under the Nationalist Regime. The Communist soldiers acted bravely on the people’s side and taught the poor, the rural people, and those who lived in the remote areas essential knowledge such as writing and reading. They also helped to build irrigation, harvest, and most important of all, redistribute wealth for the impoverished farmers and workers. In short, the Communist was portrayed to be the very symbol of justice while the Nationalist was the source of all that evil and unjust.
The same history, in the Nationalist version, forms a sharp contrast with the Communist one, even though it took place in the same space and time with the same people involved. In this version, the Communist Party was a hodgepodge of criminals, robbers, thieves, and some power-thirsty hypocrites. In the name of fighting against Capitalism as well as building a perfect Marxist paradise of the poor, the Communist made empty promises and exploited the wealth of the civilians for their own profits. They conducted a multitude of looting, enslaving, and unfair trials before and after they came to power, while the Nationalist, despite their eventual loss, fought bravely against the Communist and had the people’s support. Unfortunately, as the story goes, the Communist was backed by the Soviet Union and the Nationalist was weakened by the previous war against the invading Japanese forces, so the Civil War ended in the Nationalist’s final defeat and retreat. The retreat to Taiwan, interestingly, was termed “migration”, and it was still a glorious event in which the selfless Nationalist soldiers helped the civilians from boarding the leaving ships to rebuild their households in Taiwan.
Facing an apparently contradicted “fact” of a history half a century ago, I have nothing but to say that maybe both accounts of the Civil War are true and false. Both the Communist and the Nationalist have omitted the dishonored aspects of their pasts while adding more dramatic effects to the glorified parts of the very same history. The result, as we see, is a distorted account of truth that will hardly be uncovered again.
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Assignment 4
As an international student in the University of Delaware, I often focus on the presence of other international students in the same university, particularly those from my home country, Taiwan. Even though the university advises international students to stick with American students to catch up with the American Culture and to learn English faster, most of the Taiwanese and Chinese students that I encounter still tend to interact with those of the same cultural backgrounds. Moreover, in only a few minutes these international students who have never met before can talk and joke to each other as if they have been acquaintances for years.
Cultural difference might be intimidating at first glance, but one should also know that similarities are still shared among cultures, since they are all founded by humans. For a foreigner, of course, experiencing culture shock is still unavoidable at first, because it takes time to fit into a new culture. Living in a society much unlike ours, we often face difficulties like adjusting to a new table manner, a different definition of politeness, and even daily habits that we find alien. Under these circumstances, most foreigners face troubles to fit into a new society, and thus fail to build up a sense of belonging which every human needs as a social animal to feel safe. Language barrier also prevents one to fit in a foreign society, since one will find it hard to understand the content of everyday conversation, and in times of emergency this barrier can have disastrous results. All the factors above can make a foreign person seek for traces of his own culture, and the less the traces are the more desperate the person can be in trying to gain a sense of belonging and familiarity on an otherwise alien land.
During my times spend abroad I have faced the problems mentioned above. Despite my relatively better English-speaking skills, I sometimes still feel excluded in a different culture. On the first day that I spend in a British household, for example, I felt as if all the values previously firmly held were breaking down. At the dinner table I got blamed simply because I put the fork on the wrong side, and the way I ate the food was regarded as offensive. The worst thing is, most English people have dinner at 4:00 PM, which troubled me since most Taiwanese people have dinner around 6:00 PM or 7:00 PM. After two days of sufferings in the English household, with shower times much limited, I suddenly had a strong wish to stay in a Taiwanese or Chinese household in England, but I felt instantly ashamed by my cowardice. In another experience, I was totally shocked and even terrified by the dazzling chaos of the UD Freshmen Party that I stuck tightly to the Chinese friends whom I did not even know several minutes ago. Normally, in my home country I do not form friendships with strangers easily. However, here in the UD the Chinese freshmen, especially those who live on my floor, sometimes are like my relatives and become my only links to my home country where most things that I’m familiar with reside.
Despite the fact that I perfectly understand Liu’s predicaments, as someone who has gone through similar situations I take Liu’s decisions to stay with his people and even leaving the U.S forever to be disgraceful. Liu’s failure to adjust lies in the fact that he over-generalizes the American Culture. Indeed the United States is a culture that differs greatly from both Taiwan and China, but from a sociological perspective a culture also contains many subcultures. Some subcultures actually hold values that are quite similar to ours. For instance, I still found it comfortable to communicate and even laugh with my teenage friends in the UK, who share my music taste, regardless of my sufferings in a conservative English household. In another example, I have formed close friendships with quite a few American students, even though I still occasionally find other American students strange. Apparently, given the examples above, Liu picks the wrong subculture to stay in. Moreover, he still had not spent enough time to know the new culture in detail before giving up and making a misinformed summary stating that it’s impossible for him to make an American friend. Cultures differ, but cross-cultural exchanges are not impossible as long as one finds the fittest way to do so.
Cultural difference might be intimidating at first glance, but one should also know that similarities are still shared among cultures, since they are all founded by humans. For a foreigner, of course, experiencing culture shock is still unavoidable at first, because it takes time to fit into a new culture. Living in a society much unlike ours, we often face difficulties like adjusting to a new table manner, a different definition of politeness, and even daily habits that we find alien. Under these circumstances, most foreigners face troubles to fit into a new society, and thus fail to build up a sense of belonging which every human needs as a social animal to feel safe. Language barrier also prevents one to fit in a foreign society, since one will find it hard to understand the content of everyday conversation, and in times of emergency this barrier can have disastrous results. All the factors above can make a foreign person seek for traces of his own culture, and the less the traces are the more desperate the person can be in trying to gain a sense of belonging and familiarity on an otherwise alien land.
During my times spend abroad I have faced the problems mentioned above. Despite my relatively better English-speaking skills, I sometimes still feel excluded in a different culture. On the first day that I spend in a British household, for example, I felt as if all the values previously firmly held were breaking down. At the dinner table I got blamed simply because I put the fork on the wrong side, and the way I ate the food was regarded as offensive. The worst thing is, most English people have dinner at 4:00 PM, which troubled me since most Taiwanese people have dinner around 6:00 PM or 7:00 PM. After two days of sufferings in the English household, with shower times much limited, I suddenly had a strong wish to stay in a Taiwanese or Chinese household in England, but I felt instantly ashamed by my cowardice. In another experience, I was totally shocked and even terrified by the dazzling chaos of the UD Freshmen Party that I stuck tightly to the Chinese friends whom I did not even know several minutes ago. Normally, in my home country I do not form friendships with strangers easily. However, here in the UD the Chinese freshmen, especially those who live on my floor, sometimes are like my relatives and become my only links to my home country where most things that I’m familiar with reside.
Despite the fact that I perfectly understand Liu’s predicaments, as someone who has gone through similar situations I take Liu’s decisions to stay with his people and even leaving the U.S forever to be disgraceful. Liu’s failure to adjust lies in the fact that he over-generalizes the American Culture. Indeed the United States is a culture that differs greatly from both Taiwan and China, but from a sociological perspective a culture also contains many subcultures. Some subcultures actually hold values that are quite similar to ours. For instance, I still found it comfortable to communicate and even laugh with my teenage friends in the UK, who share my music taste, regardless of my sufferings in a conservative English household. In another example, I have formed close friendships with quite a few American students, even though I still occasionally find other American students strange. Apparently, given the examples above, Liu picks the wrong subculture to stay in. Moreover, he still had not spent enough time to know the new culture in detail before giving up and making a misinformed summary stating that it’s impossible for him to make an American friend. Cultures differ, but cross-cultural exchanges are not impossible as long as one finds the fittest way to do so.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Assignment 3
When I was a child I used to learn English from TV programs, and one of the things that impressed me but puzzled me at the same time was the fact that in each and every English learning program, the American speakers had a wide variety of expressions and gestures. It impressed me because I hadn't seen anyone talking with so many exaggerating facial expressions and hand gestures, and it puzzled me simply because we didn't do it in my home country Taiwan. I suppose that was the first difference that I noticed between American and Taiwanese cultures.
A major divide between two cultures can always be found in their forms of non-verbal communication, and it wouldn’t be understood if one hadn’t experienced it vicariously. I was lucky enough to be able to visit the U.S in person, and if I didn’t go on the trip, I would never learn that what I observed from the TV programs was nothing but the tip of the whole iceberg of cultural difference. Also, without this experience I wouldn’t also realize that a culture’s significance can only be seen when you are outside of it. Taiwanese and American cultures, without a doubt, vary from each other greatly, but similarities still exist. A shared pattern of non-verbal communications, for example, is a proof that the two cultures have exercised certain influences on each other.
Nonverbal communications take place on a daily basis, and thus cultural difference can be noticed in everyday life. For instance, when you catch a stranger’s eyes as you walk down a Taiwanese street, normally that person will return you with a careless, cold, and even icy glance that signifies indifference. If you smiled and even nodded at that person, he or she might simply avoid your look or even turn the head away to ignore your presence. However, when I catch somebody’s eyes, even those of a total stranger, on a U.S street, I often receive a gentle nod or a quick smile of recognition despite the fact that I have never met that person before. In another case, cultural differences exist on the level of close interactions. For example, in China people don’t hold a strong sense of personal space, and touching a person can be regarded as a display of friendliness. However, in the U.S touching a person might be found offensive and rude by the majority of people. Doing so can be misread as a disrespectful act even if it is an attempt to convey friendliness.
Despite the differences pointed out above, when one culture is heavily influenced by another it can take on certain values of that influential culture. It is especially so in Taiwan where American media are largely introduced through movies, books, and magazines, while other American values are brought back from generation after generation of the students studying overseas. The impact of American culture thus becomes obvious: in Taiwan people have developed a strong sense of personal space, and might consider some previously held values outdated and inappropriate. Moreover, in recent years they have gradually adopted certain American forms of nonverbal communication unconsciously as their hand gestures grow more and more differentiated and important in aiding conversations.
Regardless of the differences presented above, we should know that cultures are constantly changing. Both American and Taiwanese cultures are being reshaped as they integrated new elements, and more or less both cultures have exercised a certain amount of influence on each other, even though some aren’t obvious. In other words, the differences between cultures around the world are gradually minimized through cultural interactions in many aspects, and some defining differences have submerged under the waves of globalization and thus become less distinguishable in everyday activities and communications.
A major divide between two cultures can always be found in their forms of non-verbal communication, and it wouldn’t be understood if one hadn’t experienced it vicariously. I was lucky enough to be able to visit the U.S in person, and if I didn’t go on the trip, I would never learn that what I observed from the TV programs was nothing but the tip of the whole iceberg of cultural difference. Also, without this experience I wouldn’t also realize that a culture’s significance can only be seen when you are outside of it. Taiwanese and American cultures, without a doubt, vary from each other greatly, but similarities still exist. A shared pattern of non-verbal communications, for example, is a proof that the two cultures have exercised certain influences on each other.
Nonverbal communications take place on a daily basis, and thus cultural difference can be noticed in everyday life. For instance, when you catch a stranger’s eyes as you walk down a Taiwanese street, normally that person will return you with a careless, cold, and even icy glance that signifies indifference. If you smiled and even nodded at that person, he or she might simply avoid your look or even turn the head away to ignore your presence. However, when I catch somebody’s eyes, even those of a total stranger, on a U.S street, I often receive a gentle nod or a quick smile of recognition despite the fact that I have never met that person before. In another case, cultural differences exist on the level of close interactions. For example, in China people don’t hold a strong sense of personal space, and touching a person can be regarded as a display of friendliness. However, in the U.S touching a person might be found offensive and rude by the majority of people. Doing so can be misread as a disrespectful act even if it is an attempt to convey friendliness.
Despite the differences pointed out above, when one culture is heavily influenced by another it can take on certain values of that influential culture. It is especially so in Taiwan where American media are largely introduced through movies, books, and magazines, while other American values are brought back from generation after generation of the students studying overseas. The impact of American culture thus becomes obvious: in Taiwan people have developed a strong sense of personal space, and might consider some previously held values outdated and inappropriate. Moreover, in recent years they have gradually adopted certain American forms of nonverbal communication unconsciously as their hand gestures grow more and more differentiated and important in aiding conversations.
Regardless of the differences presented above, we should know that cultures are constantly changing. Both American and Taiwanese cultures are being reshaped as they integrated new elements, and more or less both cultures have exercised a certain amount of influence on each other, even though some aren’t obvious. In other words, the differences between cultures around the world are gradually minimized through cultural interactions in many aspects, and some defining differences have submerged under the waves of globalization and thus become less distinguishable in everyday activities and communications.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Blog Assignment II
I portray myself differently according to the person I encounter, but I generally appear to be clever, easy-going and even funny, especially in front of boys. In doing so, I believe that I can relieve their tension and lower their walls of defense while not losing my dignity as a person of wisdom. On the other hand, when it comes to ladies I tend to take up another image which is normally collected, knowledgeable and silent.
Frankly, I consider myself to be successful in displaying my “public images”, and as far as I know I rarely misrepresent myself. People’s first impressions of me live up to my expectations, even though the majority of them, as time unfold, gradually learn the true nature of my somehow multifarious real personality. Girls often regard me as an idealist who is shy, slightly proud and mysterious. Each phrase I utter to them is gentle, intelligent but terse, and whenever we take a walk I remain a speechless shadow that falls behind my long line of giggled female friends silently. Boys, on the contrary, take me to be a friendly person who enjoys to help friends and to say some witty statements with awkward messages behind. For them, I’m not as mysterious as I appear in the girls’ eyes, since I often participate in their short but random conversations.
However, throughout 17 years of self-discovery, all I have learnt from myself is the fact that the two identities portrayed are all various degrees of expressions of my true personality, even though they differ from each other to some extent. My mind, in this respect, can be compared to an intricate machine that has components of different shapes but all function together as one. Only on rare occasions do I go to great expense to portray myself as a whole, of which I only have a slight grasp, and that’s when I fall in love with someone.
Frankly, I consider myself to be successful in displaying my “public images”, and as far as I know I rarely misrepresent myself. People’s first impressions of me live up to my expectations, even though the majority of them, as time unfold, gradually learn the true nature of my somehow multifarious real personality. Girls often regard me as an idealist who is shy, slightly proud and mysterious. Each phrase I utter to them is gentle, intelligent but terse, and whenever we take a walk I remain a speechless shadow that falls behind my long line of giggled female friends silently. Boys, on the contrary, take me to be a friendly person who enjoys to help friends and to say some witty statements with awkward messages behind. For them, I’m not as mysterious as I appear in the girls’ eyes, since I often participate in their short but random conversations.
However, throughout 17 years of self-discovery, all I have learnt from myself is the fact that the two identities portrayed are all various degrees of expressions of my true personality, even though they differ from each other to some extent. My mind, in this respect, can be compared to an intricate machine that has components of different shapes but all function together as one. Only on rare occasions do I go to great expense to portray myself as a whole, of which I only have a slight grasp, and that’s when I fall in love with someone.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Different Forms of Languages.
Various forms of one language can be manifested under many circumstances, and the gap of different language usages can be apparent among different generations. It's particularly so when the generations in question are influenced by different cultures.
Although I was educated by my parents, I developed a form of spoken language that differed from that of my parents. The changes took place on my trip to England when my speech was re-shaped by my English friends who tend to use slang. Gradually I found a mixture of English and Chinese, my mother tongue, to be more efficient in conveying my ideas. The language I used became foreign-influenced and constantly included expressions such as: “Never mind” and “Whatever”, “Gotcha” and “Bless ya”. Sometimes even “Bloody hell” sprang from my mouth. My parents, professionally trained in traditional literature, reacted differently to my new language usage. As my mother adapted and assimilate the new elements of my language, my father insisted to retain the family’s traditional way of speaking, which often quoted from the Dialects and other classic Chinese Literature.
Apart from everyday conversation, I still deliver any public speech in the most formal way possible. In public I make use of sophisticated words while decorating my speech with a succinct yet knowledgeable tone. Every speech of mine is like an academic essay with profound brilliance, and that takes my parents by surprise since, as mother portrayed it, “it was like addressing to the Congress!”
Although I was educated by my parents, I developed a form of spoken language that differed from that of my parents. The changes took place on my trip to England when my speech was re-shaped by my English friends who tend to use slang. Gradually I found a mixture of English and Chinese, my mother tongue, to be more efficient in conveying my ideas. The language I used became foreign-influenced and constantly included expressions such as: “Never mind” and “Whatever”, “Gotcha” and “Bless ya”. Sometimes even “Bloody hell” sprang from my mouth. My parents, professionally trained in traditional literature, reacted differently to my new language usage. As my mother adapted and assimilate the new elements of my language, my father insisted to retain the family’s traditional way of speaking, which often quoted from the Dialects and other classic Chinese Literature.
Apart from everyday conversation, I still deliver any public speech in the most formal way possible. In public I make use of sophisticated words while decorating my speech with a succinct yet knowledgeable tone. Every speech of mine is like an academic essay with profound brilliance, and that takes my parents by surprise since, as mother portrayed it, “it was like addressing to the Congress!”
Friday, September 4, 2009
Introduction
I've been a Blogger user for years and I believe that I've written similar self-introduction like this for many times since I kept creating different accounts while quickly forgetting their existences. However, on this account I have no choice but to keep in mind all the information needed to sign in again otherwise I'd lose my credits and I can assure you that it's the last thing I expect from my freshman year. I suppose it's the time to introduce myself now. I'm Yi-Chen from Taiwan, but I also use many different names such as Mickey and Prašina. Therefore, among my friends I'm known as different names, but people, to my surprise, never get confused. I suppose the University of Delaware is my first school and please do take me seriously because I've been home schooled soon after my parents realised the needs to educate me. I did stay in formal schools before but apparently they failed to suit me well since I never last more than 2 months in each of them. Without a doubt, though, I'm expecting to stay four years here in the University of Delaware. Now it's really the time to tell you about myself and I'm trying not to make this a dull monologue. I'm seventeen going on eighteen, and I major in Anthropology right now. I've developed many interests that cover many fields, but unfortunately mathematics is never one of it. I write songs, I play guitar and what more? No more actually. I'm the sort of person who spends a great amount of time on self-discovery but I'm reluctant to admit that this long journey of discovery yields no specific result since I only found out what had been known to me. If I had to pick one word to define me, I'd pick the word "ignorance". But, isn't that the true source of knowledge? Well, we'll find out.
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