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6 Xiangyang Marketing will be Shutdown?

作者:liuzhou 2005-09-19 04:42:14)

中秋节闲话
今天下午去了一次福州路,在上海书城、外文书店以及古籍书店分别购书若干,消费了近两千元,我不是一个富有的人,经常晚饭吃几元钱的拉面,但在购书上却绝不小气。但见马路上别人是手拎月饼盒,我却是手拎两袋书,反差明显,此为有意思之一。
上海书城四楼层面最里面的最左边是销售汉语类书籍,大致有“汉语听力”、“汉语写作”等等书籍,这个销售区域一直是顾客最少的地方,想想也是,有多少中国人会去购买类似“汉语听力训练”的书籍呢?(笑)但我却经常去这块地方看看,今日偶遇一女老外,想学中文,请教我购买何书为好,我推荐了北京大学出版社出版的《征服汉语语法》一书。本来学习汉语语法也属正道,但我推荐的这本书却有点内容质量上的问题,如果寄希望这本书能够学好汉语语法,那只有上帝保佑她天赋异禀了。外国人学不学得好汉语管我屁事?所以戏弄老外是我平生一大快事,用金圣叹的话来说,就是“不亦快哉”!用外国人的话来说就是:Ah,is this not happiness? (再笑)此为有意思之二。

外国人说中文,或者写中文,我还没有见过一个学得好的。就算那个跟着姜昆学相声的大山,他的中文也是有问题的。这个就好比中国人学外文,或者写外文,基本上目前还活着的,能够让我敬佩的也不过十几位而已,其他的,一概等而下之。gre高分,雅思高分,或者其他外语考试高分,那只是低层次的英语好。就好比中国人写BLOG仿似遍地开花,但不能说我们中文都过关了。须知其中99%的中国人的中文写作是很差的,也就是一个“日记”的水准,不过倒也符合BLOG这个“网络日记”的称号。不信,你随便找个人问问,他写的中文里用了几个虚词?让他数,他也未必数得清。为此,我就在MSN询问了五个经常写BLOG的朋友,果然无一人知道。此为有意思之三。

说起外语和BLOG,我不仅联想到外国人用中文写BLOG,我看过几个这样的BLOG,都不怎么样,如果要糊弄他们实在小菜一碟。但瞧在他们还算真诚的对待中文,也就罢了。我们再说中国人用英语写BLOG吧。我英语不好,所以平时不会去看英文BLOG,主要是看不懂。所以现在要我举例,我只能随便在Google上搜了一搜,正好发现一个BLOG,是一个中国人王什么硕先生(抱歉,名字没记住)用英文写的,下面我具体谈谈。

这个BLOG看上去还挺有规模,全是密密麻麻的英文,看得我头晕,一个中国人能够这样自如的写英文,我的确蛮佩服的。最新的一篇英文BLOG好像是写一些叫出租车的技巧(抱歉,我英文不好,只能看个大概),原文在这里(http://home.wangjianshuo.com/archives/20050913_tips_to_get_a_taxi.htm)。但是我看了个大概,却觉得好像有点不对劲。为了叙述方便,我把他的原文第一段复制过来。

王先生的原文:Taxi is becoming a headache in Shanghai. I remember about three years ago, taxi is abandon resource and I can hire a taxi easily - empty taxis are everywhere.

我看的是英语吗?我不禁要这样问自己了。因为面对一个用英文写BLOG的中国人,我首先想到的是我自身的水平而不敢去怀疑王先生的水平。但是我觉得本着学习的态度,我还是应该把我的怀疑写出来,就算这个怀疑是错的,也很正常,因为我本来水平就差嘛。以下括号内为我的怀疑。

Taxi is becoming a headache in Shanghai. I remember about three years ago, taxi is(是不是应该用was?) abandon(这个单词什么意思??是不是为abundant) resource and I can(是不是应该用could?) hire a taxi easily - empty taxis are(是不是应该用were?) everywhere.

我想,这样的一个例子已经足够说明问题了,不用再分析下去了,因为王先生这篇英文BLOG起码还有20个左右的语法和时态上的错误,当然这是我个人的怀疑。我说过,我英文不好,也有可能是我的怀疑错了也不一定,还请看到这篇文章的英语高手和王先生指正。

有时候我会瞎想,如果我们中国人写好一篇英文文章以后,请一个正宗的外国人帮我们检查一遍,那样是不是更保险呢?以前我曾经认为这样做很好,但现在我渐渐明白了,这样做于事无补!因为一个外国人最多只是帮我们修改语法时态上的错误,外国人不可能对文章的整个思维方式进行调整,否则就是他写而不是我写了。
也许某些朋友对于英语的“肉”(单词/语法等)学的很好,但对英语的“骨”(思维方式)却还是中国的。

那么,是不是当我们完全忘记了中文思维,而彻彻底底的用英文思维思考的时候,我们是不是达到了英语的最高境界了呢?有许多朋友认为是这样子的。但他们却错了!用英文思维思考,的确是学习英语的一个高境界,但还有比它更高的一个境界存在,那个境界才是真正的无敌于天下!至于那个境界是什么,我不说,因为我认为没有必要说,因为能够达到用英语思维思考,已经足够横行天下了!

2005年9月18日 23:37

Posted by Yoyo at 2006-01-08 16:15:32. More

5 Xiangyang Marketing will be Shutdown?

Well, Mark, shall we have a discussion here?

I found the owner of Seven Castles reveals his personality but does not give away his privacy. Some people sell their privacy on the Internet, but I don't think it's appropriate. A good example is that WJS changed his way and left out most of his personal info in this place. Ask him why!!!

As for the item of "Sharon in serious condition after surgery to stop bleeding in brain" that you are not interested in, I believe Seven Castles has his reason to choose it from many international news he gets. You were overcritical for that, as you see it is difficult to cater for all tastes. Just enjoy what you are interested in!
Posted by Yoyo at 2006-01-08 10:30:39. More

4 Xiangyang Marketing will be Shutdown?

What's wrong with the poor PC that produced distorted images and misprints (check the names the junk spelt)?

It takes me lots of time to go through all the entries in Seven Castles. PC should be disappointed in the fact that the owner of Seven Castles did reveal lots of the personal info here and there!

To those who are interested in Shanghai, Seven Castles is highly recommended. You can also go to China Blog List (Shanghai) http://www.chinabloglist.org/list.php?category=0&geo=40&orderby=0&perpage=10&action=updatefilter

that includes Seven Castles, WJS and many others for a comparative study.
Posted by Yoyo at 2006-01-07 20:05:10. More

3 Xiangyang Marketing will be Shutdown?

It is a shame to rate this as "one of the best blogs"! To my knowledge, there are many better Shanghai blogs (in English) . Here, I just want to mention one updated on a daily basis:
http://spaces.msn.com/members/sevencastles
Seven Castles (A Shanghai blog featuring news and views of great interest)
Posted by Yoyo at 2006-01-07 11:23:32. More

2 Picture in Shanghai

Is this "one of the best blogs"? Never say "yes"too fast! To my knowledge, there are many better Shanghai blogs (in English) . Here, I just want to mention one undated on a daily basis:
http://spaces.msn.com/members/sevencastles
Seven Castles (A Shanghai blog featuring news and views of great interest)
Posted by Yoyo at 2005-11-05 07:51:20. More

1 Youth Hostels in Shanghai

Do they accept Chinese natives (holding chinese passport)? Is there an age limit? I am 50. I am going home for a visit but I have no place to stay.:-)
Posted by yoyo at 2005-10-21 13:20:42. More