Funny stories in US
Did you try to learn a second language before? Do you have any funny stories happened in the
whole process and cannot forget? Here, I would like to share some really
interesting and true stories with you.
The first story is about one guy who just arrived in US for two days
and already got millions of helpful precautions and safety tips from friends,
professors and faculty. This overwhelmed “helpful” information not only made
him keep vigilant all the time which is good, but also easily made him get
overreaction when his facing with little tiny stimuli. One day,
when he walked around in the park and enjoyed the blue sky, fresh air, and
gentle breeze in a relaxed mood, a tall guy headed towards him and said, “Hi,
bro, give me a five.” This scared little kid acted as a frightened bunny when hearing
these words, started to stare at him with suspicion, kept silent for a minute,
and responded, “Here you are”. Then,
he ran away as quickly as possible. The say-hi guy totally got confused and
said, “Hey man, what is wrong with you? Why did you give me five dollars? Hey,
your five dollars!!! "
The second story is about a short conversation between a visitor and
a taxi driver in New York. The visitor asked the driver, “Hi Sir,
can you give me a ride to Free Woman?” The driver said, “Hey man, nothing is
free in America”. The visitor said, “I don’t care whether it is free or not. Please drive
me there.” “I’m Sorry. Can you say it again? Where are
you going, Sir?” the confused
driver asked. The visitor answered, “Umm, the
woman who lifts the torch up.” “Hahaha, Sir, you mean the Statue of Liberty?
My God.”
The third story happened in
supermarket. The cashier asked a guy who was the first time to check out in US,
“ Do you
wanna cash back?”The guy when hearing these words, suddenly stopped his busy hands and
brain, started to get excited and responded,“Yes, please.” The cashier smiled and
said“How much do you want?”He showed a tricky smile to her and answered “As much as possible.”ROFL. Probably here I need give
some explanations for the funny point. For Chinese, when we hand our credit
card or debit card to cashiers, they subconsciously consider that we do not
want cash back except we mention that. So back to this story, the signal from
the cashier caused this funny guy’s misunderstanding that he was lucky enough to obtain free money from
the supermarket. Thus, when the cashier asked, “How much do you want?”he responded, “As much as possible.”
Language is the carrier of
information. And English is considered as the first option to use for businessmen,
professors, politicians, and doctors from different countries when they
exchanging information or communicating. Therefore, for persons who are not native
English speakers, there is a need to work hard on studying English. Given the entire expression as building a
house, every word is a brick. Sometimes they are similar to each other but represent
opposite meanings. Sometimes, the intrinsic meaning of some words will be changed when assembled with
other bricks, such as crack me up, look out, and so on. Besides, it is also common
that when hardhats followed their thinking way and got a house done, others
cannot get the point. However, the light side is that diversity of manner of expression contributes to diversity
and development of English which is the
reason why English and America keep attractive to us.
Yuan, interesting post regarding non-native English speakers and some of the miscommunications and misunderstandings that occur.
ReplyDeleteOne way non-native English speakers can improve their language skill is by reading, listening to English music, and watching English TV shows. It will probably be very frustrating at first and not pleasant, but after some time your language centers in your brain will start recognizing patterns and you will begin to understand more and see through the grammar, syntax, and the myriad colloquialisms used by native English speakers. When I was learning Spanish in high school, I started listening to Spanish music (also because the beats were very danceable and the girls loved to dane to it). I watched some spanish movies and TV shows. And for class we read books in Spanish. I even attempted to read Don Quixote in Spanish (regrettably I gave up, it was too much).
If I could give non-native English speakers any advice it would be to immerse yourself in English media and practice at every opportunity you get. If you use every moment you have to make yourself a little bit better, you will start to see results. I'm not telling you to forget your native tongue and leave your old culture behind, the human memory is surprisingly sharp and whenever you return home, you will find that in a matter of days you are back at the level you were before you left. And while you are here in the US, work on strengthening your English (or American, as some would say) and your skills in whatever you came here to study. If you trust in your roots and the culture that raised you, you will not lose them; their elements are deeply seeded in you. You will not forget and you will find that your stronger English may one day give you a competitive advantage, even at home.
Another short comment. The tree you posted is interestingly shaped. Have you heard of the island of Socotra? Its a very fascinating place, I want to go there someday. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Socotra
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteRahul, your comment is really inspiring.I would like telling you some truth. When I arriving here one year ago, I was also told lots, lots of precautions which made me get overwhelmed and frightened for a long time. I even can't talk with you guys. And now, when I looked back, that was really unbelievable. All in all, so happy to have you guys.
ReplyDeleteI must say that you have written a witty blog Yuan. Like you mentioned, it is a matter of perspective. Glass half-full/half-empty scenario.The more you go with the flow and orient yourself with the various linguistic aspects, the quicker you will learn.Luckily we are in an environment where you can practice your communication skills exhaustively. :)
ReplyDeleteJust to add a small incidence.. I was talking to my parents one day when I mentioned about a lady whom I mentioned as a foreigner (as I used to do back in India) and then realised it is their native place and may be I am a foreigner here.
ReplyDelete