Writing English
Four months have passed since I started this blog. At first, I wondered if I was able to write correct English. I managed to write all posts in English, but my English hasn't improved yet.
The usages of articles and prepositions of English are particularly difficult for many Japanese, which, in many cases, come from Japanese language structure.
This picture was taken by my younger daughter in Shanghai. Although this Japanese is a little funny, this might be better than my English.
Writing English is frustrating for me. On the other hand, I feel, in a sense, an indefinable freedom as if I was liberated from Japanese language and culture that I grew up in for a long time when I write my blog in English.
The usages of articles and prepositions of English are particularly difficult for many Japanese, which, in many cases, come from Japanese language structure.
This picture was taken by my younger daughter in Shanghai. Although this Japanese is a little funny, this might be better than my English.
Writing English is frustrating for me. On the other hand, I feel, in a sense, an indefinable freedom as if I was liberated from Japanese language and culture that I grew up in for a long time when I write my blog in English.
I can sympathize with your feeling, plus, I have always “whether-singular-or-plural-problem”.
ReplyDeleteI’d say writing something in English is similar to composing Tanka or Haiku.
There are many restrictions in both cases.
In English I have great limitation in vocabulary and grammatical knowledge.
But we can make our shortcomings some advantages, can’t we?
Not in writing but in speech, some eloquent native speakers use too many, sometimes redundant words, while very smart and intelligent non-native ones use only small amount of words and succeed in expressing their profound ideas.
I think writing essays in English is a good training to polish up my vague thoughts and express them concisely as much as possible with my poor vocabulary.
Regarding this post, your English is better than that Japanese above.
ReplyDeleteI can understand what you mean about feeling liberated when writing in English - it's actually kind of related to what I just wrote in my own blog.
Your blog gives me good opportunities to read, think and express myself in English.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate it very much.
I have posted your blog to mine, and I wrote small thank-you-notes to my blog friends including you on April 28.
Brook san, I think so too.
ReplyDeleteI'm now sorry that I should have studied English earlier.
I was a bad student when I was young.
Thank you.
Me san, thank you for leaving your comment.
ReplyDeleteI often visit your blog, and I'm always impressed your English.
I'm reading The Reader now. Very good.
Thank you for the compliment Hiroshi-san. I've actually been here a couple of times, but was too shy to comment. You seem to have a good taste in books. I'm glad you're enjoying The Reader!
DeleteOh, by the way, I figured people would find it a bit awkward to call me 'me', so I finally thought of an online nickname.
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