argumentation

Should Everyone in Taiwan Learn English?

Over the years, government officials and educators have been instilling the importance of learning English in our people. Candidates for public service are required to pass English proficiency tests to prove their competence. Excellent English ability is also a strong advantage in resumes or when employers are considering a pay raise and promotion. It seems all the information are telling us we can’t live in today’s world without using this global language, but I think everyone should give a deep thought about why learn English and find out their personal need.

Indeed, English is the major language in business, politics and tourism all around the world, so knowing English has a lot to do with one’s worldview. And how one perceives the world has impacts on one’s reaction and decision in the society. So it makes sense that more and more employers take job applicants’ English ability into consideration. And since English serves as the medium for people to understand the world today, not only do we need a large number of translators and interpreters in several professional areas, but we should also encourage students and people of all ages to learn English.

However, what really concerns me is that the emphasis on learning English has been carried too far. Is our English ability in proportion to the amount of money, time, and social resources that have been invested in learning it? What’s worse, when school children are forced to learn a foreign language before they can use their mother tongue with confidence and appreciate the beauty of Chinese literature, they may gradually lose the interest in exploring our profound culture. So why do parents send kids to expensive bilingual schools? Besides, from kindergarten and all the way up to university, I always have one or two troubled classmates who speak fluent English but misbehave all the time. Has the focus on teaching kids English distracted parents from teaching kids disciplines?

My high school math teacher is never shy about how bad he did on English in the college entrance exam 30 years ago—he got only eight points. To this day he still has difficulty in pronouncing easy words such as “luggage”. Yet at the same time he’s also proud of the fact that he has traveled all over the globe without knowing much about English, all because he can afford an interpreter. I’m not saying learning English isn’t important by giving this example, but the world today is a complicated collaborative system based upon expertise in different fields and teamwork of all the people. When one’s talent is not in foreign language learning, why conform to what everyone is already doing—learning English?

As an English major, I have to take the required listening, speaking, reading and writing courses. However, if I’m not planning to work with or under people who speak English when I enter the workforce, or if I don’t want to travel to English-speaking countries all my life or make friends from these countries, why do I have to take the oral drill class? And if I’m not going to write a book or publish anything in English (even if I do, I don’t think I’ll sell a copy), why bother working hard on an essay? Still, as a non-native speaker, I’ll never excel native speakers in the study of literatures in English, why am I studying English Literature when Chinese and Taiwanese literature remain strange to me? My point is, language learning should be tailored to everyone’s different need. Instead of enhancing English ability at all levels, everyone needs to find their own niche.

definition

Prince/Princess Illness

Perhaps seriously influenced by cartoons at the early age, or well-read in comic books and novels, some people today behave with an aura of untrue perfection and confidence, like they are princes or princesses in real life, living in castles they imagine. Underneath these self-proclaimed princes/princesses are people who want to be at the center of the universe, but the result is usually far from what they wish for— everyone keeps his distance from them.

Guys with prince illness are extremely narcissistic. They believe appearance says everything in the chase for the opposite sex, so they do everything they can to be attractive and seductive, like wearing perfume. They’re aware that a sense of humor is the first step to get attention but their tricks really suck. They play sport not only to stay fit but also for girls’ screaming and cheering up. They tend to use some English or foreign words in their daily conversation even if they don’t have excellent linguistic ability. They think women are all into rich guys so they drive fancy cars and wear designer brands but they don’t have any personal style, because they only reproduce an ideal prince image. Since these princes exert themselves to be noticed, they forget to reflect on their inside. And when they can’t live up to the aristocratic life style of a prince, they brag.

Patients of princess illness are also narcissistic and egoistic. They believe they are born to be served and pampered so naturally everyone around them should be their subjects and at their service anytime. Whining, dropping tears, playing weak and helpless are their strategies to get people go their way. To meet the princes of their dreams, princesses need to be versatile. They learn singing, dancing, yoga, cooking, playing pianos, embroidering and all the womanly arts you can think of. It’s understandable these princesses set high expectation for their Mr. Right—maybe someone among Fortune 100—because princesses are so good at so many and their parents have invest so much on them. And since marrying the right one is what they live for, princesses never have real girl friends.

A classmate of mine is a seriously-ill "princess". She always approaches me for a certain purpose: either when she needs a ride or when she needs advice on something. I did help her for the first few times, but soon I realized I was treated like her personal driver without any pay. Whenever I sent her to a place, she would keep me waiting or expect me to be of further help without considering that I had my part-time job to do. I never hesitate in giving people suggestions, yet she always responds to my opinions like her ideas are much better. Once her birthday was around the corner, she wrote down a wish list for we classmates to share the price and send her as gifts. "This is how I celebrate birthday with my royal family," she justified. She claims she has a 30-something wealthy boyfriend, but we all suspect he’s a non-existent dream lover she fabricates.

In spite of their unwelcome personalities, since these princes and princesses of modern times are so "impressive," everyone around them has long been accustomed to the way they are: self-centered, narcissistic and pretentious. We have no more comments on whatever they do that should have aroused criticism. It’s just that they can hardly sustain friendship or relationship, because no one would share inner feelings with princes and princesses who wear masks and take advantage of people all the time.

20090529

I participate in the singing contest this Thursday. My voice is really bad, so is my singing. What's worse, I have serious stage fright. When I was on the stage, the light from the sound effect room in the back of the conference room was so strong that I felt like partially blind when i was singing. But somehow from the audience's screaming and shouting i know my performance was a success. I guess the judges probably gave me a zero for my singing and 100 for my dancing. (but the weird thing is, my dancing is always really bad, too)

I know my performance and ideas could be copied and stolen because I heard that some classmates going to KTV that night sang MY SONG. So I'm determined to come up with more signature songs, maybe one day I can perform my signature songs in the year-end dinner party if i'm working in a international company like Honhai, and then maybe get some scouts' attention or attract some successful entrepreneurs like the way 曾馨瑩 attracts 郭台銘.

20090522

Last weekend I went to the young designer's exhibition in Taipei world trade center. Many graduates this year of industrial design came up with bicycles or bicycle accessories because cycling is hot. I've never had a really great experience of watching the yearly YDE, so i'm here to write down some do's and don'ts for a better experience next time:

Arrive early so I can take my time watching the show.
Bring food and water with me so I can stay hours in the center.
Watch the show on weekdays.
Visit stands of the art schools in which I'm interested first, and roam around the rest.
Go with friends/families but watch the show on my own, i don't like listening to others' opnions when i'm still trying to grasp designers' ideas.
Collect cool designers' business cards.
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20090515

I have bought more than 7 books online this semester but I haven't finish reading any one of them. Our teacher Ms. Chu also gave everyone of us a book (translation : Yesterday's Laborer, Today's Google Manager) in compensation for the meal she's not going to buy us (everybody complains), so I have a lot of books going on right now.

I buy books in which I believe I can find wisdoms or answers to my life or simply out of curiosity. I'm not a fast reader. When I find a sentence that means a lot to me, I stop and keep thinking about it. It's really a great transfornation that I start collecting books because all my life before I bought magazines or beauty books only(no wonder i'm this shallow today) For the first time in my life I realize I can be attracted to the power of words(not Word Power, i hate it), and i feel good about it.

Speaking of books, last weekend I bought my mom a cook book with pictures all looking tasty and healthy to me. I bought the book in name of mother's day celebration, but in fact I expect my mom to try the recipes so I can eat those, for I know nothing about cooking. Will my mom cook as delicious as those pictures seem to me? Fingers crossed.

20090508

Back to reality, the idea of quitting school pops out in my head from time to time, at different stages of my school life. Actually this idea comes back to my mind again, in this time of recession, everyone is afraid of losing jobs and some students are leaving school because of their unemployed parents!

Well, I'm just saying. I cherish the fact that I'm still studying at school and thankfully I still have two years left before graduation. I know I have the right attitude, but i need to get rid of some bad habits(being late is one of them, but it takes time to improve, i can't promise being on time for this composition class from now on....), work on something I don't have, try something i never did before(what are they? shhh......i won't reveal). In fact, professional area is my last concern now, and I'm confident I'll never be eliminated however bad the economy is.

20090501

I always say that I have to find a breadwinner to support me and my brother is my first choice, yet recently i have a feeling that I got more potential to be successful than he does. I'm not as good as he is in getting good grades but I'm much more talented, motivated and I know I'm good at discoverying problems and take actions to solve them. Since my brother is now officially the student of department of accounting in ntu, I think I can take advantage of that and cooperate with him. Maybe I can hire him as my personal assisstant/accountant if I'm a super career woman at job.

But what if I'm laid off no matter how hard I work? well then, I still have a highly educated brother, a sister who is a civil servant and a responsible brother-in-law to depend upon. What if my family are seperated by some irresistible force? Then I'll find a friend to live together and cooperate.

My bottom line is I can give up the mundanity and be a bald headed nun sweeping the floor, helping and lecturing people in a buddhist temple , if I'm all alone, unemployed, bankrupt in this world. Honestly, I'm not afraid of letting go everything.
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