Torsten, let’s continue here.
I post a new so that someone else may join us.
First of all, I’d like to talk about “IC”. It stands for Internal Combustion. An IC engine usually includes gasoline, diesel and some other types.
I formerly said I guess there be may some problems with my Internet, I mean that my connection condition was not very good.
Being a student in Beijing is a wonderful thing, Beijing is the Capital, so there are many different opportunities. For instance, famous persons, like Bill Gates, may give a presentation here. And I’m so lucky to have I joined a presentation given by Gates.
I’ve been learning English in China. I learn by High School & Uni courses.
You said “I’m impressed by your English”, what do you really mean. I don’t understand it very well. Then what’s your impression.
I know TOEIC by its ads. I’ll take it in Beijing, in late May, maybe.
And about the book, I met it by chance. I intend to introduce it to my friends. But I just begin to follow the way mentioned in the book.
Looking forward to your reply.
rEDgHOST
P.S.: You left out one of my questions, the questions about you. I guess you’re a German, right? And can you tell me more about you.
Hello again rEDgHOST. You have chosen quite an unusual nickname - does it have any specific meaning? So, IC stands for Internal Combustion. According to your definition, any engine that runs on fuel is an internal combustion engine. Is that correct? If there are internal combustion engines, are there external combustion engines too? This question might sound silly, but I wonder why these engines are called internal combustion engines instead of simply combustion engines.
Did I understand you right, you have attended a presentation given by Bill Gates? If so when was the presentation and what was it about? Speaking of Bill Gates giving presentations in China, what do you think of the current discussion about the fact that Google has agreed to censor its results in China, adhering to the country’s free-speech restrictions in return for better access to the Chinese Internet market? As for the expression I’m quite impressed by your English - this means, I think your English is very good given the fact that your mother tongue is Chinese which is completely different from English. You have asked about my nationality, yes, I’m German and my job is to communicate with such interesting people like you.
I’m quite surprised to hear that the TOEIC test is now available in China too. Do you have any further information about how many students take the TOEIC in your country, etc.? Also, could you please tell me more about your English course? Who are your teachers, what type of materials are you using and how many students are in your group?
Let’s see who else will join our conversation.
Talk to you soon,
Torsten[YSaerTTEW443543]
Hi, Torsten.
I find that it’s a very terrific thing to communicate with you.
About my nickname, it doesn’t have any specific meaning. But the way I spell it is unusual, the head of each word is lowercase, and the rest are capital. Because I ever learnt to crack software, and some good crackers adopt this. So I do like them.
About the engine, of course, there are external combustion engines. Steam engine is a type of external combustion engines. You can’t simply use combustion engines, there’re some differences between the two. Combustion exists in both of them, but Combustion is inside the cylinder in the Internal one while Combustion is outside in the External one. In the Internal one, the fuel pushes the piston, and in the External one, the steam does it.
About the presentation, Bill gived it on July 1, 2004. Its title is seamless compute. But I didn’t understand it well, I’m not majoring in Computer Science. I got a ticket just because I helped the MSTC(MicroSoft Technology Club) make two pieces of posters.
About the TOEIC, China began to give the test two years ago. I’d like to give you a URL, [url]http://www.toeictest.com.cn/default.asp[/url], there you can find more. But its content is in Chinese. Our English books are mainly published by Chinese press. We also use some books like Family Album USA. And our teacher are mainly Chinese, in high school we have a foreign teacher, a Canadian. And last term, our oral teacher was an American. But unfortunately, our group is a little big, more than 20.
Regards
rEDgHOST
So where and how did you learn to crack software and how are you using your skills? Thanks a lot for explaining the difference between internal and external combustion engines. What kind of job are you going to do once you have graduated from university? The TOEIC website you referenced is also available in English (there is also a Korean and a Japanese version), it’s interesting to see how ETS is promoting in the TOEIC in China.
What about the other students at your university? How many of them are from abroad? Have you ever travelled to a Europe?
Also, could please tell me more about the contents of your study program? What subjects have you covered so far and what do you like best?
Good afternoon, Torsten. It’s 4:11pm Beijing time.
I learnt to crack by myself, and I often discuss the topic in a certain forum or with some other persons. There are many materials about it online. But my skill is not good, I only can crack some simple software. I had learnt it for about 1.5 years from May, 2003. I have dropped out of it now, since I don’t have too much time. I’d like to be an engineer, and I want to work in a German company, like BOSCH, BMW, etc. I like the attitude of German towards work, very scrupulous, right? And what do you German think about BOSCH or BMW? Which German company do you think is the best one?
And the number of the students from abroad is about several hundred. Most of them are from central Asia. Just I guess, from their appearances.
I haven’t gone abroad ever. Maybe when I work, I’ll have a chance to get to Germany. Also, maybe I can meet you then.
About my study, our subjects are - Engine Structure, Engine Design, Engine Theory, Vehicle Structure, Vehicle Design, Vehicle Theory, Math, English, etc. I’m not sure about my spelling. I like the courses about engine and vehicle, I also like English. And I learnt a little German, too.
Regards
rEDgHOST
Hello rEDgHOST, I have been following your posts here and I’m glad that we now have a member from China whom we can share experiences with. I must be quite hard for you learn English because it’s a completely different concept from character based-languages. One of our English professors also studied Chinese and he told us that there is only one tense in your language and that you distinguish between times by adding a time signal word. Is that true? Anyway, I wanted to tell you that your English is pretty good and the most important thing is to use the language and become aware of patterns. That’s why I hope it’s OK if you point out to you that the verb give is irregular. This means the form gived does not exist. Instead you should use the simple past form gave. I hope I don’t come across as unpolite, I don’t want to create the impression that I’m cleverer than you. My English is far from perfect, when I write something I know it might sound funny at times but I can express my ideas and when a native speaker responds I can copy their expressions and phrases. It’s a bit like playing tennis, you play the ball and it comes back to you and you hit it again and everytime you get faster and better. So welcome to our forum and I hope we can meet often.
Andreana
Thank you, Andreana.
Thanks for point out the mistake. I made a so stupid mistake.
And I don’t think there are any concepts of tense in Chinese. Of course, I’m not a expert of Chinese. I only use Chinese, not study it. We do distinguish between times by adding a time signal word, and the verbs in Chinese don’t have changes in different tenses. There are give, gave, given in English while we have only one form of give in Chinese.
Andreana, I’m so happy to communicate with you.
At late, thanks again.
Regards
rEDgHOST
I hope it’s OK if I make some suggestions regarding your sentences:
Thanks for pointing out the mistake. I made such a stupid mistakes.
Actually, I don’t think there are any stupid mistakes. You are learning English and as long as you are aware of how you can improve your grammar, you will make progress.
I’m not an expert of the Chinese language.
I only use Chinese but I don’t study it.
Finally, thanks again.
OK, on to some more questions. I read in a previous post of yours that you want to work for a German company. I think it is good if you are trying to get a job abroad because you will get an insight into a different culture and that will broaden your views. Do you have any particular company in mind?
Speak to you soon,
Andreana
Sorry, Jamie (K),
I post the reply so late, since I am a little busy these days. And I don’t understand the steam engine well, either. I’ve never learnt more about it. I only know little simple concepts.
Regards
rEDgHOST
Absolutely don’t study English is a book written by a college professor based in Korea and it’s he. His idea is based on a theory called “input hypothesis” and the hypothesis was already there before he even wrote the book. But I don’t think we can really learn a language well by watching Hollywood movies. Well, my opinion anyway.
Hello cooliegirly,
Yes, I also thingk that it’s impossible to learn English well only by watching Hollywood movies. But you can realize some American culture. In my opinion, the cultrue of English native speakers is very important if you want to understand them well. Also, maybe it’s much far from the real life of American sometimes, I don’t know, since I’ve never been in U.S. By the way, I never heard about “input hypothesis” before. Can you tell me more about it ?
Look forward to your reply.
rEDgHOST
Hi REDgHost, basically the input model works like this: You can only produce a sentence if that sentence has been stored in your head before. This means, you first have to get sufficient input before you can produce output. In other words, you have to read and listen to a lot of correct English sentences before you can produce correct English sentences. This model looks very simple but it makes perfect sense. Of course there is more to learning a language than just reading and listening to a great number of sentences but I think the importance of input is often underestimated. When I moved to Canada with my family I started learning English in a class with many other people. Most of them thought they can use the grammar of their native language and simply put English words into their sentences. I remember there was one girl who would always say Me is very cold instead of I’m very cold.
So based on input hypothesis, it is not a good idea for teachers to make students speak when students are not ready for it. And when you find yourself not understanding all of what your teacher is saying in class, it’s a good idea to still pay attention in class instead of doing something else in class or even dropping the class, because the “non-understandable” part is actually going into your brain and become your input unconsciously, eventually you will find yourself saying something you don’t think you have learned.
About American movies, they don’t represent what the majority of Americans are like, but a group of rather liberal artists living in this one city. Same as that Hong Kong action films don’t represent what an average day in Hong Kong is like, oh, wait…what happened yesterday doesn’t count!
You’re sure right about that! I remember one day when I came out with a sentence in Czech that seemed much too sophisticated for me to produce. Then I backtracked and said it in my old stupid way. My friends said, “No! You said it right the first time!” I couldn’t figure out where I’d gotten it.
When they were in college, my sister and her friends were having a lot of trouble with male students from one very repressive country in the Middle East. The guys had seen a lot of American movies somewhere, and from this some of them thought they could just walk up to any random American girl and ask her into bed. (Some of the guys would talk to them for 10 or 15 minutes first.) The girls refused, of course, and the guys usually took it as a very personal insult, and would get very angry. I never understood it until I was corresponding with one guy in the Middle East and he asked me, “Is it true that in America you can sleep with a girl half an hour after you meet her, just like in the movies?” Then I finally understood the adjustment problems of those foreign students.
American movies are full of all kinds of strange ideas that most Americans don’t have. And I noticed when I lived overseas that many of the best American movies don’t seem to get to other countries.
I’ve met foreigners who were surprised when they found out that only 13% of the US population is African-American. From our movies and TV shows, they thought it had to be at least 40%.
But I don’t think we can really learn a language well by watching Hollywood movies. Well, my opinion anyway.