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Fifi - 2017-02-11
In response to But wait! (heretosay)

English is my second language and I cringed at every line.

What helped me is remembering that my native language is much, much worse. Still, when it comes to English, I am a proponent of simplification. I think it's Taffy on this board who does not like the simplified American spelling of some words (neighbor vs neighbour for example) because his mind is stuck in the flowery19th century. I choose the future and I choose gradual and persistent simplification of English. The same way I crawled out of the Victorian dress, furniture and architectural taste hole where I was stuck for many years - I now enjoy modern architecture, furniture and fashion - the same way a modern mind can crawl out of medieval English and start enjoying modern minimalist English.

I had to stop at 3/4 of your list/poem, not because of the pain I felt (I did feel pain, only language students can understand that), but because it could screw my mind for ever: I am at an age where I don't learn new tricks easily, mostly in pronunciation and many of the words on that list already have a volatile status in my mind: One day I get them OK, another day not. If I am stressed or if I think of the damage that trump is persently doing to the US on the international scene, I don't get them OK. Visualizing them on one line is dangerous for me: By confirming the difficulty, it lowers my self confidence and my hard-gained pronunciation automatisms.

Messages In This Thread
But wait! -- heretosay -- 2017-02-11
Re: But wait! -- Fifi -- 2017-02-11
View Thread · Previous · Next Return to Index › Re: But wait!





Go to another board -