What a shame it is that we spend hours a week in class talking, reading and writing in a language which will never come to use.
My parents cannot read English, heck, they barely understand Norwegian, but they have managed to live a normal life without any struggle, and so can we. We have learned the basics, we know how to say hello, bye and what is the clock. Is that not enough? Should we not ban English from our tongues? I lied. My parents, who own a Chinese restaurant, do not know how to communicate with English-talking guests or read instructions in English.
They have to trust hand gestures and illustrations whenever they meet this oh-so dangerous language, and they still curse the day they dropped out of school. Education, they say, is “vely importan, and you must keep leading until youl eyeballs hurt. ” They normally do not know what they are talking about (I vaguely remember that one time they taught me not to sit down if the seat is still hot and all butt printy, because it means that the last person who sat there has AIDS, and you do not want to have AIDS), but this one is actually a good advice.Last summer, I worked at an office in Oslo.
One of my colleagues was a German intern and he did not understand Norwegian. He did not talk English either, but he had read English books before and we would in the beginning communicate by writing sentences on a piece of paper and send it back and forth. I cannot remember the reason we did not use Facebook or any other chatting device, but it worked: he now speaks fluent English, taught himself some Norwegian words, although some of them are useless , and became good friends with a lot of the people in the organization we worked for.This is a good example on how useful reading English can be in working life.
But it is not just at the office it is important to communicate, it is important in almost every single work situation. “I can’t communicate with this guy” often means “We do not speak the same language”, so if it says on your resume that you can read or speak English well, you will automatically look more attractive as an applicant in the eyes of your potential boss. The ability to communicate with English-talking customers, business partners and cooperating organizations is highly appreciated in work life, and it has ecome a very useful ability as the world seems to be shrinking. Globalization has made the world a small place to live, and people from countries far, far away are now your neighbors because of the amazing technology: E-mail, Facebook, Twitter, Skype, Tumblr, Youtube and whatnot.
We no longer react with excitement whenever someone mentions their “friend in Spain” or “pen pal in Japan”, and it is suddenly a matter of course to know how to read English if you want a good job.My English teacher in Middle school asked me what I use to do in the shower, not because he was a pervert or anything, he just overheard a conversation I had with a classmate earlier, and I proudly answered him that I like to talk English while shampooing my hair. You see, I was madly aggressive when I was younger, and I got into a huge fight with my mom because I liked to imagine that my shower was a tardis . I wanted to read Girl, Interrupted in the tardis, but as I finished the page, the book dissolved into wet pieces of wasted money and my mom’s Asian money-is-more-important-than-air-brain exploded.
Since she did not let me read in the tardis anymore, I protested by telling my own stories in English - loudly. I do not know if this makes sense, but I believe that it has improved my English oral skills, and since I now have grown up to be an adult and am allowed to make my own decisions, I will attend to read in the shower again to improve my reading skills too. I have already mentioned Girl, Interrupted, but there are a lot of other books and such I want to read in the shower, because, besides the entertainment, gaining knowledge is the best thing about reading.If I were desperate enough, I would have printed out the whole internet and taken it with me in the shower, and as you know, a big chunk of the internet is in English.
I cannot remember what our English teachers in Primary School used to motivate us in class, but if they had told me that “if you don’t work harder, you won’t understand the magic of the internet when you grow up”, I would have read the whole Norwegian law in English ten times a day and do my homework three times before I handed it in just to avoid that horrifying destiny. Luckily, I did work hard enough and am now the master of the World Wide Web.For me, a book which is translated to another language is like a man wearing a koteka – the real deal is somewhat hidden behind something which in the first place had a good intention, but the words of a translator could never be as brilliant as the original ones by the author himself/herself. But on the other hand, to read a translated version as well as the original is like reading an epic dictionary.
This is not something I have done before, so this is not based on facts, but I think I am going to hunt down a Norwegian version of Girl, Interrupted and see if it will better my reading skills.It is weird to think about it; not being able to read English is a big disadvantage which can be a handicap in your work life, love life and, well, life. We should therefore be glad that we learn how to speak, read and write English from early age because it comes in hand nearly all the time. You do not always think about how much easier your life is or could be because of this one particular language, but my mom does, and she has finally decided to do something about her lack of reading skills, which makes me really proud, by watching all the seasons of Sex and the City with English subtitles until hel eyeballs hurt.
