Photo by Jazmin Quaynor on Unsplash
This morning, as I spent ten minutes to review some Thai phrases from a website, I suddenly remember several strange incidents happened in school when I was learning English as a second language. I can’t remember exactly when this happened, but it could be when I was a forth or fifth grader right before middle school.
As you know, English, or any foreign language, is usually taught with phrases plus grammar rules, rarely with content involving different customs or different cultures. Most of us just treated English as a boring subject of memorization and never thought that a new logic or a new way of thinking should be considered. Then one day, the incomprehensible way of the English speaking people inevitably intruded on our simplified way of dealing with its language.
There was the simple problem of giving an answer to a question, “don’t you like this book?” In many Asian countries, this question is answered by “yes” to agree with the question that one doesn’t like this book and “no” to disagree with the question that one does like the book. However to native English speakers, the answers are completely opposite. “No” to indicate dislike and “yes” to indicate like. Most of us didn’t understand how this could happen. The teacher couldn’t explain–she was very young and tried hard to assume an authoritarian tone, especially towards questions she couldn’t answer. “Just memorize it.” She chastised us and teased us for being lazy.
There were also words like “unbelievable” and “incredible”, which puzzled us exceedingly. As you know, the etiquette of many cultures dictates that one has to be very respectful to elders and even neighbors. Even if you don’t believe a person, it is never allowed to say you don’t believe him to his face. Or even behind his back. When the word is used, it is quite formal and very severe. It is beyond our comprehension that English not only creates a commonly used word “unbelievable”, but also makes fun of it to change its meaning to the opposite. Such a transformation from a serious insult to a loud praise is very much against our common sense and daily reasoning. Of course, the teacher scolded us into accepting it. If we ever raised a question, she would question our work ethic and our suitability for advancement.
As you know, many exams are designed to prey on students’ weaknesses and inevitably these incomprehensible items appeared on the important standard exams to decide if a person can go to a good middle school or a bad one. The standard exams are usually harder than the school exam and trickier. If one just remembers the rules, it is very easy to be deceived by the exams’ clever disguise. One of my peers is the son of a farmer. I was attending the affiliated primary school in a small college my mother was working in. It’s a rural college and the farmers’ children in the nearby two villages also came to attend our school.
I already forget the name of the farmer’s son. Let’s just say his name is Hyn Junior and his father’s name is Hyn Senior. Hyn failed most of the tricky questions, which would destine him for a bad middle school in town. There were no middle school in our area and all middle school students had to take public bus to go into the rural town which is located five miles away.
The farmer came to our school to argue his son’s scores and he was distinctively angry about his son’s English exam. It didn’t help that the young English teacher was very arrogant towards the farmer, dismissing him as an illiterate, which just added more fuel to the flame. The farmer was actually very intelligent. He pulled out the exam paper and pointed to the tricky parts and asked the English teacher the dreadful question “why”. The English teacher couldn’t answer and she could only say the farmer’s son was lazy and unmotivated.
The farmer protested by sitting outside our English teacher’s office, but to no avail. The system was unfair and rigid. If one was treated badly by the system, one could only swallow one’s own tears and live with it.
The next Monday, when we came to school, we found that all the desks in our classroom were missing, windows smashed, the door unhinged. And inside the classroom was a huge pile of manure.
The perpetrator was never found although everybody knew who he was.
Haoyan Do 
When I was teaching English in China and Korea, I always noticed that the cultural aspects were missing. At least a lot of Western books were translated in Korean, so the Koreans can understand Western culture if one wanted to do so. I would say China would be a lot more difficult since, well you know . . .. censorship.
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That’s so true. Not being able to access information that’s really useful to one’s growth is the biggest hurdle to one’s development.
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I so enjoyed this story because it is such an accurate description of what it’s like learning a second language. It’s so much more complicated than the teacher bothers to explain and things like tone, environment, situation etc. make a huge difference which is difficult to teach.
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That’s so true. The language education is so inadequate. Fortunately now there are so many language resources on internet, which are enabling me to just learn language by myself. It is so much fun this way and I can learn from many different resources too.
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Yup I’ve found learning on my own a lot more fun too. I also try to watch movies and TV shows in that language to help understand how native speakers talk.
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That’s so true. You remind me of getting some Thai video’s somewhere to watch. LOL. Learning on my own is so much fun as I only spend 10 minutes or 15 min each day and it is not a burden. I also try to explore different resources to make learning more fun. It is really fun. I can’t believe I didn’t try this before.
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Interestingly amazing story, as always! I wonder what the farmer’s son is doing now. Ofcourse, you won’t have any update after all these years, but it’s sad his scores destined him to a substandard middle school. “Don’t you like this book?” Lol. Reminds me of one of your older stories in which the Asian man always answers “yes” to everything and nearly got caught by the police (until Lisa rescued him) 😜
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LOL. I wish I know how the farmer’s son is doing now, but I don’t. It is true that parents have to fight tooth and nail for the kids to get into good schools. The system is really unfair.
You are right. We tend to say “yes” more in a language we don’t familiar with. I don’t know why, but that is what happens.
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Wow. Yes, I think it’s fairly obvious who did it. This really interested me because I have always had a hard time learning another language but I think the approach was wrong. Just memorizing words and phrases isn’t enough, there is the cultural aspect.
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Yes, you are right on the spot about this. The cultural aspect and the different way of thinking has to be a factor. Yes, too bad many language education just concentrates on memorization, vocab, and grammar, which suck all the fun out of a language. LOL.
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Your example of “incredible” is a good one. Usually the “in” negates the word that follows, e.g., inactive, incapable. But in words like incoming, indent, and incriminate, the “in” basically makes the word a synonym with coming, dent, and criminate as far as I can tell. I can sympathize with anyone becoming unhinged studying the language and burying it in manure.
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Wow, funny you say this. I really had problem grasping these words. There seems to have something in my mind to refuse to acknowledge the presence of such an incredible presence of words like that. Still they exist to make English more fun to some and more burdensome for others. LOL.
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Nice story..
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thank you.
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That’s a great story! I love the details
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Thank you very much. Love your comments always.
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You’re welcome 😊
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Don’t you like this book? WOW WOW…. That’s pretty confusing to be answered only with yes or no.
Very well described!
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yes, that is true. I will say the same thing. LOL.
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