IRS 有書面來往(代表客戶找他們解決爭端)。 剛開始的時候他老闆開玩笑說：“不看你的落款名字，就從那麼些the， a， an, 和in， at， on這些上面的小錯誤上，就能知道這不是“native English speaker" 寫的東西！”其實這些代詞，介詞和副詞的用法， 是中國人寫(和說)英文最容易犯的毛病，也是最難改的地方。其他常犯的錯誤還有時態的混淆，人稱的混淆, 人稱的單複數和動詞單複數不匹配， 動名詞和進行時的用法區別，從句到底應該用which, who, whom, 還是 that 起頭等等, 主動被動語態的區別(經典例子："Im bored" vs "Im boring"), 以及經典的 "He", "She" 不分！這些對於土生土長的美國人是“second nature”的東西，到了我們這裡，就往往卡殼，得要多想一下，才能找到合適的搭配。 比如，到底是“He got a job at Google", 還是 "He got a job in Google"? “The God bless you", "He should make efforts", "We have done it at our last meeting", 都是很常見的錯誤。有些東西在我們看來是“無傷大雅”的小毛病，但對於美國人來講，就會覺得彆扭，久而久之形成你英文不夠好的印象。還有很多見的，比如把“its" 寫成 "its"，該用“e.g." (meaning "for example")的時候用“i.e.” (meaning "that is"), "different from" 用成 "different than" 等等。當然這些錯誤，美國人也會犯(我就經常遇到學生把“loose" 和"lose", "affect"和 "effect" 甚至"youre"和 "your"混着用，drive me nuts!
這裡隨手摘幾句我遇到看到的例子，大家來做個“改錯”練習吧：
1) The test results, therefore, can illustrate how location and strategic factors interacting to determine the performance level of an foreign enterprise in the emerging economy.
2) I was absent because I sent my friend to the hospital yesterday.
3) I prefer this assignment than the other one.
4) How to say?
5) Im going to home tomorrow.
6) China and Japan are the largest economy in East Asia.
7) To illustrate how entrepreneurs to create value in the early stages of start ups.....
8) There are not consistent findings on....
9) However, few researches focus on the explanation to the differently effeccts of .....
10) Especially in the US as the largest economy....
Palmtree: You are right, "researches" and "tardinesses" are not the right words. I guess a rule of thumb to live by is: when something sounds awkward, it is perhaps not right;).
I didn't go over all the messages posted here, so maybe someone has already pointed it out. But it's a big mistake to say "researches". "Research" is an uncountable noun, so you can say either "research" or "streams of research". Many of my Chinese and Korea students make this mistake over and over again when they write papers, to the point once during a meeting one of my American colleagues asked me, "Why does every single one of them say 'researches'in their papers?" By the look in their eyes, I can tell what they mean: This should be so obvious. But as some of you have already pointed out, this may be that obvious to us. For the same reason, it cannot be "tardinesses". It has be something like "two counts of tardiness".
昭君，pleasantries aside, allow me, if I may, to offer my 2 cents’ worth on the challenge of acquiring foreign language proficiency:
The path to mastering a non-native language can be treacherous, and at best a challenge. The main reason why colloquial (or native) English competency is hard for a foreign person to achieve is simple: language, as the saying goes, is usage. It is the constant reading, speaking, listening, thinking etc. - in short “immersion” in an English-language milieu - that will lead to proficiency. You will know that you’re on the road to proficiency when you realize you are starting to “think” in the English language. Then, and only then, will you be able to go with the “flow” and achieve full competency.
It is not an impossible feat. Just look at 大山’s (Mark Rowswell) mastery of Mandarin. Just as he has done it with Chinese, so it will be the same for us with English.
(I should at this point confess that, I too, was not born with an English mother tongue.)
請教昭君，寳媽改好的這句中：“1) The test results, therefore, can illustrate how location and strategic factors interact to determine the performance level of an foreign enterprise in the emerging economy. ”， “ an foreign enterprise"是不是應該改爲“a foreign enterprise”?
In addition to preposition (such as “of”, “in”, or “to”) and article (“the” or “a”) that are especially difficult for Chinese to master, singular or plural of a noun is another difficult thing to get familiar with. One good solution to this problem is to have a “LONGMAN English Dictionary” in which [C] (Countable) or [U] (Uncountable) is explicitly indicated for each noun. For example, it says: ---tardiness n[U].
昭君：出去一趟，回來一看，這麼多跟貼啦。 有你兒子做主，我就那麼用了，也許他們老美乍一聽有點兒彆扭，多聽聽就習慣了，就像Long time no see，他們的耳朵不也是給聽順了嘛。以後常給他們“灌輸”點兒Chinglish.
另外兩個說法也行，Two cases of tardiness equal one absence. We will count two tardiness as one absence (這裡的two tardiness，我不確定是否要複數，可是複數的話就更彆扭了（two tardinesses?)
Likewise:). I'm glad we share the same interest in music.
Coolboy: I agree that in general females have better language skills, which is one of the reasons why Chinese females have easier time in the corporate world here than their male counterparts. I wrote about this in an ealier piece, which I just added to the related link list. Your last sentence about male and female cooks really amused me - I have the same opinion on this topic:).
The rules of a language (i.e., grammar) only cover the very basics. It requires many times of practice to remember all the special cases (such as “prefer to” rather than “prefer than”) to become good at English. Females are generally better than males in learning new languages including English. This is also similar to the situation of cooking where women are generally better than men in cooking though best cookers in the world are mainly male cookers.
As I write this I am listening to David Oistrakh's superb rendition of Tchaikovsky's violin concerto (which you had earlier posted in these pages, and which I am very fortunate to have come across). Your breadth of interests and prolific writings in BOTH languages are indeed formidable.
二 參照系不對。是否再在語言上投資取決於自己是否滿足於現狀。一旦發現能時常揪出學生的語法錯誤，美國同事寫的東西也決非無懈可擊，就很容易認為夠用了。加之專業方面的壓力挑戰巨大，在這方面的投資功利明顯，產出直接與個人的事業，錢途掛鈎，誰還會再去摳語言呢。況且我們還有一個Non-native speaker 的保護傘呢。但問題是決定你的論文能否發表是那些學術刊物的編輯和REVIEWERS，決定你能 否轉正，提職，晉升是這樣那樣的委員會的學究和官僚們，而不是一般學生或閒聊的同事。因此， 你在是否用 a 還是 the 上犯的錯誤就可能是你失去人生道路上的一次重要機會的充分理由。
Haha,according to my son, you could say "Two tardies equal one absence", even though "tardy" is not a noun:). Or maybe "two cases of tardiness equal an absence".
我看見有人這麼說：“Two tardies equal one absence”，這是肯定不對的，因為tardy不是名詞。我問一個美國人，他的第一反應是，不行不行，這可不對。然後他就使勁兒想，試了很多句子，都很長。最後他又回到我說的那個句子，琢磨了琢磨，點點頭說：“那樣說也行”。哈哈，老美可真夠easy-going的。
The only different answer I'll give is for No. 6: Although many people use this expression, experts say that it should be "How do you say...", not "How to say...".
Good article. Cannot agree more. I am a fan of yours and this is my first posting. Here is my try:
1) The test results, therefore, can illustrate how location and strategic factors interact to determine the performance level of an foreign enterprise in the emerging economy.
2) I was absent because I took my friend to the hospital yesterday.
3) I prefer this assignment to the other one.
4) How to say it?
5) I'm going home tomorrow.
6) China and Japan are the largest economies in East Asia.
7) To illustrate how entrepreneurs create value in the early stages of start ups.....
8) There are no consistent findings on....
9) However, few researches focus on the explanation of the different effects of .....
