The picture below represents where I came from, and why I often need help as far as English is concern. I have tried posting this on my Facebook, but haven't got any responses yet, so I decided to post it again on my blog:
Dear (Facebook) friends
(whose first language is English),
As an English teacher who learned English as a second
language, there are times when I question myself about English, and that’s when
I need to seek some helps from native speakers. So, I would appreciate it a lot
if any online or Facebook friends would
respond.
This is from Facebook. Someone posted (a saying?)“ Don’t depend too much on anyone
in this world because even your shadow
leaves you when you’re in darkness ” And here are different comments quoted:
·
2. I totally disagree
with this statement. we SHOULD be relying on each other and experience a sense
of community.
3. I am finding this
to be completely untrue. I am so thankful for my friends who are with me now in
this darkness.
4. Completely? I'd
like to see you throw a shadow in the dark...
·
5. such a sad thought!
·
6. What a downer.
·
7. gay
8. reading these negative comments is bumming me out. I think I will
listen to beth hart on youtube. peace.
9. Lighten up people, read the WORDS. Depend on others, just not TOO
much. Independence is valuable, ie..... I don't want to smoosh the spider, but
I can.
10. this sounds like someone who wants us to separate from each
other and fight each other. This sounds like dogma bullshit to me. We can only
survive through community.
Here is my response:
·
Metee Kansa It's a best advice to me when I first read it,
but after I read what others people talked about friends, I also agreed. ....
Then, I read it again because I am not an English native speaker. The phrase
" too much" makes me wonder how can it be "completely
untrue?"
My question:
When I first read the saying I liked it a lot, and I just
thought that it could be helpful to share this with my students and my fellow
people so that they would try to work harder and be able to stand on their
feet. Then I saw one comment saying that
“it is completely untrue”. I rather agreed with parts of the arguments, so I
posted my comments. Meanwhile, I got
more interested in what other people thought because I realized that I could have
missed something as far as my English was concerned. I was surprised that a few
people considered the saying so negative or even destructive. Although there are a few people saying the
saying is true and the comment number 9 seemed to share similar view with me I am not sure I understood the saying
correctly because I did not see anything negative when I first read it. What I
would like to know is whether the saying really neutral or negative
linguistically. In other words, what do
you think about the saying and the comments quoted. . In addition, I could not link the saying to
the comment “ gay” in number 7. In what
way can the saying possibly be considered ‘gay’?
Please feel free to take your time for I do not need to
get the reply straight away. Nevertheless, as an English teacher I would
appreciate your help and response for I really hope to learn
what I have missed or
misunderstood.
Thank you for your time and help.
Metee Kansa
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