KDU Ausmat EALD Jan 11 students under Ms. Santha, yeah... this is our blog....
Wednesday, 23 February 2011
The Relative Advantages of Learning My Language-Amy Choy
Please write your comments on this short story which Ms. Santha had read to us last week. Do remember that your comment ought to be constructive and be between 50 and 100 words
Personally, I believe the story to be a little irrelevant. Based on my personal experiences, I was never truly close to my grandparents, least of all my grandfather who speaks scarce English, mostly hokkien of which I am no expert on. Besides, he usually speaks only to give advice which I have never truly given much thought to because I was a kid back then. Now, he is but a few years departed and I honestly cannot say I would change my mind about my language or gain impetus to learn it as a result of regret since I have been ingrained in English as my first language. I admire the writer/persona though for taking the initiative to achieve her own goals. I believe we should all have such an initiative in everything we do.
In my opinion, the grandfather must be hurt when their grandchildren behave like that, I mean before he got the short-term memory lost. Well my grandparents don't care much about us(my siblings and I) so I always wanted the love from them. My dad's side, both of them passed away and my mother's side don't really care about us. So I understand how she regrets it. So she wants to treasure her mother's tongue in the memory of her grandfather. If it is me, I will do the same. I love my mother's tongue which is Tamil. It is wonderful to know so many languages.:D Cheers!
For me, I felt that the story was very sad. I personally have both of my grandparents alive so I cant really relate to that, but we are very close to each other even as I don’t really understand what they are talking about most of the time, so I believe that you do not really need to understand someone's language fully to have a meaningful relationship with them. With that said, I have to admire the author’s decision to take an initiative into learning her grandparent’s mother tongue like what imaginia1993 said. I would probably not feel impelled to learn my grandparents’ language as she does , but I truly admire her willingness to take the initiative.
I think it's a good thing that the writer at least want to learn and know about her own mother tongue in the end.Even though it is late for her to show interest in learning that language, it is better late than never. Some people take time to realize until they lose somebody they care and maybe some of them never realize till the end. My mother tongue should be probably malay.My mom side able to speak java, but i just know the basic or almost very little things about java language. Although I'm not so good with that language i will pick it up slowly because learning never stops. I'm happy for the writer to find out about her language lastly because it means she still care.
In my opinion, the story turned out as i expected. Her grandparent dies and she realizes her mistake. At least she starts to turn over a new leaf and put on some effort learning how to speak in her mother's tongue. It is sad to see her realize her mistake after the grandparent die. Thus, we should always appreciate our grandparent and our mother's tongue.
After been thinking for quite so time in recalling the short story, I understand how the author feels and what she is doing now is similar like what I am doing currently which is learning my mother tongue. I have a grandaunt whom just past away last year also suffering from short term memory aka Alzheimer like the author's grandpa. Every time I visit her, she will be saying the same old story again and again but I did not take it seriously or talk to her much as I did not master my mother tongue very well but I always nod my nod my head at what she saying. However I regret doing so because she saying those stories has a moral value behind it but it did not manage to deliver to me. After her death, I decided to speak my mother tongue more frequently and it helps me a lot in communicating with both my grandmas!!
I suppose a more fitting title would've been something along the lines of "you never know what you've got until its gone". Back on topic now. Maybe as a child, its hard to see why do you have to learn another language. When I was younger, I was forced to learn my mothertongue, Chinese, too. Back then, I curse my fate that made me suffer through day after day of brain-shattering language learning as my main language was English. But now, I understand that there are quite a number of advantages in learning my mothertongue. (one of them is being able to read several manga translations that are only available in Chinese, but I guess you don't want to hear about that.) But the writer came through in the end and learnt her mothertongue successfully and for that, I am happy for her.
I think the story is a rather sad one. The fact that the author wasn't kind to her grandfather and regretted later when he died reminds us of an important lesson to respect and treat our elders well. It's a good thing that she takes the initiative to learn her language in the end rather than ignore it as she did before. This story somehow have reminded me of my late great grandmother(dad's grandmother) whom just passed away last year. She would have been 95 years old this year. The experience and knowledge she gained throughout life had taught me a lot. And I felt privileged to hear it all from her. If I did not master my mother tongue I would have not understand a word she said, and would have regret like the writer is now.
In my opinion, I think that what the writer did at last was right. In this case, she should somehow be proud of her own background and race. It is true that in this modern generation, most of us use english as a medium of communication as it is accepted worldwide and can be understood by most people. But we should also at least have some knowledge of our own mother tongue. For instance, I speak english all the time because my parents are english educated. I admit that I cannot read chinese but I can understand and speak (although not fluently). There are people who have totally no idea about their mother tongue language. I cannot imagine a British who cannot understand english. So it is important that we take the initiative to learn and pick up some of the skills - it doesn't really matter whether it is speaking or understanding it.
In my perspecive,I feel how the writer is feeling because i to had a grandmother who underwent the same problem(Dementia, Alzheimer's).She was a former headmistress so she used to be my personal tuition teacher up till i was form 2.I spent 14 years complaining to my mum on how my granny was a nag and how she forced me to study and complete certain tasks.When she was diagnosed with Alzheimers,i was only 15 at that time.she stopped teaching me and she started deteriorating massively in that one year.Currently my granny is still alive but she has lost most vocal abilities and is in a world of her own.I feel that i was not as a good a grandson as she was a grandmother to me.Im trying my best now to compensate for all the time that i spent complaining and fighting with her.Moral of the story is you have to appreciate everything and everyone around you because if you dont and they are not around, than its to late to regret.
I can relate to the story in some ways as the bond I had with my grandmother was strong but sometimes had it's rocky patches. She passed away towards the end of May this year while we were all asleep. She was the only grandparent I knew. How do you think it affected me, then? I'm not an expressive person. My propensity for treating heartache with complete disregard compels me to be robotic when it comes to anguish. It's odd, really. I don't show what I feel at the moment I feel it the most. Just because I don't talk about her much to my friends and family, just because my wails of grief were muted and I tried my best to keep my composure, doesn't make me any less affected than everyone else. I've never experienced losing a direct family member before; I don't know how to deal with the agony of saying goodbye to someone whose presence I've (regretfully) taken for granted. The easiest way to deal is, ultimately, to tell myself that I won't deal with it. That's how it is. I deal by not dealing. But I miss her every single day. Every single part of me aches to have her back. The only people who understand how I feel are the members of my family.
This is the woman who taught me how to braid my hair. The woman who woke me up every morning so that I could catch Popeye on Cartoon Network. The woman who watched and took great care of me as my parents worked. We would watch Bold and the Beautiful reruns in the afternoon and take naps on the couch right in front of the television. As I grew older the routine changed. I got busy with life. I started to take care of her when my parents went on their holidays, buying her lunch, making sure the maid cooks her dinner. She was never lonely. She had all of us. She was my last living grandparent.
It hurts, yes, but one day I will be able to look back and deal with this depression the right way.
This story relates a lot of my current situation. My grandmother is currently having an Alzheimer's disease.She easily forget about the thing she did,for just like 2 to 3 minutes ago.It is sad to see her having that disease.She cannot even recognize me anymore,even though I am her eldest grandson.Sometimes,I feel annoyed the fact that she cannot remember me well enough.From young,I pick up her mother dialect,that is 'hakka'.I cannot speak good 'hakka' even though i tried my best,but I gave up for now.So,I really hope that I can turn over a new leaf.Appreciate my grandmother while she is still alive and try to pick up the dialect,which is slowly fading away in my family.
At first, the writer was not interested in learning her own mother tongue. But at the end, she realized her mistake and decided to learn her own mother tongue.It is good thing actually.In my point of view, It depends on where you live, I guess.If you are an Indian in a village, English will be not of much use.If you are an Indian who are living in Australia, most of the people will be speaking English.Thus, in that kind of situation we have to give more priority to English than our mother tongue.I would never say English is more important than our mother tongue.Both languages are equally important.English is an international language and it will benefit us greatly.But knowing our mother tongue can benefit us in many ways too.
At the beginning of the story, it shows that the writer do not learn her own mother tongue well. She will just prefer other languages than her mother tongue. However, I feel that mother tongue is very important as it can be a good communication tool with grandparents. Besides that, our mother tongue may also help us to tighten up the relationship bond in our family. So, there is no any excuse for us to ignore our mother tongue as well.
The story teaches us to appreciate our love ones and try to communicate with them as much as you can when they are still around, do not regret when they are gone but do not stay in grief for too long as life must go on and learning ones mother language shows the identity of one.
Personally, I believe the story to be a little irrelevant. Based on my personal experiences, I was never truly close to my grandparents, least of all my grandfather who speaks scarce English, mostly hokkien of which I am no expert on. Besides, he usually speaks only to give advice which I have never truly given much thought to because I was a kid back then. Now, he is but a few years departed and I honestly cannot say I would change my mind about my language or gain impetus to learn it as a result of regret since I have been ingrained in English as my first language. I admire the writer/persona though for taking the initiative to achieve her own goals. I believe we should all have such an initiative in everything we do.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, the grandfather must be hurt when their grandchildren behave like that, I mean before he got the short-term memory lost. Well my grandparents don't care much about us(my siblings and I) so I always wanted the love from them. My dad's side, both of them passed away and my mother's side don't really care about us. So I understand how she regrets it. So she wants to treasure her mother's tongue in the memory of her grandfather. If it is me, I will do the same. I love my mother's tongue which is Tamil. It is wonderful to know so many languages.:D Cheers!
ReplyDeleteNur Farhanah
56950
For me, I felt that the story was very sad. I personally have both of my grandparents alive so I cant really relate to that, but we are very close to each other even as I don’t really understand what they are talking about most of the time, so I believe that you do not really need to understand someone's language fully to have a meaningful relationship with them. With that said, I have to admire the author’s decision to take an initiative into learning her grandparent’s mother tongue like what imaginia1993 said. I would probably not feel impelled to learn my grandparents’ language as she does , but I truly admire her willingness to take the initiative.
ReplyDeleteshanine chan ,56887
ReplyDeleteI think it's a good thing that the writer at least want to learn and know about her own mother tongue in the end.Even though it is late for her to show interest in learning that language, it is better late than never. Some people take time to realize until they lose somebody they care and maybe some of them never realize till the end.
ReplyDeleteMy mother tongue should be probably malay.My mom side able to speak java, but i just know the basic or almost very little things about java language. Although I'm not so good with that language i will pick it up slowly because learning never stops. I'm happy for the writer to find out about her language lastly because it means she still care.
Iman Wahab, 56791
In my opinion, the story turned out as i expected. Her grandparent dies and she realizes her mistake. At least she starts to turn over a new leaf and put on some effort learning how to speak in her mother's tongue. It is sad to see her realize her mistake after the grandparent die. Thus, we should always appreciate our grandparent and our mother's tongue.
ReplyDeleteAfter been thinking for quite so time in recalling the short story, I understand how the author feels and what she is doing now is similar like what I am doing currently which is learning my mother tongue. I have a grandaunt whom just past away last year also suffering from short term memory aka Alzheimer like the author's grandpa. Every time I visit her, she will be saying the same old story again and again but I did not take it seriously or talk to her much as I did not master my mother tongue very well but I always nod my nod my head at what she saying. However I regret doing so because she saying those stories has a moral value behind it but it did not manage to deliver to me. After her death, I decided to speak my mother tongue more frequently and it helps me a lot in communicating with both my grandmas!!
ReplyDeleteFong Wai-Ki 56715
(help kiki.hehe):D
I suppose a more fitting title would've been something along the lines of "you never know what you've got until its gone". Back on topic now. Maybe as a child, its hard to see why do you have to learn another language. When I was younger, I was forced to learn my mothertongue, Chinese, too. Back then, I curse my fate that made me suffer through day after day of brain-shattering language learning as my main language was English. But now, I understand that there are quite a number of advantages in learning my mothertongue.
ReplyDelete(one of them is being able to read several manga translations that are only available in Chinese, but I guess you don't want to hear about that.)
But the writer came through in the end and learnt her mothertongue successfully and for that, I am happy for her.
Cheong Kah Yan, 56726
I think the story is a rather sad one.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that the author wasn't kind to her grandfather and regretted later when he died reminds us of an important lesson to respect and treat our elders well. It's a good thing that she takes the initiative to learn her language in the end rather than ignore it as she did before.
This story somehow have reminded me of my late great grandmother(dad's grandmother) whom just passed away last year. She would have been 95 years old this year. The experience and knowledge she gained throughout life had taught me a lot. And I felt privileged to hear it all from her. If I did not master my mother tongue I would have not understand a word she said, and would have regret like the writer is now.
Neng Jadd-Menn 56885
In my opinion, I think that what the writer did at last was right. In this case, she should somehow be proud of her own background and race. It is true that in this modern generation, most of us use english as a medium of communication as it is accepted worldwide and can be understood by most people. But we should also at least have some knowledge of our own mother tongue. For instance, I speak english all the time because my parents are english educated. I admit that I cannot read chinese but I can understand and speak (although not fluently). There are people who have totally no idea about their mother tongue language. I cannot imagine a British who cannot understand english. So it is important that we take the initiative to learn and pick up some of the skills - it doesn't really matter whether it is speaking or understanding it.
ReplyDeleteIn my perspecive,I feel how the writer is feeling because i to had a grandmother who underwent the same problem(Dementia, Alzheimer's).She was a former headmistress so she used to be my personal tuition teacher up till i was form 2.I spent 14 years complaining to my mum on how my granny was a nag and how she forced me to study and complete certain tasks.When she was diagnosed with Alzheimers,i was only 15 at that time.she stopped teaching me and she started deteriorating massively in that one year.Currently my granny is still alive but she has lost most vocal abilities and is in a world of her own.I feel that i was not as a good a grandson as she was a grandmother to me.Im trying my best now to compensate for all the time that i spent complaining and fighting with her.Moral of the story is you have to appreciate everything and everyone around you because if you dont and they are not around, than its to late to regret.
ReplyDeleteNivedhan Naysaduray
56665
I can relate to the story in some ways as the bond I had with my grandmother was strong but sometimes had it's rocky patches. She passed away towards the end of May this year while we were all asleep. She was the only grandparent I knew. How do you think it affected me, then? I'm not an expressive person. My propensity for treating heartache with complete disregard compels me to be robotic when it comes to anguish. It's odd, really. I don't show what I feel at the moment I feel it the most. Just because I don't talk about her much to my friends and family, just because my wails of grief were muted and I tried my best to keep my composure, doesn't make me any less affected than everyone else. I've never experienced losing a direct family member before; I don't know how to deal with the agony of saying goodbye to someone whose presence I've (regretfully) taken for granted. The easiest way to deal is, ultimately, to tell myself that I won't deal with it. That's how it is. I deal by not dealing. But I miss her every single day. Every single part of me aches to have her back. The only people who understand how I feel are the members of my family.
ReplyDeleteThis is the woman who taught me how to braid my hair. The woman who woke me up every morning so that I could catch Popeye on Cartoon Network. The woman who watched and took great care of me as my parents worked. We would watch Bold and the Beautiful reruns in the afternoon and take naps on the couch right in front of the television. As I grew older the routine changed. I got busy with life. I started to take care of her when my parents went on their holidays, buying her lunch, making sure the maid cooks her dinner. She was never lonely. She had all of us. She was my last living grandparent.
It hurts, yes, but one day I will be able to look back and deal with this depression the right way.
This story relates a lot of my current situation. My grandmother is currently having an Alzheimer's disease.She easily forget about the thing she did,for just like 2 to 3 minutes ago.It is sad to see her having that disease.She cannot even recognize me anymore,even though I am her eldest grandson.Sometimes,I feel annoyed the fact that she cannot remember me well enough.From young,I pick up her mother dialect,that is 'hakka'.I cannot speak good 'hakka' even though i tried my best,but I gave up for now.So,I really hope that I can turn over a new leaf.Appreciate my grandmother while she is still alive and try to pick up the dialect,which is slowly fading away in my family.
ReplyDeleteAt first, the writer was not interested in learning her own mother tongue.
ReplyDeleteBut at the end, she realized her mistake and decided to learn her own mother
tongue.It is good thing actually.In my point of view, It depends on where you
live, I guess.If you are an Indian in a village, English will be not of much
use.If you are an Indian who are living in Australia, most of the people will
be speaking English.Thus, in that kind of situation we have to give more priority
to English than our mother tongue.I would never say English is more important than
our mother tongue.Both languages are equally important.English is an international
language and it will benefit us greatly.But knowing our mother tongue can
benefit us in many ways too.
Azlan Shah
56772
At the beginning of the story, it shows that the writer do not learn her own mother tongue well. She will just prefer other languages than her mother tongue. However, I feel that mother tongue is very important as it can be a good communication tool with grandparents. Besides that, our mother tongue may also help us to tighten up the relationship bond in our family. So, there is no any excuse for us to ignore our mother tongue as well.
ReplyDeleteJia Lin
56568
The story teaches us to appreciate our love ones and try to communicate with them as much as you can when they are still around, do not regret when they are gone but do not stay in grief for too long as life must go on and learning ones mother language shows the identity of one.
ReplyDeleteWen Hui
56748