"I am really sureprised!", said a fellow-journalist who has known me for a long time.
"I just can't believe that!", said a friend of mine.
They or many are astonished, if that's the right word to use, by my Chinese writings.
Oh! Yes. I speak and write good English. And, maybe, that's why most people around me have directly derived to the conclusion that my Chinese is below average.
One of my ex-colleague has even given me a nickname "foreigner" and later he translated it to Cantonese "Fung Wan Nah", which has since become my pseudonym.
I am cool with that and even a bit happy for people around me recognised my English skills a lot, even more than I do. Sometimes, I feel that my English competency is overrated.
At the same time, a nickname reflects the way you are in the others' eyes. "Foreigner" as a nickname means that I am not local in the other's eyes. Be it the language I use, be it the way I act, all in all, I am just always a bit alienated.
But, that's fine, and that's true in some ways, for I cannot understand most of the things that people do in Hong Kong. From the way they choose their life-long partners, their flexibilities in some crucial events, their misunderstandings toward arts and philosophy to their lack of individuality have all struck me hard.
"I just can't believe that!", said a friend of mine.
They or many are astonished, if that's the right word to use, by my Chinese writings.
Oh! Yes. I speak and write good English. And, maybe, that's why most people around me have directly derived to the conclusion that my Chinese is below average.
One of my ex-colleague has even given me a nickname "foreigner" and later he translated it to Cantonese "Fung Wan Nah", which has since become my pseudonym.
I am cool with that and even a bit happy for people around me recognised my English skills a lot, even more than I do. Sometimes, I feel that my English competency is overrated.
At the same time, a nickname reflects the way you are in the others' eyes. "Foreigner" as a nickname means that I am not local in the other's eyes. Be it the language I use, be it the way I act, all in all, I am just always a bit alienated.
But, that's fine, and that's true in some ways, for I cannot understand most of the things that people do in Hong Kong. From the way they choose their life-long partners, their flexibilities in some crucial events, their misunderstandings toward arts and philosophy to their lack of individuality have all struck me hard.
I have always assumed that the idea of my incompetent Chinese language skills came from nowhere. I speak perfectly posh-Chinese with no strange accents. And I had worked in different places where Chinese is the dominated language.
Maybe people are just simple-minded. No offence. I think it is a good thing.
Simple-mindedness helps solve all the problems in life easily and right away, in a blink. Simple-minded people tends to think only in one way. To them, there is only one answer to each question.
Tada! That's how they deduce the conclusion that my Chinese is below average because they think that someone who is good at English cannot be good at Chinese.
I agree with these simple-minded people, to a certain extend. But, I'd better put it this way, to be good at both English and Chinese is very rare among the post-80s generation nowadays, but not impossible.
Also, in writing, it is more about how you think than the amount of difficult or beautiful words you used in the story or essay. Just like prize-winning American writer, Enerst Hemingway, author of the " The old man and the sea". He is famous for his ability to resonated with his readers, using authentic characters and simple languages. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1945 for his mastery of the art of narrative. Hemingway examplified the importance of techniques. He is the sound proof of good writing skills worth more than a thousand difficult words. As I always say, you don't have to know all the difficult words and phrases in Chinese to write a good piece of story.
I have always believed that if you think well, you write well. How simple.
Maybe people are just simple-minded. No offence. I think it is a good thing.
Simple-mindedness helps solve all the problems in life easily and right away, in a blink. Simple-minded people tends to think only in one way. To them, there is only one answer to each question.
Tada! That's how they deduce the conclusion that my Chinese is below average because they think that someone who is good at English cannot be good at Chinese.
I agree with these simple-minded people, to a certain extend. But, I'd better put it this way, to be good at both English and Chinese is very rare among the post-80s generation nowadays, but not impossible.
Also, in writing, it is more about how you think than the amount of difficult or beautiful words you used in the story or essay. Just like prize-winning American writer, Enerst Hemingway, author of the " The old man and the sea". He is famous for his ability to resonated with his readers, using authentic characters and simple languages. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1945 for his mastery of the art of narrative. Hemingway examplified the importance of techniques. He is the sound proof of good writing skills worth more than a thousand difficult words. As I always say, you don't have to know all the difficult words and phrases in Chinese to write a good piece of story.
I have always believed that if you think well, you write well. How simple.
But the question is how to think well? Think wittyily, I'd say. And according to the dictionary, witty is the antonyms of simple-minded.
"Maybe someone will publish your works," said one of my best friends.
"One day, maybe," I said, "till the majority understand the art of thinking."
"Maybe someone will publish your works," said one of my best friends.
"One day, maybe," I said, "till the majority understand the art of thinking."
