Blog#4

PART1
Before leaving China, Liu decided not to speak Chinese at all in the United State, in order to make faster progress with his English. Nevertheless, he began to yearn to speak Chinese after two months. In my opinion, since there were too many differences between the culture of China and the United States, Liu’s need to be with other Chinese was that he needed a Chinese space in which to make him felt relax, comfortable and safe. He said that the real obstacle to learning English for him was not language but cultural heritage.

Based on my personal experience, I actually had a similar experience to Liu. When I came to the United States, I really wanted to know the “real America/Americans”; however, after several times I talked to foreign people. I found Americans were very friendly and kind so it was easy here to make acquaintances. Nevertheless, it was quite difficult to make “real friends” with them. There were too many differences between us particularly culture and forms of thinking.

In my opinion, the need to be with other people from China is that we do have something in common such as culture, customs, and forms of thinking even though they are strangers. We need a way which not only relax ourselves, but also give us confidence to face the real world.

PART2
1. punctuation: the marks, such as full stop, comma, and brackets, used in writing to separate sentences and their elements and to clarify meaning.
2. sarcasm: the use of irony to mock or convey contempt
3. reluctance: unwillingness or disinclination to do something