Hey all,
I haven't wrote something for some time now, but i recently faced an event that might or might have not occured to you people. I actually posted this up on facebook, and i guess i might as well post it here as well :)
The meaning of intellectual in www.dictionary.com says that it is to appeal to or engage the intellect, while intellect just means the capacity for thinking and acquiring knowledge.At the same time, oppress means to burden with cruel or unjust impositions or restraints.
Now, you might ask why am i getting technical with such terms that you might already understand. Unfortunately, there might be some specific people that i unfortunately don't have on facebook, that do not understand the words, and they might never come across this note. Nevertheless, i have aways supported freedom of speech and especially expression of knowledge, and i will not have this go unheard of.
Hong Kong is a financial center of great importance to the entire ASEAN region and a place where cultures from the east and west meet and melt in together. As such, it is not hard to understand the importance of language in a place where people of so many different backgrounds mix, communicate and do business with each other. While the Chinese people in HK speak fluent Cantonese, they have no doubt realize the importance of the English language as it is the international language and still the most important language. Of course, with the rise of China, Mandarin will be equally important, and i agree as students for the next generation, the mastering of different languages will definitely be an asset. Also, it has always been a pride to Chinese people to retain their mother tongue as a sense of pride and their own culture. I have no objections against it, and i'd even support the preservation of dying languages.
Now that i have bore you with a brief introduction of my thoughts on the different languages in the world, i will start to make my point. As a university student, i have a sense of respect for written works of fellow students. Not depending on the quality, i believe that every written work (except for those who defame and discriminate) of a person is worth admiration. Unfortunately, for the event that i experienced, there were people who didn't like a particular piece of promotion email, and wanted to have it rewritten. The first excuse given was that the particular person felt that the piece of writing had 'a lot of grammatical errors'. Subsequently, i happen to be acquainted to the person who wrote this promotion email, and before i go on elaborating, i will give you a brief history of this persons' english qualification.
Back in Malaysia, this friend of mine attained an A1 in the English subject and 1119 (Essay) in the SPM exam. This friend also won numerous awards from the Australian New South Wales test for school students, having distinctions in the english paper. And most importantly, my friend attained a grade of 8.5/9.0 in the IELTS exam whom i am sure everyone is very familiar with.
Back to the story, so this friend of mine had me read the promotion email and asked me for my opinion. I read it through, and no matter how many times i read it, i can find NO grammatical mistakes. Ok, so, you might think what my qualifications are to even say this. Similar to my friend, i have achieved an A1 in my english subject as well as 1119 in my SPM and UEC exams. Also, i have high distinctions from the New South Wales test for school students for 3 consecutive years. I apologise if you feel that i am boasting my credentials, but i feel that it is necessary for me to explain myself. Yeah, so, i saw NO grammatical errors. My friend therefore replied to this person explaining that no grammatical errors could be found, and asked for further instructions.
The next day, this person called my friend and said that he 'thinks the email is too COMPLICATED, and that it should be SIMPLIFIED'. Now, i understand the need for summarizing, but this is just too much ain't it? Besides, the first excuse didn't even correspond with the second excuse. I mean, just take common sense!!! What does grammatical errors have got ANYTHING to do with being TOO COMPLICATED?? NOTHING!! NOTHING AT ALL!! A big pile of BULLSHIT!! So, the issue here now is that since you think it is too complicated, my friend should downgrade the quality and standard of the promotion email so that it is simplified?? Another big pile of crap. Oh, i haven't even mentioned, the promotion email in which my friend wrote for is an ENGLISH based club...
I come back to my title. The by product of intellectual oppression. I can understand that you are catering for the needs of the students as most of them are Cantonese speakers. However, to limit another person's ability to converse in the art of writing is even worst than putting the Jews on the death train! Can a person really be more evil than Hitler? Well, i found that person....
I would really much like to receive feedback from this, positive or negative, so tell me what you think, or better, share your similar experience if you had any.
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