(no subject)

[kodalai]

Met with the teacher after class to discuss the quiz that I bombed last time.

Teacher: ...so you see, the key to figuring out this sentence is in the phrase "fervently wish." Upon graduating, you wouldn't "fervently wish" to become a boring salaryman, would you? You would "fervently wish" to start your own business. So the proper word to go in the blank would be "small business."
Me: Ah, yes, I see now. It makes sense. Except that the phrase "fervently wish" was also a blank. How would I know to choose that word?
Teacher: Well, it's the only word that makes sense, isn't it?
Me: ...
Teacher: It's the only word that fits right.
Me: Is this another one of those 'you just get a sense' things?
Teacher: Well, yes.
Me: -_-;


Well, yeah it makes sense to you. You wrote the quiz. Plus you actually speak the language, which I don't.

Comments

[ayelle.livejournal.com]

When I get ESL students in the writing center they are often very down on themselves for their "bad English" and say things like "I'll never learn it..." I always make a point of telling them that they're doing something that I, personally, could never do, and that I think their English is absolutely amazing. And it's true.

[ayelle.livejournal.com]

Er, the point of that was supposed to be that I think it's absolutely amazing how much Japanese you do know. I'm real real good with my native language, but I could never do what you do.

[kodalai.livejournal.com]

In an abstract sense, I know that language is such a fantastically complex thing that things that seem effortless to a native speaker will seem horribly difficult to someone trying to learn it for the first time. I am also on occasion (usually when assissting people who know even less than I) surprised by how much I DO know. But that's in the abstract, and ost of the time Japanese leaves me feeling pretty stupid.