F2F Class Notes (Dennis) [S]

Vocabulary

prior – before

Prior to my exchange program, I couldn’t speak any Chinese. 

familiar – something/someone that you remember from the past

The woman who walked by me earlier looked very familiar. 

Grammar

The reason I wanted to go there was my curiosity.

The reason why I wanted to go there was for my own curiosity. 

People in mainland china always talking about what happened in taiwan and imagination and how they imagine taiwan.

People in mainland china are always talking about what goes on in Taiwan. 

Taiwan is a diverse country. My opinion and value that I hold now is shaped by my experience in Taiwan.

Taiwan is a diverse country. My experience in Taiwan has helped me become more open minded as an individual.  

I try to comprehend why they have these different opinions and how the opinions originate from.

When someone has a different opinion than me, I try to understand his/her point of view and where his/her opinion originates from. 

But my speaking is always very bad.

But my speaking can improve. 

Pronunciation

academic [akademik]

depth [depft]

I think in some basic communication, foreigners can’t understand what I say. But our expiration is not very standard, but just can say some simple sentence. I always use some long sentence because when I was in master degree I should read a lot of foreign book which always use academic words and sentence. Um… Maybe the quantity of vocabulary I handle is ok, but even I can’t use the basic word to speak a standard and fluent english.

I think when it comes to basic communication, I can get by. But my explanations can be more in- depth and improved. During my masters degree, I read a lot of foreign books that used a lot of academic words and sentences so I got used to speaking in this manner. When it comes to reading, my vocabulary comprehension is fine, but when I am speaking I find it difficult to express myself appropriately.