Language Learning Goal

Hi folks!

During my younger days (college years), I have been learning, practising and volunteering in Interpretation and Translation (I&T) work.

I have not has the chance to undergo a proper I &T courses as those courses are quite expensive for me then (being a sponsored student-under scholarship).

After I graduated and started working as a Training and Support Executive in a local college, I chance upon such courses. But alas, I did not sign up for it as I still has some remaining tuition fees to pay off(my scholarship is only for my 2 year course, final year was surviving on loan from my two aunts).

Having the chance to practice my  I & T then, interpreting for foreign visitors and translating some short articles and songs lyrics, I found my strong interest in it. I have to thank my two English teachers, Ms. Ng (during UPSR year in primary 6) and Mrs. Thiang (in Form 1 for giving me the first 3 Readers' Digest magazine that started my strong passion in English).

But, in order to be a good translator and interpreter, the basic is to master at least two languages. During my volunteering period, I had to do mostly in Chinese- English and some in Malay-English. My lack of literacy in Chinese makes me not as fast in interpreting during live talks.

So, one of my goal then is to master my Chinese. This is especially important as we intend to send KY to a Chinese primary school in 2 years' time. So, I got 2 years to brush up my Chinese.

Some of the actions I have taken are:

1.       SMS in Chinese

2.       Chat/Discuss in Chinese (type in Gtalk, IM+, etc)

3.       Writing and Reading in Chinese with KY (recite Di Zi Gui scripture together)

4.       And now…I will venture into blogging in Chinese or shall I say to include some chinese characters(with translation of course!) in my blog entries…

5.       In future, I like to revise my German(I did basic German course at Goethe Institute…yep..I love languages and culture!) and hopefully in Spanish too (am mixing with some Spanish friends and working counterparts now).

 

So that is my Language Learning goals for the year…

 

What about you? Anything you like to pick up this year?

Do share about it!

活到老， 学到老.

Live and Learn till old age.

( a famous saying in Chinese families, literally means one should learn and learn till one is very old.)

Cheers!