How Meeting People From Other Cultures Helps You To Learn About Your Language & Culture

A friend on Facebook wrote that a song with the words, 'I don't know what I'd be without you'  was stronger (and different from) the commonplace phrase, I don't know what I'd do without you.

I wrote the comment:

Thank you for that interesting point about language. The Japanese translate: To be or not to be as to do or not to do. 

My Japanese friend, Yukiko, explained that the Japanese value action. I think of our phrases: Just do it. Man of action.

Chinese flag

The Chinese do not have the verb to be. So you constantly hear sentences such as, He good person. As any British or American speaker knows, the correct English would be He is a good person. As a teacher, I could devise a quiz with insert the correct missing word.

Doing is action. Being is thinking, or the sum of actions as seen by other people, or by yourself on reflection.

For years I had thought that my Chinese friends and pupil might be sleepy, overworked, lazy, badly educated.  After speaking to my Japanese friend I realized that they were meticulously translating directly in their head, word for word. My task was to drill them in translating, or repeating the correctly constructed English sentences.  

For examples, teach them the English sentence, to be or not to be, that is the question. To add the verb to be, that is the question. I am what I am. She is pretty. He is clever. It is useful. 

Is it good to be a teacher, or not good to be a teacher?

To drill third person singular, adding s to the verb: He says that she knows what it does. One door closes, another door opens.