Hi everyone,

Thank you, chị Yến and chị Kitty, for being my heroines. You both are very good. Your writings are very smooth.

Especially chị Yến, I think you have proven that my theory is correct. There is a marked difference between this piece of writing and the English translation you did the last time (of chị Oanh’s article). That difference may come from 2 things:

1. My approach of asking you guys not to translate, but just to write the way you are comfortable with, and

2. Yen has the ability to learn at Appollo speed.

But I tend to rule out the number two. Yen has been good since a long time ago. We just need to find out the right approach to bring out that talent.

And that is what I’ve been telling you guys, but few have taken my words seriously. I know that you guys are good and can write English beautifully. Just do it and you will be surprised with what you can do.

But we, you and I together, have a more important goal in mind: To find out the most effective way to improve our national English-teaching methodology. (Need I remind you guys that our national level of English fluency is low, compared with other countries? And I have stressed this point for a long time, directly with anh Trần Hồng Quân many times, when he was the minister of education, and with all kinds of folks in Hanoi. And I am still talking today).

What we are doing is slowly experimenting the “total submersion” method: Having the students totally submerged in English—reading, writing, talking, listening and, most importantly, thinking in English. One hour of this method will have the equivalent effect of 10 hours of other methods.

Let’s keep this goal in mind, as we feel our way around, trying to figure out where is the strength , where is the weakness, what works, and what doesn’t.

OK, I will have Yen’s and Kitty’s writings below. I have dome some minor changes to each piece, here and there, just to smooth them out and make them sound more natural. There aren’t many errors to really correct. Just refining.

Chị Kiêm Yến’s writing:

Positive thinking.

The first time I visited Đọt chuối non, its slogan made a strong impression on me! It’s “Positive thinking everyday”!

I participated in a short course of positive thinking two years ago. Then I’ve read a few articles about it. Now, I recognize that I don’t totally understand positive thinking yet. So, what is positive thinking? How can ưe distinguish it from other kind of thinking? And, most importantly, why do we need it?

I suppose “thinking” means thoughts producing from a special area of brain. In other words, it’s the result of brain activities. After reading more and more articles in Đọt chuối non, I recognize that it’s really different from what I imagined before.

In fact, “thinking” has a wider sense. It means a living attitude, a vision of life and living. So, “positive thinking” is equivalent to “positive living” or “ positive attitude”.

“Positive” is not “negative”. It means:

1. While looking a thing, a person, or an action, we always find out its good, beautiful, nice side.

2. If we see something bad, we have abilities to change it into goodness, and

3. We always act to make things better.

For example: (1) Our fiend is a dynamic and friendly colleague, (2) but she only knows working and working. It’s good if we choose her as our team leader, and (3) we introduce Đọt chuối non to her, little by little, she will enjoy her life more.

The characters of positive thinking are:

1. To concentrate vision and thinking on the good side of things. If seeing something bad, we have to find out the good in the bad to concentrate thinking on.

2. To use goodness as a motivation for living and working, towards the final goal of making life better. Life means s our own life, and the lives of others in the world we’re living. In other words, goodness is a motivation to live and, concurrently, is an ultimate goal of living.

We can summarize positive thinking as loving ourselves, loving others, and loving this life! We always pick up the best in all things. It helps us enjoy life in the best way! And, that’s the reason we need positive thinking!

.

Chị Kitty’s writing:

What is positive thinking? What is the difference between positive thinking and other kinds of thinking? Why should we think positively?

We could immediately relate the word “Thinking” to an image of brain activities. Actually, “thinking” has a broader meaning. It is an attitude to life or a view about life. Positive thinking is positive living and positive attitude.

“Positive” means…non-negative, as below:

– We always see the nice side of any thing or any event around us,
– If we see some bad points, we would have ability to change them into good points, and
– We always act to make thing better.

For example, (1) My dear friend A. is very dynamic and kind, (2) she is just a litte too thrifty; but if she becomes our treasurer, she would do the job very well; and (3) if she continues to do charity works, gradually she would no longer be so thrifty with the poor.

Positive thinking have these characteristics:

(1) Concentrating thought and view on good elements of any thing/event. If you see some bad thing, try to find out some good elements in it to concentrate your mind on.
And

(2) Using goodness as the motivation for our life, our work, and making our life more wonderful. Life in this case means your own life, and your world where you are living in. In other words, the goodness is our motive, as well as the most important aim in our life.

.

Note: “Nice” is an overused overabused word. Don’t use it in writing, except in informal writing.
.

TODAY’S CHALLENGE

Today we have 2 challenges, to give more people more choices to work on.

1. Rewrite the following text in English. Rewrite it anyway you want. No translation is necessary.
.

Tất cả những hiện tượng bên ngoài, đều không có ý nghĩa gì tự chúng cả; các ý nghĩa đều từ tư duy của ta mà sinh ra. Mưa chỉ là mưa; nếu ta cho là mưa buồn thì mưa buồn, nếu ta cho là mưa vui thì mưa vui. Nắng chỉ là nắng; nếu ta cho là nắng đẹp thì nắng đẹp, nếu ta cho là nắng chói thì nắng chói.

Tất cả các tình cảm–vui, buồn, giận, ghét, yêu, thích–chỉ là phản ứng của ta đối với sự việc bên ngoài. Nếu chàng trễ hẹn mà ta cau có phàn nàn thì cũng phải, hoặc ta cười vui vì kẹt xe thế mà chàng cũng đến cho bằng được thì cũng phải. Trễ hẹn chỉ là trễ hẹn. Đó chẳng phải là chuyện vui hay buồn, tốt hay xấu. Vui buồn chỉ là phản ứng của ta đối với việc trễ hẹn thôi.

Nửa ly nước, nếu nói là đầy nửa ly thì cũng đúng, mà cạn nửa ly thì cũng đúng. Đằng nào cũng đúng. Tất cả chỉ tùy thuộc vào sự lựa chọn của chúng ta thôi. Ta muốn tư duy tích cực, yêu đời, mạnh mẽ? Hay là muốn làm kẻ phàn nàn, người thua cuộc?

.

2. Translate the following piece into Vietnamese.

This piece contains excerpts from “Song of Songs”, which is a sensual and sexy poem 🙂 that King Solomon wrote for his lover, himself, and their love. It is from the Bible. I have it here to surprise you guys, if you have been thinking that the Bible is such a dry and boring book 🙂 This is within my purpose of familiarizing you guys with the most fundamental book of the western civilization, for your (future) diplomacy/PR works with Westerners.

Lover (man, Solomon)

You have stolen my heart, my sister, my bride;
you have stolen my heart
with one glance of your eyes,
with one jewel of your necklace.

How delightful is your love, my sister, my bride!
How much more pleasing is your love than wine,
and the fragrance of your perfume than any spice!

Your lips drop sweetness as the honeycomb, my bride;
milk and honey are under your tongue.
The fragrance of your garments is like that of Lebanon.

You are a garden locked up, my sister, my bride;
you are a spring enclosed, a sealed fountain.

You are a garden fountain,
a well of flowing water
streaming down from Lebanon.

Beloved (woman)

Awake, north wind,
and come, south wind!
Blow on my garden,
that its fragrance may spread abroad.
Let my lover come into his garden
and taste its choice fruits.

Lover (Solomon)

I have come into my garden, my sister, my bride;
I have gathered my myrrh with my spice.
I have eaten my honeycomb and my honey;
I have drunk my wine and my milk.

Beloved (woman)

I slept but my heart was awake.
Listen! My lover is knocking:
“Open to me, my sister, my darling,
my dove, my flawless one.
My head is drenched with dew,
my hair with the dampness of the night.”

I have taken off my robe—
must I put it on again?
I have washed my feet—
must I soil them again?

My lover thrust his hand through the latch-opening;
my heart began to pound for him.

I arose to open for my lover,
and my hands dripped with myrrh,
my fingers with flowing myrrh,
on the handles of the lock.

.

OK, guys. Have fun.

Have a great day!

Hoanh

Hi everyone,

Thanks, chị Kiêm Yến and chi Kitty, for your work. Nothing to correct. I have here the original English version and chị Kiêm Yến’s version (with some words taken out), so that everyone may be familiar with the terminology in both languages.

English version

II. Causes of suffering: Craving causes suffering.

III. Extinction of Suffering: Because craving is the cause of suffering, to stop suffering we need “to stop, to denounce, to leave, to cut away craving.”

IV. The Path to Extinction of Suffering: This path has eight lanes and is called The Noble Eightfold Path.

1. Right view: The understanding of the Four Noble Truths, non-permanence, non-self, and nirvana.

2. Right thought: Thoughts about stopping craving, about no anger and no violence, about no harmful activities.

3. Right speech: No lying, no divisive speech, no abusive speech, no idle chatters.

4. Right action: No killing, no stealing, no wrongful sexual conduct.

5. Right livelihood: No engaging in trade or profession that, either directly or indirectly, results in harm to other living beings.

6. Right effort: Try to prevent wrongful thoughts and actions from arising; if they have already arisen, try to stop them. Try to bring up good thoughts and actions; if they have already come, try to continue them.

7. Right mindfulness: Observing our body, our feelings, our thoughts and dharmas (all things, all teachings) to conquer all cravings and distress.

8. Right concentration: This is about the practice of meditation.

.

Chị Kiêm Yến’s version (with the first 2 lines added)

Tứ diệu đế (bốn chân lý huyền diệu)

I. Khổ đế: Đời có khổ

II. Tập đế (Nguồn gốc đau khổ ): tham lam gây khổ.

III. Diệt đế (Sự chấm dứt khổ): vì tham lam là nguồn gốc đau khổ; chúng ta cần “ngưng, từ bỏ, lìa xa và cắt đứt tham lam” để ngừng đau khổ.

IV. Đạo đế (Con đường đưa đến việc chấm dứt khổ):

Đạo đế gồm 8 nhánh đường và được gọi là Bát Chánh Đạo.

1. Chánh kiến (nhìn đúng): thông hiểu về Tứ Diệu Đế, vô thường (không vĩnh hằng), vô ngã (không có cái tôi) và an lạc.

2. Chánh tư duy (suy nghĩ đúng): suy nghĩ về việc ngừng tham lam, không giận dữ và bạo động, không hãm hại người khác.

3. Chánh ngữ (nói lời đúng): không nói dối, không gây bất đồng, không lăng mạ, không nói xấu.

4. Chánh nghiệp (hành động đúng): không giết người, không trộm cắp, không tà dâm.

5. Chánh mạng (nghề đúng): không kinh doanh hoặc làm những nghề gây tổn hại đến sinh mạng của người khác, dù trực tiếp hay gián tiếp.

6. Chánh tinh tấn (nỗ lực đúng): cố gắng ngăn chặn khởi sinh suy nghĩ hay hành động sai lầm, nếu chúng đã khởi sinh rồi thì cố gắng chặn chúng lại. Cố gắng nuôi dưỡng suy nghĩ hay hành động tốt, nếu đã có chúng rồi thì cố gắng tiếp tục phát huy chúng.

7. Chánh niệm (quán sát đúng): Quán chiếu (quan sát) thân xác, cảm xúc, suy nghĩ và các Pháp (mọi điều, mọi thuyết) để chế ngự tham lam và phiền não.

8. Chánh định (tập trung đúng): là thực hành thiền định.

.

OK, for Kitty. The first path “Right View”. This is obviously the most important one, because if you have the wrong view (wrong vision) you will go to wrong places.

Right view here means to have a correct understanding of:

* The Four Noble Truths (Tứ diệu đế).

* “Impermanene” or “Non-permanence” (vô thường; không vĩnh cửu): Everything in life, everything in the universe (including us), is non-permanent, because they are born, grow and change, and disappear constantly. Nothing stays the same for long.

* “Non-self” (vô ngã) means our own self is non-permanent too. We are here only temporarily.

* “Nirvana” (Niết bàn) means the absolute tranquility of the mind, when you are in absolute peace and happiness. (Yến uses the term “an lạc”, which is very good).

Once we understand non-permanence and non-self, and live in accordance with that understanding (in The Noble Eight Fold Path–Bát chánh đạo), we will reach Nirvana, meaning, we will have inner peace and happiness.

The three concepts —non-permanence, non-self, Nirvana—are three “certifying” marks of Buddhist teachings (tam pháp ấn). If a teaching misses one of these three marks, it is not a Buddhist teaching.

To read more, please visit my writing A Brief Exposition on The Heart Sutra.
.

TODAY’S CHALLENGE

Below is some text in my article “Tư duy tích cực là gì ?”. Please REWRITE it in English.

Please note, “rewrite” means you just get the idea from the original writing, and rewrite it the way you want. You DON’T have to translate. (If you call it translation, then this is FREE translation. Write what you want.)

I just want you to feel comfortable writing whatever you want to write in English. I will NOT compare your writing with my original Vietnamese writing. My writing is here only to give you some idea on what to write.

Here it goes.
.

Tư duy tích cực là gì? Tư duy tích cực khác với một vài loại tư duy khác như thế nào? Tại sao ta lại cần tư duy tích cực?

“Tư duy” thường có nghĩa là suy nghĩ, và nói đến suy nghĩ là ta thường có ấn tượng rằng đó là một hoạt động của não bộ một lúc nào đó. Thực ra, từ “tư duy” ở đây rông rãi hơn, và có nghĩa là một thái độ sống, một cái nhìn về cuộc đời và sự sống, tương tự như tư duy trong cụm từ “thay đổi tư duy.” Tư duy tích cực chính là “sống tích cực” hay “thái độ tích cực.”

“Tích cực” có nghĩa là … không tiêu cực , là

(1) khi nhìn mọi sự, mọi vật, mọi vấn đề ta luôn luôn thấy cái hay, cái đẹp, cái tốt;

(2) nếu thấy cái xấu ta có khả năng biến cái xấu thành cái tốt; và

(3) luôn luôn hướng đến hành động để làm mọi sự tốt hơn.

Ví dụ: (1) Bạn A. của mình thật năng động và có lòng tốt với mọi người, (2) chỉ hơi keo kiệt một tí, nhưng như vậy thì, nếu bạn làm thủ quỹ cho nhóm mình, chắc chắn là quỹ chẳng bao giờ thiếu hụt, và (3) cứ làm từ thiện hoài thì chắc chắn là bạn sẽ từ từ biết cách “phung phí” tiền cho người nghèo khổ.

Đặc điểm của tư duy tích cực là

(1) tập trung cái nhìn và tư tưởng vào cái tốt, nếu thấy cái xấu cũng phải tìm cho ra cái tốt trong cái xấu để tập trung tư tưởng vào đó, và

(2) dùng cái tốt như là động lực thúc đẩy mình sống và làm việc, đi đến mục đích cuối cùng là làm cho cuộc đời tốt đẹp hơn. Cuộc đời đây là cuộc đời của chính mình, và là cuộc đời của thế giới mình sống. Tức là, cái tốt vừa là động lực thúc đẩy mình sống, vừa là mục tiêu tối hậu của cuộc sống.

.

All right. Have fun, everyone.

Have a great day!

Hoanh