Hi everyone,

Let me try to solve the confusion between “What do you think about this book?” and “How do you think about this book?”

People use both of these the same way, for the same meaning.

But, let’s try to be sophisticated and ask: Which one is REALLY correct?

We can answer this by using grammatical structure.

“What” in a question always stands for a noun (or a noun equivalent). Example: What is this? Answer: This is a book. “What” in the question is the equivalent of the noun “book” in the answer.

Now look at “What you do think about this book?” Answer: I think about this book… We CANNOT add a noun (for “what”) to this answer, can we?

On the other hand, “how” stands for a status, a state of affair, a condition. Example: How do you feel about her. Answer: About her, I feel very unhappy. “Very unhappy” is the state of mind about her.

So, how do you think about this book? Answer: I think about this book that it is outstanding. “It is outstanding” is a statement about the status or condition of the book.

Switch the words around a little, to make the reading more natural: About this book, I think that it is outstanding.

So, technically, “How do you think about…” is correct and “what do you think about…” is incorrect.

But people use both of them equally. So they both may be considered correct by usage. But “how do you think about…” is more sophisticated English.

Some different examples:

What do you think he will do?
What do you think this sentence means?
What do you think mother will say about this?

But

How do you think he will handle this issue?
How do you think the election will go?

TODAY’S DISCUSSION

We have the question on Mr. Pham Minh Ha’c proposal from yesterday. Thanks, Stone, for answering. We can continue discussing this important issue.

Another matter is argument on the Internet. Most of the time, I feel that arguments in Internet forums sound like childish bickering. Everyone talks past each other and none makes much sense.

How do you feel about Internet discussion in general?

TODAY’S CHALLENGE

We have a bunch of Bee Gees songs chi Hue has just posted for translation. If you translate several songs, it may be better to post all of them into one post, instead of spreading them out into too many posts. Thanks a million.

That’s it for today. Have a great day!

Hoanh

Hi everyone,

On the news today is a creative proposal by Mr. Phạm Minh Hạc, former Minister of Education and Training, that instead of the national high-school-graduation exam, we shoud have this exam handled by each school itself and the school will sign its graduation certificates.

Here is the news:

Hãy ghi tên trường vào bằng tốt nghiệp – (TuanVietNam) – GS Phạm Minh Hạc, nguyên Bộ trưởng Bộ GD và ĐT nêu ý kiến: Cải cách thi cử, trong đó kỳ thi tốt nghiệp THPT thành kỳ kiểm tra cuối cấp do các trường tự tổ chức, trong giấy chứng nhận tốt nghiệp ghi rõ: Học sinh A, đã tốt nghiệp THPT tại trường X, tỉnh Y.

How do think about this proposal? Teachers? Parents? Students?

Have a great day!

Hoanh

Hi everyone,

I posted this fascinating quote twice, hoping someone would pick it up, but none yet. Here it is, the third time. Hope someone will pick this up and have some interesting comments.

“I can write better than anybody who can write faster, and I can write faster than anybody who can write better.”
– A. J. Liebling (1904-1963)

Have a great day!

Hoanh

Hi everyone,

If you are talking to a friend from Australia named Tom, and he asks you, “I don’t know much about Vietnam and the Vietnamese people, although of course I have heard much about the Vietnamese with all those things about the Vietnam War that they’ve been showing on the TV forever. I am curious about the Vietnamese. Tell me about the Vietnamese.”

What do you say to him?

Have a great day!

Hoanh

Hi everyone,

Today I will talk a little bit about email and Internet communication, i.e., writings on Internet forums and the like. This subject is important because, as you know by now, Internet communication is the number-one form of communication on planet Earth.

Email, as well as other forms of Internet communication, is a hybrid between informal talking and a letter on paper. It has the relaxed and friendly tone of talking but also a bit of formality of writing. Here are some points to remember.

— Always address the person by name: This is true in ALL communications–talking, Internet, formal letter. Addressing someone by name ALWAYS brings him/her closer to you, because a person’s name is the sweetest thing to him/her. On the other hand, saying something without directly addressing a person by name reads like spam mail.

So, “Thank you” is bad, but “Thank you, chị Hoa” is good.

— Don’t throw out a message to a forum without addressing anyone. If you want to talk to an entire forum, say “Dear all” or Dear friends” or “Dear brothers and sisters” or some equivalent phrase.

Throwing a message into a forum without addressing anyone means “nói trống không”. Not only it is impolite, most of the time, it is nasty and is the cause of incivility and fighting in a forum.

— When “talking” with a person, don’t use just the word “he/she/him/her” to indicate a third person, if that third person is PRESENT right there. This is ultra-impolite. Ex: If I am talking to Hoa about Xuan, and Xuan is present in the room or in the forum, I should not say “Hoa, I understand that she wants you to wait for her for 2 days, then she will bring the book back to you.” That is a bad manner.

We should say, “Hoa, I understand Xuan wants you to wait for 2 day, then she will bring the book back to you.”

The better way is, “Hoa, I understand Xuan wants you to wait for 2 day, then Xuan will bring the book back to you.”

— Dont’ Shout: DON”T CAPITALIZE YOUR WORDS LIKE THIS… Or put a bunch of question marks or signs like this ???? or &#?^

— Use emoticons (smileys) often, like this 🙂 or 😦 to take out the dryness of the computer screen. Dryness can make the readers misread your message. But if that is a business email, don’t use emoticons.

— Don’t u ever use txt’ words in biz com.

— Having a “good bye” line is always good. Or at least a smiley 🙂

These are the most fundamentals to keep in mind. Please feel free to share your experience.

Have a great day!

Hoanh

Hi everyone,

I have below 3 interesting quotes–one posted yesterday already–for you to translate, comment upon, or start an essay. I would love to hear some interesting thinking from you.

“I can write better than anybody who can write faster, and I can write faster than anybody who can write better.”
– A. J. Liebling (1904-1963)

“We must have strong minds, ready to accept facts as they are.”
– Harry S Truman (1884-1972)

“Each problem that I solved became a rule which served afterwards to solve other problems.”
– Rene Descartes (1596-1650), Discours de la Methode

Also, here is an article today about Vietnamese students don’t have enough time to learn life experience:

Tuổi Trẻ

Tuy nhiên, dưới cái nhìn của một nhà giáo dục, tôi nhận thấy có hai vấn đề đang tồn tại và gây khó khăn cho tiến trình trên. Thứ nhất sinh viên VN phải dành thời gian cho việc học văn hóa quá nhiều khiến những hoạt động ngoại khóa trở thành điều “xa xỉ”, trong khi đây lại là “tấm bùa hộ mạng” trong việc chinh phục học bổng ở các trường đại học nước ngoài cũng như ảnh hưởng tới việc hòa nhập môi trường giáo dục nước ngoài. Thứ hai sinh viên ở VN rất khó có được thư tiến cử từ nhà trường của mình.

What do you think about that?

Have a great day!

Hoanh

Hi everyone,

I have three quotes. I woud be great if everyone tries to translate them into Vietnamese, and write an essay on each.

Just one is enough. You don’t need to do all three quotes.

Here they are:

“I can write better than anybody who can write faster, and I can write faster than anybody who can write better.”
– A. J. Liebling (1904-1963)

“It is time I step aside for a less experienced and less able man.”
– Scott Elledge, on his retirement as a Professor at Cornell

“One of the symptoms of an approaching nervous breakdown is the belief that one’s work is terribly important.”
– Bertrand Russell (1872-1970)

Have a great day!

Hoanh

Hi everyone,

Hope everyone had a great and relaxing weekend.

As I mentioned on Saturday, we have a translation of TCS’s song Bên Đời Quanh Hiu by chị Trâm Đặng in Seattle, Washington State (not Washington DC). Chị Trâm is teaching ESL at a community college is Seattle. The translation is a very beautiful piece of English writing. Here is the unedited version of the translation. Feel free to share your thoughts, questions, or comments.

Bên Đời Quạnh Hiu

Which roads have lured me into dreams?
Once I dreamed of my departure
Tears fell, but not at the least sad
Then I woke suddenly, oh the sun has come up!

Thanks a million, Trâm, for sharing the translation. Please keep sharing more with our brothers and sisters here.

Have a wonderful day!

Hoanh

Hi everyone,

I have just obtained from a friend a good translation of the song Bên Đời Quạnh Hiu by Trinh Công Sơn. Before posting that translation, I would like to put it here as a challenge for you heroes and heroines to see how your translation will compare with the copy I have on my hand.

Here it is:

Bên Đời Quạnh Hiu

Trịnh Công Sơn

Một lần chợt nghe quê quán tôi xưa
Giọng người gọi tôi nghe tiếng rất nhu mì
Lòng thật bình yên mà sao buồn thế
Giật mình nhìn tôi ngồi hát bao giờ

Rồi một lần kia khăn gói đi xa
Tưởng rằng được quên thương nhớ nơi quê nhà
Lòng thật bình yên mà sao buồn thế
Giật mình nhìn tôi ngồi khóc bao giờ

Đường nào quạnh hiu tôi đã đi qua
Đường về tình tôi có nắng rất la đà
Đường thật lặng yên lòng không gì nhớ
Giật mình nhìn quanh ồ phố xa lạ

Đường nào dìu tôi đi đến cơn say
Một lần nằm mơ tôi thấy tôi qua đời
Dù thật lệ rơi lòng không buồn mấy
Giật mình tỉnh ra ồ nắng lên rồi!

Have a great weekend.

Hoanh

Hi everyone,

Everyone should be clear that each day we have some suggestion for you on what to do with English, be it a discussion subject or a challenge to write or translate something. But these are suggestions only, not to be taken too seriously. You can write anything you like in this DCD section. A suggestion is not meant to prevent you from writing things you would like to write.

Another thing to keep in mind is that if your writing has some corrections later on, be happy that you are in the right place. If your writing has no correction every time, this section may not be for you 🙂

TODAY’S DISCUSSION

1. Lately on the newspaper, there has been constant news on Truong Sa and Hoang Sa. Are you concerned about this issue at all, other than pop music? If yes, many dotchuoinoners (new word) would love to hear what you say about Truong Sa and Hoang Sa. Go ahead and shoot!

2. Today we have a message asking everyone: “What is the meaning of your city?” Do you know the meaning of your city, to put it succinctly in one short sentence, or even one word only?

TODAY’s CHALLENGE

This song Turn! Turn! Turn! that anh Hiển posts today has beautiful lyrics, you may want to translate it into Vietnamese.

That’s it for today. Have a great day!

Hoanh

Hi everyone,

I am happy to see that everyone is more comfortable writing English. And I am very impressed with all of you. You all have very solid grammar and composition, some minor mistakes here and there notwithstanding. That’s the way to go, sisters and brothers. Keep writing. After a while you will find it easy.

And as you guys are more comfortable writing, we can think about more interesting things for ĐCN, such as a new category for “poetry and essay in English.” Keep writing. And if have written a good poem or essay in English, send it to me for posting on ĐCN.

For today discussion, could each person write a piece on your experience and feeling on English study.

When did you start learning English? How did you feel about English at first?

Then when did you start to really love English?

How do you feel about English as a language? Beautiful? Sounds pleasant to ear? Sounds romantic?

How does English help you open your horizons, such as American music and singers, American culture, British culture, Australian culture?

How do you think English may help Vietnam as a nation?

How do you think English teaching may be improved?

And whatever else you would like to write about.

You guys are doing wonderfully. I love it.

Have a great day!

Hoanh

Hi everyone.

For today’s challenge I have here a poem I wrote 10 years ago, called Huế. It was published in Illuminations, an annual international poetry publication.

It would be great if you ladies and gentlemen, English talents out there, translate Huế into Vietnamese. This is my poem. So please make my day 🙂

.

Huế

This imperial city

where kings and princesses
looked past mountains and seas
searching for a landing patch for the migratory Lạc flock

where you have sung for me
the murmurs of a mother on the Huong river
the day she got word of her son’s death on the battlefield

where the souls of kings and warriors
still vibrate the lotus flowers on the tranquil moat

has been torn and beaten and crushed
time and time again

so that when I look at you in the eyes
though the sky may be blue and bright and transparent
I only see a white stork flying in the sunset.

TDH

Thank you. Have a great day!

Hoanh

Hi everyone,

1. Let’s continue our interesting discussion on our daily quotes. Pickup a quote we post today or any quote posted previously on ĐCN and talk about it.

2. What is your plan for summer vacation? What do you plan to do for three months.

TODAY’s CHALLENGE

Today chi Hue has 4 Diana Ross songs posted. Please translate anyone of them into English.

That’s it. Have a wonderful day.

Hoanh

Hi everyone,

Thank you for a new wave of fresh, good writings. That has got me excited. Continue to work that way, brothers and sisters.

For our challenges today, we have two quotes translated by chị Kiêm Yến and chị Đông Vy:

“If you are patient in one moment of anger, you will avoid one hundred days of sorrow.”
Chinese Proverb

“The poorest man is not without a cent, but without a dream.”
Anonymous

And of course, we still have 25 quotes posted by chị Huỳnh Huệ in Hãy Nhớ. We can continue using these.

Pick any quote you like and say whatever your would like to say about the quote.

That’s it. Have fun. You guys are doing very well.

Hoành

Michael Jackson, one of the greatest artists of all times, with a tragic life, and probably a very lonely and painful soul, is gone.

People the world over mourn his passing.

How does it affect you? How do you feel about Michael Jackson’s music, dance, life, death?

Have a nice weekend.

Hoành