Hi everyone,

Kim Lien tunnel is flooded again. Both the Japanese contractor and the Vietnamese project manager keep saying that it is natural for water to be in the tunnel and that the construction job is of high quality. Sorry, it is only natural for the worst construction quality of the world. It is not natural for the basement of my house to be flooded with water.

Sorry, guys. If you have a tunnel and it is flooded every time it rains, you must be absolutely insane to believe these guys that the job is of good quality. What kind of good quality is that?

And why no one raises serious issue with them? They’ve been giving out all kinds of excuses. Isn’t that simple enough to say “We want a tunnel that works”? Isn’t that simple enough for the world to understand?

I think the government should hire an international auditor, one of those international accounting firms, and ask it to audit both the financial transactions and the engineering works of this project. These international firms will know what good engineering firms to hire.

Have a great day!

Hoanh

Hi everyone,

In this new piece, Milan of Italy is enforcing a ban on teenagers’ drinking. If a teen under 16 years of age is caught drinking alcohol, his/her parents will be fined up to 500 USD. In a country that has produced and exported wines for centuries, that kind of ban is unthinkable.

In the US, the legal cigarette-smoking age is 18 and drinking age is 21. A retail store may lose business license if it doesn’t check customers’ IDs and keeps selling cigarettes or wines to under-aged folks.

Viet Nam doesn’t have any rule prohibiting teens’ smoking or drinking, does it?

What do you say to that?

Hi everyone,

Giac Ngo online is opening a writing competition on “scientific fasting” (ăn chay khoa học). I have the feeling that they mean vegetarian diet. (Not sure what “scientific” really means 🙂 ) This is a very interesting issue for me too.

This year I started to eat brown rice, sesame seed and sea weed for several months. I felt very good. But then I lost so much weight and muscle strength after several months, more than I wanted, so I stopped and switched to tofu.

Right now I eat tofu as the main food, which is much better for physical strength.

I just boil the tofu and dip it in soy sauce. Sometimes I fry (using sesame oil or olive oil or other vegetable oil). It feel good. I feel my muscles have much more strength than brown rice.

I would suggest tofu as the main food if you are going for a long time. Several martial artists I know eat mainly tofu.

Anyone has some thing interesting to share?

Have a great day!

Hoanh

Hi everyone,

About an unidentified boat hitting one of our fishing boat off the coast of Quảng Ngãi, I wouldn’t mind venture a guess that it is likely to be a Chinese boat. I think the Vietnamese government should at least ask China to do an investigation for this. Even if China will do nothing, ask anyway.

How do you feel about this?

Hoanh

Tàu lạ đâm ngư dân chạy trốn, không cứu hộ người bị thương

Các ngư dân đang nghỉ ngơi ở cabin thì nghe tiếng “đùng” va mạnh vào đuôi tàu, thuyền lật nghiêng rồi chìm dần. Một số người rơi xuống biển, những người còn lại va mạnh vào thân tàu và bị thương.
> Tàu lạ tấn công ngư dân Việt Nam, 7 người bị thương

Các ngư dân bị nạn nhìn thấy một chiếc tàu lớn đang lướt qua với vận tốc cực nhanh mà không quay lại để cứu hộ.

Sáng nay hàng trăm người dân cùng các cơ quan chức năng, y tế, biên phòng… tỉnh Quảng Ngãi có mặt tại bến cá Nghĩa An để chờ đón chiếc tàu đánh cá của ông Huỳnh Thỏ đưa 9 ngư dân, trong đó có 7 người bị thương trong vụ bị tàu lạ đâm chìm, về đất liền. Những cái nhìn đau đáu của người thân ngư dân gặp nạn chợt sáng lên khi chiếc tàu xuất hiện từ phía đường chân trời, rồi hiện rõ dần.

Những tiếng kêu, gọi vang rân cả bến tàu khi bóng những thuyền viên xuất hiện. Bác sĩ đã phải lên tận boong tàu chăm sóc cho những ngư dân bị thương nặng. Họ nằm dài mệt mỏi, quần áo vẫn còn bê bết máu. Vài người bị thương nhẹ được đưa xuống đất nằm dài trên mặt cát.

Hi everyone,

Today brother Hiển translated a beautiful poem by Kathleen Raine, Amo Ergo Sum–I love, therefore I exist. I love this title, and I love Descartes’ famous quote “Cogito ergo sum”–I think, therefore I exist.

What do you say about “Amo Ergo Sum”?

Have a great day!

Hoanh

.

Amo Ergo Sum

Because I love
The sun pours out its rays of living gold
Pours out its gold and silver on the sea.

Because I love
The earth upon her astral spindle winds
Her ecstasy-producing dance.

Because I love
Clouds travel on the winds through wide skies,
Skies wide and beautiful, blue and deep.

Because I love
Wind blows white sails,
The wind blows over flowers, the sweet wind blows.

Because I love
The ferns grow green, and green the grass, and green
The transparent sunlit trees.

Because I love
Larks rise up from the grass
And all the leaves are full of singing birds.

Because I love
The summer air quivers with a thousand wings,
Myriads of jewelled eyes burn in the light.

Because I love
The iridescent shells upon the sand
Takes forms as fine and intricate as thought.

Because I love
There is an invisible way across the sky,
Birds travel by that way, the sun and moon
And all the stars travel that path by night.

Because I love
There is a river flowing all night long.

Because I love
All night the river flows into my sleep,
Ten thousand living things are sleeping in my arms,
And sleeping wake, and flowing are at rest.

— Kathleen Raine (1908-2003)

Hi everyone,

Currently we have three on-going discussions

One on What do you think about v. How do you think about. A lot of fun. Good for sharpening your English logic a little.

One on Internet discussion, at the same location as the above.

And one on Mr. Phạm Minh Hạc’s proposal let each school handle each own high-school graduation exam.

I am not adding another one. But let’s work on these interesting issues a little more, sisters and brothers.

A side note: Anh Phạm Minh Hạc was the first official at the Ministry of Education and Training that I met. I think that was 1992 and I was president of the Vietnamese American Education Foundation. World Vision sponsored anh Hac’s trip to the US. And World Vision president, I can’t remember the name, arranged the meeting between me, anh Hạc and his lieutenant, Nguyễn Ngọc Kính (?) at World Vision’s headquarters in Washington DC. (I am not sure about anh Kính’s full name but I am sure the first name is Kính).

At that time anh Hạc had just changed from Minister of Higher Education to Deputy-Minister of Education and Training. And that meeting helped me greatly in understanding Vietnam’s education.

Have a great day, everyone.

Hoành

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