Dear các bạn,

Thanks, Thai Ha, again for the very good translation of yesterday’s challenge. I have planned not to have an English challenge for Saturday, but chị Kiêm Yến seems to want to keep it going. So I have it here, in case you would like some work over the weekend.

Thai Ha’s translation is very good. Not much to fix. But here are some minor points:

“A widely anticipated speech” should be translated as “một bài phát biểu nhiều người đang chờ đợi.”

“yet issued a firm, evenhanded call to the Jewish state and Palestinians alike” should be translated as “tuy nhiên vẫn kêu gọi, cứng rắn và công bằng, cả nước Do Thái lẫn người Palestine …”

“a Cold War in which Muslim-majority countries were often treated as proxies without regard to their own aspirations” should be translated as “Chiến tranh Lạnh trong đó các quốc gia có đa số dân là Hồi giáo thường bị dùng như những con chốt trong khi nguyện vọng của họ không hề được quan tâm.”

Thanks again, Thai Ha.
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TODAY’S CHALLENGE

This a CNN news piece about Palin’s criticism of Obama’s policy. She talked in a conversational tone. So there are many typical conversational words here for you to get yourselves familiar with.

Palin blasts Obama administration: Government wants to “control the people”

(CNN) – Alaska governor Sarah Palin let loose Wednesday on the Obama administration for enacting fiscal policies that “fly in the face of principles” and “defy Economics 101.”

In a speech introducing Michael Reagan — the son of former President Ronald Reagan — to an audience in Anchorage, Palin warned that the government is planning to “bail out debt ridden states” so it can “get in there and control the people.”

“Since when can you get out of huge national debt by creating trillions of dollars of new debt?” Palin asked. “It all really is so backwards and skewed as to sound like absolute nonsense when some of this economic policy is explained.”

“We need to be aware of the creation of a fearful population, and fearful lawmakers, being led to believe that big government is the answer, to bail out the private sector, because then government gets to get in there and control it,” she said. “And mark my words, this is going to be next, I fear, bail out next debt-ridden states. Then government gets to get in there and control the people.”

“Some in Washington would approach our economic woes in ways that absolutely defy Economics 101, and they fly in the face of principles, providing opportunity for industrious Americans to succeed or to fail on their own accord,” she said. “Those principles it makes you wonder what the heck some in Washington are trying to accomplish here.”

Though the bulk of her remarks focused on government encroachment into the private sector, and praise for former President Reagan’s views on limited government, the former vice presidential candidate briefly touched on national security. She told the crowd that “the terrorists are still dead set against us” and that her son Track is still deployed in Iraq.

“It is war over there, so it will not be war over here,” she said. “And it had better still be our mission that we win, they lose.”

Vocabulary notes:

“Economics 101” is the name of the lowest economics class in university.

“What the heck” is a nice swearing term (chửi thề). Originally, it is “What the hell.” What the hell did you give me in this box? (Anh cho em cái quái quỷ gì trong hộp này?). People say “what the hell” is a bad swearing term, so they change the sound to “what the heck.”

That’s it. Have fun, everyone. Have a great great great weekend. 🙂

Hoành

Hi everyone,

Let’s continue the discussion on our future plan. Since no one seems to contradict me on my last message, I think we can come to some compromise for the time being, to see how it goes.

I think we can just make one page called “Discussion In English” and put the Daily English Challenge as a section of that page. In that way, we still have the challenge and talk about English a bit each day, but we can be sure that the “challenge” will have the overall effect of the “English only” method we use in the “discussion” page. And we can make the challenge at the entry and intermediate levels. Advanced people don’t need it.

But I need someone to help me handle that section. Any volunteer? If there is no volunteer, I will ask chị Huệ if we can invite some English teacher(s) who is/are willing to help.

Thanks a million in advance.

YESTERDAY’S CHALLENGE

Thank you very much, Thai Ha, for answering. That is a good translation, nothing to fix.

I need to go over Psalm 23 again to emphasize some important writing techniques. This Psalm was written almost 3 thousand years ago, but it is still the standard for today’s writing. That is why it is so famous.

Let’s look at it again:

The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
he restores my soul.

He guides me in paths of righteousness
for his name’s sake.

Even though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.

Surely goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD
forever.

1. Simple words. There is no complex word in this poem. The entire poem has only one 3-syllable word “righteousness” and, even that, this is a very well-known word–everyone is familiar with it.

2. Concrete words and ideas.

* the Lord is my shepherd. (Not, the Lord is my creator).

* I shall not be in want. (Not, I shall not be poor).

* He makes me lie down in green pastures. (Not, he gives me good rest).

* He leads me besides quiet waters. (Not, he gives my security and peace).

* He restores my soul (“My soul” happens to be an abstract word, but the sentence tries to make it concrete by using the word “restores”, like restoring a broken house).

* He guides me in paths of righteousness (Again, “righteousness” happens to be an abstract word, but the word “paths” helps make it concrete.

* Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death (Not, even though I am in trouble).

* I will fear no evil. (This clause is intentionally left abstract, to weaken the sense of “evil”).

* For you are with me. (Not, for you always care about me).

* Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. (Not, you give me protection and give me peace).

* You prepare a table before me, in the presence of my enemy. (Not, you give me courage and calmness when I am under attack).

* You anoint my head with oil. (Not, you make me your chosen one).

* My cup overflows. (Not, you give me more than I need).

* Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life. (“Goodness” and “love” are abstract words made concrete by the term “follow”).

* And I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. (Not, I will dwell in heaven forever).

3. Short, simple, clear sentences. Ex: The lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.

4. Present tense. Ex: Your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

5. Indicative mood, active voice. Ex: He makes me lie down in green pastures.

5. Using images and pictures. We can see that the entire poem is all images and pictures.

These are standards of writing, brothers and sisters. Keep these in mind. Kalil Gibran took these standards to the utmost, by concreting every single abstract idea.

TODAY’S CHALLENGE

OK, here is today’s challenge, everyone.

Please translate the following news article into Vietnamese.

Obama Reaches Out to Muslim World
By MARK S. SMITH

CAIRO (June 4) — Quoting from the Quran for emphasis, President Barack Obama called for a “new beginning between the United States and Muslims” Thursday and said together, they could confront violent extremism across the globe and advance the timeless search for peace in the Middle East.

“This cycle of suspicion and discord must end,” Obama said in a widely anticipated speech in one of the world’s largest Muslim countries, an address designed to reframe relations after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, and the U.S.-led war in Iraq.

The White House said Obama’s speech contained no new policy proposals on the Middle East. He said American ties with Israel are unbreakable, yet issued a firm, evenhanded call to the Jewish state and Palestinians alike to live up to their international obligations.
In a gesture to the Islamic world, Obama conceded at the beginning of his remarks that tension “has been fed by colonialism that denied rights and opportunities to many Muslims, and a Cold War in which Muslim-majority countries were often treated as proxies without regard to their own aspirations.”

Have fun. Thank you, everyone.

Have a great day!

Hoành

Hi Everyone,

Thanks chị Yến, Truong and Kitty for the notes. The idea of breaking the daily challenge into smaller parts for different groups and doing two pages each day–one for discussion on national affairs and one for English challenge–is good.

But here is my thinking:

I am thinking that we need to go into the “English only” mode. In the discussions (in English) we may be able to achieve the English training naturally, simply by discussing things. That is the best way to learn English. You learn “live” English, which is absorbed naturally, just by living it. And EVERYONE can be involved in the discussions.

The daily challenge has some obstacles to “live” English–relying too much on translation, “dictionary English”, and Vietnamese as the bridge, which keeps the mind stuck on Vietnamese grammatical logic. And it seems I have not been able to break out of this operating mode and move into the English-only mode. I am thinking that this may become a detriment rather than help.

In addition, we can’t create more activities without additional help. Do we have one or two English teachers willing to work with me on the Daily English Challenge?

TODAY’S CHALLENGE

OK, while we are discussing on this, let’s continue our daily challenge until we have come to a final conclusion.

Below is a very famous poem called Psalm 23, a Psalm of David. It is from the Bible. I have explained earlier why I keep giving you Bible excerpts.

David was a farmer boy and he played music. I think he played the little harp. He killed the giant Goliath in a battle and later became the greatest king of Israel. He wrote a lot of songs and they are the Psalms in the Bible.

The Psalms contain very beautiful English. They are simple and picturesque, and have very high emotional impact. Psalms are among the most beautiful poems in human literature. Abraham Lincoln learned beautiful language for his famous speeches from the Psalms. His mother used the Bible to teach him English. I read the Psalms to learn the power of beautiful simple English. Many friends have asked me: “How to learn to write English beautifully?” and I have answered: “Read the Psalms, even if you are not Christian.” I used to read many books just to learn English. I used to rank Kalil Gibran top on my list, until I studied the Psalms–I dropped Kalil Gibran.

Psalm 23 is the most famous Psalm. If you watch movies, when soldiers are under heavy enemy pressure, they may read Psalm 23.

Here it is. Please translate Psalm 23 below into English.

The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.

Surely goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD
forever.

Have a wonderful day.

Hoanh

Hi everyone,

2 billion people in the world are learning English, and the country with the highest number of English students is China. In the following video Jay Walker talks about the “English Mania” worldwide, especially in China.

According to Walker, English is the language of problem solving and opportunity.
.

I would like to turn this Daily English Challenge into a page of English discussion on the issues of the nation. But it should be different from VNBIZ, which is an existing English forum on national issues.

* The discussions should have only positive tone on dotchuoinon. We want everything to be positive here. It means, we discuss issues to solve issues, not to attack anyone or any agency.

* We want the language to be simple, so that students can participate.

* We want participants to understand very clearly that we all are doing this to figure out and test various communication methods that may be applicable in revolutionizing our English teaching methodology.

I am very confident that after a while we will come up with so many different methods and teaching aids. Trust me.

Please tell me what you think.

Great day, brothers and sisters.

Hoanh

Hi everyone,

Here are my temporary conclusions, after more than a month of searching and experimenting, about our English issues:

1. There is a wide gap between reading comprehension and writing skills.
2. This is a wide gap between translating English into Vietnamese and translating from Vietnamese into English.
3. Even people with very high level of writing–translators for newspapers- are stuck with “translated English” and sound awkward.
4. There is considerable difficulty in writing English directly, without the help of a Vietnamese article for translation purposes.
5. There is a weakness in familiarity with everyday English.
6. I also suspect a weakness in multiple choice testing.

I think the main reason is that Vietnamese language has been playing a major role in English teaching. I think Vietnamese language should play NO role in English hours. Everyone should stay with only one language in the English hour–English language.

In English hours, students should be taught to speak, listen, read and write English, without the interference of Vietnamese language.

In other words, we need the “total submersion” method in English education.

And I think we can do that easily, simply by switching methodology. The current teachers can do that. Immediately. Without the need for bureaucracy, plans, calculations, approvals, etc. We just need a group of dedicated teachers.

I would like to hear more from English teachers on these points. And eventually we should have a group of teachers with the same thinking, to explore ways to revolutionize English teaching. Let’s focus on our creative power.

And we need to think about more methods for students to use English in everyday life, more than just a couple of hours a week in the classroom.

We need to think about English as a major component of the national development strategy. As a nation, we need to master English as the main business language, at the same level as Vietnamese business language. The world is a very large reservoir of knowledge, and English is the conduit into that reservoir. We cannot afford to be weak.

Let’s keep all these points in mind as we explore our ways together.

TODAY’S CHALLENGE

I am thinking about eventually turning these challenges into discussions, so that we can simply “talk” in English, about issues of our lives, our cities and our nation. But I am not sure how to go about it yet. Still thinking. If you have any suggestion, please shoot.

In the meantime, here is our challenge for today:

Chị Kiêm Yến posted this quote by Demosthenes on May 29: “Small opportunities are often the beginning of great enterprises.”

Please explain it to him.

Have a great time.

Hoanh

Hi everyone,

Hope everyone had a wonderful weekend and is now refreshed and full of energy.

No one has a response for the weekend. I did expect that. Actually I was thinking of not doing the challenge for Saturday, but I didn’t want to change without some announcement in advance. I realize that people don’t want to do English challenges on weekends.

So here is the announcement: From now on, we will not have English challenge on Saturday.

And now, here are three challenges for today. Please pick any challenge you like, or all of them if you like to do them all.

1. What do you think are the three most critical issues in Vietnam’s higher education (colleges & universities)?

2. What do you think are the three most critical issues in Vietnam’s high-school education?

3. This challenge is specifically for students: How do you feel about your school and your teachers? (Please note: We are talking about “teachers” in plural, not any particular teacher).

OK, I hope that would give enough choices for everyone. Let’s get the ball rolling, guys and gals.

Have a great day!

Hoanh

Hi Everyone,

Thank chi Kiêm Yến for the good response. Your writing starts to sound very natural. By “natural” I mean sounding like a native English speaker and not having the “translation” sound of a foreigner.

That’s got me thinking. Maybe it is not too hard to get rid of the “translation language” that we see often on many English-edition of Vietnamese language newspaper. Maybe people are trying too hard to “translate,” instead of simply “writing” their the idea down in English.

Anyway, here is chi Yến’s writing with some editing to smooth it out.

You ask me a very difficult question, brother Hoành! It takes me so much time to find out “who is the boss in my home?”.

I even can not define “the boss”. What does “boss” mean? A person has a powerful position in my home? Or a person that other person must obey? I’ve never imagined there is a boss in my family!

When I was a child, sometimes I saw my father acting like a boss. Everyone in my big family listened to his orders, including my mother. He worked and got money to provide for the family. Therefore, although my mother exhaustedly took care of a large household, she always obeyed him.

I suppose that the woman of today is not the same . Since she gets married and has a family, she makes every effort to build her own one. She inherits the traditional moral standard from mother and, concurrently, participates in the social activities. She has a high responsibility for all things she is involved in. She does chores, cleaning house, preparing meals, washing clothes, feeding children. She reads book, sings songs, and helps children do their homework. She not only takes care her child, but also takes care her husband! She pays attention to his career- creating good conditions for him to work, caring about his look, managing his time. That’s the reason you think woman runs everything and everyone in her home, do you?

How about man? I think he changes so much. His role as “king” is eliminated, because in his home, he has to do chores with his wife. When a married couple go home after working all day, there is no reason why only the woman should be in the kitchen, right? When the woman shows her love, she absolutely wants to receive similar things from her husband. And I think, it’s nicest if both husband and wife share everything, including hobbies such as seeing a film, traveling, listening to music…

Consequently, I will not determine who is the boss in my home. Do you agree with me?

.

* “All” usually is not as strong in impact as “every”. Use “every” instead of “all” whenever you can. Ex: “I love every student of mine” has stronger emotional impact than “I love all my students.” Why? Because “every” points to each individual, while “all” points to a group.
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CHALLENGE FOR THE WEEKEND

Please translate Tiếng Thu of Lưu Trọng Lư into English.

Tiếng thu

Em không nghe mùa thu
Lá thu rơi xào xạc
Con nai vàng ngơ ngác
Đạp trên lá vàng khô

Here is some hints when translating poetry.

1. Jot down the translation in crude English, just to get the meaning down correctly.

2. Play with words–new words, new order of words, now sound, new rhythm.

3. Reduce the number of words to an absolute minimum. (A good poem shouldn’t have any extra word).

All right, have fun. Have a great weekend, everyone.

Hoanh

Hi everyone,

Thank you, jEa and chị Kiêm Yến, for being my heroines.

I have below the edited version of jEa’s translation of Solomon’s Song of Songs and the edited version of chị Yến’s translation. In the editing work, I have done two thíngs: correcting few mistakes and, the main thing, refining the writing to make it sound smoother and more natural.

jEa, you are very creative with language. You have the potential to become a good novelist, if you keep working at it. I am sure that many people have said you write very well.

Just please remember that, when doing translation, we cannot be too creative. We need to stay faithful to “the author’s expression” as much as we can. We should be as creative as possible, within the limit of “the author’s expression.”

Here is jEa’s edited version

(Nam)

Em đã đánh cắp trái tim anh, hỡi cô em, cô dâu của anh;
Em đã đánh cắp trái tim anh
Chỉ với ánh mắt liếc,
Chỉ với viên ngọc trên chuỗi hạt .

Tình yêu của em dễ chịu làm sao, hỡi cô em, cô dâu của anh!
Tình yêu của em dễ chịu hơn cả rượu vang,
Và mùi nước hoa của em dễ chịu hơn bất kì gia vị nào!

Hỡi cô dâu của anh, môi em nhỏ giọt ngọt ngào như tổ ong nhỏ mật,
sữa và mật ong dưới lưỡi của em.
Mùi hương quần áo em như mùi hương của Li-băng

Em là khu vườn đóng kín, hỡi cô em, cô dâu của anh;
Em là giòng suối khép kín, là ngọn núi chưa mở.
Em là suối phun nước giữa vườn,
Suối nguồn nước chảy
Chảy xuống từ Li-băng.

(Nữ)

Gió bắc, hãy thức dậy,
Và gió nam, hãy đến đây!
Thổi qua vườn của em,
Để mùi hương của mảnh vườn lan toả
Hãy để người tình của em vào vườn của chàng
Và thưởng thức những trái cây ngon nhất .

(Nam)

Anh đã bước vào vườn của anh, hỡi cô em, cô dâu của anh;
Anh đã lấy nhựa trầm hương với gia vị của anh.
Anh đã ăn tổ ong và mật ong ;
Anh đã uống rượu và sữa.

(Nữ)

Em ngủ nhưng trái tim vẫn thức
Nghe kìa! Người tình của em đang gõ cửa:

“Hãy mở cửa cho anh, hỡi cô em, người yêu dấu,
Chim bồ câu của anh, người hoàn mĩ của anh.
Đầu anh ướt đẫm sương,
Tóc anh ướt đẫm sương khuya.”

Em đã cởi áo choàng-
Có nên mặc lại không ?
Em đã rửa chân
Có nên làm dơ chân lần nữa ?

Người tình của em đưa tay qua ô then cửa;
Tim em bắt đầu đập mạnh.

Em đứng dậy mở cửa cho người tình,
và đôi tay em nhỏ giọt trầm hương,
ngón tay em đầy nhựa đang chảy,
dính đầy trên nắm cửa.

.

• Read these two clauses again. “Blow on my garden, that its fragrance may spread abroad.” There is a word omitted—“so”. Blow on my garden, so that its fragrance may spread. The word “so” is often omitted in poetry.

• When the author writes “You are a garden”, don’t add “như là” in the translation to weaken the sentence. Simply translate: “Em là mảnh vườn”, not “em như là mảnh vườn.”

* Choice fruit = trái cây ngon nhất, choice meat = thịt ngon nhất.

• The present-day war-torn country of Lebanon, in the Biblical time, was a great country of giant cedar trees, spices, and beautiful clothing.

.

Now, chi Kiêm Yến’s writing.

All natural phenomena don’t have their own meanings. Our thoughts impose meanings on them. The rain is only the rain. If we feel it’s sad, it’s sad; if we feel it’s glad, it’s glad. Sunshine is only sunshine; if we suppose it’s brilliant, it’s brilliant; if we suppose it’s dazzling, it’s dazzling.

All the feelings- happiness, sadness, angrer, hate, love, fondness- are our responses to the outside. If your husband comes home late, it’s right if you complain. It’s also right if you’re glad, as he has overcome the traffic jam to come home. Late is late! This is neither a happy thing nor a sad thing, neither good nor bad. Gladness or sadness is our reactions to the event “coming home late”.

A half glass–it’s correct if we say it is half full; it’s also correct if we say it is half empty. It’s right either way. All things depend on our choice. Do we choose positive thinking, being strong and life loving? Or do we choose to be a complainer, or a loser?

.

• Generally, we say: the rain, the heat, the coldness, the coolness, the snow, the sun, the moon, the earth, the sky, the leaves, the trees, etc. (with “the”).

But we say: Life, death, sunshine, sickness, God… (without “the”)

Why? Well, I can explain it, but it may create more confusion. Won’t help. Just read and write often, until these things soak in naturally.

• “All feelings—happiness, sadness…” We should use a noun, not an adjective, to explain a noun. Use “happiness” (not, “happy”) to explain “feeling”.

If you use adjectives to explain a noun, is it wrong? Well, probably, we can say it is OK. Just not superb writing. It depends on what level of writing we are talking about.
.

TODAY’S CHALLENGE.

So, what do you think about this? Who is the boss in your family? Why is that?

OK, guys, have fun. And have a great day!

Hoanh