[Don Det, 3/28/23] In Phnom Penh last month, I would write at a very crude drink and food stand, with its clientele mostly tuk-tuk drivers, van drivers and porters. The food was at the lower end, with chicken feet, pig innards, pig tongues or even dogmeat served. When this food stand’s owner said he was going to take his dad to Da Nang for a vacation, I was a bit surprised, since his income couldn’t have been that much.
Your experience in trying to help the man teaching English with his pronunciation is not so surprising. Over the years, I have noticed a few things that might explain why certain difficulties with pronunciation by non-native speakers are so common. Some people have a talent for mimicry, others don't. Closely related, some can pick up alien pronunciations just by being around them for awhile, others can't.
Less obvious are two other issues. The first is that many learners, once they acquire the ability to be understood, no longer see the need to put more effort into cleaning up the niceties of precise pronunciation. I think this is an eminently practical approach, depending on what one's ultimate ambition for using the language is.
In your own case, I noticed the man you were helping was dropping some of the 's' sounds. It might be that his native tongue does not have plurals and hence he does not always recognize when the 's' is needed. I noticed this when I was learning Mandarin--singular and plural are the same word. And my wife, a native Mandarin speaker, still often leaves the 's' off her plurals, even after decades of living with me in an English-speaking country. Nevertheless, my hat is off to anyone who can communicate well in any language besides their own native tongue, and it is even more impressive to be able to live in a society surrounded by people who don't speak your native tongue.
Your laptop picture is funny! I had a similar experience years ago when I lived near a low-lying area in southern Maryland that had lots of mosquitos. A friend from the office who had once worked at a power plant on the South Texas gulf coast told me it was much worse down there, and had some funny "mosquito stories'. He said that if you put some incense or a citronella candle on the table near your work, often it would discourage them. It was winter when he dropped this tidbit one day, so I never got a chance to try this before leaving the area. He also told me that a lot of people had "foggers" and would go outside and fog their yards with insecticide to chase them away. I asked him how that would do any good since it seemed to me they would come back as soon as you put the fogger away, and he said that once you pushed them back beyond a certain radius, you would be "out of their range" since they only traveled a short distance. Who knew?
There are mosquito traps that mimic the smell humans give off that attracts mosquitos. They fly to it get vacuumed up and deposited in a bag. The green mosquito coils work really well, turning an area that is barely tolerable, as in hundreds of them to just a few flying around. There are other devices that work also.
In the dark, they don't bother me, especially with my ceiling fan going. Weirdly enough, I haven't even been bitten by a mosquito during this entire week.
I am glad you have wandered into more rural lands. I could visit a place like this, whereas I would stay away from many of the places you visit. If it isn't laid-back, I get overwhelmed by too much activity or diversity. It's probably racist to be overwhelmed by diversity in, say, Philadelphia, but that's what would happen to me if I hung out there. I ain't don det yet, but I could see myself reading a book, taking a dip in the river, and listening to roosters with a peaceful mind there. If there is any color on the bedrock I see on the Mekong, it would make it even better to possibly cover my beer purchases.
Your experience in trying to help the man teaching English with his pronunciation is not so surprising. Over the years, I have noticed a few things that might explain why certain difficulties with pronunciation by non-native speakers are so common. Some people have a talent for mimicry, others don't. Closely related, some can pick up alien pronunciations just by being around them for awhile, others can't.
Less obvious are two other issues. The first is that many learners, once they acquire the ability to be understood, no longer see the need to put more effort into cleaning up the niceties of precise pronunciation. I think this is an eminently practical approach, depending on what one's ultimate ambition for using the language is.
In your own case, I noticed the man you were helping was dropping some of the 's' sounds. It might be that his native tongue does not have plurals and hence he does not always recognize when the 's' is needed. I noticed this when I was learning Mandarin--singular and plural are the same word. And my wife, a native Mandarin speaker, still often leaves the 's' off her plurals, even after decades of living with me in an English-speaking country. Nevertheless, my hat is off to anyone who can communicate well in any language besides their own native tongue, and it is even more impressive to be able to live in a society surrounded by people who don't speak your native tongue.
Your laptop picture is funny! I had a similar experience years ago when I lived near a low-lying area in southern Maryland that had lots of mosquitos. A friend from the office who had once worked at a power plant on the South Texas gulf coast told me it was much worse down there, and had some funny "mosquito stories'. He said that if you put some incense or a citronella candle on the table near your work, often it would discourage them. It was winter when he dropped this tidbit one day, so I never got a chance to try this before leaving the area. He also told me that a lot of people had "foggers" and would go outside and fog their yards with insecticide to chase them away. I asked him how that would do any good since it seemed to me they would come back as soon as you put the fogger away, and he said that once you pushed them back beyond a certain radius, you would be "out of their range" since they only traveled a short distance. Who knew?
There are mosquito traps that mimic the smell humans give off that attracts mosquitos. They fly to it get vacuumed up and deposited in a bag. The green mosquito coils work really well, turning an area that is barely tolerable, as in hundreds of them to just a few flying around. There are other devices that work also.
"Sadness accrues until indifference releases us . " Absolutely true . Dostoyevsky and Sartre would agree ?
Do the flies bug you when you try to sleep? That is a lot of them to be buzzing around your ears when trying to rest!
Hi J.G Carbone,
In the dark, they don't bother me, especially with my ceiling fan going. Weirdly enough, I haven't even been bitten by a mosquito during this entire week.
Linh
I wish you more biteless days to come Linh.
I am glad you have wandered into more rural lands. I could visit a place like this, whereas I would stay away from many of the places you visit. If it isn't laid-back, I get overwhelmed by too much activity or diversity. It's probably racist to be overwhelmed by diversity in, say, Philadelphia, but that's what would happen to me if I hung out there. I ain't don det yet, but I could see myself reading a book, taking a dip in the river, and listening to roosters with a peaceful mind there. If there is any color on the bedrock I see on the Mekong, it would make it even better to possibly cover my beer purchases.
If you hear frogs at night, (or in the daytime) they are probably eating most of the mosquitoes. Frogs are great!