Student Letters: What are Misconceptions about your Country?
Get a personal perspective from language students across the world. Welcome to the Student Letters.
What are the "Student Letters?"
Student Letters are a collaborative writing project. They begin with a question. Something that you might find curious to know about other students around the world. The Verbling community is global, so we get the opportunity to hear from anyone, anywhere.
Once students get a question, they are allowed to respond in their own words. The responses are then collected into the Student Letters.
Hopefully, the responses you will find are surprising, personal, and fun to read.
We began this time with a few questions...
Questions
1. Why did you decide to learn English?
2. What is a misconception about the country you come from? How does it compare to life as it actually is for you?
3. What is your favorite English word?
English for Telling Stories from South Korea
Jude - South Korea
The reason I study English is to sell my illustrations to foreign publishers. There are a lot of international competitions for illustrators all over the world and I am finding new opportunities because of my English proficiency. I also regularly participate in an international book fair to research trends of children’s books and publishers. They of course welcome illustrators who can speak English fluently.
Well, I think there is a certain misconception that Korean students are all good at mathematics. It is totally not true. I and many of my friends are really poor at it!
My favorite word in English is 'Gut'
Misconceptions in Colombia
Jhonny - Colombia
The main reason I am learning a foreign language is because I love the American culture and above all, I love the entertainment that is created within the U.S. For me, it is a goal to be able to understand the culture and all the things related to it in their original language.
Regarding my own country, Colombia, the overall misconception is that people from here are involved in some kind of illegal business, such as drug trafficking, violence, etc., but I think that most of the Colombian people are kind, nice, and good people. Also, we have delicious food!
My favorite English word is 'Power'
Language Learning for Business in Brazil
Paulo - Brazil
The reason I chose to study English was to able to amplify my business network. Brazil started to open to the international community in the 90s, and the vast majority of Brazilian people don't speak English because we have always been doing business inside our own country. But it is necessary for us to change this idea.
The common misconception about Brazil is that we only have carnival, samba and soccer. We are a big country with a large population (200m) and a great cultural diversity. Brazilian people have a great creativity and great talent to innovate and be entrepreneurs.
My favorite word in English is 'Freedom'
If you would like to respond to these questions, or have ideas about more in the future, feel free to message me on my teacher page!
20 décembre 2016
