[Steve]

Over the next few weeks and months I hope this forum can help people improve their English. In order for that to work everyone has to write in English.

If you have trouble writing in English, just pretend that you are speaking. Write the same way you speak. Write as naturally as you can. Use natural English phrases that you know, or think you know. Try not to translate directly from Chinese. The only thing I ask is that you try to make sentences and use capital letters (upper case) for "I", to begin sentences and for names.

You will make mistakes. I will also make mistakes. I would make many more mistakes if I wrote in Chinese. It does not matter. Slowly you will learn to make fewer mistakes and to express yourself more clearly if you write! I will also give you some other tips tgo help you.

But please write me what you think. Tell me about your experience in Vancouver. Your efforts to learn English. Tell me about your successes and frustrations. I look forward to getting to know you all.

Steve

[越问]

Good morning, Steve! Nice to meet you here
Have you had your breakfast already?
(Traditional Chinese way for greeting)

Can you please tell me why it is important to use capital letters (upper case) for "I"? I thought it's popular nowadays to use lower case of "i" instead of upper one after I have seen so many of it on the internet

Thanks, have a good lunch :lol:

[Steve]

I prefer that this forum follow normal usage for capital letters for the following reasons.
1) I prefer it and find that email exchanges using all lower case is just lazy. Call me old fashioned if you want, but this is my forum.
2) Almost all of the business email correspondence I see daily follows this usage.
3) This forum hopes to be interesting but should also help the users to develop good habits. You may have suffcient confidence in your English to be able to switch on and switch off good practice. Others may develop bad habits.

I recently posted an ad for a fluently bilingual English-Chinese marketing assistant. Of 35 applications we received, perhaps 3 or 4 were written in flawless English. Some, including one from a recent UBC graduate, were just awful. It is important to learn to write correctly!

[越问]

i see (oops, I see), thanks!

[胡不归]

Welcome onboard, Steve!

[Patrick]

STEVE

NICE TO READ YOUR WORDS HERE

[FlyingSand]

Hi Steve, I am very glad to see that you are dedicating your time and efforts to help us improving the English language skills. I really appreciate it! I believe, for most of us immigrants, English learning and improving is a life long process. Maybe it is hard for us to speak or write flawless English, but it is possible for us to improve the effectiveness of communication, i.e. express ourselves clearly and understand other people well. It takes practice but we are lucky to have you here sharing your expertise with us. Thanks very much! I am looking forward to learning from you.

[小不忍]

Hi, Steve, i heard a lot about you and really jealous you can speak so many languages. Hopefully we could work on our English with your help here and again, thanks for your time.

[Guest]

[quote:9768a2749d="Steve"]Over the next few weeks and months I hope this forum can help people improve their English. In order for that to work everyone has to write in English.
If you have trouble writing in English, just pretend that you are speaking. Write the same way you speak. Write as naturally as you can. Use natural English phrases that you know, or think you know. Try not to translate directly from Chinese. The only thing I ask is that you try to make sentences and use capital letters (upper case) for "I", to begin sentences and for names.
You will make mistakes. I will also make mistakes. I would make many more mistakes if I wrote in Chinese. It does not matter. Slowly you will learn to make fewer mistakes and to express yourself more clearly if you write! I will also give you some other tips tgo help you.
But please write me what you think. Tell me about your experience in Vancouver. Your efforts to learn English. Tell me about your successes and frustrations. I look forward to getting to know you all.
Steve[/quote:9768a2749d]


[quote:9768a2749d=""]Hi Steve, I am very glad to see that you are dedicating your time and efforts to help us improving the English language skills. I really appreciate it! I believe, for most of us immigrants, English learning and improving is a life long process. Maybe it is hard for us to speak or write flawless English, but it is possible for us to improve the effectiveness of communication, i.e. express ourselves clearly and understand other people well. It takes practice but we are lucky to have you here sharing your expertise with us. Thanks very much! I am looking forward to learning from you.[/quote:9768a2749d]


Please compare, not for grammar but context when writing. the meaning....

[安公子]

Hi, Steve, one quick question. what is the difference beween academic writing and business writing.