Posted on 06/05/2012 8:46:29 PM PDT by Revolting cat!
Will ya?
For the past six months or so I have been meeting each week with a young Chinese economics scholar from mainland China, discussing life in the United States, and helping him with his English which is excellent as far as vocabulary and grammar, but rather dismal in the pronunciation department. This is my volunteer work contribution to the betterment of mankind, as I tend to avoid those typical volunteering activities such as "teaching children of prisoners to read", preferring instead, as has been my habit in other areas, to try to subvert the dominant paradigm. (Today, seeing a help wanted advertisment placed for some odd reason, perhaps desperation in the local weekly neoCommunist rag by my former hi-tech company which had laid me and eight others off in a clear case of age discrimination, I thought of replying with a resume just to stir things up over there.)
Anyway, in our conversations we've covered all kinds of topics, and he's no Communist, of course, even saying as much that China in the current stage of development is no longer a strictly Communist country, which is true enough. (There is no welfare state there such as we have here, either. In China, you're on your own, buster!)
The man is as curious as he's uninformed about the United States, and this is quite typical of the Chinese, even those well educated, he tells me. Hence his idea that I write a book about life in the United States which would be intended as a textbook for Chinese students at university English departments. The book would be published in China, or else we'd produce an e-book edition. It would contain all the topics we have discussed, from history to politics, state birds, minorities, recall elections, freeways and bus lines, government, religion and charity, job market, healthcare, shopping, NBA, investments, environment, leisure time, corruption and carpooling, among other things. Today he handed me his proposed table of contents and we shook things out while discussing Clinton's impeachment and today's election in Wisconsin, all of it fascinating to him while quite commonplace ordinary to you and me.
I've written articles about rock and roll (what else is there to write about?!), edited somebody's memoir, in addition to writing pages upon pages of technical documentation which no one bothered to read when it was easier to pick up the phone and dial the cat with a stupid question or shoot it an all lowercase e-mail in pidgin English. And now a 200-300 page book? Am I kidding me? Who's zooming who?
I can talk about each of these subjects in two or three sentences off the top of my head, just as I've talked to this young fellow, but can't we all? I need whole paragraphs, complete thoughts, background information, and not too many statistics.
What to do? I am seeking suggestions of books already published or websites out there that I can use to inspire my typing fingers if nothing else. I won't plagiarize if I can help it, just borrow ("Amateurs borrow, professionals steal," said Pablo Picasso.) I don't expect to get rich from this project, but I have heard from usually reliable sources that chicks do dig writers.
So, will ya?!
On the issue of helping his pronunciation, use a memo recorder with him so you can play back his voice vs. yours for the same word. It was helpful for when I did the same in grad school.
unPINGIE
Take some of the most subtlely subversive, mainstream, popular authors, bring their message into modern, day to day American context and existence, sort of Heinlein in reverse. We’re steeped in 1984 but I’d imagine your new Chinese acquaintance isn’t. De-stultify Ayn Rand, bring Heinlein to Earth, make Hayek very accessible. Real life, nonfiction accounts that are illustrative of such could have a profound impact. Thus introduced and gotten past any screening or censorship remaining, mount a follow up viral campaign to direct readers to the underlying, original inspiration, maybe.
It would appear to concern matters outside China.
Seek comfort and strength in knowing that a slime covered hairball that you yacked up will be worth infinitely more than anything ever printed on the front page of the vaunted New York Times.
Is this a book to teach English?
My wife wrote a schoolbook last fall/winter that is meant to help German students learn English. The publisher and school officials liked it so much, they hired her to write a second one for the next higher age of students.
Once again my wife hired me to help her do the research. I am going to get an iPad3 from this deal. :)
The formula we use is: Little known fun facts in English.
For example take Robin Hood, remind the readers what little they know of Robin Hood, then give them all the interesting historical facts and trivia they likely didn’t know. You can do this with carpooling and whatever else you fancy, add drawings and you have a book. You can research across the whole internet for ideas and information. I hope this is some help to you, Good Luck!
No it's not to be an English textbook per se, but an informational aid of sorts for English 1st and 2nd year students. (His wife is an English Dept graduate, and I assume he had consulted with her.)
It sounds like you and your chinese friend are zeroing in on “America for Dummies” or something like that.
I haven’t thought of that, but yes, I suppose that’s the idea.
By all means, do not underestimate the importance of a captivating opening line.
Suggestion: The night was hot humid wet moist foggy sultry....
“It twas a dark and yet stormy night...”
Are you writing about America pre-Obama or post- Obama? I, myself, can’t figure out this post-Obama shit.
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