WRITING VS. SPEAKING
Written English and spoken English are different.
Written English is formal and spoken English is informal.
Memorizing set phrases or other written English is useless in daily conversation.
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WRITING VS. SPEAKING214 comments to WRITING VS. SPEAKINGLeave a ReplyYou must be logged in to post a comment. |
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Under the examination system in China, we have learnt to write English much better than spoken English. It is obviously that there are of great difference between writing English and Spoken English. Sometimes we find that some students can write English very well, but he or she just could not speak English fluently in the public. How sad it is. Maybe we need the courage and atmosphere to practice our spoken english. Just as professor told that we need to write more, read more and learn more english. Only by this way can we improve our english.
I have to say i am with you,because of the difference ,we can read English but can not speak.
But diference is not the only thing they have .if we can get the connection we will good at speaking Eglish and the Written one.For example collect the usefull phrases in written English; paraphrase the sentences ;remember the words,and so on.
Language is used to communicate, when we speak to someone, we can transfer ourselves ideas not only using spoken language, but also face emotions and body language, so we can use very simple words to get through each other and even if your spoken English brings misapprehension, you have the chance to make it up, because your are communicating at the same time. But if you using writing, it’s not the same, someothers could see your writing only after your writie it , maybe it is not have the chance for your to communicate each other , so the best way for you not making the communication trouble is to write as better as you can.
As for the English leaners, the oral communicative competence is extremely hard since it not only requires language knowledge,but also communicative competence in the social context.Lacking of English atmosphere and opportunities to communicate with English speakers,most of English learners’ oral communicative competence are poor and far away from the fluency of native English speaker.
Besides, the affective factors related to foreign language learning are emoutions, self—esteem,anxiety,attitude and motivation. Foreign language learning is a complex task.Speaking English in public is often anxiety,when the learners become tongue-tied in an unexpected situation, they feel very discouraged.That means “losing face” for them.
Obviously, the inability to speak English is partly due to such kind of negative attitude.
Improving our oral communicative ability is one of our important goals in English learning.And the oral skills are essential.
As for me,compared with the spoken English I really don’t like the written English.But there is no doubt that written English is also very important in our life.For an example, when you will find a job in a foreign trading company,if you are good at written English,maybe you can catch the job than the others who cann’t write well in English ,or you have more oppotunities in looking for the job. anyway,spoken English and written English are very useful and important for us.
One of the most impressive things Professor Wolff gives me is that Chinglish is better than mute English. I suddenly realize that we are permissive to the foreigners when they speak broken Chinese. We can understand what they are talking about and encourage their speaking. But why not turn around? I believe native speakers will be permissive and patient to the foreigners speaking their languages. So why we are still worrying about making mistakes of opening our mouths? Speak more, and we will make progress.
I think it depends on which part of English is more important to you. If you only use English to communicate with foreigners, then speaking English is enough. You don’t have to memorize some set phrases which is only used for written English. Many non-native English speakers who move to America speak English fluently although they can’t write it correctly. On the contrary, if written English is quite enough for your job, then why spend so much time memorizing the slang? However, if you want to master English quite well and also have enough time, you’d better learn both speaking English and written English. Because any part of a language is not the authentic language itself.
As I know, few students speak Enghlish and see English TV and film after English class,even though students in China are required to learn English since primary school.The students are concerned with how they are judged by others.Then they are very cautious about making errores in what they say.Subsequently, their oral communicative competence is bound to be greatly improved.
Last class, Martin told us that our writing is much worse than our speaking, which surprised me very much. I always perform nervous when I speak English, so I think my writing will be better because I have time to prepare. But after Martin told us how poor our writing, I began to notice that writing is more difficult than speaking.
I like write things, rather than speaking things not only in English but also in Chinese. This phenomenon may relate to my characters and education accepted by me. I can write things fluently without thinking something, I enjoy that feeling, because you can express yourself freely and let others know your thought. But when it’s time to say something, I always don’t know to what to say, it’s just like being fastened and can’t move. There is nothing in my brain. How terrible it is. Maybe the reasons are that I am too shy and I don’t have many chances to speak in front of others, at the same time when I learned English in my junior school and senior school, no one cared about how you speak and pronounce, everyone just focused on the writing, listening, and comprehension reading. Under this background we don’t have chances to speak English, we are dumb in English. But all these problems are not too difficult to me. I believe if I get more practice and courage to communicate with others in English. I will speak louder and confidently.
Language is a communicative tool. A foreign language cannot be learned rapidly, It must be learned step by step. Written English and spoken English are good ways of learning English. In my opinion, spoken English is more important than written English. People who cannot write in English, even cannot write their names, but they can speak English fluently. That is a big advantage. We can understand their thoughts completely. As you pointed out, Written English is formal and spoken English is informal. Memorizing set phrases or other written English is useless in daily conversation. So, we should open our mouth, speak English loudly.
Written English and spoken English are different in several aspects. First of all, they obey different rules. Secondly, they are used in different occasions. Written English is used in formal occasion while spoken English is used in informal one, such as daily conversation. Thirdly, Written English using is stricter than spoken English using.
Though written and spoken English are different, there are still some close connections between them. I don’t think that memorizing set phrases or other written English is useless in daily conversation. Instead, I think memorizing written English is helpful in daily conversation. If one knows nothing in written English, or if he memorizes little written English, it is hard for him to speak English well. He may be unable to remember the expression of what he wants to say, and he may match the words in a wrong way, and so on. On the other hand, if one is familiar with written English, he will feel easy to use spoken English. In a word, differences between writing and speaking do not mean there are no connections between them.
Generally the case is that writing is a flow of well organized and exquisitely conceived words kept in the form of written language, whereas the spoken one is pretty much casual knowledge and information engaged in daily chat or conversation. This will roughly be the same with both English or Chinese or any other. Apart from usual however, the blurring of boundaries in these two forms of language are on the way, or rather, an invasion or erosion of spoken language, with evidence is everywhere: you can see informal written English like “see you” as “c u”, and stylish abbreviations like lol, btw and so forth. Surely gone are the days of William Shakespeare lost himself in contemplating careful selections of words for his beloved sonnets, but what’s at modern time is our not-that-serious attitude towards language itself but greater cares about how promptly and efficiently it will get us to the place we desire.
About set phrases, it’s never a burden or a must, but lovely decorations or spare parts in the reserves of your language box. When popping them out, it’s just all automatic and natural. And in my opinion, feeling is simply better than memorizing.
The difference between written English and spoken English is originated from the difference between writing and speaking. For example, when you are speaking, you can feel much better than writing because you don’t have to consider the grammar and spelling. But when you are going to write something, especially for our L2, we must use a great amount of time to organize our words in order to express our idea properly. Therefore, it seems written English is more difficult than Speaking English.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t work on Chinese students. In westerners eyes, almost every Chinese Students has some problems in speaking whereas all of them have a good ability of writing. Amazing, ah? But it’s true.
Actually, in the daily life and most occasions, an influent oral English is enough, for communication with foreigners usually being on speaking rather than writing, as if you can be understood by others, writing skill in some sense is not so neccesary. So if you wanna improve your English ability, please pay more attention on your speaking.
However, as a postgraduate, especially a postgraduate in the major of philosophy, I must spend more time on my written English and reading ability in order to deal with as much English materials as possible.