Less haste, more speed
I’m typing as fast as possible today as I want to get a posting written while Teah naps because when she is awake, I’m running around like a headless chicken and can’t get anywhere near the computer, let alone type a blog! However, as fast as I try to type, the more mistakes I make. I bet you’ve all had the experience of trying to rush something and just making a complete hash of it! I need to pay heed to the old English expression ‘Less haste, more speed’! Who can explain what lesson that is trying to teach us?
First let me say ‘job well done’ to Anastasia for the ‘rat story’ she wrote, all expressions were used perfectly and I was suitably impressed with the tale. I’m thinking of setting more tasks like that as it’s a good way to actively learn, use and therefore remember new vocabulary!
Anastasia, you mentioned the fame of Russian ballet and the history of pavlova and I was glad to see that your knowledge of ballet was a little sketchy because mine is too! In fact, I have only ever seen one ballet and that was in 2004. My husband took me to see ‘Swan Lake’ in a theatre in the centre of Sofia, Bulgaria and that performance was by a Russian ballet troupe. I really enjoyed it and wouldn’t mind seeing more performances if I have the chance in the future. During the same trip to Bulgaria, we also went to watch an opera(also my first time), I have to admit that I wasn’t overly enamoured with the opera I saw but , of course, I will give it a try again one day and see if it can win me over. Perhaps things like opera are an acquired taste and maybe my lack of exposure to opera resulted in me not liking it. Opera is extremely expensive in the UK and so is ballet (especially compared to the cheap tickets we bought in Bulgaria), which is a pity as the cost means lots of people are excluded from such activities; they just can’t afford it
On the topic of expensive UK ticket prices, even going to watch a football match costs an arm and a leg these days. I sent my Dad a couple of tickets for a Villa match on his birthday in November and the total cost was 66 pounds- how does that compare to your country? One of the main complaints about Britain from overseas visitors AND people who live there is the high cost of living. Were you gob smacked at some of the prices Anastasia? I certainly feel the pinch on my pocket when I go back home every summer. It’s much cheaper to stay in China!
On the topic of China, here are a couple more pictures. The first is of a huge old fashioned coin that is placed inside a tent. For good luck at New Year, you have to throw small coins through the centre hole and if you are successful, your year will be prosperous.
This picture shows one of the food stalls at the festival I visited on Saturday. They are barbequing lamb kebabs and cooking a whole cow on a spit in the background.
Moving swiftly on to mentioning all the comments I’ve received.
Antonio from Belgium, Kirsti from France, Irina from Moscow, thanks for your interesting observations, stories and comments.
Sandra Cartaxo – Brazil, welcome, what a good start to commenting on blogs and keep on visiting!!
Ana from Poland, I read about the books you recommended with interest and seems like we share a similar taste in genre
Arghavan from Iran, self study can be profitable if you organize your time and stick to a timetable. Perhaps a text book will help give you guidance about what to learn. Do lots of reading and listening to re-activate the English you learnt before and keep writing comments here for practice. About IELTS, look at the structure of the test on the website and practice your exam skills (working under time constraints etc) Can you find a person near where you live to practice speaking with?
Abida from Islamabad, Pakistan I’d love to visit Lahore and the places you mention, the temple picture I posted is typical of architecture here and all over China
Paulraj from India, keep on reading, sounds like you are getting more and more competent as a reader so well done.
Abida from Pakistan, great use of language and expressions!
Silwal Kishor from Nepal, congratulations on a great ‘rat’ story (you know that ‘drowned rat' means soaking wet usually used after someone gets caught in heavy rain, don’t you?)
Ana Paula from Brazil, sorry that your comments either haven’t got through or haven’t been answered yet. My masters degree in Psychology is a distance course run by a UK university and I’ll complete it in June 2009. Until then, its lots of hard work, heaps of reading, many essays and the most dreaded thing-regular 3 hour exams. As you can guess I want to change my career and become a psychologist (an educational psychologist as I have a teaching background)
Elena from Moscow, American English seems to be favoured by the Chinese and there are many American textbooks and American English courses here, Chinese students feel it is easier to learn. I used to work in an American international school and all the students used to correct me if I said ‘biscuit’ instead of ‘cookie’ and tell me I was wrong if I said ‘rubbish bin’ instead of ‘garbage can’!!Of course, I am very biased, but I think British English has more beauty and charm!! I also teach some Koreans and Hong Kongese children whose parents want them to speak and learn British English. At the end of the day, as long as people learn and get a grasp of the language and know how to use it, making distinctions between American and British English is arbitrary.
Tiasha from Sri Lanka, I love your name. Sorry I haven’t seen any of your comments before. If you can read and understand the BBC website perhaps you are higher level than a beginner?! If you want to start reading story books in English, I suggest looking in the children’s section in the bookshop. Do they have ‘graded readers’ in Sri Lanka in libraries and bookshops? A graded reader means English books re-written in a more simple way for English students, often they are well-known stories too. Don’t try anything too hard or complicated as it will discourage you or put you off reading in English totally!
Now to the sentence corrections…
1) ‘Correct!’ (said in a strict teacher’s voice, my impression of Russian teachers is that they are serious and strict)
2) ‘Just to name a few, I saw hares…
3) I felt extremely self-conscious- this is an error of style, the sentence you wrote is in the same style as a character called ‘Yoda’ speaks in the ‘Star Wars’ films! Your choice of sentence can be used as a literary device but sound very weird when placed in normal speaking or writing.
4) ‘If I’m not getting (anything) confused’
5) Your correction is OK, as an alternative you could have written ‘I still haven’t managed to take advantage of it’6) Correct!
7) Correct but a more common construction in the context is‘my advice to you would be to come here…
8) As your sentence was referring to the photo of the buildings in your town , the sentence should read ‘This is what the buildings in the city centre looks like’
Isn’t it funny that many of us failed to guess who Alexander was in the picture!! Do you call him ‘Sasha’ or ‘Sasho’ as a nickname? Many Russian friends here in China are called Alexander but they usually go by those nicknames instead. Maybe you can shed some light on the reason why? Do you have a nickname or shortened name Anastasia? Perhaps people call you ‘Ana’? I use nick names/short names for nearly all of my friends and family, for example I call my Mum ‘Gloworm’ (real name Gloria), and I call my Dad ‘Gazza’ (his name is Garry), my grandparents are ‘the Grimbles’ and many of my friends call me ‘Strudel’.
Anyway Anastasia, look at the following from the last two blogs and see if you can make some improvements. These are from blog ‘Ballet and a Rat Tale’
1) We do have theatres and ballets, it’s fact.
2) Not to the extent where you know all the important names. Here. I have said it.
3) We are all having are nerves on edge at the moment
4) I and my friends went skating today in the afternoon.
5) Then there appear brooks and puddles everywhere.
‘A Villain....’ blog
6) I didn’t risk biking in England as I am a bit scared of riding a bike along a road with the flaw of vehicles
7) So probably my decision was the only right.
I wish you all a great day and will catch up with you later in the week
Cheers!
Trudi
Vocabulary
like a headless chicken running around fast and madly
to make a hash of something to do something badly
pay heed to pay attention to
sketchy (adj) lacking detail, incomplete
troupe (n) group of ballerinas
not overly enamoured with something not very keen on or fond of something
win me over get my support or favour
an acquired taste a thing that someone learns to like gradually
to cost an arm and a leg very expensive
gob smacked ( verb-slang) extemely surprised or shocked
feel the pinch suffer from a lack of money
constraints (n) limit or restriction
arbitrary (adj) not based on reason
nickname (n) familiar or funny name given to someone instead of their real name
Comments
Hi Trudi! Thank you very much for aswering my question :-). Well, it´s really interesting to know more about your master degree. Moreover, I wish all the good luck in this world for you. Apart from that, I´m also want to change my career, therefore, I know I have along journey ahead :-). Good night. See you soon, Ana Paula.
Trudi, I loved the photos. Seeing the pigs rolling a round in the skewer, made one almost smell the aroma of food being prepared. A real barbecue I would say. But it wasn’t just the photos that I admired; it is your style of writing that makes one pay heed to learning. I confess being enamoured with English learning. The learning process has totally won me over and what is more, it doesn’t cost an arm and leg. I do not know why, but I have, for long, wanted to travel to China. Although the desire has been rather arbitrary, it has had some foundation; firstly my hubby was touched by China and now you Trudi have introduced your current home so well.
Hello, Trudi! It's been lovely time for me to read your posts here. What makes me write a comment is that you have something in common with my country. You mentioned that you have watched a opera and ballet performance in a Bulgaria. I totally agree with you that type of arts is an acquired taste. Opera and ballet have never been an art of masses. I think due to that fact they are so intransitive in contrast to popular arts. As it concerns me, I watched an opera performance at the 12 and it was a very boring experience. For all my classmates the feeling was the same despite it happened in a Moscow and the performers were well-known singers. I didn't develop a taste for the opera. My family too. I suppose the question about the expression "Less haste, more speed!" is a rhetorical one. Any way, we all know that mistakes made in hasting usually force us to repeat the action, so paying a heed is useful in that case. Dear Trudi,your post was not only pleasant but very useful for me.Thank you! I'll continue to read the blog site. Regards! Diema
Hello Trudi! Thanks for interesting blogs you write. I usually only read it and write out unknown words, your glossary in the end helps a lot. I am glad you saw a Russian ballet, it's incredible. But my opinion is preconceived of course :) I have been in Bolshoi Theatre several times and I always gained gorgeous impressions. There is very expensive tickets either. I wish I could buy ones every weekend! You mentioned russian nicknames, particularly 'Sasha'. We certainly all have a shortnames, many of them have the 'sha' in the end: Maria - Masha, Michael - Misha, Pavel - Pasha.. Hm, really why?:) Probably it sounds tenderly. My full name Tatiana, short frequent version is Tanya, but friends (especially foreign ones) call me Tati or Tatik. I don't remember how it starts actually:) With best wishes
Hi Trudi,I entirely agree with your title"Less haste,more speed" Every time I try to rush something,I always eventually make a complete hash of it.For example, I had to learn calligraphy when I was in elementary schook, and I did the homework at the eleventh hour.Thus, I didn't write well , even worse like scribbling. Besides,The huge fashioned coin is marvelous.I haven't seen it that big.I have some small ones of the same type. Last, I benefit a lot from your article.
Hi Trudi, nice to meet you. You did not mention the name of name of temple. Shape of Temple depicts that Bejing experiences snowfall. If it is so, mention the period. It is worth to mention here that in India, in some religious places, people first pray for a particular thing / wish. When they feel that their prayed wish has been granted (although its happens naturally as per principle of probility), they tie red thread with tree situated in the temple compound. I feel this is a furtile exercise. It is like to befool yourself. Superstitions never pays. Superstitions blunts the innovative minds of young generations. On the basis of my experience and acquired knowledge, I bet you that your wish of winning of lottery will not fullfilled. Had it been possible, the entire world would be free of poverty. Teah is looking great with emblem. What do you generally do to keep him away from the bad effects of severe cold.Wish you a good day.
Trudi, trying to understand the old English expression you had given to us, I looked it up in my dictionary. But curiously enough I found the other expression: "More haste, less speed" which is used to say that it's useless to do something too quickly! And now I'm buffled! I guess that ‘Less haste, more speed’ resembles the russian one - "Slower riding, father you'll be".
Hello Trudi :-) You said you had to pay heed to an english expression 'Less haste, more speed' which surprised me a little bit, because in Polish we have a very similar saying but I would translate it rather into 'make haste slowly' or 'more haste, less speed'. Literally it means that if you are in a hurry (more haste) you should act slower (less speed). As I mentiond before not all of my comments appeard, so I'd like to say once again that your town with those narrow and fabulous streets is very nice. In the old days, the houses probaby looked dull but now, thanks to the signs and decorations on the shops, they are multicouled. Maybe it will sound like a black humour but the street under water looks realy fantastic; at first glance I even thought it was a town in China. Could I have a question to you, please? Is the word 'Blighty' used in Britain or only by the British people who live far away from their home country? Until next time.
Hello Trudi :-) You mentioned about so called 'nicknames'. I wouldn't call them 'nicknames', I think that 'shortnames' or even rather'tendernames' would be much more precise, as the names, though generally shorter, sometimes are longer than the base names, but most often they are more affectionate. I know it's not an easy thing to explain it to a person speaknig a language belonging to a Germanic group of languages but in all Slavonic languages we can give to any thing or a person such a name or even two or three such names. Pet names are also very common. In English you've got something similar but in vestigial form, like frogy for frog, dolly for doll, dad for father or granny for grandmother in children's tongue. It gives our poetry a powerfull tool, but simultaneously makes it untranslatable. To introduce you to the problem I'll give you a short example: Polish for the English table is 'stół', a small or little table is 'stolik' (pay attention that it's longer), a tendername used in fairy tales or sometimes by children for a toy table is 'stoliczek' (it's still longer). Have a good day. Cheers!
Hi dear trudi , What are you doing , How is your cheeky moneky ? You didn't say us yet , what does her names means and how it pronounces . It was interesting to know that you have the same problem that i have for siting on computer and as a work women my time at home is limited and i usualy pop into Net in my office in my break time . By the way i was impressed with the bbq photos , as in Iran one of our national food is lamb kebab with rice .I didn't think that chinese make it like us with stiks on fire . Do you like Lamb kebab ? please kiss teah for me wishes
Hello Trudi. In Spain we have a similar saying with goes: "vistete despacio que tenemos prisa" or in English "get dressed slowly, we are in a hurry". Every time I read your entries, I like them more. No one who read them can feel out of place. See you soon.
Hi Trudi, This is my first comment in teacher's blog, I had make some comments in student's blog and want to try here... About 'less haste more speed' we have a similar one in my mother language - Champa : this language belong to the muslim minority in Vietnam - ' If you walk you will go faster, and if you run you will go slower ' I just get this sentence from my mom ...
Hello, Trudi! I have read you are regretting about high cost for tickets of ballet performance in Britain. But you are living in Beijing, aren’t you? There is National Ballet of China (Chinese are ever producing a soybean drink dedicated to ballerina of this company). I newer have seen a performance but I can guess that it is not bad. And tickets have to be cheaper than in Britain. The time ago I had read the book called “Mao’s last dancer”. It has been written by Li Cunxin, the ballet dancer of China, who is living in Australia today. (I am a ballet fan so my first books which I had read in English were the books about ballet). It is really interesting book and I can recommend reading it everybody. It is a nice story about a poor Chinese boy who was picked to learn ballet in Beijing’s ballet school. He writes about his studying in the school and about friends, teachers, politician and politics of China. He had to be seen the photos of Baryshnikov and another famous ballet dancer secretly! He became the best student in his ballet school and was sent to America continuing to learn ballet for one year. But he was overwhelmed by freedom of America and by ballet which he saw there, so he wanted to stay here more times. He was married to another student of ballet school (she wasn’t Chinese) and refused to return to China. There was a big scandal around his decision, Chinese’s politicians were involved. He has a difficult time because China didn’t allow him to represent his country during ballet competitions. But it all was OK in the end. He had divorced, after what he married again. His wife was an Australian woman and a ballet dancer too. They have children and living in Australia now.
Hi Trudi, I have a problem to understant the sentence which is in your text :"Perhaps a text book will help give you guidance about what to learn" There are two verbs "help" & "give" neighbors, is there anything omitted? or it's ok grammatically. Best Regards, James.
Hi Trudi, It's been lovely time for me to read your posts here.Thanks for interesting blogs you write. have a nice day
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