Based on an unscientific survey (sample size: 5), here are the top reasons why more folks are not writing in English on 职坛, and my brief rebuttal, of sorts, to each:
1. “Simple: it is just more comfortable and convenient for me to write in Chinese.”
Comfortable, maybe. But convenient? I very much doubt. Personally, I find it rather inconvenient to write in Chinese and whenever possible, I try to avoid it.
Even if it means some discomfort to force oneself to write in English, does not one see the benefits of doing so? At the minimum, one gets to practice English writing, and we all agree, the more we practice, the more comfortable we will be at doing it when we don’t have a choice between writing in English or Chinese, such as at work (for most of us, at least).
2. “I don’t want to embarrass myself in public; my English is just not good enough.”
In public? How public can this be? A forum like 职坛 is only public to the extent that you recognize a few familiar IDs, and that an even smaller number of ID-masked souls recognize you. Let’s not kid ourselves, few of us have that many virtual friends we truly dread embarrassing ourselves in front of.
Besides, do you really think that exposing your weak spots in your English composition on this forum ranks high on your list of embarrassing moments in your life? Not me, and I am not saying that because I am conceited about my English-writing abilities. I am not. Quite the contrary, as an English-as-a-second-language user, I am always mindful of my limitations, and I jump on every opportunity to challenge myself to be better. The true reason that I never hesitate to write in English is that deep down, I know that I can never embarrass myself more than I have already embarrassed myself in my long English-learning career. (One of these days, I will write about some of my truly-embarrassing English-learning moments. Stay tuned.)
3. “I don’t have time.”
But you have time to write in Chinese. Is writing in English that much more time-consuming than writing in Chinese? Possibly at the very beginning. As one gets used to it, I am almost certain and most of us will find that the opposite is true. On this, those of you who are already into writing in English can back me up.
4. “Chinese is just more efficient and expressive than English.”
No, I have no intention to pick a fight with those of you who feel a patriotic pride about Chinese, but I beg to respectfully disagree. Truth be told, I love both Chinese and English, and see in each its advantages and disadvantages in conveying certain points. For instance, I tend to think that purposefully pursued, Chinese can be more compact than English; conversely, I am of the opinion that English is tighter with logic. For me, the bottom line is: Each language is just a tool, and it serves me no more or less of a purpose than communicating what needs to be communicated.
5. “I just love Chinese more than I do English.”
I understand, and I fully appreciate your desire to showcase such love on any occasion you choose. All that I am advocating here is that writing in English on this forum is a perfect opportunity for many of us to practice and improve our English-writing abilities.
What I do want to caution us against is the so-called herding mentality, i.e., the tendency to cling to small groups of people sharing certain traits (back when I was at school, our career center saw it necessary to issue an official reminder to us Asian females to wean ourselves from herding). To grow, and to be able to stand on our own two feet, we often need to step out of our usual comfort zone and embrace some necessary discomfort and challenge.
No, I have no illusions that after reading this piece, most of you who have been writing in Chinese on this forum would switch to writing in English overnight. It is not necessary, and I don’t want to see that happening, which would deprive me of an opportunity to read many superbly-penned pieces in Chinese. To help us gain the necessary communications skills to navigate in an English-dominant workplace, though, we need to make a conscientious effort to improve our English-writing abilities. And to practice writing in English on this forum is not a bad start.
