Wednesday, 6 February 2013
Brussels, Bruxelles: in the snow!
Okay, here's the final instalment of the photos from Belgium, featuring Brussels but in the snow! It got down to -6 that night I was there and it was the coldest day in my entire trip there. It doesn't always snow when the temperature is below zero, but as you can see from the photos, we had plenty of snow in Brussels. It is a really nice city and I truly enjoyed it - it felt far more cosmopolitan than the other smaller cities I had visited on this trip. I hope you like the photos!
hi, LIFT. long time no see:) i am aura. hope u can still remember me.
ReplyDeletei have just finished my o level and i was accepted into vjc as well:) so i am your junior now:P
the new journey is about to begin and i am excited and nervous about it at the same time. i got a few questions which i hope i could seek some advice from you.
1. i want to learn a third language. at first, i want to learn japanese cos it is most similar to chinese so easist for me learn. besides, i really love anime. but my main purpose to learn a third language is to give myself some advantage when i seek jobs in the future. it seems that the japan's economy is quite weak and unlikely to recover in the next decade, hence i become quite skeptical about the utility of learning japanese. i know you are multilingual, so can you give me some advice as to which launage to choose as my third language which will benefit my career most. (i think i am likely to be in the business/financial industry)
2. i want to join a ngo, hopefully one that is keen to solve environmental issues. i do not want to participate as a one-time volunteer but rather want to make a long-time commitment. do you think it is possible for me, a student with no special talent, to join a ngo? do you have any former experience with ngo that you would like to share with me?
i am looking forward to your replay and thanks in advance:)
Hi Aura, well done for getting into VJC.
Delete1. I don't think you should choose Japanese just because the writing system is similar to Chinese - yes there's a slight advantage in being able to read Kanji (Hanzi) but Japanese is not a Sinitic language despite the fact that it uses Kanji. The grammar is drastically different from Chinese and is very confusing indeed - so please do not imagine for a moment that Japanese is "most similar to Chinese", it's like saying Italian is similar to English because they use the same alphabet when the two languages are not that similar at all. By all means, pursue Japanese if you have an interest in the language, but please do not kid yourself into believing that it is like Chinese - it so is NOT once you get past the fact that you can read Kanji.
As for which foreign language to learn, I say, you must have an interest in the language, you must love the language so, so much in order to succeed. Do you know how many people try to learn a foreign language and then give up? That's right - the majority of the people who try to learn a foreign language give up and walk away from the challenge because they fail! They find it too difficult and confusing and they just plain give up! So in order to succeed, you must well and truly LOVE the language, so that's the most important factor of them all. I am glad you like Anime so that's an area of interest for you that will help increase your love of the Japanese language, but your primary consideration must be whether there is enough interest on your part for you to succeed - rather than what is the most useful cos if you're not interested, then I can tell you you're simply going to fail without a real burning passion for the language!
2. You're a bit young for an NGO - but there are programmes within VJC for you to participate in. Please consult VJC as I know that they do run really good projects (eg. taking a bunch of students to Philippines or Cambodia to do charity work during school hols etc).
thanks for your advice, LIFT. After weighing different priorities of jc1 and considering the difficulties along with learning a third language, so currently learning a new language is not on my schedule.
Deleteyep, VJC got an Interact club which introduces various volunteering opportunities to students. i will seek more info about it.
thanks again and though a bit late, HAPPY CHINESE NEW YEAR:)
Hi Aura, you can always study a 3rd language any time, at your own pace, it doesn't need to be as part of your curriculum at school. I have been dipping in and out of Korean for years on the side, out of my love for K-pop.
DeleteGong xi fa cai to you too :)