Since it was nearly noon, Li Ye and the crowd of onlookers all went to the canteen for lunch first.
While washing his hands at the canteen sink, Jiang Shiqi pulled Li Ye aside and said somewhat sheepishly, "Uncle, Old Qu and I are both fairly fluent in speaking, but my writing is... not very good. Old Qu is much better."
Li Ye smiled and asked, "Then why is your writing so poor?"
Jiang Shiqi said embarrassedly, "We basically never use it! I shared a room with an Irishman for two years, and he often misspelled English words himself. Whenever we needed to write something, we had Old Qu do it."
"Exactly. It's a matter of whether it gets used or not."
Li Ye shook the water from his hands and said seriously, "Reading, writing, and conversation may seem equally important, but for most people, conversation is what's essential. Being able to converse fluently is enough."
When it came to learning a language, the surrounding language environment was extremely important. For college students in the eighties, if they wanted to buy a Walkman to play English tapes, their parents might very well feel the pinch. And they expected to practice speaking with foreign teachers?
So everyone could only work hard on reading and writing. Listening and speaking were absolute weak points.
But a foreign language was merely a tool for communication. Most of the time, conversation was the most crucial part.
So in the cases of Qu Qingyou and Jiang Shiqi, they were simply "using their own strengths to overcome their own weaknesses."
Jiang Shiqi suddenly understood. "Then don't worry, Uncle. I guarantee I won't make you lose face."
Li Ye laughed and scolded him, "That mouth of yours... Stop calling me Uncle, Uncle. Hurry up and eat. I'll get