Intercultural Competence

How shall I talk of the sea to the frog,
if it has never left his pond?
How shall I talk of the frost to the bird of the summerland,
if it has never left the land of its birth?
How shall I talk of life with the sage,
if he is prisoner of his doctrine?

Chung Tsu, 4th Century B.C.

Dear colleagues,

Niko salutes You!

I've just read Group A Posts and Comments. I've found it very useful. Alas! I've done lots of mistakes :(

'You learn something every day', says the wise man (or woman; it depends on with whom you are speaking; I should have use the word 'sage' maybe). Anyway, I'm going to put all those corrections in my personal archive of English sentences: the now famous "Termini e frasi da ricordare". How can I improve my English further? (I rarely use further in my speeches, it is a bit trappy, not a good friend of mine). It's a matter of practice; I think. "Use it or lose it", says another wise man (or woman; it depends on with whom you are speaking, I should have use the word 'sage' even this time maybe). Oh! The sun is shining outside, I'll go out and fill my lungs with good fresh air.

See you soon.

Niko.

Never read and forget

Any time I find a new word I write it down in my personal word file; it is called "Termini e frasi da ricordare". It's an excel file...it is really big so much so that it crashed about a week ago. Fortunately I had a copy of it. It's very useful to have such an archive, because using those little black binoculars, up on the menu bar, I easily find the word I need....I've just read something about proofreading on our Course Blog. Proofreading is really important. I noticed that if you really want to perform a good proofreading you should write a text, leave it aside for a while, read it again and then correct it. I am sure that if I read this post in five days' time, I will surely find some mistakes.

See you soon!!!

And remember: Slowly but surely!

Halloween is approaching...Looking for a costume?

Carry on Costumes

Do you know who Rapunzel is?

On Blogging

I've been blogging in the last few weeks. Blogging is a useful way to communicate and get in touch with other surfers. You can learn lots of new words, but it's always advisable to check things on a dictionary or in a grammar book when not sure. While blogging I realized that on the Internet writing long posts is not good. As far as I am concerned, I cannot read posts longer than three short paragraphs...I surf fast! A blog can be an outlet for one's feelings or simply an information holder; it's up to us.

Niko

Welcome message

I've chosen this pic because it shows the flow of thoughts I have in my head. It's rather entangled ain't it? In such a mess, I (usually) manage to find my way. I like taking pics like the one I've put, it's like freezing "movement". Outwardly, I'm not that contorted, even though my rhetoric can occasionally be baffling. As far as the sites are concerned, I've chosen three that are really linked to my interests. The first one is about music, you can find lyrics, reviews and so on...Actually, one can also download mp3s and videos, but I don't know if it is totally ok, they shouldn't be copyrighted though, take a look!!! Then let me know, I couldn't figure it out. News...I can't take "Studio Aperto" always broadcasting gossip or silly features about either stray dogs or cats "in quest" of an owner. I love dogs and cats but I do love being correctly informed. So, from time to time, I visit the site of the BBC. Ok, the third... Cultural Topics: I volunteer, when I can, with an association involved in cultural activities, it's called "La Roggia”, I've just put the link to it...you might find something interesting...I think we are going to set an event about Chaplin...a series of three shows... I think. He was quite an actor, wasn't he? ;-)Ok, that's it! See you in the near future!May the force be with you! khhhhhh!
Bye for now!Niko.

Hasta Siempre

Hasta Siempre