Another week gone. Every time I sit down to write my weekly summary, the first thing that comes to mind is “I feel like I didn’t do anything again this week.” But thinking about it, that’s not entirely true — I did read papers, studied vocabulary, did some reading practice, listened to some audio on and off, though I didn’t practice speaking at all.
I feel like my efficiency hasn’t improved at all these past two months. I feel busy all the time, but the actual productive work seems so little. If I were to apply the 80/20 rule, it’s like I’m spending 80% of my time on 20% of the work. My advisor always says to figure out which part is your 20%, then prioritize it. So among the five things I mentioned above, if I had to pick the top 20% right now, I think it’d be the first one — reading papers. I used to prioritize English study above all else, spending one or two hours a day on vocabulary and reading. Results? Maybe, but you can’t really tell in the short term.
People always say that being good at English isn’t just about test scores — the real measure is being able to have a conversation with a foreigner without too much trouble. I feel like that’s exactly where my weakness is, and I haven’t found an effective way to break through. I still remember how terrible my English was in high school — reading comprehension and cloze tests were absolute torture. Somehow things gradually turned around during college. I think my middle school and high school English teachers would never have expected such a transformation. The strange thing is, because my English used to be bad, I still have this subconscious feeling that my English is terrible. It’s like how I was short in middle school but gradually grew taller in high school. Sure, I never hit 180cm, but just like my English, I’ve at least reached the passing line. Still, there’s this lingering subconscious feeling that I’m below average height.
The reason I’m bringing this up is to document what I believe was my first-ever real conversation with a foreigner. He was Professor Robin Smith from the University of Manchester — a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, working mainly in chemical engineering process design and consulting. He’s also published several books on chemical engineering design. I attended his lecture somewhat by chance. He was there to teach undergraduates about chemical engineering design, and I was there to earn some easy credits — embarrassing, I know. But once he started talking, I was hooked. He explained things so clearly, making stuff I’d always found boring actually make sense. And he didn’t use much technical jargon — I’m not sure if he deliberately simplified it for us or if that’s just how he always teaches. I lean toward the latter, even at Manchester.
Professor Smith in Speech
The old professor was really good — I could understand almost everything. At one point he asked if anyone had questions, feel free to ask. I asked a question mostly for the sake of asking, since it always seemed awkward when no one asks foreign lecturers anything. I asked a simple question. Honestly I think my English was pretty rough:
Thank you Professor Smith, thank for your speech. //Totally sounds like reciting a textbook, right?
After your speech, I noticed that you were talking about cooling down, heating, steaming, and water cycle system. And I was wandering when we need heat something up in the chemical factory, we choice steam instead of fire, is that right?
The question I asked during the lecture
One small detail: when the professor was listening to my question, he put his hand up to his ear like he couldn’t hear me. Maybe my voice really was too quiet at first. But it was still a meaningful experience. Later, someone in the class told me my spoken English was good. I didn’t have the heart to tell them it was my first time ever speaking to a foreigner.