Tag: t_val@Eng

[21]long battles won/done →fat_n_happy

Posted on by tiger40490

I fought the EE-DL battle, then the FCH battle .. Now I won it with UChicago degree.

k_quietime  k_soul_search  k_tectonic

Compared to …

… this blogpost is unique in its emphasis on fat-n-happy and on extended battle. Fat-n-happy doesn’t means “battle won”.  See also ##progressive growth: 江河日下, written around the same time.

fat-n-happy is almost the opposite of zqbx …

To avoid becoming another vague, all-encompassing list, we need to careful about what NOT to include (more than what to include) in this list. Even though I’m careful what to include, the focus is shifting to the on-going battles where no fat-n-happy exists. This shift threatens to homogenize and commoditize this once-unique blogpost.

The Trigger — nowadays I feel fat-n-happy, not engaged in too many of those long drawn-out.  battles/struggles like IV, PIP,,,

When I say “battle”, the adversaries are usually not human enemies, but difficult systems, complexities, high bar, or myself.

How specific? With some battles, I want the analysis to be very low-level and specific. With other battles like personal finance, I don’t want 88 specific battles, but I can list them in the section below the table.

— burn or rot? Not rotting. Am more serious about wellness, parenting (and pff), less about gz

— 躺平 ? My fat_n_happy / mellowness are marginally related to the 躺平 movement, and only in the career dimension.
When I think about the 躺平^内卷 (involution) struggle, I realize my non-trivial success [not luck] in 1)cashflow 2)career 3)credentials.

However, these pair of Chinese terms are abstract, arcane, not widely understood even in China, and therefore hard to use in any writing. They may become largely unrecognizable within 10 years.

==== Now the list of battles
[p=personal battle, mostly inside my own world]
[m=mellowing up]
[e= improved my “position” mostly due to personal effort, rather than external factors like luck. See locus@control]

battle years         headline sub-items or related items won/done/
NonBattle		 notes #detailed notes.. below table
1990s-2006 [e] sexual needs won
2010s-2017 marriage stability NB
2010s-NOW [p]wellness: BMI heart risk[family history]; visible belly fat; body fat%
2000s-now [mp]yoga,pull-up.. weekly workouts;
2010s-NOW boy 沉迷
2010s-now boy academic mtv winning
P2-P6 boy’s grades done worry subsided
2000-2019 [p] competitive IV career longevity, churn, scarce quietime4self-study won
2007-2016 [em] PIP GTD, PIP .. were the battle of my finDev career done
2000s-2019 [em] FOLB brank, fake role models done
   ———— — minor battles, and unrelated to fat-n-happy or mellowing —
2000s-NOW tech churn done now I focus on c++, coreJava
2010s-2017 aging #as dev IV; on-the-job won
2000s-2017 [mp] per finance housing(high rent]U.S.); medical inflation, bx, won
P1-P6 boy’s diet, BMI won
2007-2009 [p] U.S.commute SG: won
2007-? [m]car dependency see numerous blogposts done
birth-2017 branded degree 2nd-class honors in a world 2nd-tier college won
1991-1999 English listening comprehension; speaking; won expr writing = rewarding
1990s-2020 [p] stay organized EMC/visio, mgmt of own content won
2000s-2010s [mp]book ownership won
till age 6 妹: 边喂边看 wife worried about underweight won
1990s limited 关系网 self-identified as 不合群 done growing confident

— IV battlefield ..
For example, see https://btv-gz.dreamhosters.com/2016/10/30/civ-weaker-than-java-introspection/. Now I no longer try so hard to enter a tough field like quant or HFT.
— survival on the job .. struggled in GS, Stirt, Macq only. I chose well.
— battles against tech churn, aging and out-sourcing .. affect livelihood in two distinct contexts 1) competing for jobs 2) keep-the-job (promotion is never a concern to me)
I always emphasize (1) over (2).
— stay organized .. is a common battle as our belongings and our personal content keep growing
I feel things stabilized after kids grew up.
— marriage .. now I realized how important wife is to the kids
— pff .. Why the struggle? I subscribed to the brainwash/propaganda, and carried the burdens of SDXQ housing etc.
Inflation was portrayed as so high that you simply can’t beat it with your paltry salary and savings (need investment).

However, my suffering was lighter thanks to my brbr[saving, conserver/minimalist]. My struggle was smaller than my peers’ struggles.

My family livelihood needs are well taken care of. This battle is largely symbolic…
— wellness
Contrary to conventional wisdom, Cholesterol is a long but small battle. Didn’t require tough lifestyle changes.
— sexual needs [searching, courting] .. a decade-long battle. Fierce competition (battle) for the desirable women. In college I was coping fine, but not the decade after. See involuntary celibacy + sexual needs since 2000s. I feel lucky now.

Why not labelled a “personal” struggle? I actually engaged in courtships many times. I had to position myself and adjust it frequently.

Why I consider it my own effort? I chose well. After years chasing the wrong targets, I chose the right woman to satisfy my (not all selfish) needs.

English proficiency comparison among Asia countries

Posted on by tiger40490

k_hongkong

https://www.thestandard.com.hk/breaking-news/section/4/182964/Hong-Kong-climbs-one-spot-in-English-proficiency-index — 2021 EFEPI ranking of non-native English speakers.

Singapore topped average proficiency in Asia, while the Philippines and Malaysia ranked 2nd and 3rd. All three fall into the category of “high level” proficiency.

Hong Kong ranked 32nd globally and fourth in Asia this year. The average English proficiency of Hong Kong people was only “moderate” — on par with countries like Spain and Lebanon. Mainland China and Macau ranked 7th and 8th in Asia respectively.

As English language standards improved globally, Scandinavian countries no longer held the top spots in the global ranking. This year, the Netherlands topped English proficiency by a significant margin.

— quality of EFEPI
Q: is the index more oral or more reading? I would say speaking and writing are the most challenging, but listening/reading are needed more often. See ##English测: non-overlapp dimensions
A: The EF SET is an online English test of reading and listening skills. A standardized, objectively scored test. Probably no composition. Probably MCQ only.
A: Oral .. missed wholesale. Presumably adequate assessment of reading and listening.

Q: age group?
A: mostly young adults

Note 400 million people are native speakers [5 countries] and excluded from the survey.

There are comprehensive reports produced by by EFEPI.

— 2023 global ranking
Sgp ranked #2, below the Netherland. SouthAfrica ranked #9, Ph ranked #20. The only three non-European countries among top 20.

— 2021 global ranking (Note this blogpost is about Asia countries)
Sgp ranked #4 globally. SouthAfrica ranked #12, Ph ranked #17. The only three non-European countries among top 20.

In Asia, highest are SG, Ph, Malaysia, HK, Korea, India#48, China#49. Among these Asian countries, I only know that SG has a national policy to use English as the common working language (see section below).

In Latam, Argentina is ranked highest at #30, below many European and Asian countries.

Hongkong .. “Usage of English on a daily basis in Hong Kong has decreased… When facing the mainland market, we tend to use Putonghua. It’s impossible for medium and small-sized enterprises to have the resources for English training.

— HK .. English standard falling against other Asia cities. How can it beat Shanghai, Taipei or KL?

With the exodus of non-Chinese expats, more people tend to use Chinse more.

In the 90s/2000s, some Singapore writer hypothesized that the largest concentration of effectively-bilingual popoulation might be found in Hongkong. At that time, I think HK Chinese standard beat Sgp, but not in English.

— English as shared work`language (in SGP) .. a premise of the EFEPI.
English is needed as a common working language in Singapore. (Not so much in HK, Ph, Korea, Japan, India,,) There’s a requirement to balance two needs

  • The need for the immigrant’s original mother tongue. Governments recognize immigrants’ right to speak their original language when living in Singapore. Original language is well-recognized as more effective esp. as the immigrant copes with numerous challenges in a new city. Singapore is not the easiest new country for an immigrant.
  • The requirement for basic English skill at the workplace + schools. The pressure to learn English may push some of these immigrants to reduce native language usage, as a strategy to speed up English learning.

Therefore, at the minimum, SG immigration authority (and job/school interviewers) require each immigrant to be “effective” in listening and reading, and also expressing themselves clearly (using simple words) in the common language.

In reality, many China immigrants (my younger self) struggle and experience some level of disadvantage/handicap in English-dominant places of Singapore. Alina, Frank etc worked in only one Singapore company for years before looking for job in Singapore. To my surprise but quite logically, they struggle to impress the employers ..

  • In job interviews, you need to impress strangers within minutes. Interviewers have no time to get to know your background.
  • I guess some interviewers were remote, perhpas over the phone. In those contexts listening and oral skills (without body language assistance) are critical, and reading/writing skills dont’ matter at all. In contrast, at work reading/writing is at least 50% important
  • Singapore tech job interviewers are frequently non-native speakers [Indian, Singaporean, Ph,,,] but some of my China peers are unprepared for an in-depth conversation with these nationals.
  • imperfect grammar is commonplace and harmless in most tech job interviews. China education emphasizes grammer, reading, writing,,,

##which weaknessES limit def[LifeChances] #driv`,stature

Posted on by tiger40490

k_soul_search

Everyone goes through difficulties in life due to this or that weakness. Among them, you will surely need to overcome or deal with 1 or 2 “key weaknesses of your life”– personal handicaps. I would say your limitations basically determine your life chances, like boundary conditions in PDE.

[c/C = I can see some specific life chances affected by this weakness]

  • Does CAD affect my life chances? It does if it hits me in my 30s, not if in my 80s
  • [C] handicap – exams… Many people are outside the top 20% at studies, but become successful professionally.
  • [c] weakness — office smarts, corporate maneuver.. seem to limit my “opportunities” within a corporate environment. However, as Honglin might say, my hands-on tech skills provide arguably better career longevity, which is a big part of life-chances.
  • .. Therefore, the hands-on tech weaknesses of those corporate managers might be a limiting weakness, too!
  • handicap .. Empathy was a personal handicap but primarily in office. Interpersonal and relationship skills are not so obviously weak.
  • — financial skills
  • [c] handicap — saving, self-discipline
  • [C] weakness — rEstate … In the East Asia context, not having a rEstate position early in your life limits your freedom and financial high/low ground.
  • weakness — stock picking… During each major downturn (1997 Asian, dot-com, SARS, 2008 GFC, 2020Covid), there were major buying opportunities. You won’t need stock picking per se, but stock picking would be the ultimate skill to improve your freedom, financial high/low ground…
  • — physical limitations
  • Weakness – my lower-(and upper-)body flexibility. This has not affected my life at all. (In older years this might increase my risk of injury.)
  • Weakness – coordination skills for basketball… Look at some of classmates in high school. Definitely affects self-confidence among peers.
  • Weakness – middle-distance running… This is a bigger thing in Singapore due to NS fitness test. Not a big problem in other countries. However, endurance does help heart/lung and aging.
  • intimacy .. see below
  • [C] Weakness – overweight… Much bigger impact, as it affects dating, health, longevity, parenting…
  • [c] Weakness – stature…. A bigger problem for guys in China as it affects dating.

— in this blog, life chances are something personal .. My life chances represent the chances I want for my life. I may want the same chances for my daughter, but she would ultimately decide what chances she wants for her life.

eg: Some active runners like YY.T would feel deprived in terms of life chances if affected by knee injury

eg: I want devTill70 as an “occupation”, so a drop in demand, or my JIV weakness would affect my life chance. For FIRE guys who want to retire early and enjoy life, this is not part of their life chances. See YY.T chat.

eg: You care about quality of intimacy into your 50s. But for your partner, intimacy is perhaps not part of her life chances. Sexual difficulties (like orgasmic dysfunction) doesn’t bother her.

— [c] driving vs [C] English .. Look at my friends Jun.Z and Alina… personal handicaps. English listening (more than speaking/writing) was a handicap in my earlier years in Singapore.

Many of my friends have a handicap in English writing. Consider my MLP colleagues vs Sophia/Y.Zhang/Rong.Zhu

Oral English has a lower entry barrier so fewer friends have that handicap but consider SY.Chang, Kevin/Gary, Rong

The English handicap affects half the “peers”, but driving handicap affects only me. Driving is a personal handicap, more physical than English language handicap. I need a much higher t$budget just for learning to drive. I already spent $2k+. Need to be $10k. The vehicle doesn’t have to be the strongest or “safest”. I would say average safety rating is sufficient.

Driving affects job choices, housing choices [SY.Chang was able to rent a home much further out from office], learning resources.

I would need a special budget for potential fines.

I also need a huge tBudget for learning and “managing” license + vehicle.

For the first 1 or 2 years, I should avoid driving the family at all. Even in local street, you can get hit or drive off the road and hit something dangerous.

##Recurring sense@PERSONAL strengths #specific

Posted on by tiger40490

English speaking

English writing

k_soul_search k_tectonic

I won’t bother to make the title more /identifiable/. To make this blogpost more unique, we need to be even more specific, perhaps very low-level. The most interesting, memorable items are all highly specific. Let’s avoid the big common items that feature in 30 other lists in my blogs.

Q: which among these items are the most long-lasting?
Q: strength is usually felt relative to other people… is there any exception? See [v]
Q: when do I feel weak? Another blogpost?

  • [g=I feel strength when I manage to overcome a common resistance like gravity. This is almost a defining feature]
  • [a=absorbency. This implies strength-against-gravity]
  • [n=relatively new strength. May not last but that’s fine]
  • [v=strength felt as compared to an earlier version of self]
  • when I count the number of laptops I have, I realize they have provided time-saving convenience, at a fraction of the cost …
  • when I enjoy the convenience of git-blogging, dhost, Rbh … which required effort and knowledge
  • [g] when I realize my cohort tend to watch a lot of TV/netflix , providing no self-improvement
  • — some examples of vague sense of strength
  • [n] when I write down my observations of the U.S.^SG systemic weaknesses .. A personal strength in experience. I don’t have specific examples
  • when I realize I have SG and U.S. as two bases for my career and my kids’ education
  • — wellness .. ought to be the biggest category
  • [anv] when I jog on the street and I feel few people, even the younger ones, are able to do 5 times a week
  • [anv] when I eat lots of raw veg () and fruits, and when I manage to reduce starch intake by 80%
  • [gn] when I managed to reduce my weight to …while most people are unable to
  • [gnv] when I could sit in lotus on MRT every day, overcoming years of resistance
  • [anv] when I could do 15-30 minutes of self-yoga practice outside office.. something unthinkable for all my life.
  • [a] when I stand more (hours per month) than most of my cohort, in office or at home.
  • [g] when I walk up the stairs while others queue up to use the escalator
  • [g] when I hear the addictions of my cohort like substances, gaming, spectator sports
  • [n] when I show off my nutritional knowledge, which is not common among my cohort.
  • [n] when I tell people my healthy longevity target + my career longevity target (thanks to WallSt)
  • [g] when doctors tell me my bone density is good, perhaps due to jogging.
  • [g] when friends point out my small belly is rare at my age.
  • — pff
  • when I look at my [n] brbr, FullerWealth, nonwork income
  • [n] when I gain insights from exp recon while my cohort are clueless about their …
  • [gn] when I explain to peers why I don’t save up for top colleges for 2 kids .. strength of insight, strength to resist herd instinct, peer pressure
  • [n] when I count my DYOC winners, I feel strength as such high payout rate is rare in any asset, among my cohort. I didn’t experience such high payout for my investing career except some HY/PE, at high credit risk.
  • [nv] when I count the variety of my assets.. I feel proud of my risk-appetite
  • [nv] when I count the number of stocks.. I feel lucky, smart and a bit of strength
  • [n] when I write down my definition of liquidity .. an intellectual strength. I feel most investors have only a vague understanding of their own risk profile
  • — gz
  • [a] when I could absorb (absorbency) so much dry tech stuff
  • [a] when I could revise boring, old tech stuff including CIV, and learn something new.. 温故知新
  • [a] when I could get into the zone on weekends and focus on work for as little as an hour. I feel proud and strong.
  • when I camp out in office during a “honeymoon”

t_tectonic requires four domains, including 3 big domains and many minor domains

Y(only white)native speakers sound sophisticated

Posted on by tiger40490

k_soul_search

eg: James Bond always sounds (sexy and) sophisticated, partly based on accent. Many male protagonists in American movies are like that.
eg: [[off the rail]]
eg: the featured interviews on MLP intranet. The native speakers sound more sophisticated.

Consider a male China-born immigration lawyer , or architect, SWE, (various) designer,,,, who came to the U.S. at age 25. He can be competent/effective/proficient in English professionally [in office, with clients, in meetings, over phone]. However, a less-educated local American would be more fluent orally.

Actually, 1) personal insight 2) vocab are the foundations beneath 3) articulation and 4) accent, when we meet a sophisticated speaker.

(1) includes knowledge, education, socioeconomic status,,

I think cool confidence is a key ingredient. With cool confidence, one can really slow down, which enhances articulation. Somehow, Singaporeans seldom have that sophistication, esp. in slow-n-steady articulation and accent. Some local professionals (such as secretaries or receptionists) learned a sophisticated accent, but they lack a sophisticated vocab.

To develop a sophisticated vocab, you first _need_ a rich oral vocab.

— Q: Why do the interview video clips sound 3x more sophisticated than audios, which sound 10x more sophisticated than transcripts?
I guess the dress, the hairstyle, the facial expression all add to the sophistication

— Q: There are millions of native English speakers in Nigeria, the Caribbean, Singapore/Malaysia, predominantly non-white. Why do they not sound sophisticated?

— Q: do you want to PP) sound sophisticated to (subtly) impress people or you want to YY) sound sophisticated to feel good about your own English skill?

Admittedly, (YY) depends on (PP) at some fundamental level, but I often feel I don’t have to impress everyone around me. There are many categories (won’t enumerate) of “people” whom I don’t need to impress. I want to sound slow, articulate, concise, with a good vocab.

However, even if you meet all of those requirements but lack a native accent, you will fail (YY), because most of the “people” judge you by skin color and regional accent.

##English测: non-overlapp dimensions #Detach

Posted on by tiger40490

For anyone trying to assess a person’s English proficency, there are several key dimensions.

— competitive assessment .. Individual English proficiency is supposed to be a yes/no test like “competent, adequate or disqualified”. However,

  • Many interviewers prefer Candidate A better than B based on English proficiency.
  • Many admission examiners prefer student A better than B based on English competency and communication skills

international competitive analysis .. is not “individual“. see section below.

— person-assessment for 1) hiring or 2) admission.
Note work visa approval falls under (1)

assessment for immigration is an important /context/. In my view, officers don’t assess anything beyond (1) and (2). The focus is basically same as (1).

In my tentative conclusion, if an adult is assessed/rated/considered as competent in English within a work environment, then she is likely to be competent for all other purposes. Such an individual may not be competent to present argument in court, but that is a tall order for everyone, including native speakers.

— assessment for international competitive analysis .. WW) workforce skillset, EE) education.
Usually, EE is geared towards WW.
==== dimensions, hopefully non-overlapping
— dimensions (non-overlapping): Listening ^ reading ^ speaking ^ writing
Writing and speaking are the most challenging and most advanced skills.

Objective assessments (like MCQ) are unsuitable for speaking or writing skill. Speaking (and writing) assessment is extremely expensive (even with audio clip upload) if any level of fairness is required. (All tests need to be fair and consistent.) Trained human examiners are hired. They have much lower throughput than machines. Therefore, large scale assessment beyond 1000 is rare. (I only know GCE-O level.) Therefore, oral assessment is always small-scale.

— dimensions (non-overlapping): articulation ^ comprehension-vocab ^ expressive-vocab ^ grammar
Expressive vocab is the most advanced skill among them, and hard to compare/assess.

Precision comprehension .. a popular and important test focus in EE. However, it depends on comprehension-vocab. Not non-overlapping.

legal system | small cases: SG^U.S.English writing

Posted on by tiger40490

U.S. legal system is too complex. (I have some friends who fought multiple lawsuits in the U.S.) I had two experiences at White Plains and Jersey City courts.

In my case against the unscrupulous landlord Joe, I didn’t need to pay much for advice, as I was lucky to have help from Greg, Jack He, Zhai etc, but I also noticed that two other victims of Joe (Zuhur and the plumber) dare not step up and provide a written witness. So I think the legal system is too complex and even intimidating for the poor and some of the middle class.

Even though U.S. laws are probably fair as written, the poor do not have access to (financial or otherwise) resources and receive a fair hearing. The rich tend to have multiple layers of defense. (Compare the expensive MyCarePlus)  One group have access and the other group has no access. The legal system is biased towards the Have’s.

— SG
Singapore legal system is actually less familiar to me, based on one small claim. I assume it is more accessible to the poor. This assumption is based on my numerous community counselling sessions, as described in this blogpost on resilience and seeking help

— English writing
One special effort and skill needed on the legal front is English writing. I feel this is 10 times more important than English speaking skill:

  • if you can argue your case on paper with confidence, you will have no problem presenting your case verbally. However, you may feel challenged to respond in real time.
  • if you are articulate verbally, you may not be able to write well.
  • In the legal system, the written arguments have a larger audience. They can be summarized and sent to multiple departments. They can be posted online.

##[20←07]factors underpinn changes{1st summer]U.S.

Posted on by tiger40490

k_tectonic

See also

The trigger — After revisiting my 2007 email/diary such as big cities more expensive @@ #LS, I wanted to write yet another review of the fundamental factors that Explain (or has Driven) all the  major changes in my life. Not to become yet-another review, let’s focus more on the factors, less on the changes.

Am I exaggerating anything? Any acute attachment to beware? Beware of othRisk. Avoid polishing.

My focus continues to be family livelihood, not FOMO, exclub, peerComparison, brank,,, A second focus in this blogpost is my own American dream as of summer 2007.

  • [j] #1 factor — my tech expertise and delivery skill — in the lucrative and prosperous tech (dev+) job market, esp. on age-friendly WallSt.
  • [f] #2 factor — my brbr /discipline/ — while witnessing my own income growing so much since 2007. I think this is similar to Singapore government’s discipline.
  • #3 factor — SG citizenship — relative decline of America’s appeal to me, and relative rise of Singapore’s advantages. I value my citizenship much more than between 2007 and 2016 !
  • factor — wellness — habits, health conditions (体质)…. The absense of health issues is like the absence of family problems, absence of investment woes, absence of career failures. An invisible dome surrounding Hogwarts in the final Harry Potter movie.
  • [j] fundamental but minor factor — WallSt trec as a passport through the moat
  • [f] minor factor — Beijing + Blk177 property appreciation, rental yield of overseas properties
  • fundamental but minor factor — my English skill — helps my job interviews and job performance, esp. compared to my Chinese and Indian peers. English writing skill is instrumental to my self-help while coping with challenges
  • fundamental but minor factor — my relatively low racial bias — I think my Indian colleagues like me a bit more than other China colleagues
  • fundamental but commonplace — my love[sacrifice] for wife and kids

Now let’s list the major changes since 2007 and try to explain them

  • change in my life — confidence in marriage — was untested in 2007, with pretty high inherent risk of failure based on statistics. We have worked on the problems and weak spots.
  • [f] measurable change — brbr — Despite my bigger family (with 2 noisy kids), my current brbr and Fuller wealth (ffree) are so much higher than in 2007, partly due to brbr discipline, salary, SG citizenship , nonwork income, ,
  • change in my life — livelihood resilience/security — stronger (and growing), with layers of defense, giving my much higher confidence than 2007. I was already healthy in 2007, but now I’m /buffered/ on many fronts such as career longevity, strong marriage, citizenship
  • specific change — Green Card dream — is a bit lower than 2007, mostly due to my new view of SG^US. Nowadays, I don’t feel as desperate about GC as my China/India colleagues.
  • [j] specific but minor change — c++ in my peers — is no longer 高不可及. Ditto low-latency java
  • [j] specific but minor change — WallSt moat — was seen as too deep and wide back in 2007
  • specific but minor change — car purchase — was widely known as inevitable back in 2007. Now I know better from experience.
  • internal change — target 95 as life expectancy — now I want to live longer. This is exactly where I want to be.
  • internal change — internally mellowing up — and more optimistic. Even though my position among my peers is much higher than in 2007, I now care more about family livelihood, less about FOMO, brank, income, net worth, OC-effective, exclub
  • [j] internal change — churn, accumulation of experience — I didn’t have solutions, cool confidence… as explained in risks remain high but am calmer
  • [j] change — long-horizon income security — was low for decades as everyone around me said developers must move up to management by some age 35, and struggle to keep the job and maintain the income until its eventual decline. Now I have 50% more confidence, primarily due to WallSt experience
  • [f] minor change in my life — balance sheet — I am now proud owner of Singapore, Beijing properties + some commercial properties, all in prime locations. We are on track to receive a reliable and high-yield annuity backed by a credit rating comparable to the most trusted insurer.
  • [d=detachment needed]
  • [f=personal finance]
  • [j=career]

%%comparative advtg]SG: English WRITing #w1r1

Posted on by tiger40490

Some native (or non-native) speakers are sensitive either to unnatural usage/grammar, or ambiguities, or extra connotations in sentences. Compared to fellow learners (ever since high school), I’m naturally more attentive to such details, esp. in writing. A peer of mine (including majority of my China/India friends) would probably make more frequent mistakes [1], often without knowing. Some percentage of the  listeners would notice those minor errors. If pointed out, I often realized it very fast and remember the lesson, because I’m sensitive to those details.

[1] sensitivity doesn’t always translate to better error rate. Some less sensitive people are able to imitate native speakers better, therefore reducing error rate.

In perspective, my English advantage is much weaker in U.S. than in SG but am improving progressively. If we look at the gap of English proficiency in U.S population over Singapore population, the gap is smaller in speaking than in writing.  The ordinary Singaporeans traditionally emphasizes speaking, even among the college-educated. Singapore is not a reading nation compared to China or the U.S.

In perspective, the popularity of phone (over 30 years) + video (now) tends to weaken my advantage, as a writing person.

In perspective, in SG my Chinese capabilities are a smaller advantage than English capabilities. My Spoken Chinese is even less of an advantage.

— the comparative advantage defined .. my English writing skill is growing further above the Singapore average standard. (Professionally, also growing relative to most fellow professionals who are non-native speakers, but this blogpost is less about professional competitiveness.)

This advantage (in Eng writing) matters in legal issues, long written explanations such as appeals to an authority. Many legal professionals are non-native speakers, and some are much better writers than most native speakers.

— development of this advantage.. This advantage evolved and /developed/ over decades due to thinking-in-English (still growing in my 40’s), daily practice, my habit of revising/editing, my innate[1] sensitivity to nuances in words, and my early start (ThankGod I came to Singapore early).

How many percent of the Singapore or U.S. population use expressive blogging as stress coping practice, therapy or self-help?

[1] I think if we compare language skills to math, innate talent doesn’t yield such a disproportionate advantage. The individuals must learn through social interaction. So my real advantage is in lifelong learning habit. (In contrast, AlphaGoZero can teach itself.)

A crucial, underrated positive feedback .. is the rare comments by colleagues and online posters. I used to dismiss such comments by non-native speaker friends, but hey, they are well-read individuals with judgement, even if they don’t write everyday.

— Disclaimer — By definition any /comparative/ advantage within a benchmark group could be below-average globally. My dear wife’s English speaking is an comparative advantage among preschool Chinese teachers.

[21]ThankGod how early I started studying outside Chn #Eng++

Posted on by tiger40490

 

When my Chinese friends and non-Chinese friends notice my English (among other) advantages, they point out that I came to Singapore at an early age. I often play down my advantage, saying that many China students speak better than I do, even though they studied abroad only after college. (Let’s focus on the males.) Based on personal observations, only a small percentage (like 3-6%) of the above male China students speak better then I do. An even smaller percentage (like 1-3%) write better than I do, probably because they publish a lot. The overlap of these two groups is extremely small (like 1%).

I took longer than my sister to master English listening and speaking. However, I continue to make progress 30Y after, which is rare and a growing strategic advantage over the long run. My critical mass and self-sustaining growth was built up at an early age.

Starting age does matter, esp. on speaking fluency among male students.

There’s some percentage of China professionals disadvantaged/handicapped by late starting age, and hit an invisible ceiling in their English speaking fluency. I may be one of them, and must count myself lucky to have left China early. See other blogposts like which handicap/weaknessES limit LifeChances

— There are other advantages beside English. I have the HJC and NUS branding I became comfortable with the Singapore way of life (too many aspects to enumerate).