English is like another me. I grew up in China and have a local quality personality, while the another me carries many completely different human cultures. My English learning is like walking on a path of constantly improving my cognition and finding myself. Up to now, a video and my learning journey have made me realize a unique truth that belongs to me: after receiving good family education and compulsory education, a person's subsequent growth and life path actually do not need too much guidance and opinions from others. Of course, you can listen, but you need to have the ability to think critically. Many things and truths always need to be experienced by yourself to know. What is more important is to be good at summarizing and reflecting on one's own experiences, because the results can shape many personal character and life values, which will have a great impact on one's life. Of course, this only applies to me, a master's student who has not yet experienced financial pressure and my own family. On this path, English songs are as important to me as oxygen.

Fig. 02 “English songs” — as important as oxygen Part of my playlist

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Initially, English meant grades. The first time I contact with English outside of the classroom was in electronic games: FIFA football game. At that time, certain words had already been deeply rooted in my mind until now: "striker", "Messi", "Barcelona", "Goal" and so on. When I met one of my good friends in junior high school, English songs began to become an indispensable part of my life, but at that time, I was only imitating my good friend. It means that from elementary school to high school, I was in a state of confusion and imitation. Even though I had a long period of English input (music) during that time, I couldn't really enjoy it because I just imitated my good friend to like the singer he liked. At that time, my relationship with my good friend was just like how I liked English songs at that time, just seemingly close and intimate. A long time after that, after improving my cognition, I realized that I had been catering to others too much and had been myself very little. Just like receiving compulsory education and family education, passive input has always been much greater than subjective initiative, and independent thinking ability is not match with age appropriately. This is all after my high school education experience, first romantic history, and starting to receive higher education.

Fig. 03 “FIFA football game”

I started watching American TV shows and movies in high school: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Friends, Song of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones), Harry Potter and The Lord of the Rings. Comedy and fantasy style novels and films have always been my favorite styles. Due to the extensive input of music and films, I have come into contact with many English accents. British, American, Hong Kong, and Indian English/accents are all variants of Standard English to me. Apart from the differences in vocabulary between English and American English, I didn't actually feel much difference at the time. Among them, Hong Kong style English has had a profound impact on me in Guangdong. After all, the relationship between the two places is very close. When I was in primary and junior high school, before the TV set-top box was used, Cantonese family received the Hong Kong TV station TVB Jade Channel. The news, TV dramas, and advertisements broadcasted above have had a significant impact not only on me, but also on the children of my generation. At that time, the transliteration of words such as '士多' (store) and '士多啤梨' (strawberry) was regarded as a trend among young people or a unique translation for Guangdong and Hong Kong, as what was learned in the classroom were all standard translations. At that time, my understanding was not deep, but as my later exposure to English deepened, I realized that translation is fundamentally different. It's quite different in accent. But for me, it's actually because each place has its own dialect, and I don't have any preference for it. I just learn to use this accent in daily conversations or cultural activities that correspond to it, such as music and movies.

Fig. 04 “Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. … The Lord of the Rings” 5 titles

Fig. 05 “TVB Jade Channel”

Fig. 06 “士多 … 士多啤梨” — translation by sound

It's actually quite amazing. Since I first started learning English, I haven't encountered any difficulties in pronunciation. Phonetic lessons are one reason, and having a large amount of English song input all along may also be one reason. However, my choice of accent has always been to advocate for standard English pronunciation, which is based on phonetic symbols. In addition, I don't know if it can be considered a language talent. When I was learning German, I didn't have any major problems with pronunciation, but I found it difficult to use tongue popping pronunciation. Is this related to an individual's learning ability, talent, or the connection between various languages? But I don't think I have a natural talent for language learning.

Since my undergraduate major is English education, several technologies that I remember deeply are translation function of iPhone, Lingoes translator on the computer and Tiktok . These are all things I encountered and frequently used during my college years. It's not just these tools that have truly changed me, but they have allowed me to engage with various English and English cultures in an almost barrier free way. The translation function of iPhone and Lingoes Translator have similar functions: the commonly used ones are word translation and web page translation. There is no threshold for using iPhone translation, and it brings great convenience for using foreign social apps or media for entertainment. It not only serves as a translation tool, but also provides more English input and opportunities for me to experience the culture of English speaking countries.

The use of Lingoes Translator has a slight technical barrier, as it requires a certain level of computer foundation to fully install and use all the functions of this software. Fortunately, I had early exposure to computers and had no difficulty installing dictionaries. On the recommendation of my German teacher, I started using this software. I have to say that if iPhone translation is my first choice of assistant for entertainment application, then Lingoes Translator is my first choice of assistant for learning on a computer. It is so Great to use, because it can install most mainstream language dictionaries in the world and very suitable for assist in long-term learning, without worrying about distractions. Lingoes translator can fully serve as a teacher during my self-directed learning.

Fig. 07 “Lingoes Translator” 3 screens · 2006

The last is Tiktok. After years of development, Tiktok has had too much influence in China. In fact, most people need to contact Tiktok for social, information and entertainment reasons. In addition to special content restrictions, everyone can post any content they want to express on the platform. Therefore, Tiktok provides a platform with more users and a broader scope for users to communicate, including but not limited to information acquisition and exchange, cultural communication and conflict, politics, sports, economy, education and entertainment. But the most important point, I think, is that the use of Tiktok actually just promotes my ability to judge things. Due to the large number of English short videos, there will always be a few that contain restricted content. Despite various seemingly normal tags and expressions, including but not limited to English songs and English film and television reviews and recommendations, there will still be a few videos that interpret this silent cultural conflict and infiltration. Since it is impossible to completely filter out such information, personal critical thinking ability becomes very important. The reason why I describe Tiktok as to promote my critical thinking ability rather than the source is that I think this ability is born naturally after receiving complete compulsory education, higher education and personal experience, not from any simple thing. English is also not the source, but it has helped me clearly understand the importance of critical thinking ability and that I already have a certain level of critical thinking ability. Because entering the university and using social software such as Tiktok is equivalent to sailing on the tide of cultural exchange, conflict and even infiltration, and the final result is either being overturned by the tide and appearing "one-sided" situation, or sailing safely. If critical thinking ability is a compass during this voyage, then English in college is to let me use the compass properly.、

It is precisely after receiving higher education and extensive exposure to English and English culture that, with the continuous improvement of my critical thinking skills, I no longer feel the need to make an either-or choice among other languages, including English. In daily conversations with friends and foreign acquaintances, English, Cantonese, and Mandarin work together to help me express myself, aiming to create a friendly, relaxed, and harmonious chat environment or to convey my thoughts more effectively. For example, when interacting with my close friends from Guangdong, whether offline or online, we never confine ourselves to a single language. To be humorous and abstract, we often mix these three languages. Since we've all watched programs on TVB Jade, we are familiar with the style of Cantonese and Hong Kong English. Therefore, we switch between the three languages fluently.

However, in certain situations, there is a preferred language. For example, when I want to watch a film or play a game, I need to understand the background of the production company. The preferred language is always the original language of the work, while other dubbed versions or audio tracks are only selected for secondary experience. For example, my favorite video game is Cyberpunk 2077, which is a futuristic realism game that blends the cultures of the United States, Japan, and China. The emotional tone of the entire game is pessimistic, roughly telling the story of the year 2077 in the United States, where technology is rapidly developing and technology companies monopolize most of the advanced technology. They are not satisfied with the status quo and begin to plunder people's survival resources from land and water sources. The protagonist fights against the company for survival. This is a game developed by CD Project Red, a Polish video game company. The game has been criticized for many aspects, but the voice acting has received unanimous praise from players. Because the voice acting of the United States, Japan, and China each have their own unique characteristics and are in line with their respective cultures, commonly speaking, they are quite down-to-earth and do not give players a strong sense of translation or acting. Moreover, players can hear the emotions of the actors when dubbing, and the tone and emotions are also in line with the character's character design and their situation in the game. Because the story in the game takes place in the United States, I first experienced English dubbing, and then I re experienced Chinese and Japanese dubbing. Although I don't understand Japanese, the dubbing of Chinese and English really deserves the unanimous praise from players. I have always believed that to experience a culture, one must start with language. Only by using and listening to the local language can we better express and experience culture. It is difficult for other translated languages to reach the level of the original language. However, it should be noted that language itself does not have a distinction between high and low, but there will be a preferred and secondary usage order in the application scenario.

In the past decade of my academic career, English has certainly been the second protagonist in my world. It guided and witnessed my transformation from a naive me to a unique me. From a subject in the past to the 'another me' in my heart now. This' another me 'carries too many experiences and memories, as well as different cultures, and even carries a persistent desire to see the natural scenery of the world. Nowadays, English allows me to continue my studies in Hong Kong, and my major is still related to English. In university, I see more like-minded classmates and respected professors, and of course, academic challenges come one after another, but I will not stagnate. At most, I will complain a few words and then continue.

What makes me feel more moved is that English brought me to truly experience a city that requires a brief life, to feel the different culture and nature from my city, and to appreciate the scenery. Due to the limited frequency of travel and time spent in Hong Kong, the experience is not deep. I have only been here for a month, and I actually have some experience. I remember it was an experience of taking the subway. I gave up my seat to a mother and daughter, and then an old man next to the seat looked at me. As he got off, he pointed to me and beckoned me to sit in his seat. Of course, I didn't sit down either. After responding to him, I stood up till got off. In my eyes, both my actions and those of the elderly are normal and should be, but I don't know where the problem lies. I haven't had such an experience in the city where I was born. So this experience left a deep impression on me.

Another impressive event was the "Struggle for Survival" hosted by the MADES Office and Crossroads Foundation. The main purpose of the activity is to make me aware that there are some people in the world who live particularly difficult lives, even more difficult than I imagined, and reality is even more cruel to them. What impressed me most was not that I had to personally participate in some handicraft activities to experience their lives, but when the host knelt down to tell us these stories, I saw a layer of moisture in his eyes. This reminds me of my mother. My mother told me that there is a special employee in her company who is disabled(mute), but the company owner did not refuse to hire him because of this. He is a cleaner in the company. But due to his mute, many employees in the company used this as a pretext to ridicule and even bully him. My mother is not one of them. She often interacts with him, asking if he needs help, and in short, she treats him kindly. And he didn't give much in return to my mother, only some vegetables he personally planted and some holiday food he gave away during festivals. Of course, he also gave them to others, but the biggest and best ones were only given to my mother. The thing I remember the most vividly was a pumpkin that was bigger than four pineapples, which to me was not just about the size of a pumpkin. Later, the company went bankrupt, and even though the boss was in debt, he was still thinking about how to do his best to pay more wages to the employees, while the employees were discussing taking the boss to court to get their rightful wages. Of course, there is no right or wrong in this matter, I just feel that things shouldn't be like this.

Fig. 10 “Struggle for Survival” — Crossroads Foundation

Of course, there are also happy things. Before coming to Hong Kong, I acknowledged kinship with someone. He is my junior high school classmate, and we are cousins. If it weren't for our mothers talking about our sons going to study in Hong Kong, we wouldn't have recognized our relatives. After we arrived in Hong Kong, whenever someone was under pressure in their studies or life, we would make plans to go out to the beach to enjoy the breeze, drink, chat, and sing. I remember once when we stayed at the beach until 3 or 4 in the morning, some middle-aged and elderly people would wear swimsuits and go swimming in the sea. This is actually very interesting to me. I often feel that they are more energetic than many young people nowadays.

Because we all love music, on my birthday we went to a jazz bar to experience the music atmosphere of Hong Kong. Rather than being a bar, it's more like a place where you can listen to music, drink, and catch up with friends. There is a small stage there, with saxophonist, drummer, electronic keyboard player, and lead singer, and I see that their performance and body language that can only be expressed with sincere love for music, very pure. At least I can't tell from the surface that life is forcing them. We were all moved by this atmosphere, and my cousin even performed on stage, so this birthday was quite special.

Fig. 11 “performed on stage” 2 photos