ESL Essay, Writing World

Re: Sv.: This Translation.

Nightstalker — Sun, 12 Mar 2006 11:16:08 GMT

Autually Taiwanese Ministry of Education planned to introduce qualified English-speaking teachers(from USA, Canada, Britan such English-speaking countries) to teach in Taiwanese public schools a couple of years ago, but not even one single teachers has come. The reason is rediculous that local teachers and many normal shcool professors protested against the policy. That is, letting native English speaking teachers teach in Taiwanese public schools will difinitely reduce their job opportunities.

Re: Sv.: This Translation.

Nick147 — Sat, 11 Mar 2006 12:17:05 GMT

You're welcome Nightstalker,

The same situation with local teachers happens in most countries. After all, you can't expect there to be enough native speakers to fill the teaching posts in every school and college in every country! It is the same here in Britain with the teaching of French or Spanish etc.

By the way, I should have clarified in my last answer that "before" means "in front of". For example, you can say "I stand before you"

Happy studying!

Nick

Re: Sv.: This Translation.

Nightstalker — Sat, 11 Mar 2006 06:08:15 GMT

Thank you for your helpful explanation. In Taiwan, students are taught by local English teachers, whose English comprehension isn't good as native English speakers. That's one of the reasons why Taiwanese people's English is poor in Asia.

Re: Sv.: This Translation.

Nick147 — Sat, 11 Mar 2006 04:05:45 GMT

1. the last...." implies the final thing in a list or series. When only two items are mentioned it is usual to say "the first.... the second". It would be correct to use last if the writer wanted to stress that Cullodden was the final battle of many. For example:

Between Bannockburn in 1314, and the last battle between England and Scotland at Culloden in 1746, there were many violent encounters between the two nations..

2. Under in this sense means under the control of, or under the authority of,

For example:

Under the present Government, employment has risen 10%.

A fight started by somebody would be used if the âsomebodyâ actually physically started the fight, or personally took action intended to start a fight.

3. This is a very subtle question! It is possible to say yield to, yield under, yield before.

In the sentence in the essay, yield before Bruceâs spearmen sounds more elegant than yield to and the expression âyield beforeâ implies that the person or persons yielding (or giving way), are actually facing direct force or pressure. âYield toâ is often used when the pressure is indirect or is not particularly forceful:

The Prime Minister yielded to pressure from his party to change his policy

I hope that is helpful,

Nick

Re: Sv.: This Translation.

Nightstalker — Fri, 10 Mar 2006 11:31:34 GMT

I am a learner of the English language. I have a few questions about the last reply:

1. What is the difference between "the first....the last...." and "the first.... the second" ?

2.What is the difference between "the fight had started under sb." and "the fight was started by
sb."?
3. Shouldn't the preposition "to" comes after yield ?

Re: Sv.: This Translation.

Nick147 — Wed, 08 Mar 2006 01:51:19 GMT

Hi Diddy,

Here is the piece with errors corrected, and a couple of amendments made to make the style better. All in all it looked very good, there are a couple of expressions in which the correct preposition is not obvious, you just have to know these I'm afraid! One point is that King or Queen should always be spelled with a capital letter. There are a few places where the word order or verb tense needed changing, it would be best if you talk about these with your teacher if you don't understand any of the changes I have suggested.

Happy studying!

Nick

The battle of Bannockburn in 1314 and what happened at Culloden in 1746, are two of the bloodiest battles ever fought between Scotland and England. The first one ended [up is not necessary] with a glorious victory for Robert Bruce and his Scottish partisans, while the second one was a crushing defeat for âBonnie Prince Charlieâ and his claim to the Scottish throne. Robert Bruce was crowned [as is not necessary] King of Scotland in 1306. At this time it was custom[delete,] that the Scottish Kings were crowned in Scone and for 500 years they had sat on âthe stone of sconeâ during the coronation ceremony. The English King Edward I had in the meantime removed the stone during one of his campaigns, and placed it in Westminster Abbey, where it has remained for the last 700 years. The present English Queen was crowned on exactly this old â[delete the] stone of destinyâ.

Bruceâs crowning was dramatic: he murdered his rival, âthe Red Comynâ, in the church in Dumfries and afterwards rode in a hurry to Scone to take over the crown. Comyn was one of the vassals whom King Edward had installed in his attempt to make Scotland English territory and the killing formed part of the Scottish fight for freedom which had started under Sir William Wallace.

Wallace beat the well trained English forces at Stirling Bridge, though the same English forces did for Bruce 17 years later at Bannockburn. The English army was in both cases far bigger than the one the Scots could muster, but even the feared archers, who had been Englandâs trump card in the 100 years war against France, had to yield before Bruceâs spearmen, who fought with desperate courage.

Wallace was unfortunately betrayed by his own men and he did not survive the fight for freedom, but Bruce and James Douglas did. These 2 national heroes continued the resistance stubbornly until only 14 years after Bannockburn, Edward III gave up all claims to Scottish territory and Bruce was recognised as the lawful King of Scotland.

Sv.: This Translation.

Diddy — Tue, 07 Mar 2006 19:49:41 GMT

Come on please help as I have to send it tomorrow.

This Translation.

Diddy — Tue, 07 Mar 2006 17:19:38 GMT

Hello, I have made this translation from danish to english, and I would like you to run it through and see if you can find any errors, if you find any then please write a post in which you explain where the error is and why it is an error.

My translation:

The battle of Bannockburn in 1314 and what happened at Culloden in 1746, are two of the bloodiest battles ever fought between Scotland and England. The first one ended up with a glorious victory for Robert Bruce and his Scottish partisans, while the last one was a crushing defeat for âBonnie Prince Charlieâ and his right to the Scottish throne. Robert Bruce was crowned as king of Scotland in 1306. On this time it was custom, that the Scottish Kings were crowned in Scone and for 500 years they had during this ceremony sat on âthe stone of sconeâ. The English king Edward I had in the meantime removed the stone during one of his campaigns, and placed it in Westminster Abbey, where it has remained the last 700 years. The present English queen got crowned on exactly this old âthe stone of destinyâ.

Bruceâs crowning was dramatic: he murdered his rival, âthe Red Comynâ, in the church in Dumfries and rode after that in a hurry to Scone to take over the crown. Comyn was one of the vassals whom King Edward had installed in his attempt to make Scotland English territory and the kill formed part of the Scottish freedom fight which was started during Sir William Wallace.

Wallace beat the well trained English forces at Stirling Bridge, and the same did Bruce 17 years later at Bannockburn. The English army was in both cases far bigger than the one the Scots could muster, but even the feared archers, who should be Englandâs trump card in the 100 years war against France, had to yeild for Bruceâs spearmen , who fought with desperate courage.

Wallace was unfortunately betrayed by his own men and did not survive the freedom fight, but Bruce and James Douglas did. These 2 national heroes continued stubbornly the resistance until Edward III only 14 years after Bannockburn gave up all claims to Scottish territory and Bruce got recognised as the lawful king of Scotland.

Thanks.