I do wish iTalki had that 'edit after you've posted' facility that some websites have!  It's only after I've hit 'submit' that I spot my mistakes.  Use A course book... I meant to say.

Can we ask iTalki to make that facility available? Even on dear old Skype you have time to edit your messages AFTER you have sent them! I am VERY grateful to skype for that. Often I type without my glasses on.... disaster! I send dyslexic texts to my students... but by the time they get their own glasses on to read my message I have niftily corrected it. Phew!!!

    I guess Chris was a little irritated by the advertising which is acceptable to me though since italki is run by teachers and business is business. Teachers really can help and deserve the paid money. I guess it was just a little bit too straightforward. As you can see, teachers’ input in discussion and proofreading area will naturally attract students. Students surely want to study with a teacher whom they know better.

    Study could be fun. That’s why we have English song and movie classes. In some lecturing classes, some of us frequently dose off, which I have witnessed for years and I doubt what students can learn if they’re sleepy. The traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) course I just finished was also a fun study. The teacher told us clinical stories so we could memorize the facts. I didn’t feel pressure there compared with that of western medicine. There are just different teaching styles to meet various needs. TCM requires imagination and flexibility while western medicine is serious with data and procedures. Interestingly it works the best when the two are jointly used. Therefore, I think it would be smart as a student to attend various classes and respect teachers. I also recall a fact in one of our most famous universities before 1949. Wow, the university had teachers from all walks of life, including those respectively with modern, traditional, eastern and western backgrounds so fun stories about teachers and students popped out like spring bamboo shoots. There were free heated discussions everyday then. The headmaster is a highly-respected educational genius. That’s why we always emphasize inclusiveness and respecting teachers.

Thank you for an interesting discussion.

Thanks for your suggestion. I have a plan for Sutra and traditional Chinese medicine study so I come here only for not forgetting my English skill and joining in interesting discussions. I wasn’t asking you to proofread my writing which is painstaking and pointless in discussion, haha. It’s just you mentioned my mistakes and I was a little curious about them. Sure, I have seen native speakers making mistakes and just like you I didn’t pay attention too. In this discussion area, some would point out mistakes and some just don’t want to. I’m the latter since proofreading is for writing area. It’s interesting when language is used casually people are actually creating sentence patterns and words. Well, after all, language is from people.

Simon, for your little one Chinese will be easy because she will be at the age where language is automatically learned. Sanskrit was more complex than all modern languages combined, yet children used to learn it with ease. Your child will be indeed be blessed having your wife helping her to be native in Chinese and you helping her to be native in English. Worlds will be open to her later in life that few people have open to them.