The Chat Thread

[kaglover1]

Imagine email was not born in Canada, but born in his homeland. (Korea) He immigrated to Canada when he was 12. - He also learned English. In 12th grade he was introduced to hamlet. He read the first phrase in shakespearan english. What? This is how my Korean friend was, not exactly but still similar. I immigrated to Canada when I was 3 years old. Same situation

[bulmabriefs144]

Shakespeare wasn't meant to be a severe challenge but instead more of an influence on modern literature that many teachers use as a way to introduce students into a few of the most influential tragedies that was written. Of course his work wasn't exactly original and sometimes it wasn't the best, but his work acts as something of a model that many pieces of literature build over. Grasping the first few layers of understanding Shakespeare isn't very difficult unless of course analysis of literature isn't your forte. It becomes more challenging when you begin to go into the underlying layers of the several themes in each story. Right now I'm analyzing Hamlet's theme, Shakespeare's stylistic usage and the way it effects the tone or the motifs of the play, and I'm looking for the nuance to see the subtle changes in the way some characters act and how significant these changes are to the play. Overall the play is rather simple and to the point and if I wasn't forced to write all over my book I could probably take my time and enjoy it, but besides that it isn't the most difficult book to analyze. There are much harder texts out there that won't be as kind as Shakespeare's plays.

Far from being a challenging read, I actually scoff at people who whined to their teachers about not being able to understand it. "It's too hard, all these thee and thou things." (KJV Bible too gets this same complaint, though at least here, there's different versions) I went to private school, and then switched to public school (which was a relief because I was getting tired of their dorky dress code, among other things). The kids at public were friendlier, but geez, they would sometimes give an "analysis" to one of these quotes that was like, "What's 'All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players' mean?" "It means 'All the world's a stage, and all the men and women merely players'." Really?!? No, it's referring to life itself. We all go through life in stages from infancy to death (which is related in the text), and despite our claims that things are real here, and this is serious business, there are serious doubts that reality or existence is what it claims to be, and most of us is playing a role (the careful yet greedy shopkeeper, the doting mother, etc). If reincarnation is to be believed, the role switches when you die (the doting mother may become a strong male in the next life), if not, well other stuff happens. Shakespeare doesn't really say his own opinion of the afterlife, just that all of this stuff is left behind. Why was that so hard? I can understand it, and I'm... well, me.

kaglover, forget the language, this is where you're getting hung up on. Read for the general feeling of what is said. Some stuff like the witches' chant might be daunting, but the general feeling of the text is "they're mixing a bunch of unholy **** in a pot to do a magic ritual." For the specifics, use a good english dictionary (one of those old heavy ones). But if you can get the general feel "this is a love sonnet, he's saying her name doesn't really matter, or rather he'd do what he could to make sure it didn't" ("surely a rose by any other name") then you're alot closer than someone who can't get past thee and thou.

[FailFTW]

I immigrated to Canada when I was 3 years old. Same situation

Anything before the age of 3.5 is irrelevant because you don't form memories until then.

In my case, I was born in Arizona, but I didn't learn English until I was 5 or 6. Spoke Mandarin before then.

[kaglover1]

Then you must be Taiwanese, simplied sucks traditional all the way

[FailFTW]

The spoken language is the same... except for maybe some slang and the mainland accent that makes mainland spoken Chinese a bit harder to understand (least for me).

[Omar Ranger]

Then you must be Taiwanese, simplied sucks traditional all the way

You racist.

[kaglover1]

You racist.

You don't know chinese nor do you have "true" asian blood

[FailFTW]

"true" asian blood

no. just no.

[Omar Ranger]

You don't know chinese nor do you have "true" asian blood

That is also racist. And if we're being literal then I'm half asian. Palestine is technically in Asia.

[bulmabriefs144]

Anything before the age of 3.5 is irrelevant because you don't form memories until then.

That's about right.

I have true asian blood. I can use The China Secret.

omar, you mean Israel, right?