记者：黄雨琦

9月21日傍晚，在图书馆一楼进行了本学期第一次英语角活动。6点半不到，Mr. Martin Stannard, Mr. Darren Mullins 和Mr. Christopher Dockstader的身边已经有不少同学。

因为有大一新生的加入，今天三位外教都默契地谈到了他们对外语学习的看法。Mr. Martin Stannard对他身边的一位同学谈到，想要学好外语，就要勇敢地与外国人交流。就如同参加英语角一样，如果你害怕交流，那么英语角对你而言就失去了意义。然后，他为同学们讲述了他在法国一家咖啡厅因听不懂服务员的法语而闹出的笑话，以此来告诉大家即使是相像的语言也会有其与众不同的魅力，所以不必为说不好英语而感到自卑。

另一边，Mr. Darren Mullins 与同学们分享了他在日本、韩国和香港任教的经历，并现场展示了一段日语和韩语。他还说即使同属一个国家，香港和大陆也存在着一定的文化差异，而语言就是其一。

本次英语角在同学们的欢声笑语中结束，希望同学们对外语的魅力有更多的认识。

English Corner: The Charm of Foreign Languages

By Yuqi Huang

On the evening of September 21st, the first English Corner of this term was held on the first floor in the library. Mr. Martin Stannard, Mr. Darren Mullins and Mr. Christopher Dockstader had been surrounded by many students before half past six.

Since many freshmen attended today’s English corner, Mr. Martin Stannard told the student next to him that the only way to learn English well was to communicate with native speakers confidently. What’s more, the English Corner would lose its meaning if the students were too afraid to talk. And then he shared with them a funny story concerning misunderstandings caused by his poor French when he was in a French café, reminding students that even similar languages could have their own distinctions from other languages, let alone languages which were not similar. As a result, it’s unnecessary for students to feel ashamed of themselves if they couldn’t speak English fluently.

On the other side, Mr. Darren Mullins shared his teaching experience in Japan, Korea and Hong Kong with students. Then he spoke a little bit Japanese and Korean on spot. He pointed out that cultural diversity existed even in the same country, for example, the language difference between mainland China and Hong Kong.

Today’s English Corner ended up in laughter. Hopefully, all students could get more information about the charm of foreign languages.