How do you think?
Who taught : Carl and Andrew
Jessy and Me
So, this is my 100th post! Yay! I am pretty excited about it. It has been 4 months and 7 days since I wrote my first post. To commemorate this milestone, I would like to share one of my personal stories. It is about my wife, Jessy. First of all, I am not telling any lie here. Jessy and I went to the same university in Korea. We both majored law. And, back then, she was one of the most famous girls in the school. (I am not saying she is not any more. π ) Many times, a lot of guys waited for her outside of classrooms where she took classes to see her. How about me? I was just a normal guy whom no girls showed any interests in. Then, I am sure you would have a question you would ask. How the heck was I able to woo her? (The word, “woo”, here is a good expression you can use when anyone is trying to make a girl or a guy fall for him/her.) Well, I actually do not know. The only thing I know is that she was the one who hit on me. She actually told me, “First time I saw you, I just felt that you are the one for me.” What did I do? Well, I think I just did not pay attention to her a lot. Do you know why? I had to study hard to recover my bad GPA. π
So, college students out there! Believe it or not, here is today’s lesson for you.
Girls dig a guy who is enthusiastic about what he does! If you do your best at what you are supposed to do, you are charm enough to woo the best girl!
Now, let’s get to today’s expression, shall we? About three years ago when I first started my work, I was pretty nervous about having conference calls. And, one day, I was in a conference call with a few people from a client and my boss, Carl. They asked me a few questions and I provided a few suggestions. Following the suggestions, I said, “So… how do you think?” Why I use “how” instead of “what”? Probably, it is because I was translating Korean into English. In Korean, we say, “μ΄λ»κ² μκ°νμΈμ? (Eu-Dduk-Ke Saeng-Gak-Ha-Se-Yo ?)” and literal translation of “μ΄λ»κ²(Eu-Dduk-Ke)” is “how” not “what.” After the meeting, Carl grabbed me and said, “Terry, you should say ‘what do you think?’ If you say ‘how do you think?’, it is almost like insulting because it would mean like, ‘do you even have brain to think about?'”
Man, I was so embarrassed. On that day, I repeated ‘what do you think?’ like 100 times on my way to home. Now? I never even think ‘how do you think?’ at all.
What the heck are you trying to say? self-phrase? hahahaha
Yeh~ right! your GPA was really sucks in your first year. Playing hooky was your middle name. :). But you changed a lot after leaving the army. π
Oh~ Jessy is really photogenic, but you are not very photogenic at all. When we were in the university, her appearance was second to none. π I’m so happy that you guys are living happily. You know what? your life always inspires me with challenging and confidence. π
Anyway, I don’t know exactly what the different things between “How can i say?” and “What can i say?” are, but i think it might be almost same mistakes we make easily too.
On being faced with the difficulty of word-choices and making sentences, we never distinguish “How can i say?” from “What can i say?”
A difference in the shade of meaning between the two words is really bothering me.
Can you give me an another example and a tip how i can distinguish and use it correctly and properly?
Be my english teacher, Terry! π
Haha! You know too much about my secret. I should block you here! Kidding! I will do my best to help you. But, honestly, your English is not bad at all. Just try to speak a lot since you do not have a lot of chance speaking there. Best of luck!
Aw, cute story about you and your girlfriend!
I don’t think anyone would really get insulted if you said “How do you think?” because it would be clear from your tone and context that you didn’t mean “HOW on EARTH do you THINK, with a TINY BRAIN like THAT?” π
Do you mind if I put your site in the blogroll at talktotheclouds.com? I have a couple of other successful learners’ sites there and I’ve been looking for any sites by people whose first languages are Korean or Chinese. I love to add good examples…
Thank you for your feedback! Nice to meet you here, Clarissa! I do not mind at all. It is my honor! Hope to see you again π