Whose story: Ashka

Proposal

Once again, Article is one of the hardest things in English. Here is a good example for you! The question! Do you know what it is?

Yesterday, my friend, Ashka, sent me a story about her experience which happened in her conversation with her friend who is in France. In her talk with her, she said, “Ray popped the question.” Her French friend did not understand it, which is not a surprise at all. It would be hard to understand by just this simple sentence here. If there is a little more context, it would be a little bit easier for non-native English speakers to understand. Pop the question means to ask someone to marry. Thus, the question would mean the official proposal of marriage. Were you even able to guess? I bet you were not.

FYI, there is even an USA Today news article with this expression, 10 great places to pop the question. Suppose that you say “pop a question” instead of “pop the question”! Then it has a total different meaning. It would mean just like coming up with any question you want to ask.

Since I mentioned Ashka, I have a very inspiring story about her. She came to U.S. from Poland when she was around 19. She went to a college here in U.S. Back then, she was not able to speak English at all. I mean really at all. So, she had really hard time to pronounce correctly and understand all of the slangs her American friends use. (I will tell you what! Americans use a lot of slangs, especially in informal conversations, such as lunch time talks. It is so hard to understand them if you do not know what they mean.) She told me that her friends corrected her pronunciation and taught a lot of slangs. So, what she did was setting the highest goal. You know what it was. She decided to study and practice English a lot so that no Americans ever notice that she is from other countries. You know what? Her English now is flawless and I believe no one would think that she is from another country. At least I thought that she is born in America. Ashka, you are amazing! You are my inspiration! You should share your secret studying methodologies here. And, once again, many many congratulations for your engagement!

Here is today’s lesson for me and you!

Set the highest goal and never give up at all! Never!