Whether you are learning a second language for work, travel, or immigration, it is a very valuable skill.

Today we will explore a very important topic: our mother tongue, Chinese. Is it a burden or a treasure in the process of learning a second language?

So, do you agree with the following two viewpoints?

Viewpoint 1: Since we are learning English, we should abandon or distance ourselves from Chinese thinking, just like immigrants cannot always speak Chinese if they want to integrate into the local community.

Viewpoint 2: Over-reliance on the mother tongue to understand the second language can lead to translation dependency. That is, we might get used to translating the second language into our mother tongue instead of thinking and understanding directly.

I believe many students agree with the above viewpoints.

So next, let’s analyze these viewpoints in detail and explain why they are not comprehensive.

1. Our mastery of our mother tongue represents our intellectual level.

If we do not consider our mastery of the mother tongue, our intellectual level can only be equivalent to that of a fourth-grade elementary school student in an English-speaking country.