Learning to Tell a Story

Lately, I have been learning how to write a story. Though telling a story in Chinese is easy like picking up a shell on the beach, telling a Chinese story translated into English is troublesome and can be a misunderstanding. There are lots of comprehension gaps between the two cultures.

First, I think the gap is the background. Once, a group acted a story in a Chinese movie called Dawan, they asked some simple questions and gave the position of the leader to someone who answered them correctly. This plot became popular due to the movie. For the people who have not heard of this plot,it is absolutely difficult to understand. So is the culture, when you know them, you can comprehend anything related to them. If not, you will find yourself in confusion and completely exhausted to seek the meaning.

Second, the gap is the language. Some certain words have no accurate translations in another language. Apparently, there will be a lot of misunderstandings in this aspect. Using a word can not express yourself clearly, what is worse, people will be more lost in your stories. Furthermore, they will have a bad impression of your stories.

Third, the gap is the thoughts. The thoughts between West and the East are virtually different. They can not accept the opinions or values too much unlike of their culture. They used to appreciate certain things which may seem strange to others. Vice versa, the thoughts play an important role in telling stories.

To maintain a state which is eager to take everything in is vital for our telling stories. On the contrary, do not think it takes less to tell a perfect story without perseverance and sacrifice of a great deal of time. From now on, let us make it.