Let's learn together!

[Josef Essberger]

This post is superseded by the next post but one.

Hi Behnam.

Not sure if I need to configure the forums for this, or if you can do it direct, but you may like to play around with this (which includes full JUSTIFY):
https://phpbbstudio.com/kb/bbcodes/text-alignment

[behnam]

But you can content yourself with your English which is streets ahead of my French, in fact superb.

Dear Josef,
This generous compliment is really encouraging. Thank you very much. Merci Beaucoup!

All the best,
Behnam, 15 February, 2025

[Josef Essberger]

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut vestibulum, mauris at bibendum imperdiet, neque lectus finibus justo, quis consectetur sem est fringilla urna. Suspendisse blandit eu quam et rutrum. Integer elit mauris, vestibulum sit amet lorem vitae, malesuada laoreet quam. Nulla blandit tincidunt sapien, vel condimentum velit rutrum eget. Class aptent taciti sociosqu ad litora torquent per conubia nostra, per inceptos himenaeos. Integer accumsan pretium nisl, sed pretium eros. Quisque quis tortor id ex pellentesque pretium non quis magna. Duis imperdiet luctus nibh id feugiat. Donec sit amet tristique urna.

Code: Select all

[align=justify]Lorem ipsum dolor sit[/align]

For Behnam. Above is justified text as requested.

You should be able to use "right" and "center" too. "left" is also possible but normally pointless since it's the default.

رادتمند شما

Josef

[behnam]

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Ut vestibulum, mauris at bibendum imperdiet, neque lectus finibus justo, quis consectetur sem est fringilla urna. Suspendisse blandit eu quam et rutrum. Integer elit mauris, vestibulum sit amet lorem vitae, malesuada laoreet quam. Nulla blandit tincidunt sapien, vel condimentum velit rutrum eget. Class aptent taciti sociosqu ad litora torquent per conubia nostra, per inceptos himenaeos. Integer accumsan pretium nisl, sed pretium eros. Quisque quis tortor id ex pellentesque pretium non quis magna. Duis imperdiet luctus nibh id feugiat. Donec sit amet tristique urna.

Code: Select all

[align=justify]Lorem ipsum dolor sit[/align]

Hi Behnam.

Not sure if I need to configure the forums for this, or if you can do it direct, but you may like to play around with this (which includes full JUSTIFY):
https://phpbbstudio.com/kb/bbcodes/text-alignment

Dear Josef,

I do not know how to thank you for your kindness in providing all these possibilities in writing this post. In particular, adding options align and highlight was very interesting and helpful. I hope that with your management, we English learners will have enjoyable moments on this site as well as in this thread. Writing is very useful in learning a language. When I took the IELTS test a few years ago, I scored 7.5 in the writing section. Without exaggeration, writing on this site has increased my ability to speak too. Many times we have the skill to speak but we don't have an idea or an opinion to express about a topic. Writing forces us to think and generate ideas, which are automatically useful in speaking.

[behnam]

For Behnam. Above is justified text as requested.

You should be able to use "right" and "center" too. "left" is also possible but normally pointless since it's the default.

Dear Josef,

I do not know how to thank you for your kindness in providing all these possibilities in writing this post. In particular, adding options align and highlight was very interesting and helpful. I hope that with your management, we English learners will have enjoyable moments on this site as well as in this thread. Writing is very useful in learning a language. When I took the IELTS test a few years ago, I scored 7.5 in the writing section. Without exaggeration, writing on this site has increased my ability to speak. Many times we have the skill to speak but we don't have an idea or an opinion to express about a topic. Writing forces us to think and generate ideas, which are automatically useful in speaking.

Dear Josef, as you see, it does not work. What is wrong? Maybe I don't know how to use!

[Josef Essberger]

For Behnam. Above is justified text as requested.

You should be able to use "right" and "center" too. "left" is also possible but normally pointless since it's the default.

Dear Josef,

I do not know how to thank you for your kindness in providing all these possibilities in writing this post. In particular, adding options align and highlight was very interesting and helpful. I hope that with your management, we English learners will have enjoyable moments on this site as well as in this thread. Writing is very useful in learning a language. When I took the IELTS test a few years ago, I scored 7.5 in the writing section. Without exaggeration, writing on this site has increased my ability to speak. Many times we have the skill to speak but we don't have an idea or an opinion to express about a topic. Writing forces us to think and generate ideas, which are automatically useful in speaking.

Dear Josef, as you see, it does not work. What is wrong? Maybe I don't know how to use!

You didn’t close your [size] and [color] for “Dear Josef”.

I have fixed it.

Now you see it works.

I’m not sure if we can mix the align code with size and color codes. Have to experiment.

[behnam]

You didn’t close your [size] and [color] for “Dear Josef”.

I have fixed it.

Now you see it works.

I’m not sure if we can mix the align code with size and color codes. Have to experiment.

Dear Josef, I wanted to have all the text in blue. If I closed it, the paragraph would be in black, as it is by your solution. I dislike black. Actually, black is not a colour. It is the lack of light! Ha ha ha ... So philosophical...

Thank you very much.

All the best,
Behnam, 15 February, 2025

[behnam]

Dear friends,

Regardless of the exceptions, you know very well that things expand when heated. For the same amount of heat, different objects expand by different amounts. For this reason, the thermal expansion coefficient parameter is defined for each material.

Now imagine that we want to put two objects together and fasten or glue them together. If the difference in the coefficient of thermal expansion of these is large, due to heat, the amount of their expansion will be different, so that the mechanical stresses between them will cause damage to the connection. You must have seen that they put iron bars inside the concrete. Their expansion coefficient is almost the same. Or the difference in their thermal expansion coefficient is so small that mechanical stresses do not cause the structure to crack. In other words, the structure tolerates the expansion difference.

I gave this real physical example that everyone can understand to show the difference between human generations. An important question must be asked here: Which factors keep different human generations together? Certainly, a series of cultural commonalities, values, the same standards, the same understanding, emotional dependencies or emotional needs, some instinctive needs, etc. make the generations live together. What if these same values, or these commonalities in general, disappear or become less important? Do you agree that in this case different generations will not tolerate each other? In other words, they will not enjoy living together. I don't want to make the text long. In short, I say that in my opinion, the speed of technology development and change of values ​​has become such that the gap between generations has really increased, so that this gap is beyond the tolerance of humans. In my opinion, these rapid changes between generations will destroy human factors and values such as love and affection in the near future. As a result, marriage and family formation will become less important and human sociality will suffer. Briefly speaking, human life will be worse than animal life.

You have probably heard the story of the Companions of the Cave in the Koran, which is mentioned in the Bible and the Torah as the Seven Sleepers. They slept in the cave for three hundred years. When they woke up and one of them went to the city to buy necessities, he saw that everything had changed. He got surprised by the changes. After buying the necessities, people came with him to the cave to see them. First, the person went inside the cave and told his friend about the changes. They all asked God to go back to sleep. After three hundred years, they were surprised by the changes in society, but these days, there are many changes in society from generation to generation, so that one generation differs greatly from the next generation. In many cases, they cannot understand or tolerate each other.

I would be happy if you could write your opinion about this subject. Thank you in advance.

All the best,
Behnam

[SitangCampus]

I don't understand why you keep mentioning the question that there are no native speakers to practise English, haha, Behnam,and since you are a fan of Christie Agatha, you may have noticed that in her works Iran or the same place under other names used to be the colony of Britain. So you do have some advantage like India or Pakistan to inherit the language and culture from the colonists.

Actually you are a very good learner and user of English and your writing looks like the work of an educated native speaker of that language, as proved by the words of our dear Mr. Joe.

The same happen in Hong Kong, the former colony of England consisting of Chinese ethnic people, where English is the official language and people are much skilled in using it than Mandarin, the national language they are supposed to master after the land was handed over back to China 27 years ago. Another example is Shanghai, where there were designated areas marked for the exclusive use of Europeans, known as British Concession or French Concession. The influence of the foreign language and culture there have been eliminated bit by bit since 1949 when the whole country was placed under the rule of Communist Party of China. But now the level of English proficiency of local people of Shanghai is the highest among the country.

Your obsession of format and color is interesting and your words about the color of black is witty, which tempts me to have a try for a change, because as said in the book Give Me Three Days of Light, only those who lose their eyesight care much about light and shade.

[Josef Essberger]

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.

Code: Select all

[align=justify][color=#0040FF]Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet[/color][/align]

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur. Excepteur sint occaecat cupidatat non proident, sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollit anim id est laborum.

Code: Select all

[align=justify][size=150][color=#0040FF]Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet[/color][/size][/align]

For the attention of Behnam

It seems the solution is to wrap color and size in align, not vice versa.

ارادتمند شما

Josef

[Josef Essberger]

Regardless of the exceptions, you know very well that things expand when heated.

Without in any way trying to dodge your real question, is it true to say that water would be one of those exceptions? That is, water expands when frozen. If true, do we know the reason? I have no idea of course. I don't even know if water expands when cooled as opposed to frozen. Or perhaps it has to do with the change of state, ie frozen water is no longer water but ice (and boiled water is no longer water but vapour??? You see my amateurish way of posing this question.

[behnam]

Without in any way trying to dodge your real question, is it true to say that water would be one of those exceptions? That is, water expands when frozen. If true, do we know the reason? I have no idea of course. I don't even know if water expands when cooled as opposed to frozen. Or perhaps it has to do with the change of state, ie frozen water is no longer water but ice (and boiled water is no longer water but vapour??? You see my amateurish way of posing this question.

Dear Josef,
First of all, I would like to sincerely thank you for working so hard to make changes at our request that have made this thread a very pleasant place to write.

About your wise question, yes, water is an exception to the general rule of thermal expansion, but only within a specific temperature range. Most substances expand when heated and contract when cooled. However, water exhibits anomalous expansion between zero degrees Celsius and four degrees Celsius. Why does this happen? Water molecules form a network of hydrogen bonds, which create an open, hexagonal structure in ice. This structure is less dense than liquid water. As water cools below four degrees Celsius, its hydrogen bonds start forming a more rigid, open structure similar to ice. This increases its volume, making it less dense.

Ice floats on water because it is less dense. Lakes freeze from top down, which is essentially important and necessary for life inside water. In other words, water at the bottom of deep lakes remains around four degrees Celsius, protecting ecosystems.

This anomalous expansion is a unique property of water, crucial for life on Earth. Now we have to ask if this vital substance was created by itself(by chance) or does it have a creator? Did this life-giving element arise according to Darwin's theory of evolution, or does it have a creator? The importance of the creation of water is mentioned throughout the Holy Quran (repeated more than 50 times). Some of us Muslims only read it and may be annoyed or surprised of repeating it! But the truth is that the role and importance of water which exists in different states and phases of liquid, solid, and gas, is very essential for life on Earth. I have no doubt that water has a wise and powerful creator and that is Allah.

All the best,
Behnam, 16 February, 2025

Screenshot 2025-02-16 142350.png

[Josef Essberger]

Thank you Behnam. An impressive explanation which I'm afraid goes well over my head

But it does seem to confirm something I have often heard - that water is special and quite unlike all other materials.

Thank you for taking the time to explain.

[behnam]

I don't understand why you keep mentioning the question that there are no native speakers to practise English, haha, Behnam,and since you are a fan of Christie Agatha, you may have noticed that in her works Iran or the same place under other names used to be the colony of Britain. So you do have some advantage like India or Pakistan to inherit the language and culture from the colonists.

Dear SitangCampus,

Thank you so much for continuously writing in this thread. You asked a very good question. Sometimes, maybe a lot of times, imagining a state in the fantasy world is better than having that state in reality. Why is this so? You must have noticed that there is no flower without thorns. Besides sweetness, all situations or events in the real world have negative sides. Negative sides are usually bitter and annoying. However, in the fantasy world, we are used to or deliberately edit the negative sides; or better to say; bitterness. Therefore, imaginary states are usually pleasant. Although native English speakers may not come and read our posts, It's sweet to imagine that a native English speaker might read this post. We should not forget that the founder of this site; dear Josef; is a native English speaker. I am sure he reads our posts to see that we comply with the regulations.

About your second point it the paragraph, it should be said that Iran has never been an England colony, or anywhere else. Iran is an ancient country. It had been an empire in the world for a long time. Throughout history, it had been invaded and weakened many times, but it had not been a colony of any country.

Your obsession of format and color is interesting and your words about the color of black is witty, which tempts me to have a try for a change, because as said in the book Give Me Three Days of Light, only those who lose their eyesight care much about light and shade.

You use terms and words very artistically and wisely. Earlier you said that you are a student, but your writing style is similar to the writings of a very knowledgeable and adult person. Whoever you are, I am honored to be your friend and read your writings. Thank you very much!

All the best,
Behnam, 16 February, 2025

[behnam]

Thank you Behnam. An impressive explanation which I'm afraid goes well over my head

But it does seem to confirm something I have often heard - that water is special and quite unlike all other materials.

Thank you for taking the time to explain.

Dear Josef, you're welcome! Water is different from other materials. Its role in life is irreplaceable. I worship the creator of water. If you need more explanation just let me know. I will start from the beginning and build the concept in your mind, as a builder builds buildings by bricks and mortar.

All the best,
Behnam, 16 February, 2025

[Nanning]

May I join the talk? It is interesting to see there is something going on here because for a while I believe website forum has been discarded by the web users who are always ready to embrace a new device whenever possible, and it is time of OpenAI or DeepSeek that is much better than its grandfathers.

If my memory serves me right, some Chinese web users of this forum might have contacted me by private messages for how we can improve our English proficiency and such letter writers may include that Mr. Campus, whose name looks more like a place than a person. But it is normal that in China’s context people like to use name of place to identify themselves, especially when they are outside of their home land. I am a user of this forum with more seniority than most of you, judging from the time of registration but not from the number of posts.

I agree with Behnam that we need to keep the thread to go on and the most important point is that we have to have a common topic and writers who have the desire and ability to do so. Of course there are native speakers who might have visited this thread accidentally or other people, because I remember having introduced this thread to other English learners on China’s social media outlets. Whether they are interested or not, I have no idea but wish that it is always good to see more people to come and have fun.

[SitangCampus]

Oh, Mr. Behnam I am very sorry to have mistaken Iraq for Iran. As you know, there are some countries whose names in Chinese are very similar, with one or two syllables different, for example, Sweden vs Switzerland, Nepal vs Niger, Morroco vs Monaco, Iceland vs Ireland, India vs Indonesia, etc, and your beautiful wording in English has contributed to my seemingly uneducated error.

I don't remember whether I have mentioned here in this forum my identification in the real world. And when I tell others that I am a student, I mean I am the embodiment of "Live and learn" and the two words, student and learner, are interchangable in this sense. But I also know that student could mean a researcher, from the preface of Chrysenthemum and Sword, a book dealing with the customs and culture of Japanese written by an American professor, in which she introduced herself as a student. After I consulted a dictionary, I know that she was not just being humble or modest to make a low-profile introduction.

I am an adult, you are right, because in China anyone above 18 year age is recognized by law as an adult, but of course I am older than that and I am not trying to be a younger one. In China, generally we do not learn knowledge with English used as a median, or in other words, language is language, knowledge is knowledge and they are separate and independent. Even school subjects like math or science which could be taught in English because they were presented in English when first introduced to China, are the works of translation in Chinese. That is why you may find that a large number of English learners cannot have real and effective communication with an English user. It is very difficult for one to find the exact words in the foreign language to get himself understood and sometimes they have to coin a new word or expression that he believes is OK enough but Greek to others.

The physical theory you have made simple in the above post interests me very much, not by the internal working of the theory, because I have learnt that in middle school, but by the wording it is presented, because for the first time I know what it might sound when Issac Newton said the same, haha. Water is also an interesting topic that merits a long post next time, so I need to check my library first.

[Brave]

This is the story of how Persia built the greatest empire in history:
x.com/_historynerd/

[behnam]

May I join the talk? It is interesting to see there is something going on here because for a while I believe website forum has been discarded by the web users who are always ready to embrace a new device whenever possible, and it is time of OpenAI or DeepSeek that is much better than its grandfathers.

Dear Nanning,

Thank you so much for joining us. As you said correctly, artificial intelligence is going to change the world around us. As everything, it has got two sides. It has got positive effects on human's life, but its drawbacks should not be denied. However, writing has got its pleasant. I am not going to list its benefits right now, or compare it with DeepSeek etc. I'm just pointing out that there is a huge difference between being the subject and being the object!

If my memory serves me right, some Chinese web users of this forum might have contacted me by private messages for how we can improve our English proficiency and such letter writers may include that Mr. Campus, whose name looks more like a place than a person. But it is normal that in China’s context people like to use name of place to identify themselves, especially when they are outside of their home land. I am a user of this forum with more seniority than most of you, judging from the time of registration but not from the number of posts.

Thank you very much. That's very kind of you. Your English is excellent. You make your point perfectly. Please keep on writing in this thread.

I agree with Behnam that we need to keep the thread to go on and the most important point is that we have to have a common topic and writers who have the desire and ability to do so. Of course there are native speakers who might have visited this thread accidentally or other people, because I remember having introduced this thread to other English learners on China’s social media outlets. Whether they are interested or not, I have no idea but wish that it is always good to see more people to come and have fun.

When it comes to learning English, there is no doubt about the importance of communicating with someone whose mother tongue is English. Since I started learning English seriously, in addition to attending language institute classes, I have also chatted with many people from different nations in the virtual world. If I say that native speakers played the least role in my learning, I am not lying and I am not even being unfair. You may be surprised by my words, but being a native speaker does not necessarily mean that he speaks well and writes well. There have been many native speakers who used to give me their essays so that I could fix the grammatical problems for them. Many times I discussed a sentence with a native English speaker, and by referring to a dictionary, it turned out that my opinion was correct.

To prove this point, I give myself as an example. Azerbaijani language is my mother tongue and Farsi is the official language of my country. I don't know anything about the grammar and principles of the Azerbaijani language, and I'm not fluent in Persian either!

Please keep on writing. Let's have good moments here. DeepSeek and other artificial intelligences are feelingless. Let me ask DeepSeek "How are you today?" to see what it says:
It said: "Thank you for asking! As an AI, I don’t experience emotions or days, but I’m here and excited to help you with anything you need. How’s your day going so far?"

All the best,
Behnam, 17 February, 2025

AI.png

[behnam]

Oh, Mr. Behnam I am very sorry to have mistaken Iraq for Iran. As you know, there are some countries whose names in Chinese are very similar, with one or two syllables different, for example, Sweden vs Switzerland, Nepal vs Niger, Morroco vs Monaco, Iceland vs Ireland, India vs Indonesia, etc, and your beautiful wording in English has contributed to my seemingly uneducated error.

SitangCampus,

You don't need to say sorry. That's OK! It often happens. You are a highly educated person in my eyes.

I don't remember whether I have mentioned here in this forum my identification in the real world. And when I tell others that I am a student, I mean I am the embodiment of "Live and learn" and the two words, student and learner, are interchangable in this sense. But I also know that student could mean a researcher, from the preface of Chrysenthemum and Sword, a book dealing with the customs and culture of Japanese written by an American professor, in which she introduced herself as a student. After I consulted a dictionary, I know that she was not just being humble or modest to make a low-profile introduction.

With this kind of attitude and interpretation, all human beings are students.

I am an adult, you are right, because in China anyone above 18 year age is recognized by law as an adult, but of course I am older than that and I am not trying to be a younger one. In China, generally we do not learn knowledge with English used as a median, or in other words, language is language, knowledge is knowledge and they are separate and independent. Even school subjects like math or science which could be taught in English because they were presented in English when first introduced to China, are the works of translation in Chinese. That is why you may find that a large number of English learners cannot have real and effective communication with an English user. It is very difficult for one to find the exact words in the foreign language to get himself understood and sometimes they have to coin a new word or expression that he believes is OK enough but Greek to others.

It is almost the same in all over the world. Sometimes, there is not a proper equivalent for a word in a language. In this case, we can convey that word to the listener by describing it. Because humans have common feelings, they should not have any obstacles to communicate with each other. Of course, sometimes due to geographical or cultural conditions, we may have difficulty in transferring some concepts. For example, how should we explain "I'm cold" to an Eskimo? It is true that coldness is a common feeling among humans. However, its amount is not the same in humans. This may sometimes cause misunderstandings.

The physical theory you have made simple in the above post interests me very much, not by the internal working of the theory, because I have learnt that in middle school, but by the wording it is presented, because for the first time I know what it might sound when Issac Newton said the same, haha. Water is also an interesting topic that merits a long post next time, so I need to check my library first.

Thank you for your positive words about my writing. Your praise or encouragement gives me motivation and enthusiasm to write.

All the best,
Behnam, 17 February, 2025

[behnam]

This is the story of how Persia built the greatest empire in history:
x.com/_historynerd/

Dear Brave,

Thank you very much for leaving that link here. I referred to that link. It contains useful information about Iran.
There was written: 2,500 years ago, Persia ruled the world. At its heart stood Persepolis—a city so rich that the Greeks called it paradise on earth. But in one night, it was burned down. This is the story of how Persia built the greatest empire in history—and how it was erased in a single night!
Of course, this question has already been in my mind, that in the Mongol attack, in the Arab attack, in the Alexander attack, why do the Iranians not resist well and lose their possessions easily? I could not read the comments. What was the reason that the Iranians lost there empire in one night? Please be kind enough to let me know your views in this regards.

All the best,
Behnam, 17 February, 2025

[Brave]

This is the story of how Persia built the greatest empire in history:
x.com/_historynerd/

Dear Brave,

I could not read the comments. What was the reason that the Iranians lost there empire in one night?

All the best,
Behnam, 17 February, 2025

I paste below the final and disjointed posts from X.com:

Unlike other conquerors, the Persians ruled through tolerance rather than terror.

Cyrus the Great, the founder of the Persian Empire, allowed his subjects to keep their customs, religions, and languages.

As long as they paid tribute, they were free.

---

The Persian Royal Road—a 1,500-mile highway connecting Persepolis to the Mediterranean—allowed trade, culture, and knowledge to flow across the empire.

Greek historians marveled at the Persian couriers, who could deliver messages faster than any mortal traveler.

---

The result?

1. The first multi-ethnic empire in history
2. A flourishing economy powered by trade
3. A sophisticated bureaucracy that managed vast lands with efficiency

Persepolis embodied this vision: not just a city, but the heart of an empire built on unity, not oppression.

---

But its greatness wouldn’t last.

In 334 BC, Alexander the Great launched his campaign against Persia.

Though vastly outnumbered, his Macedonian army crushed the Persian forces in a series of decisive battles.

By 331 BC, the last Persian king, Darius III, was dead.

---

The empire collapsed.

Then Alexander reached Persepolis—the ceremonial heart of the Persian world.

What happened next remains one of history’s greatest acts of destruction.

---

According to Greek sources, a drunken Alexander, urged on by a Greek courtesan, ordered Persepolis to be burned to the ground as revenge for Persia’s past wars with Greece.

The city—its palaces, its treasures, its libraries—went up in flames.

---

- Cedar roofs turned into an inferno

- Priceless art and history were reduced to ashes

- 200 years of Persian grandeur disappeared overnight

Persepolis never recovered.

---

or 2,000 years, the world ignored Persepolis.

History, written by the Greeks and Romans, painted the Persians as cruel, decadent barbarians.

Their achievements were overshadowed by the legacy of Alexander.

===============

I cannot make comment as I have no knowledge of this impressive Persian history.

Is there a difference between Iranian and Persian, and if so what is it?

Many thanks

[SitangCampus]

Reading the posts above, the name of the city in the old Iran sounds like that of a football club in Iran, as you know, I spent quite some time in watching football, haha.

The person who mentioned that he might have contacted me by email is correct and I also had private messages exchanged with other forum friends here, one of them being a schoolgirl from Hong Kong, where English is taught differently from the mainland of China. Her English level amazed me very much but she did not return to this forum anymore, after the 2019 Umberrella Movment in her city and as she told me in the last email, her father was feared to be taken away from home joining the political turmoil amd that she was warned not to have more contacts with people from the mainland. Perhaps you need to learn about the modern time history of China to fully understand what is what, haha.

There are also places online available in China for learning English, but the quality is not satisfactory. People either copy something from foreign media that they do not understand, or try to get some wise words translated into English, actually trash in the name of Chicken Soup. I also visited some other sites and did draw some attention from the active users a little bit, but after the curiosity was satisfied they all lost interest to give a reply, and some of them even said bad words towards my country, images of middle finger and genitals at times being employed to highlight the effect. Horrible!

I had thought the Asian faces in your earlier post were Chinese, haha. And it is glad to know they are Vietnamese, but what did they do there because the place did not look like a tourist attraction?

By the way, when I decided to make some changes in the color of the post, the button doesn't look like in the mood of being cooperative, haha.

[behnam]

Is there a difference between Iranian and Persian, and if so what is it?

Dear Brave,

Thank you so much for the useful information you gave us. In answer to you question "Yes, there is a distinction between the terms Iranian and Persian, although they are often used interchangeably". The term "Iran" comes from the ancient word "Aryanam" in old Persian, meaning "Land of the Aryans." "Iranian" refers to anything related to Iran as a country in the middle east, including its people, culture, and language. The term "Persian" comes from "Pars", a region in southern Iran, which was the heart of the ancient Persian Empire. Many Persians live in Iran, but not all Iranians are Persian. Some of the main differences between the terms "Iranian" and "Persian" are included in the table as an attachment. I hope it helps.

All the best,
Behnam, 19 February, 2025

Screenshot 2025-02-19 160737.png

[behnam]

Reading the posts above, the name of the city in the old Iran sounds like that of a football club in Iran, as you know, I spent quite some time in watching football, haha.

Dear SitangCampus,

You are absolutely right. There is a football club named Persepolis in Iran. I used to watch football and follow its news when I was a teenager. However, since I passed my teenage years, I am not a serious fan of football anymore. Sometimes, for fun, I might watch a match without focusing too much, but I am not at all interested in the world of football.

...after the 2019 Umberrella Movment in her city and as she told me in the last email,...Perhaps you need to learn about the modern time history of China to fully understand what is what.

What is Umbrella Movement? Would you mind giving me some information about modern time history of China? What aspect of it do you mean?

There are also places online available in China for learning English, but the quality is not satisfactory. People either copy something from foreign media that they do not understand, or try to get some wise words translated into English, actually trash in the name of Chicken Soup. I also visited some other sites and did draw some attention from the active users a little bit, but after the curiosity was satisfied they all lost interest to give a reply, and some of them even said bad words towards my country, images of middle finger and genitals at times being employed to highlight the effect. Horrible!

What do you mean by "actually trash in the name of Chicken Soup"? What I have learned from talking with friends from different countries is that many Americans are seriously practicing Chinese and many Chinese are trying to learn English? What is the philosophy behind this?

I had thought the Asian faces in your earlier post were Chinese, haha. And it is glad to know they are Vietnamese, but what did they do there because the place did not look like a tourist attraction?

Dear SitangCampus, I am afraid I did not get what you are saying in the given paragraph. Would you please give further clarification?

By the way, when I decided to make some changes in the color of the post, the button doesn't look like in the mood of being cooperative.

What is "in the mood of being cooperative"? Do you mean it didn't work? I guess so! I think you are very witty in addition to writing wisely and beautifully.

All the best,
Behnam, 19 February, 2025

[SitangCampus]

Dear Behnam,
In reply to your questions about Vietnamese people, I would like you to refer back to the photo you posted earlier in which you are seen to stand side by side with a few Asian faces in front of a shop somewhere. Vietnamese are very like the Chinese living in the south of China, or actually they were from the same ancestors many years ago. I guess it is similar to your case, as I remember you said that you have some background about Azerbaijian, a country independent from the former USSR rules about 30 years ago.

About the Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong, what we can get from this side or the side of mainland is that it is a movement of protest against the Communist Party rule. As you know, Hong Kong used to be the colony of the UK for about 150 years and was returned to China with reluctance by the UK in 1997. The population of Hong Kong is mostly Cantonese speaking Chinese people, along with other ethnic groups from all over the world. They have been accustomed to the social system of the British empire and found it hard to accept the different cultures and political system of the mainland. As a result, there were conflicts in many aspects and that is why our Communist leaders came up with the policy of "One Country, Two Systems" for a period of 50 years as a buffer zone, by which Hong Kong can maintain its existing culture, systems, currency. But many local people, especially the young in Hong Kong who were heavily brainwashed by the West did not like this measure and went to streets to protest time and again. They held black umbrellas in their hands to manifest their intention. Why was it so I have to check out before I can give you more information, or perhaps you can search online or simply ask AI for the answer.

The question of Chicken Soup is actually about philosophizing. Chicken Soup is actually a brand of series books of an American publisher, which teaches and guides the average people how to be a good guy in their family, career, or daily life. When you first read some of such stories you were moved and touched and inspired, but more will make you jaded.

I think that if one wishes to learn English well, he should get authentic materials as much as possible, but many English learners try to learn it by translating words of wisdom from Chinese into English as the above Chicken Soup did, they are not supposed to do that because it is wrong and their lousy translation with linguistic or grammatical errors cannot be understood by the native speakers.

[behnam]

Dear friends,
A long time ago, I was not allowed to publish detailed information about myself online. Especially, I shouldn't have shown my real photo to the people I was in contact with. But, now I am free and in compliance with the moral principles, I have no limits to be myself in the virtual space. Some friends may not be able to digest this. Some people get curious and want to know the reason for the restriction. Unfortunately, I cannot satisfy people's curiosity in this regard. I hate having a fake personality. I have enough confidence to be myself everywhere. I don't need to pretend. For this reason, I have shown myself in the real world to close virtual friends as much as possible.

I am attaching some photos of myself here, in order to be kept for a long time, so that my friends can see who they are writing to! I had shared some of them before, but the uploaded site has automatically deleted the link. Thanks to the dear Josef's help and support(grâce à monsieur Josef), now we are able to attach files to our posts.

All the best,
Behnam, 20 February, 2025

P.S. I couldn't attach some files, because their filesizes were more than 256 KiB

55.jpg

B2.png

[behnam]

Dear Joseph,
Thanks for your efforts in solving the problems, increasing the facilities in this thread, and improving the process of posting. Unfortunately, there are still problems in the file attachment section. For example, additional text is written below some photos. Sometimes it works well, but sometimes there are problems. Today, I tried very hard to post a photo, but even though the photo capacity(size) was small, it kept showing an error message(I mean a yellow triangle containing a "!" sign). To put it simply, the rules of using it are not clear to me and seems its behavior is also unstable (fickle).

All the best,
Behnam, 20 February, 2025

[behnam]

Dear Behnam,
In reply to your questions about Vietnamese people, I would like you to refer back to the photo you posted earlier in which you are seen to stand side by side with a few Asian faces in front of a shop somewhere. Vietnamese are very like the Chinese living in the south of China, or actually they were from the same ancestors many years ago. I guess it is similar to your case, as I remember you said that you have some background about Azerbaijian, a country independent from the former USSR rules about 30 years ago.

Dear SitangCampus,
You made many things clear. Thank you very much. You had asked me a question about the place. I mean the following part in your previous post:

... but what did they do there because the place did not look like a tourist attraction?

The place is very famous in Shiraz. Shiraz is a historic and culturally rich city located in the southwestern part of Iran. Persepolis(you had mentioned to this term); the ancient ceremonial capital of the Achaemenid Empire, located about 60 km northeast of Shiraz. The shown place is where the famous Iranian poet Sheikh Saadi is buried. His tomb is situated in a beautiful garden called Saadiyeh, which is dedicated to the famous Persian poet. It's a popular historical and cultural site, attracting many visitors who come to pay respects to one of Iran's greatest literary figures. As I said before, that Vietnamese group were some literature professors from Hanoi. There are some shops in the site. They often sell handicrafts. At their suggestion, we stopped in front of one of those shops.

I will try to attach some photos. I hope I will be successful in attaching.

All the best,
Behnam, 20 February, 2025

Behnam in Saddiyeh.png

Behnam.jpg

[behnam]

About the Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong, what we can get from this side or the side of mainland is that it is a movement of protest against the Communist Party rule. As you know, Hong Kong used to be the colony of the UK for about 150 years and was returned to China with reluctance by the UK in 1997. The population of Hong Kong is mostly Cantonese speaking Chinese people, along with other ethnic groups from all over the world. They have been accustomed to the social system of the British empire and found it hard to accept the different cultures and political system of the mainland. As a result, there were conflicts in many aspects and that is why our Communist leaders came up with the policy of "One Country, Two Systems" for a period of 50 years as a buffer zone, by which Hong Kong can maintain its existing culture, systems, currency. But many local people, especially the young in Hong Kong who were heavily brainwashed by the West did not like this measure and went to streets to protest time and again. They held black umbrellas in their hands to manifest their intention. Why was it so I have to check out before I can give you more information, or perhaps you can search online or simply ask AI for the answer.

Dear SitangCampus,

I am not interested in politics, because I do not know its principles. Apparently, lying and persuading listeners is one of the main principles of politics. I do not know how to do this and I have never sought to learn it.

Following your advice, I asked DeepSeek and ChatGPT AIs about Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong. DeepSeek dodged ( I have learnt this word from dear Josef) the question and avoided answering which I will attach the image of the answer in this post. ChatGPT gave me a satisfactory answer. Thank you very much for your guidance.

All the best,
Behnam, 21 February, 2025

Screenshot 2025-02-21 122927.png