Question
20 January
- Japanese
-
English (US)
Question about English (US)
What does College being a time to sort of really think about who you are and where you’re going. mean?
What does College being a time to sort of really think about who you are and where you’re going. mean?
Answers
When you "disagree" with an answer
The owner of it will not be notified.
Only the user who asked this question will see who disagreed with this answer.
Read more comments
- English (US)
- English (UK)
It means that during college, you start to think about how you want to express yourself, and you start to wonder what you want to achieve in life (like what job you want to have when you graduate).
This is because you have more freedom in college than in high school, but you are also preparing for the workforce at the same time, so it is a time where you think more about the future
I don’t know if this made sense but I hope it somewhat helped! I was going to translate it into Japanese but my Japanese is too bad haha
Highly-rated answerer
- English (US)
- English (UK)
I just attempted to translate it!
大学は自分が誰なのか知ってどこに行きているの時間です
Hopefully this helps, but I’m sorry for my Japanese!
Highly-rated answerer
- Japanese
@liamuffinpie Thank you for the explanation! But can you also explain the reason why the sentence is using “being” instead of just using “is”?
- English (US)
- English (UK)
@haopi That just sounds like a mistake, unless there’s an extra part to that sentence.
For example, if the sentence was:
“College, being a time to sort of really think about who you are and where you’re going, was hard for me”.
Then it would make sense. But if not, “is” would be correct.
I also think it’s a mistake because the sentence has “sort of” in a weird spot, so I think the writer just made a couple of errors. Native speakers make mistakes all the time though haha, I didn’t even realise until you pointed it out!
Highly-rated answerer
- Japanese
@liamuffinpie It was part of a transcript of a lecture. It started with “You know” but nothing in the end of the sentence! Thanks again!
- English (US)
- English (UK)
@haopi Ah, that makes sense!!
One things that’s good to remember about spoken English is that, a lot of the time, speakers make grammatical mistakes or say unnatural-sounding that usually go unnoticed by other speakers, especially if talking fast or improvised. That’s most likely what happened here, or they may’ve said it in a way that doesn’t translate well on paper. For example:
“My early 20s were tough for me. You know, college being a time to.. sort of, really think about who you are and where you’re going.”
It really depends on the intonation, the pauses, and the context when it comes to spoken language, so reading a transcript could be more confusing than just listening to what’s being said.
On the other hand, writing gives you more time to think about what you want to say and how you say it, so errors are harder to make and more noticeable.
I hope this helps!
Highly-rated answerer
- Japanese
@liamuffinpie That is so helpful! I didn’t really distinguish the difference between reading spoken and written English and I was trying to read every word of the transcript so carefully. I’ll keep in mind what you said!
- English (US)
- English (UK)
@haopi You are welcome!!
If you are able to, I would recommend listening to the lecture while reading the transcript, or reading it then listening after each sentence. You may pick up on more mistakes if you do that.
Or you could read articles and then listen to spoken English separately to practice more, but your English is already good because you realised that “being” didn’t sound right, so you may not need to!
But I have never had to learn English, so be sure to just do what works for you!!
Highly-rated answerer
[News] Hey you! The one learning a language!
Do you know how to improve the way you study a language❓ All you need to do is write a diary in the language you are learning!
With HiNative, you can have a native speaker correct your diary every day✍️✨
With HiNative, you can have a native speaker correct your diary every day✍️✨
Sign up
Newest Questions
- What does what does the underlined part mean? mean?
- What does obnoxious mean?
- What does to fall out with someone mean?
- What does Pretty sure the terrace fits eight tables of ten. I need to clarify something here. ...
- What does It's time to move on. mean?
Topic Questions
- What does "to become a tenant of something" mean?
- What does topping mean?
- What does strain mean?
- What does "the news said that we should beware" why does it sound like "the new sand at ~the wea...
- What does Dip into mean?
Recommended Questions
What’s this symbol?
The Language Level symbol shows a user's proficiency in the languages they're interested in. Setting your Language Level helps other users provide you with answers that aren't too complex or too simple.
-
Beginner
Has difficulty understanding even short answers in this language.
-
Beginner-Intermediate
Can ask simple questions and can understand simple answers.
-
Intermediate
Can ask all types of general questions and can understand longer answers.
-
Advanced
Can understand long, complex answers.
Sign up for premium, and you can play other user's audio/video answers.
Tired of searching? HiNative can help you find that answer you're looking for.
