Asking Mr. Internet

Unlike years ago, I frequently access the Internet to ask questions. Believe it or not, it helps me find answers to many things. More importantly, the answers usually come in minutes, or even seconds. Besides that, it provides me with a lot of sources, references, and information, although their validity is questionable. In other words, they need to be investigated further. However, I will give you a few examples of its benefit as follows.

Today, before I began writing this small article, I was looking for English sentences that are used in expressing "where" questions. For example, let's say, I am in my classroom and then my friend, Mr. A, comes into the classroom, and I ask him "Dari mana kamu?" Then, Mr. A says "Saya baru saja dari masjid". I would like to know how to deal with this kind of social conversation in English. This is something I cannot easily do since I am not a native English speaker - I do not know how to say "Dari mana kamu?" in English. Therefore, I open a search engine website and I type the key words "Dari mana kamu?" and links appear to assist me. My journey takes me to websites that provide explanations. The websites explain that "Dari mana kamu?" means "Where have you been?".

Furthermore, I sometimes try to find an answer by accessing another famous search engine website. Interestingly, in this website I do not type my key words but, instead, fill in the form-like page with what my question is since it provides a service that enables people to ask questions. Other people able to answer this question are on the same page within a few moments after the question is submitted by the questioner. Surprisingly, I got the answer within 12 minutes from a person that I did not know, but now I still receive other answers from other people. On this website it was suggested that I say, "Where were you?" Then, the answer would be "I was at our mosque" or "Where have you been?" and the answer would be "I've been at our mosque".

To sum up, the Internet is helpful and we can rely on it although we must carefully investigate all information it provides.