[greenhorn]

Quote:

Originally Posted by viator122 I'm not sure how much other languages use slang, but English sure uses a lot and it changes very often. How much of our slang speech do you understand?

I usually have no problems in understanding what's being said here, with some exceptions anyway.

Just one example:

"ACHTUNG - ALLES KOPFPHONERLISTENERS
Alles kopfphonerlisteners non-technischens! Das tubenmachine is nicht for gefengerpoken und mittengrabben. Oderwise is easy schnappen der springenverk, blowenfus, und poppencap, mit spitzensparken. Gewerken inside der tubenmachine is fur der experten only. Is nicht fur geverken inside by das dumpkopfen. Das rubbernecken amateuren keepen das cotton-picken hands in das pockets. Just relaxen, enjoyen der musik, und vatchen das pretty glowentubes.".

 

[Genetic]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DanG A more serious suggestion for you, Lisa, would be to try to hang around highly educated native English speakers in social settings. There really is no substitute.

Hey babe what's your name again?

http://www.therockalltimes.co.uk/200...ce-charles.jpg

Amicalement

 

[greenhorn]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Genetic Hey babe what's your name again? http://www.therockalltimes.co.uk/200...ce-charles.jpg Amicalement

ROTFL!

 

[iban]

edit

 

[SV_huMMer]

I've just had 13 years of French and 6 years of English studies in my life as a prof. interpreter, so communicating in English is not all that difficult

 

[MrSlacker]

I moved to US 4 years ago when i was 12 and knew like 2 words in eglish. I just watched a lot of TV. Also school helped alot. I dont translate anymore, its my 2nd primary language. Head-Fi didnt really help me coz i already knew english before coming here. It took me about 2 years to learn the language

 

[the_villain]

Well, here in Bulgaria I was taught Russian as second language from 3'th grade on. I learned English all by myself(no lessons, no teachers), but the process span over several years. Anyways, I often see here and in other forums native English speakers ask about the meaning of some not so dificult word, and it's strange. On Bulgarian forums slang is very, very widely used and that's why I don't frequent them often.

 

[MrSlacker]

wow, i didnt even know we have people from Bulgaria here. I visited Bulgaria when i was like 7 years old. Great place.

 

[Newbiez]

Well, English being my more preffered type of communication obviously I'm quite comfortable using it

I also visits, reads and chats in some other forums that are more European based compared to Asia based, thus I found myself using British slangs like "aye" or "eejit" from time to time

The only problem that I face is my grammar, as sometimes the way I structure my sentences can be bad, although it makes sense when I read it

 

[apnk]

My parrents came to the US from Mexico. I was born in the states and Spanish was my first language, i learned English from watching TV and then later at school. Today I speak and read both languages perfectly but i cant write in Spanish.



BTW, have any of you multi-language people notice bad grammer use by americans who only know english? Like "I don't not wanna do that."

('do not not' for those who didnt get it.

)

 

[Fastjack]

Quote:

Originally Posted by viator122 I have noticed that most of our non-native English speakers here on Head-Fi speak (well, type) English very well and don't seem to have a problem communicating. I imagine this is because, as I understand it, in many parts of Europe and Asia, English is taught as a second language in schools from a very early age.

I guess most people on this forum have a very good English because if their English was bad they wouldn't have visited Head-Fi in the first place.

You're right, here in Germany English is taught in school starting in 6th grade but AFAIK some kids even get their first lessons in kindergarten. That however doesn't mean that most people could really communicate in English as they stop using it after school. In my experience the stuff you learn in school is just a basis to get you started. I learned most of my English after school when I started reading novels in the original English version and not the translated stuff usually sold here. Later I started watching movies and TV shows in English. All of that was quite a bit harder than I thought it would be but after a (long) while it got easier.

Quote:

Originally Posted by viator122 My question is, how difficult is it for you to communicate here on Head-Fi? Although Head-Fi is better than some other forums, there are still many grammar/spelling mistakes here. How does this affect your improvement in English?

By now I find it pretty easy actually as >90% of the stuff I read/listen to these days is in English. Compared to other forums the use of slang on Head-Fi is fairly limited so that's not a problem either.

Quote:

Originally Posted by viator122 I'm not sure how much other languages use slang, but English sure uses a lot and it changes very often. How much of our slang speech do you understand? Do you find that English speakers use more slang than your native language?

That's a very difficult question and I guess it cannot really be answered. The use of slang depends very much on the social setting (is that even the correct term?). In some situations no slang is used at all while in others you'd have difficulty finding any "correct" word at all, independent of the language.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Teerawit I'm quick to notice here when people type "your" when they should be using "you're"

Oh yeah, that's something I have also often wondered about. For quite a few native English speakers the terms "there" "they're" and "their" seem to be interchangeable to give one example. The first few times I encountered these types of errors I was quite surprised but then I realized that having learned the grammar and the practical stuff at the same time is a great help in that case.

Anyway, good questions and a very interesting thread.

 

[viator122]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fastjack Oh yeah, that's something I have also often wondered about. For quite a few native English speakers the terms "there" "they're" and "their" seem to be interchangeable to give one example. The first few times I encountered these types of errors I was quite surprised but then I realized that having learned the grammar and the practical stuff at the same time is a great help in that case. Anyway, good questions and a very interesting thread.

Yeah, "your" vs. "you're" and "their", "there" and "they're" are probably two of the most common grammatical mistakes. The other is people misusing the possessive, i.e. "CD's" is often used to mean the plural of "CD", but in fact "CD's" indicates that the CD possesses something, for exmple: "The CD's jewel case was broken."

 

[MrSlacker]

Quote:

Originally Posted by viator122 Yeah, "your" vs. "you're" and "their", "there" and "they're" are probably two of the most common grammatical mistakes. The other is people misusing the possessive, i.e. "CD's" is often used to mean the plural of "CD", but in fact "CD's" indicates that the CD possesses something, for exmple: "The CD's jewel case was broken."

When i was trying to learn english back in Belarus, I always hated those and "go" "went" "going", "come" "came" "come", but English is not as hard as Russian, i can tell you that for sure

 

[terrymx]

i moved to american at 8yo. my mother language isnt very developed then. unfortunately i dont get reading and writing lession on it after that, i only speak it within my family. therefor i think it stunt my ability to think more complex and progress in my second language. i feel like if i was to learn anymore languages, i might be decent at them but not excel on any single one.

 

[White Fox]

I love, sometimes, looking through dictionaries for slang definitions - as if the highly educated people who write dictionaries really have a grasp on slang. I actually looked up 'crappy' in a recently published dictionary (part of a 'Pocket Reference Library'), and the word is not listed as slang! Crappy: adj. of inferior quality. So what is slang and what is proper English? A dictionary is not the Bible of language. I bet the rise of Internet forums helped 'crappy' become more accepted. I've probably heard it more on this forum than anywhere else. Perhaps in the future, dictionaries will denote a word as 'cyber-slop', in addition to listing words as slang...