The "English is my 2nd language" Thread

[ratsapprentice]

I'll take the nuke argument, although only in relation to miked in preference of miced, but when the hell has anyone needed to abbreviate cucumber? I have literally never heard of that, nor can I see any situation where that would be used.

I still don't think you understand what I'm trying to say about the lb/pound thing.

 

[Plendakor]

I think english is probably the easiest language to learn of all. There are a lot of words out there but it's pretty easy to assemble into a concrete sentence. French has so many rules and exceptions (a pain in the ass even for us). I mean, you don't use them in general, but say you read literature, at some point they (the writters) overthink it. especially those from the 1800s.

However, it seems that the easiest language to learn when you speak french is italian. I've read that you can become fluent after 6 months. And spannish comes second. now, what's easier for a spannish person to learn, italian or french ?

I'm probably about 99% bilingual, both speaking and writting, but I do make awkward mistakes every now and then. And that's irritating. And plus, I need to "warm up" before I can speak it normally because if someone comes at me, and I spent my whole year speaking french, it's like huh let my adjust my mouth for a minute. lol, do you know what I mean ? Sure I speak right away, think right away, but it's somehow like waking up

ratsapprentice, lb is the unit... in french it's a "livre" (the same word is used for "book") but we'd say I weight 200 lbs. It's like 120V 60Hz, Hz means hertz but you don't say H'zzzzz ;P

 

[TravisW]

I'll take the nuke argument, although only in relation to miked in preference of miced, but when the hell has anyone needed to abbreviate cucumber? I have literally never heard of that, nor can I see any situation where that would be used.

I still don't think you understand what I'm trying to say about the lb/pound thing.

I don't think we're on the same page about what an abbreviation is. I guess if you're going with a very narrow definition, that only allows for the truncation of a word, then you're correct that "lb" is technically an acronym for "libra pondo". At that point, "Dr." isn't an abbreviation, but rather a contraction.

It might be a difference in which grammars we were taught from, actually. I was taught that abbreviations are a category of shortenings of words that included traditional abbreviation via truncation, acronyms, and contractions. There have been enough English grammars written up so that it's entirely possible that everybody in this thread is right about everything.

 

[colonel kurtz]

However, it seems that the easiest language to learn when you speak french is italian. I've read that you can become fluent after 6 months. And spannish comes second. now, what's easier for a spannish person to learn, italian or french ?

italian just seems like the easiest language, period

i took 3 years of spanish in HS and grew up around quite a few spanish speakers, but can't speak it for shit...those fuckers just babble on way too fast. i can read it pretty well, but conversating is another thing. then i went to italy once for a few weeks, and even though there's differences in the language, just the fact that italian is spoken so much slower and more relaxed(until someone gets mad) makes it sooooooooooooooo much easier to grasp. i wouldn't doubt in the least bit that anyone with any experience in another latin language could be fluent in italian in 6 months...if that.

 

[DanLights]

Isn't it cool to have this communication issues in this thread?

BTW BretT: Not trying to be a dick here, but if English is nº1 language around it is precisely because it's utter simplicity. And about vocabulary it's totally the other way around, English is considered pretty poor vocabulary-wise compared to the same languages you compare it to. On the other hand, to speak it with perfect accent is something that only natives and few learners will ever do.

Anyways, I'm glad there's no genders, because in German, for example, they have genders which are not coincidental with our genders, which makes it hell to learn (considering that we already have a concept of gender for inanimate objects and even ideas).

Funny thing about German: French is hard enough because genders don't always match the Spanish ones, but German is worse because there's THREE genders for nouns: male, female and neutral.

 

[ratsapprentice]

...

I wasn't saying that abbreviations can only be truncations, but that for the sake of argument, we should think of it like that.
As the word we are dealing with (mike) is a truncation (phonetically).
So you shouldn't be comparing the rules that apply to the abbreviation of pound to lb, as it is not the same "type" of abbreviation as microphone to mic/mike.

 

[DanLights]

I think until more expert opinions come up, the mic thing should be settled with "miking". The nuke thing makes perfect sense, saying "we're nuc'ing those Japos" sounds wrong in so many levels that I'm convinced in a few years from now saying "miced" or "mic'ing" will be laughed at unless you're referring to bombing something with rodents, in which case it will be laughed at anyways.

 

[jangoux]

There´s a local band whose name is All Still Burns - everyone thought the s in burns was wrong until I made a research about it. For some stupid reason, it appears both are correct but burns might be the most correct ahahah Something like to what the verb burn is referencing. Like if the ´All´ is the whole world, then it is ´burns´ and if the ´All´ are the Orange, the apple and the carrot, then it is ´burn´ ahha

but i love english. Way easier to think than portuguese - oh, and brazilian portuguese is way easier than portuguese from Portugal. That one is tricky!

 

[ratsapprentice]

All Still Burns wouldn't turn any heads, no-one would question it.
Although I think technically it implies that "all" continues to have the potential to burn, rather than "all" is still burning.
But like I said, I don't think anyone would interpret it that way.

 

[TravisW]

I wasn't saying that abbreviations can only be truncations, but that for the sake of argument, we should think of it like that.
As the word we are dealing with (mike) is a truncation (phonetically).
So you shouldn't be comparing the rules that apply to the abbreviation of pound to lb, as it is not the same "type" of abbreviation as microphone to mic/mike.

Fair enough.

I think the other rationale for "mike" vs. "mic" is that English pronunciation generally favors a short i in "mic", and if you throw an e on the end to lengthen the i, then the c goes soft. If you don't lengthen the i, then you're teasing the Irish and they get all hacked off.

Personally, for use as a noun, I have no issue with "mic", because it makes particularly good sense in the studio. Once it has been "verbed", that's when it starts to make trouble.

 

[DanLights]

Yeah I definitely agree with Travis.

 

[Plendakor]

I find confusing that many almost identical words can sound so different...

wear/pear/bear don't sound like tear/fear/near

There's like 56 million examples like that

Anybody knows the rules ?

 

[AD Chaos]

Whenever I see the word miced used in here (to describe an amp being recorded through microphone placement), I'm thinking someone has been either fucked or killed by a mouse

I'm guessing mic'd is more accurate? As in short for microphoned (or micro-phoned)?...


I think I often unintentionally offend someone when saying 'you' while forgetting to specify I'm referring to a group of people, rather than the individual person I'm having a word with.

 

[Mago]

I find confusing that many almost identical words can sound so different...

wear/pear/bear don't sound like tear/fear/near

There's like 56 million examples like that

Anybody knows the rules ?

English is just fucking retarded with the orthography, no way around it.
I guess it goes back to beeing involved with old roman languages a few hundred (or thousand?) years ago.

I'm pretty sure if already said that in a thread like this, kinda suprised it wasn't this one

Only goes to show how much context matters in communication.

air heir
aisle isle
ante- anti-
eye I
bare bear
be bee
brake break
buy by
cell sell
cent scent
cereal serial
coarse course
complement compliment
dam damn
dear deer
die dye
fair fare
fir fur
flour flower
for four
hair hare
heal heel
hear here
him hymn
hole whole
hour our
idle idol
in inn
knight night
knot not
know no
made maid
mail male
meat meet
morning mourning
none nun
oar or
one won
pair pear
peace piece
plain plane
poor pour
pray prey
principal principle
profit prophet
real reel
right write
root route
sail sale
sea see
seam seem
sight site
sew so
shore sure
sole soul
some sum
son sun
stair stare
stationary stationery
steal steel
suite sweet
tail tale
their there
to too
toe tow
waist waste
wait weight
way weigh
weak week
wear where

I mean come fucking on
There was a picture with a story made up only with homophones...can't find it right now, but it was painful to read, and even more painful to read it out loud.

 

[sprack]

"Fuck" and "date" are also good ones that depend on context.

Trying to teach my kids swedish and I'm realizing how convoluted english is. I'm just glad we don't have to add memorizing noun gender to the mix.

 

[Nimvi]

There was a picture with a story made up only with homophones

Which reminds me, in my dialect you can form correct sentences like these:
"Daat dat dat, dat dat dat daat?", which would translate to something like "did she think that she thought that?". We are the sacred keepers of the Morse code.

And about English I will say only this:

When I die, go to Hell and meet the Great Adversary
I will ask why I'm there; he will say: "'Twas necessary..."
And I will ask: "How do you spell that again?"
But he will just scornfully laugh without end

In the bowels of the earth rings the word "NECESSARY"
As I endlessly search for Oxford Dictionary,
Or a PC with Google, Yahoo or Bing;
I've tried to ask Jeeves, but he won't say a thing

By now I should know this, but in my defense:
That word looks so wrong; it just doesn't make sense!
Even talking paperclips would be swell
But there are none here, for I am in Hell

 

[DanLights]

English is just fucking retarded with the orthography, no way around it.

I guess it goes back to beeing involved with old roman languages a few hundred (or thousand?) years ago.



I'm pretty sure if already said that in a thread like this, kinda suprised it wasn't this one



Only goes to show how much context matters in communication.



air heir

aisle isle

ante- anti-

eye I

bare bear

be bee

brake break

buy by

cell sell

cent scent

cereal serial

coarse course

complement compliment

dam damn

dear deer

die dye

fair fare

fir fur

flour flower

for four

hair hare

heal heel

hear here

him hymn

hole whole

hour our

idle idol

in inn

knight night

knot not

know no

made maid

mail male

meat meet

morning mourning

none nun

oar or

one won

pair pear

peace piece

plain plane

poor pour

pray prey

principal principle

profit prophet

real reel

right write

root route

sail sale

sea see

seam seem

sight site

sew so

shore sure

sole soul

some sum

son sun

stair stare

stationary stationery

steal steel

suite sweet

tail tale

their there

to too

toe tow

waist waste

wait weight

way weigh

weak week

wear where



I mean come fucking on

There was a picture with a story made up only with homophones...can't find it right now, but it was painful to read, and even more painful to read it out loud.

Come fucking on sounds sooooo wrong hahahahahaha like you're inviting someone to come into your house while fornicating freely in the process

It would be "come the fuck on!"

Awkward necrobump but ok

 

[Plendakor]

Well the thread is old but serves its purpose.
I discussed with my English teacher about that earlier today and she said it was all because of the etymology. So one really has to just "know" it, there's no rule for that, lol.

 

[Nimvi]

Well the thread is old but serves its purpose.
I discussed with my English teacher about that earlier today and she said it was all because of the etymology. So one really has to just "know" it, there's no rule for that, lol.

Ugh yea, those are always the best "rules" in any language. Like some secret insider code to make sure that any foreigner, no matter how hard they try, will always sound like a foreigner

I think Dutch is full of them too. I never realized that, but a German friend of mine has an obsession for linguistics, so he often asks me about the 'why' of things. I can barely ever give him a coherent answer. And even if I can, there are some weird exceptions for that rule again.

Btw, this is the second language topic I'm enjoying in a relatively short time. Granted, this one was a bit older already, but I didn't notice it back then. Something about this theme is just really fun and interesting!

 

[Mago]

Which reminds me, in my dialect you can form correct sentences like these:
"Daat dat dat, dat dat dat daat?", which would translate to something like "did she think that she thought that?". We are the sacred keepers of the Morse code.

haha yeah in my dialect we have that too.
We can make up a sentence with only vowels
"I e a" which would mean something like "I/me too of course" depending on the context.

German also has funny stuff like that going on like
"Wenn Fliegen hinter Fliegen fliegen, fliegen Fliegen Fliegen nach.
Fliegen fliegen Fliegen nach, wenn Fliegen hinter Fliegen fliegen?"

(when flies fly behind flies etc etc)

And hell yes to that damn nessnsnsneffwary word

Come fucking on sounds sooooo wrong hahahahahaha like you're inviting someone to come into your house while fornicating freely in the process

It would be "come the fuck on!"

Awkward necrobump but ok

Who says I didn't? lol

But haha thanks, something did sound off about that one

I didnt bump it, I just rolled with it