to all the english mother tongues of this forum

[blue_fAng]

I have almost perfect grammar for important things like school essays but when im in forums or typing in some online game i become lazy, i often type your or ur instead of you're or you are. Yea we are lazy to type properly in the internet, get over it.

 

[blue_fAng]

i also type like this when im chatting with everyone and i have to write super fast, i usually type a lot when chatting, i use 'u' instead of you, 'r' instead of are, etc. it saves time and i havent had a communication problem so far.

 

[crillemannen]

When i write in my mother tongue i always try to write proper because as i can imagine english natives feel that the language itself is declining because ppl can't write for shit these days haha. But for English, well i understand it very well and I can make myself understood in a conversation but i'm not great at it! Like sometimes when people are debating on this forum i can't write down my thoughts good enough in English so i just skip the whole debate haha.

But it's great that we got somewhat of a worldwide language

 

[He's Dead, Jim]

I got a perfect score on the English section of my SATs, but learning another language is goddamn difficult. I've spent a year in Spanish-speaking countries and it's still tough. The divide between the way adults and younger people speak is especially difficult (especially in Chile, sweet jesus). I don't envy non-English speakers having to learn contractions and whatnot, but to be fair, the imperfect subjunctive isn't exactly a cakewalk either.

 

[drew_drummer]

I am learning Japanese. So far I have mastered ordering a beer and calling a woman a whore.

 

[meanmrmustad]

its right hard, spanish!

dont know where the damn accents go, and them upsidedown questionmarks.

english is well easy, just press F7!

 

[He's Dead, Jim]

its right hard, spanish!

dont know where the damn accents go, and them upsidedown questionmarks.

english is well easy, just press F7!

When you posted about having a studio in Oaxaca I figured you were Mexican haha. Where are you from originally?

I am learning Japanese. So far I have mastered ordering a beer and calling a woman a whore.

For what it's worth, my brother lived there for six years. I visited him after he had been there for about a year and he was nearly fluent, so it can't be that hard!

 

[ratsapprentice]

Whilst we're on the topic.

It's my understanding that English is relatively simple to learn in comparison to other languages?
But that the hard part is the sheer volume of vocabulary needed to express yourself in non-literal terms?

 

[He's Dead, Jim]

Whilst we're on the topic.

It's my understanding that English is relatively simple to learn in comparison to other languages?
But that the hard part is the sheer volume of vocabulary needed to express yourself in non-literal terms?

I don't remember the exact numbers, but English just has significantly more words and ways to say things than most other languages. It has about a 2:1 ratio of words when compared with Spanish, for instance. So yeah, it's got that. The easy part is the lack of conjugations (I/you/he/she/it/we/y'all/they [whatever-ed] doesn't change), but the hard part is the fact that past and present tense verbs have completely random endings, which is why non-native speakers so often say "I do this" instead of "I did this" or whatever.

 

[Lon]

Nope. Interpunction:
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/interpunction

...

Now. If you non-mother tongues could kindly go away and tongue your mothers, the rest of us can get along without your bullshit. kthxbye.

i really put my foot in my mouth there. This is what i get for not doublechecking with my dictionary. Apologies, i was wrong.

 

[crillemannen]

Whilst we're on the topic.

It's my understanding that English is relatively simple to learn in comparison to other languages?
But that the hard part is the sheer volume of vocabulary needed to express yourself in non-literal terms?

I don't think any language is that hard to learn especially if you are fed with it on a daily basis as we are with English in the western world.

 

[JeffTD]

Wait wait wait. An Italian guy made a post complaining about common mistakes that native English speakers make? And then makes huge grammatical errors while saying that non-native English speakers don't make those errors?

 

[drew_drummer]

For what it's worth, my brother lived there for six years. I visited him after he had been there for about a year and he was nearly fluent, so it can't be that hard!

I actually know a fair bit more than just calling women whores and buying beer. I was trying to make a funny. Anyhoo... I'm not fluent, but I wouldn't get lost in Tokyo.

 

[He's Dead, Jim]

I actually know a fair bit more than just calling women whores and buying beer. I was trying to make a funny. Anyhoo... I'm not fluent, but I wouldn't get lost in Tokyo.

I have misinterpreted your funny. That is excellent!

 

[LeSedna]

What pisses my off in my 1st language, canadian french, is when someone writes "er" instead of "é" which is the conjugation of a verb.. say "eat" and "eaten" would be "manger" and "mangé" (both sound the same) and people don't bother to write it correctly. No wait, most of them don't even know the differance. I know I'm guilty with my don'tz and doesn'tz but that's deliberate.

Now, since english shares a lot of words with french, I don't even know how to write some words like "differance" or "difference" in both language. One belongs the the other and vice-versa but I'm fucked and I switch from french to english 50 times in a day so it's even more confusing.

Also, I should of thought.

That's actually a big problem for me as well, since a lot of words in english comes from french itself, but are slightly different in their writing, so I fuck up in french easily. I notice it quickly, but so many times I ask myself if there is one or two "n" in the word, or things like you just described.

Also, I think no one who is not french native speaker can imagine how annoying it can be to read someone write "mangé" instead of "manger" or "mangez". Everytime I read it, it irritates the hell out of me because it's just not fucking rocket science to make a distinction between a verb an adjective and an imperative order, and it simply sounds illiterate.

EDIT about japanese : I chose Chinese in my engineer school during the year I had. After one year, we chinese learners could say what time it is, and things like "I like bread. Do you like bread ?". Japanese learners could already plan their trip at the end of the year in Tokio Apparently past the initial fear of the japanese alphabet, it's actually okay. Chinese is technically very easy (there is no finess in its structure, which is also part of its beauty - because it is pure simplicity and therefore the meaning itself is all of it), but you need the memory of a robot or of a growing kid to absorb the hundreds and thousands of signs with no system of alphabet whatsoever.

French has a tremendous problem IMO, we absolutely never speak like we write, nor like you are taught at school. The oral contractions are frequent, we never use an elaborated tense orally (not even the simple past), we don't use the negation half the time... It's actually terrible, it's also why it is rich, because you can mean so many different things depending on what level of correctness you wanna use (you can imply sarcasm by saying the same thing with a different level of correctness while keeping the sentence itself exactly the same), but the problem is that kids nowadays with internet don't make the distinction. Our generation is the last one which somewhat grew up before computers and keyboards, but I fear for the next one. The resumes must be getting funnier and funnier to read.

 

[drew_drummer]

Your mum uses elaborated tense orally.

badum TSSH!

 

[DanLights]

Whilst we're on the topic.

It's my understanding that English is relatively simple to learn in comparison to other languages?
But that the hard part is the sheer volume of vocabulary needed to express yourself in non-literal terms?

English grammar is MUCH easier to grasp than Spanish, French, German, pretty much anything. Imperatives, subjunctives, only three verb forms, that shit's a walk in the park compared to learning Spanish's different verb conjugations, same with French and German (the only languages I have a slight grasp of)

 

[LeSedna]

To me the only difficulty in english is how different something is expressed compared to a latin language and how different the sentence can be.

Or the particle verbs (like "to go on" vs "to continue") because some verbs like "make" can have dozens of meanings depending on the particle used, and this doesn't make sense for a latin language speaker, but that's how it is. So once you learn the "to make out / to make up / to make up for / to make after / whatever I don't even know them", and you understand how to express the future with the present tense, it's all about vocabulary and correct use of words and expressions imo. I still struggle with some of them because I wanna say things the latin way.

 

[meanmrmustad]

When you posted about having a studio in Oaxaca I figured you were Mexican haha. Where are you from original

For what it's worth, my brother lived there for six years. I visited him after he had been there for about a year and he was nearly fluent, so it can't be that hard!andly?

I am mexican, but i've lived in the uk all my life...came to mexico when i was 16.

I don't remember the exact numbers, but English just has significantly more words and ways to say things than most other languages. It has about a 2:1 ratio of words when compared with Spanish, for instance. So yeah, it's got that. The easy part is the lack of conjugations (I/you/he/she/it/we/y'all/they [whatever-ed] doesn't change), but the hard part is the fact that past and present tense verbs have completely random endings, which is why non-native speakers so often say "I do this" instead of "I did this" or whatever.

There you go!
Except that happens to me in spanish

 

[drew_drummer]

Have any of you guys read Snowcrash by Neal Stephenson ? It's pretty fucking awesome, and as far as fiction that explores language goes, it is one of the best I've read.