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pojokers

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Posts posted by pojokers

  1. In my opinion as a non-native English speaker, Ernest Hemingway is probably the best author to pick up. Particularly if you are still learning the language. His simple and economical use of the language where not a single word is wasted suits somebody who may lose himself in the excess of the language used by other authors.

    Old Man and the Sea coming in at just 100 odd pages is a prime example of Hemingway's style.

    YES!!

    I love Hemingway and The Old Man and the Sea is one of my favorite novels. Hemingway novels all have a fantastic flow to them and are rather easy reads although also have such deep inner meanings. I;m glad you mentioned this, I knew I wasn't the only one who liked The Old Man and the Sea.

  2. Hmmm, for me I don't hear this misused too much. Sure I hear it exaggerated but there's usually some truth in what they're saying.

    For example:

    "You were so sick yesterday. You were LITERALLY throwing up all over the apartment."

    Of course this person wasn't vomiting everywhere but he/she was throwing up a lot in different places.

    I believe you though. For some reason people exaggerate excessively. You never know how intense a situation was, it's annoying.

  3. Well it seems like our society has accepted the mistake, haven't they?  Just add it to the list of commonly accepted grammar mistakes.  When I was younger I was guilty of making the "could care less" mistake myself but I've changed my ways.

    Agreed. You took the words right out of my mouth. I don't think anyone means to say, "I could care less" nobody's that sarcastic. The phrase "I couldn't care less" is already obnoxious enough haha.

    There are so many others but I can't think of any. I think using the word "irregardless" is one but that's a whole other problem...

  4. I love figurative language. It can be annoying at times but it really represents a culture quite well. I think rap epitomizes many of these ideas and is some what of a nightmare for foreigners.

    Phrases like:

    "That song is hot."

    Means the song sounds cool and it has nothing to do with temperature.

    "Chill out."

    Means to calm down or relax and also has nothing to do with temperature.

  5. The Untouchables is definitely my favorite French film so far. I liked it (OK, I'll try not to give the plot away) because the acting was marvelous and although serious, the movie was filmed and acted out in a light-hearted way without losing it's character.

    That's exciting. I'm especially hyped because now I'll actually be able to understand what the people say (although it'll be minimal). I hope we watch more films down the road.

  6. I think the main reason expensive courses work is because, when you've already sunk a lot of money into buying a program, you feel COMMITTED to seeing it through and actually studying.  When you have a free course or a self-collected set of materials, it's easy to lose motivation because you didn't invest a lot into it.

    I advocate free language-learning sites above all else.  While I don't have an opinion on which of the paid materials you mentioned is the most effective, I have heard a friend say that Rosetta Stone was VERY effective for her brother when he learned Spanish.

    That's an interesting way to look at it. The money investment really does motivate people. I, too, think free materials are nice though. A lot of the time they are just as good but lack the polisha nd sophistication of expensive programs.

  7. I heard a story about a Filipino elevator operator at a hotel and a Filipino hotel guest. When the Filipino guest got into the packed elevator, he greeted the operator in Filipino, he then asked him the question "Bababa ba?" and the operator quickly nodded answering "Bababa". The other people in the elevator were stunned and couldn't figure out what language they were speaking. Baba means down and ba-baba is a version of this word meaning going doing, and ba is a work used to ask a question is Filipino example, umuulan ba? is asking is in raining? in English.

    That's really cool. If I was in that elevator I would be confused too. I can only imagine how unique the words get from there haha.

  8. YES. I think my Spanish knowledge is hindering my French studies.  The way you pronounce words in Spanish compared to French differ so much in my opinion. I am a completely new French learner but this has been my original thoughts.

    For example if I look at the question:

    Comment vous appelez vous? (What is your name?)

    I always want to sound out every letter, like you would in Spanish but that is very wrong. There a lot of tricky words and sounds very unique to French. It reminds me of the complexities of English at times. I've been studying hard lately and I'm slowly training myself but I'm going to have to say yes to your question.

  9. English is very confusing especially when you are looking at the "British" way versus the "American" way. It is at many times a pretty contradictory language and easy to make errors. I say don't sweat it too much, there's lots of refinement done towards the end of your initial studies. There are countless English speakers (Americans at least) that can't speak or write 100% correctly  :tongue:

    I also thought this was cool:

    “Ough” can be pronounced in eight different ways. The following sentence contains them all: “A rough-coated, dough-faced ploughman strode through the streets of Scarborough, coughing and hiccoughing thoughtfully.

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