MyDigitalpoint

Totally agree with you!

Besides having more accurate translations, WordReference dictionary offers you examples of the different uses of a word, and they have also a community where some specific questions can be resolved by native speakers of the different languages.

I think that a little birdie told us about this bird idiom, but right now I can't come up with some other that those already posted here  :wacky:

This grammar reference makes reference to commas before a word:

When Do I Use Commas?

In serial lists (containing three or more subjects, phrases, or clauses)

I. Commas clarify items in a list that are connected by the concept of the thought, but otherwise disconnected from each other. In this case, always separate these items by commas—up to and including the last item. This is known as the Serial or Oxford comma.

•  Example: “Mesopotamia is better understood not only as a place but as a series of cultures that exhibited common beliefs, patterns of development, conquest and defeat, and who lived and died in an area roughly centered in the land between the rivers.”

•  Example: “Caesar was bold, brave, and successful.”

II. Some departments and publishers will specifically request the omission of the Oxford comma. Always follow the guidelines of the party for whom you are writing. When it is not explicitly stated, however, employ the Oxford.

Here are three tongue twisters for you to enjoy  :grin:

A tutor who tooted the flute,

Tried to tutor two tooters to toot.

Said the two to the tutor,

"Is it easier to toot,

Or to tutor two tooters to toot?"*

Bobby Bibbit bought a bat.

Bobby Bibbit bought a ball.

With the bat, Bob banged the ball,

Banged the ball against the wall.

Amidst the mists and fiercest frosts,

With barest wrists and stoutest boasts,

He thrusts his fists against the post,

And still insists he sees the ghosts.

Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,

A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked.

If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers,

Where's the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked?

The idea of text is to save time.  I hate it when they use short cuts at all much less ones made up on the fly...I spend more time trying to figure out what a "quick" text means than it is worth.  It really is frustrating and one of my biggest pet peeves.

True! it's supposed that texting allow us to quickly say something, but when shortcuts are used, one may end up taking ages to decipher a message or not understanding at all.

This recalls me the times when pagers were popular, but the first pagers could only transmit digits, hence people had to invent numeric combinations to say something. In example, if someone would send you a message saying "100 304" could mean "wait for you (100) at mom's home (304)"

However the two parties (or more) involved in paging had a list of number and their meaning so they could decipher the message.

With actual texting there is not a "decoding list" and many time people invent the shortcuts on the fly making them even harder to know what they mean by that.

Yo disfruté my fin de semana, y amanecí con una cruda.

Now it's time to start working and leave fun aside until the next weekend.

I have tendency to misspell words that have double consonant as the "s" in "misspelling" and many times I add an extra consonant to words that doesn't need one or change the placement of the double consonant, particularly in occasion all  the occasions 

One I often hear is infamous for non-famous but there are many other that I can't remember but come across every now and then, particularly in chat rooms.

You can try by associating Spanish words to English words that sound similarly but have different meaning of course.

Knowing the English word and its meaning will automatically pull in the Spanish variation that you associated and the corresponding meaning in the knowledge that the set of words are not the same, but a trick to help you learn

The good thing about telenovelas is that they show you how Spanish is spoken in different countries, different areas within a single country and different social groups within the story.

This contributes to educate your ears so you can identify how a word is pronounced in different contexts, and they can help you learn the language and many of the idioms that are common for the Spanish native speakers.

Looking forward learning a new language, I thought that Chinese could be the next, so I was searching for free online resources to start with, and I found this site that promises to be a good one.

Topics included in these basic Chinese grammar lessons include:

Table of contents

Basic Units of Word Structure in Chinese

Morpheme

Word

Compounds

Compound Types I

Compound Types II

Reduplication

Affixed

Word Classes I

Word Classes II

Nouns

Verbs

Adjectives: Stative Verbs

Numerals & Measures

Pronouns

Adverbs I

Prepositions & Conjunctions

Particles

The Chinese Sentence

Sentence Structures I

Subject-Predicate I

Subject-Predicate II

Copular Sentence

Sentence Structures II

Sentence Structures  III

Complements I

Complements  II

Prepositional: use Coverbs

Aspect

Adverbs II

And the full course can be found here, http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~rsimmon/chingram/

I was taught that written English should be correctly expressed, avoiding the use of contractions and colloquialisms and I still try to keep this advice up when typing something aimed to reach a friend.

However I use some contractions, and some colloquialisms or idiomatic expressions that I consider proper to use among friends, but I truly dislike incorrect grammar in excess as much as those SMS-like messages that are almost unreadable without putting into them extra effort or a deciphering service.

One common mistake that one makes when learning a second language is trying to find the correct past (present or future) form of a given phrase.

However the practice and listening to native speakers will teach you that same way you use different past forms in your own language that have the same meaning and ultimately are all of them correct, similarly English is not a fixed language with a one and only way to express a phrase regardless the verb tense.

Since I love 19th century literature and my very, very favorite is Bram Stoker's Dracula, saying that Frankenstein is another great reading of the classic Victorian literature might not be an unbiased comment.

However if this is an assignment you must simply let the reading embraces you and try to get your mind tuned with the century it was written to understand better the plot of this novel.

True! Television was often touted as the "idiot box" but it has contributed to spread the culture of one nation beyond its own boundaries.

And certainly many people learn English from television, as we all learn cultural specific patterns that later blend with our own regional culture.

Spanish from Spain is known as Castilian (Castellano) and is the mother tongue of all other Spanish variations.

However this is the only Spanish with a heavily affected accent only used in Spain, where the language include a grammatical construction that is in disuse in all other speaking countries.

Even though Castilian Spanish is understood anywhere where Spanish is spoken, as long as the speaker doesn't use regionalisms that are not of common use.

In example a Spaniard may refer to a "paleto" when he means "a person from the provinces" usually used as derogative than means ignorant.

However paleto is a word not used (as far as I know) anywhere where Spanish is spoken and an Spanish language student may consider it as the male form of "paleta" (lollipop) which makes no sense because a lollipop has no genre.

Usually it's believe that the Spanish that is best understood is Mexican Spanish, but as long as you listen to someone who doesn't use slang (caló).

"Calo" is also a sort of Spanish dialect used in the Andalucia region, which is hard to understand even by Spain-born people.

True! This is probably the most useful feature that Google translate has.

In fact you can also get the individual pronunciation of a given word by using the regular search box and typing this:

"define here-your-word"

By finding a word's definition, you are also given with the audio to pronounce such word.

Another good option of English (and other language) pronunciation is a text to speech engine like this, http://text-to-speech.imtranslator.net/

I think that idioms are confusing while you are not familiar with them, with the context, or with the person you are talking to.

First time you came across with an idiom, the foreign-language speaker will try to translate the saying literally and, obviously, the phrase will make no sense.

Similarly, there are idioms that oftentimes are brought into English as literal translation of a foreign idiom, and then it's the language translation what makes no sense.

Many English idioms, however, have an equivalent in other language, not literally though.

More than a personal choice, simple writing is encouraged whenever someone writes for a content mill or an online publishing/news service.

Simple phrases and short sentences makes less probably fall into structural written mistakes.

I believe that some terms don't need overall recognition but it's enough that you and people around you know what your invented, mispelled-on-purpose or distorted words mean.

A friend of mine whose name starts with "Z" likes to change everything thiZ way, and all of us around her know what she meanZ by MiZiZiPi, MaZachuZetZ or any other thingie that she inventZ including her nickname "Gatey" rather than the Gate Keeper she is

I found useful make associations.

If I have a word to learn and it can be associated with an actual item that I can remember or that can give me a hint a t least, this is the way I memorize things either to learning a language that on an every-day basis to recall things that I often forget.

Yeah, I've come across the same thing a few times before. I think originally it was called a doughnut because its made of dough, and as time went by, people simplified the word to donut. I don't think its correct to spell it as donut though.

Agree, I believe the correct way to spell it is still doughnut, but television (particularly "The Simpsons" show) and colloquial language has made it to be simply "donut" and even donnut.

I have seen this latter spelling more often lately.

Sometimes the choice of a spelling is not based upon your personal preferences but on specific needs.

In example, I love British English and it's easy to me use British spelling as I had a mixed British/American English formation.

However I am usually required to write articles specifically aimed to an American audience, thus as much as I would like, I can't use British spelling.

I have seen an increasing use of Google as an "authoritative source"

So when someone is in doubt about using loose or lose, they type the phrase where one of these is included and rule their criteria based on the results they obtain.

While doing this is sometime useful, not necessarily bring the correct way because many people might be replicating the error until gaining some weight in the bulk results.

Ultimately, when using Google to find out if loose or lose is right, it's necessary pay attention to the number of occurrences found on the web.

I was told that try to avoid using "That" in which it considers an improper word usage. I remember one of my teachers has taught me that "Which" is a better word to use in a sentence because "That" considers misuse to some people. To me, "That" means indirect to the subject, which it refers to a completely different thing. "Which", for instance, explains further to the subject in which is being said in the first place.

On the contrary, I read a grammar related article which says "that" never hurts to be used -- required or not --  but it may hurt the understanding of a phrase when it is omitted.

As for the use, I often use which as an opening statement to explain the previously said, in example

"I love to wear this pink dress, which is truly comfortable."