MyDigitalpoint

I could not cite those English idioms that I learned first because they are refusing coming to my mind right now, but most of them are basically based on the sayings and old adages that were part of my first learning steps.

Pronunciation can make a single language sounds different from region to region, making us think it is a different language, but obviously all the other languages sound different one another, as each one at a time have different pronunciations between the boundaries where it is spoken.

The American University of Cairo has posted a useful guide that may help you with your essay,

How To Write An Essay: 10 Easy Steps;

http://www1.aucegypt.edu/academic/writers/

Personally I have always thought that is easier writing it, then read it and the hardest part is speaking it, but it could be only my perception, and the fact that I'm more commonly focused on both writing and reading, not really many opportunities to speak this language.

In addition to all what we have already said about Google translate, the poor grammar construction of phrases, plus missing words that it does not translate make it useless for serious translations without a manual review of the translated document and further fix.

True, there are some idioms that are often confused such as "Opposite to" rather that "Opposed to"

Very good example list Jordiann, just right now some other misused idioms are out of my mind.

I could not cite a specific language, but I'm sure that usually any other language that our mother tongue seems to have more complex grammar rules.

But obviously, there must me some other more complex that English, I suppose that Greek and Russian should be among those with the more difficult rules to learn.

I tend to use LOL, haha, hehe, or muhahaha to express different types of laughing.

LOL when something is funny enough; haha as common laughing; hehe in situations where I could be only the one who laughs at something said, and obvioulsy muhahaha is a sinister laughing  :grin:

I have tried to invent a fictional language, but despite I know about some fictional languages that some people use, I have not tried to learn them and only once to speak one of them using in a TV commercial when i was child.

Can't remember too much details about it though.

Here is a full explanation chart with verb conjugation examples, as verbs are modified by this noun,

What is Vosotros?

Vosotros is a subject pronoun used only in Spain. It is one of four subject pronouns in Spanish that are translated as you.

It and its own unique verb forms are used to address a group of two or more persons.  It is informal, and is used in situations in which all persons being addressed are ones that speaker would address individually as tú.

Latin American speakers use ustedes in all situations, formal and informal, when addressing two or more persons.

There is a feminine form vosotras.  As with nosotras and ellas, it is used only when the group referred to is all female.  Vosotros, as with ellos and nosotros, is used when group is all male or mixed.

As with any subject pronoun, vosotros/as is omitted when not desired for emphais or clarity.

In addition to verb forms, there are possessive forms and object pronouns that correspond to vosotros.  See below...

Further reading is here, http://www.indiana.edu/~spangram/GENGRAM/vosotros.html

Spanish and Italian are very similar, but Portuguese also has many similar words and can be easily understand it by Spanish speaking people and vice versa, though Italia is best understood.

Reason is that these languages share a same Latin root, which also comprises the French language despite this has none resemblance with any of the above.

I try to carry my study with me, not exactly into the table to learn while on the go, but memorizing words throughout the day, and doing a lot of brainstorming to accommodate segments of language study as day goes by.

Since I have a thousand of things to do and not a regular schedule, I have not a preferred time of the day or night to study, but I usually devote as much as possible every day without missing any.

I believe that translation subtitles were never accurate, but worsening since a couple of years back.

Simply there is no way to translate literally each dialog because the subtitle length is too short and the dynamic between reading a subtitle and the speaking part have different pace.

This is why many people recommend record your thoughts rather than written because both reading and writing takes longer than speaking.

But back to subtitles, beside inconsistencies between what is real said and what is translated, sometimes jokes, surnames and other cultural elements are substituted with regional counterparts that have nothing to do with the original version.

And if I said "subtitles were" is because there is a trend nowadays that makes those subtitles keep almost nothing of the original language version in an effort to use local colloquialisms and sometimes vulgarities trying to catch people's eye.

That's truly a shame  :confused:

I don't know about books, but plays... Shakespeare's plays are quite difficult, to say the least. I'm proud of myself for finishing The Merchant of Venice. It was grueling work, but at the end I felt like I'd achieved something, and was proud of myself.

Totally agree with you, and to make Shakespeare's plays harder to read, I had to go to the local library to borrow Macbeth, time when Internet was not yet part of our lives.

The local library had one copy, but it was a book from the early 20th century with unusual typography, like trying to make it look like the original manuscript.

Took me longer than expected, but I'm proud of being able to read such book.

I have always tried to observe good spelling, but typing makes one fall into many typos or -- in my case -- write down a word the way it is pronounced rather than the way it should be written, and doing this certainly makes the sense of such word many times 

However, I try to double check my typed text to avoid those spelling pitfalls, as a result of criticism and mocking that I received in the past for misspelling words accidentally.

I have always been the kind of person who is excessively worry about using idioms correctly whatever the language I'm using, so no, I could not say of any weird way I have used in the past or today.

Besides the link provided by Linguaholic about more German Loanwords already posted, let me add the following list, courtesy of DailyWritingTips Newsletter;

1. Achtung (“attention”): an imperative announcement used to obtain someone’s attention

2. Angst (“anxiety”): a feeling of apprehension

3. Blitz (“lightning”): used only literally in German, but in English refers to a sudden movement, such as a rush in a contact sport

4. Carabiner (“rifle”): an equivalent of the English word carbine, this truncation of karabinerhaken (“riflehook”) refers to a metal loop originally employed with ropes in mountaineering, rock climbing, and other sports and activities but now widely employed for more general uses

5. Delicatessen (“delicate eating”): a restaurant or food shop selling meats, cheeses, and delicacies

6. Doppelgänger (“double-goer”): in German, refers to a look-alike, but in English, the primary connotation is of a supernatural phenomenon — either a spirit or a duplicate person

7. Ersatz (“substitute”): refers to an artificial and/or inferior imitation or replacement

8. Flak (acronym): an abbreviation for “air-defense cannon” used figuratively to refer to criticism

9. Gestalt (“figure”): something more than the sum of its parts, or viewed or analyzed with other contributing phenomena

10. Götterdämmerung (“twilight of the gods”): a catastrophic event

11. Hinterland (“land behind”): originally a technical geographic term; later, in both German and English, came to connote undeveloped rural or wilderness areas, and in British English has a limited sense of “artistic or scholarly knowledge,” as in “Smith’s hinterland isn’t very impressive”

12. Kitsch: something of low taste and/or quality, or such a condition

13. Leitmotiv (“leading motive”): a recurring theme, originally applied to music and later literature and theater but now in general usage

14. Nazi (truncation of “National Socialist”): originally denoted a person, thing, or idea associated with the German political party of that name and later the national government it dominated; now, by association with Adolf Hitler and the tyranny of the party and the government, a pejorative term for a fanatical or tyrannical person

15. Poltergeist (“noisy ghost”): a mischievous and/or malicious apparition or spectral force thought responsible for otherwise inexplicable movement of objects

16. Putsch (“push”): overthrow, coup d’etat

17. Realpolitik (real politics): the reality of political affairs,

as opposed to perceptions or propaganda about political principles or values

18. Reich (“realm”): in German, usually a neutral term for “empire” or part of a name for a nationalized service, such as the postal service, but in English, because of the Nazi appellation “the Third Reich,” connotes tyranny

19. Schadenfreude (“harm joy”): enjoyment of others’ misfortune

20. Sturm und drang (“storm and stress”): turmoil, drama

21. Verboten (“forbidden”): prohibited

22. Weltanschauung (“worldview”): an all-encompassing conception or perception of existence

23. Weltschmerz (“world pain”): despair or world-weariness

24. Wunderkind (“wonder child”): a child prodigy

25. Zeitgeist (“time ghost”): the spirit of the time, or a prevailing attitude, mentality, or worldview

Original article is posted here, http://www.dailywritingtips.com/25-german-loanwords/

This happens to me very often even if I'm not in touch with people who speaks my second language, in fact I think it's more commonly happening in every day life.

In example, I spend long hours surfing the web where I basically use English regardless the activity I'm engaged with, fun, work, socialize, etc.

Then when I go offline or someone in real life comes to talk, sometimes I found hard to find the right Spanish word for something that I can describe in English but not in my own language, or that simply has slipped out my mind in a given moment.

Yes, "chica pequeña" means she is shorty, a girl that is not tall 

Respondiendo a tu pregunta, a me gusta comer pizzas y hamburguesas. Mi pizza favorita es de anchoas.

Ya nos comentaste que te gusta el caldo de pollo con el corazón del pollo cocinado pero, ¿has probado comer corazón e hígados de pollo fritos con cebolla y jitomate?

Not just in Europe but pretty much all former commonwealth countries, it is 'colour' and not 'color'. Most of these countries follow the British pattern of English and the spellings and pronunciations of certain words reflects that.

This is true, generally the British spelling and pronunciation are commonly used in former Commonwealth countries, in example in Belize too.

Personally I like the "ou" combination in words that otherwise should not have it in American English, but since I write for an American audience, I need to get rid of British terms, unless I'm expressly asked to write with this alternative grammar.

I found the fun in being able to communicate with other people and share experiences, anecdotes, folklore and even cultural facts that sounds more appealing when all of these come from a fellow friend.

Equally, I found exciting being able to express myself, my thoughts, feelings and even my dreams in a language other than my own, because many times people around you may not listen to you, but you can find that those people that we meet online are often more supportive than your real-life friends.

With your sole mother tongue perhaps your online friends could understand you using a translation service or if they know your language, but when you know theirs, if funny even get wrong with a word's meaning, grammar or spelling.

There is not such thing is as a "superior" language, as there is not such thing as a "superior" race.

Remember that such type of "superiority" was what triggered World War II.

What it's a real fact is the importance that Spanish is gaining in non-Spanish speaking countries.

Just in the United States, Spanish is today the second most widely used language, displacing French, that used to be the second language to learn at schools.

Today most American-based websites have a Spanish version, particularly true when it comes to large companies or federal offices. So, based on these facts, yeah, Spanish is actually the best option as a second language to learn

Yes, I'm just checking Ego4U and another good point to take into account is their motto, "a fun way to learn English."

I believe that many sites that pretend to be helpful language learning resources fail because they take it too seriously, while people want an easier way to learn and if it's funny, it's more rewarding that the stress they have to struggle with at a classroom.

I'm not sure if I read sometime ago that upon is certainly becoming obsolete, but I know that it is still in use and sounds better in formal writing when used instead of "on" in certain phrases but, those phrases depend on your sole criteria.

In example, I usually use upon when I refer to  "get paid upon completion of a job," or "the application will be approved upon receipt of your documents."

Yes, not so common because not all of us have a third language, but it may happen.

I like German and I know some random words an phrases in this language, so more than once I have dreamed on being somewhere in... Austria? Germany?

Don't know, but based on the architecture I can see in my dreams looks like it could be a city in one out of these countries. I can listen to myself trying to talk in German and thinking how it was that some word or phrase had to be pronounce  :shy: