MyDigitalpoint

English is the obvious choice here. The way things are changing in the world, in a few years time English will become indispensable in a way it is not right now. People seem to be mentioning Chinese because of their fast growing economy. But Germany is a country which continues growing in the face of the economic crisis and I think German is also a language one would do well to learn.

I really love German language, but while English is the worldwide predominant language, Spanish and Chinese are probably the next in the list because of cultural connotations wit the USA for the first, and fast-pace economy grow for the second.

Sadly German is only spoken in a few countries so it would be hard that it could gain predominance unless a big boom of some nature would come in the feature from Germany mainly.

(Si hablas español, puedes ayudarme con mis errores -- hay muchos. creo)

Una de mis cosas favoritas es comida. Soy una chica pequeña pero creo que puedo comer más de cualquier otra persona. Hay dos cosas puedo comer siempre -- fruta y helado.

Una vez comí un corazon de pollo.

Y tú?

Not so many errors as you think

Let me bold how the correct way to say what you posted starting with the topic's title, but mostly is about missing or wrong prepositions:

Vamos /b]a conversar sobre comida

Una de mis cosas favoritas es la comida. Soy una chica pequeña pero creo que puedo comer más que cualquier otra persona. Hay dos cosas que puedo comer siempre -- fruta y helado.

Una vez comí un corazón de pollo.

¿Y tú?

Culero is a slang word in Mexico where it is taken as a asshole in a vulgar and offensive connotation but widely used in colloquial language.

However in Spain culero, that is an adjective resulting from the noun "culo" (buttocks) is commonly used without being really a curse.

Yeah,  certainly Mexican slang is funny

No problem Dame, and thanks for the heads up about side-by-side versions of Shakespeare works.

Certainly it's always useful do this type of comparisons to improve our understanding on them

The "Oxford comma" is generally regarded as unnecessary anymore in most list formats. However, I still prefer it and most professors I have had seem to have the same feelings...so I suppose it's often down to personal choice.

This is what the Writing Guide of the UtahState University says about the Oxford comma,

31. When Do I Use Commas?

C. 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 (see section 33 for rules on consistency).

Full guide sections are found here, http://www.usu.edu/markdamen/WritingGuide/CGGS/311c.htm

I'm not sure for how long Esperanto has been out there just waiting for us to learn it.

I remember to having heard of it sometime in the 70s when people use to say this was going to be the universal language that would unify the word.

Don't remember too much because I was really young but from that early days to date, I have seen people talk about Esperanto and how easy it is, but I have not heard a single word in this language, nor found in my way an online site that teaches it.

There must be some, but not really what first comes in the search engines listings when you do a query for learning a second or amy other auxiliary language, if any.

I would say that there are several languages that are not appealing to me because speaking them could be possible, but writing them should be rathear hard using our occidental-based keyboards.

So that, any language that requires non-standard characters is in my list including Greek, Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Russian, etc. etc.

Even though, I like how Russian sounds.

My one stop reference guide on English grammar is the Purdue University Online Writing Lab (OWL)

This site has helped me to improve my English grammar greatly and whenever I'm in doubt about something, I go straight right here, https://owl.english.purdue.edu/

One trick that may serve is using online text-to-speech services.

There are many of them, some of which are not really good because sound too mechanical and others are set to use the Spanish accent of Spain, which is even harder for native Spanish speakers in other countries than this.

A good text-to-speech service to practice with is this, http://text-to-speech.imtranslator.net/

Just select the language engine that speaks Spanish, type in what you want to say and listen to it, then repeat yourself and try again until you feel you are getting closer to the right pronunciation.

Yes Cutler! For sure these tips will help, thanks 

I found in the following quoted key points the main problem to improve my English conversations, and probably what keeps me stuck at the poor spoken English level I am now.

- Don’t worry about making mistakes because you will.

- Talk slowly and carefully. Don’t rush through your sentences.

- Restrict yourself to simple sentences until you gain confidence.

- Watch out for your pronunciation. Many online tools will tell you how to pronounce a word correctly. 

- Record yourself reading one article aloud every day. Focus on pronunciation, speed, clarity and emphasis.

Appositive Definition

Thanks Laura for making easier something that, as you said, we often use without even realized it.

Many times I have to submit articles to sites with strict grammar guidelines and sometimes I found something about using (or avoid using) appositives, but I'm always confused about this  :sweating:

However I finally got it!!! 

I don't remember what the dream was about, but I remember to have had a dream where all people in it was speaking in my second language, including myself.

In the same dream I was aware that everything was spinning around this language, but even my though were flowing in my native language  :wacky:

What I can remember accurately is that this dream came up when I decided to put aside any second language and polish my native grammar and spelling, which I always considered good, but I began to discover were not at all.

However, a few months later after attempting it, I came online for the first time and could not renounce to my second language but improve it every day and up to date  :love:

Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (Don Quixote's author) is probably the most dominant influence in the Spanish Language.

In fact Cervantes was Shakespeare's contemporary and his works are the foundation stone of the Spanish literature.

I used to have problems with together during my teen years changing the "h" placement at my sole discretion.

Actually I'm conscious  that conciseness-related words are the ones I have more trouble spelling them correctly.

In fact to post the above paragraph I got  the spell checker correcting me 

Many years ago I head that Japanese is an easy-learning language as opposed to what many people think.

I tried to study this language but the school was in the other side of the city and never was able to organize my schedule to have the time and get there. Eventually forgot about this language.

However I have seen that people who anime loyal fans do not only learn Japanese with easiness, but also they are immersed into the Japanese culture thanks to this learning, which is easier for them because of the motivation that Anime provides them.

I have watched Anime, but actually it's not longer appealing to me. If Sailor Moon is Anime, this is the last one I watched several years ago when was first aired.

Very true!

I remember to have read some archaic words that cannot remember right away because they aren't longer in use, but that sound appealing, original or more self-explanatory than those for which were substituted.

Would be worth dare to rescue them and get them back to life in our daily vocabulary.

I would say that the version found inside the Gutenberg Project is a good English translation of Miguel de Cervantes work.

You can find the English version here, http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/996

And the Spanish version here, http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2000

You can download both to your computer for a comparative reading if you want.

Don't think there is a side-by-side version of Cervantes nor Shakespeare works.

I had missed this post, but glad that I came up with the idea to browse the threads inside this category because this site comes handy.

I believe that, at some time after you have learned a language, it's good go back to take an online exam to see if your level of knowledge has been improved with the practice or is deteriorated due to the lack of use.

Thanks for the share Cutler

Many times I'm confused about oftentimes.

I read that "oftentimes" is actually an archaic form substituted by "many times" but I have found "oftentimes" in articles published by serious online sites including The New York Times.

So that, it's "oftentimes" that nobody uses anymore or is still used "oftentimes"?

Being a fast or a slow reader depends much on what I'm reading something for.

When I need to find a reference, I tend to go faster through all lines to find if the reading contains the sensitive part I'm looking for.

When i want to enjoy the reading or practice my understanding and/or pronunciation, then I go slow with it

With an unified language that already exists the world might be different but not for good.

People in most countries will hold hard feelings and resentments about the chosen language and the associated cultural changes that such language might bring.

On the other hand, crafting a new universal language is also proven to be just an illusion because Esperanto was supposed to be the alternative that today the whole world knows by name, but you will hardly find someone who can mention at least one Esperanto world he or she has learned in all these years.

I don't know any despite first time I heard from it was in my childhood days.

Have you visited lately some of the US Federal online services?

Most of them have a Spanish version available, the same as many large banking institutions and a series of different organizations.

Even GoDaddy has a Spanish speaking team and website version.

In the USA speaking Spanish is being necessary in daily life, and contributes to understand the cultural fusion that Americans are living today.

Interesting riddle and interest wordplay.

I remember myself at school engaged in tongue-twisters but never in riddles.

And even today I'm still having trouble with She sells sea shells by the sea shore, the shells she sells are surely seashells, so if she sells shells on the seashore, I'm sure she sells seashore shells.

But this is subject for another topic

It's certainly curious that many native English speakers ignore basics of their own language, but I believe the problem comes from their former education.

I found a very old English book (from 1944) that is aimed to teach little children, and one of the pages is illustrated with a group of boys that "are inviting each other to play"

Being a group of five children the book should read "are inviting one another to play"

The book was published by a New York editorial house and has not author credit.

While Google translate has still many flaws, I found a good way to translate simply phrases that make sense to you in your own language, but Google translate cannot translate.

The source to find this out is a website called linguee.com

Here you can type the phrase you need to be translated, and select the origin and target languages, to get in return a series of examples phrases translated into one language to another, from where your common sense and little (or lot) knowledge help you to select the best matching.