SpiralArchitect

Reading. Nothing else. Ok, maybe a little from music and movies but 95% of my English vocabulary was built thanks to my reading habit. As a kid I used to look up every word whose meaning I didn't know while reading and that helped me a lot more than the things my teachers taught me at school.

It really depends on the context and the mood a writer is going for with his work. A lot of great works just wouldn't feel the same if they had relatively "simpler" words used in place of a lot of big ones. In general writing though your 3 Cs seem like a good thing to follow.

Oh and I wouldn't judge whoever wrote that on the basis of one out-of-context sentence but that really didn't make a whole lot of sense.

Agreed with what most people are saying. Gender has no bearing on how quick an individual can learn a language. I know a lot of guys who learn languages faster than women and vice versa. I don't think we can generalize language learning on the basis of gender.

I've occasionally used the word "sesquipedalian". Now that I think of it, my usage of this word becomes somewhat ironic because I don't use a lot of long words in conversation.

If there is something that has to be said with much more force than a normal sentence would allow I end it with an exclamation mark. Makes the emotion to be conveyed much stronger.

"Stay away from the car!" invokes a warning with the guy speaking probably pointing a gun at you or something.

"Stay away from the car." seems a lot more silent.

This beautiful one from Dr. Seuss is of course timeless.

"Don't cry because it's over, smile because it happened."

But it's not a window anymore. Her window has been replaced by the gaping mouth of an unspeakable horror.

I am not sure you can, he replied and took out an old picture from his pocket.

Ah, this is an interesting one but then again if you don't hit the nail on the head, the nail is quite useless. As for the nail's head, well it's the part where you hit it, the round end and not the sharp one.

A tie between a Christmas Carol and a Tale of Two Cities

You didn't read the topic title now, did you?

This is something that just varies from work to work. But at it's core every story should be stimulating, it should make you think or in the very least entertain you. The way author uses the language to get his point across is important. Different things fit different words. Hemingway's work won't work if there was a lot of exposition there while the works of H.P. Lovecraft and Tolkien lose a bit of impact if you try to oversimplify them.

Sometimes something completely mindless can be fun too. You wouldn't call it great but if something can be entertaining without trying to appeal to the lowest common denominator then you can at least call it good.

English is one of the only few languages that is actually backwards....for example most languages would start off with saying car......red. You mention the item and then describe it, but in english you say red car which in a way is backwards.

I always thought that's how it usually was in most languages. I mean most Indian languages work that way as well including Hindi.

Some words have merely been suppressed to the extent that their meaning and usage has gained negative connotations. Using words like gay, retard etc as insults are examples of that.

On the other hand, some bad words are just bad words because they aim to insult the person hearing them. Simple.

I am not sure of that. Wouldn't you expect a tourist to only ask direct questions? I mean their interaction with you is pretty much limited to asking about directions or if there's a good place to eat around or something like that. I don't think you require anything more than a direct question for things like these.

Annoying little word which as urban dictionary said, is used to by tools and d-bags. This and YOLO are two words which annoy me to the extent where I feel like slapping anyone who uses it. :grin:

Bengali was the most unexpected of all.

I wasn't, but mostly because I am aware that it is spoken in Bangladesh which is one of the most populous countries in the world. Apart from that it is also spoken in the relatively heavily populated state of West Bengal here in India. Although, the fact that French is not there surprises me too.

In Hindi it is mata or ma for mother and pita for father, as you stated and yeah, there are indeed similarities there. Perhaps there is a common root to the word.

"Need" almost has a suggestive tone to it. As in, "You need to do that." "Must" on the other hand has a sort of finality to it. It gives the impression that you have no option but to do the thing in question.

I would say use "an" when the word begins with a vowel. However, I believe you use "an" when there's a vowel after the first letter of the word. For instance, you would use an hour, not a hour because there's a vowel after the "h". Also, the word hour in which you have to use your tongue to pronounce it.

I can't quote an example but I am pretty sure that even this is not always applicable. The key is that an is used before a vowel sound. Knowing the correct pronunciation is the only way of being certain if the usage is correct. Frankly, it's not that difficult.

Not that I'd be otherwise inclined to say "lol partay @ my house 2nite" either.

One can always do it ironically, although I guess the irony would be lost on a lot of people.

I personally always use correct English when I text. It's a simple matter of habit and nothing more for me.

I would love to, but I don't know... It can come off as being snob, to be honest. I always try to adapt my english depending on the situations I encounter myself in.

I don't know man. How is being correct coming across as a snob? I mean sure if you keep on telling the other person how stupid there texting is, then it can be annoying for them but otherwise, it's surely not.

Welcome Ashlea. There is indeed a Japanese sub forum here. I think you may have noticed it though. Hope the forum complements some of what you learn in college.

I have been told that it was mama. Seems like everybody kid just starts off with this.

This is kind of off topic but not totally so I will ask it here. Do people still say alvida and phir milenge? Also when I watch Hindi serials, when they are saying bye to each other I usually hear ram-ram or sita-ram or sometimes like hare Krishna. I understand what they mean, but do people still use these in India or is dying out like Namaste? I hardly ever here this in films, it is always in the serials.

Ram-ram is a common greeting in villages but I've NEVER seen it used in a city. It's a part of the rural language only.

As for alvida and fir milnge, people use them all the time. The latter in particular is the most accepted way of saying good bye.

Well there are a few words and phrases that are not really common in general use, so I do end up forgetting them from time to time. Quite a few times some words just end up on the tip of my tongue only for them to not come out. Again lack of usage is to be blamed here.