SpiralArchitect

Incredibly annoying really. I wonder why people find it so difficult to type in a normal manner.

Welcome Cath. My knowledge of South Africa is sadly limited to the wildlife and the cricket team. Perhaps, we can learn about the nation's linguistic side as well thanks to you. 

Welcome Silverhoop. Everyone here loves the quotes thread. No wonder its this big already. See you around.

I have had the opportunity to be engulfed by the British and i tend to think that their English is more refined and pure compared to American English. I also think that they stay true to the non phonetic nature of their language. An example is how they spell center as centre.

Don't think there is anything pure about British English considering it hardly resembles the English of yore. The spellings though are easier to get than American English so there's that.

As far as I know, there is nothing wrong with starting sentences with words like 'but'. As long as the sentence is complete, it's completely correct.

Once you are exposed to a language for a long time, a lot of slang words do end up being incorporated in your usage. I for one use them quite frequently.

Being from a country where a large number of languages are spoken, it is not uncommon to see people who can speak 4 or 5 of them. In fact, a lot of people in the country can speak at least 3 languages.

Welcome Vlad (I've always associated the name with Romania. Is it a common name in Russia?). Nice to see you in the forums.

I don't think German should be offered in high school. I have nothing against german, as a matter of fact I'm learning it. But if you will compare it to other language like spanish. I think more countries are using spanish than German.

Why not? Then both should be offered.

Really nothing against Spanish speaking countries but the German economy is booming. If somebody would want to move to a new country they'll definitely consider Germany as an option.

As a rule "a" is used if it's followed by a consonant, like "a bag". While "an" is used when it is followed by a vowel, like "an ear".

Nope. a is followed by a 'consonant sound' and an is followed by a 'vowel sound'. That is the exact way this rule works.

I haven't watched too many, but the few I've watched have been quite good.  Off the top of my head...

Y Tu Mama Tambien

Absurdistan

Pans Labyrinth

The last one is really good.  I highly recommend watching it.

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

I'll admit that I used to get confused between the two until I just went online and confirmed things once and for all. Really, if you are confused between the usage just go and confirm the correct usage. Sadly, a lot of people don't do that thus the prevalence of incorrect usage of lose and loose.

Being someone privileged to speak a number of languages, i have come to find that English is actually the other way round. An example is....there is a red car. If this was said in another language it would be car first and then the color hence me saying English does things backwards.

Not really. Even in Hindi we use the adjective first and the noun later, so its not like it is something exclusive to English.

Well because English as a language is so commonly used that people with different native languages are often exposed to it. It's partly because of the spread of elements of the so called western culture in the world but because of that people are more easily exposed to English than any other language. That's why I suppose people feel that it is an easier language to speak.

Welcome legendkyller.

Tell me. By any chance are you a Randy Orton fan?  :grin:

Welcome Antonio. As someone who is interested in the Japanese culture (mostly manga and anime), nice to see you here. Do check out the Japanese sub forum.

Scottish accents

It's close to impossible to decipher a really thick Scottish accent. I mean it sounds good and everything but you don't get what the person is saying half the time.

It's not really a novel as such and is more of a novella but nothing touches A Chrsitmas Carol in my opinion. It's probably nostalgia because I was very young when I read it or may be the few high quality adaptations of it I've seen in different media but nothing touches it in my opinion.

Hello Aditya, always nice to see a fellow countryman. Hope you enjoy the forums.

Considering the fact that I only know Hindi and English, and have only tried to learn Japanese and German, I'll say that Japanese is the most difficult language I've tried to learn. It's just that the language is so different from the ones I know, that starting from the ground up becomes very difficult.

Shouldn't this be in off-topic subforum?

Anyways my favorite movie is The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.

The movie has quite possibly the best climax of all time and every actor played their part with perfection. Eli Wallach in particular as Tuco was as good a portrayal as we're ever likely to see.

Morricone's score wasn't too shabby either.

The dark creature in front of her opens the gaping chasm on its face that looked like a horrific imitation of a mouth, as if to say something...

It doesn't translate well at all. There is this great Hindi comedy called 'Andaz Apna Apna' that everyone here simply loves but I am yet to meet someone whose native tongue is not Hindi and who liked it. Same goes for a lot of Italian and French comedies I've watched.

Well if a language is one you haven't been taught since childhood then you do end up forgetting bits of it. Don't use it for too long and it's pretty much all gone. That's why teachers put so much emphasis on keeping in touch with the language.

Got really excited about learning Japanese because I love anime and manga, then simply gave up because there just aren't enough good japanese teachers where I live.