wander_n_wonder

There are simply some words in English that are supposed to be pronounced that way. If you listen to it as well, salmon really sounds better without the letter "l". It can be very tricky if you are not aware of all these types of words with silent letters. That's why it really helps a lot if you watch a lot of movies or English shows because you see things as people say it.

Exactly! I encounter a lot of people who actually text that way. They would actually use a wrongly spelled word which actually has more letters compared to the correct one. I don't know anymore what caused this kind of a trend, but it is not funny at all. I can imagine how kids these days can get so confused as to what the correct spelling of words are. I certainly hope that parents don't do these in front of their kids. Kids have to learn words the right way.

Studying two languages at a time should be ok, but I think anything more than that is not effective anymore. Also, if you are to study two languages at the same time, you must make sure that they are not very similar as you may end up getting so confused if they are. You may end up interchanging the rules and the words just because you are having difficulty distinguishing between the two. It may be a good idea, for example, to study 1 Western language and 1 Oriental language at the same time.

There are a few foreign language books which are good, but I agree with you that you need to flip through the pages first for you to see whether it actually considers the fact that when you start learning, you have no idea about the language at all. There are a few good books who start teaching you the basics and the foundations of the language in a step by step way. It will be in English or in your mother tongue.

I think $10/hour is fair enough. If it's a bit higher, it's also ok, as long as the tutor is really qualified. In this case, I would look at the qualifications of the tutor before making a decision how much to pay him or her. I also like the idea if they are available online so that we don't need to meet personally and we can do lessons even through a video call. I think this saves a lot of time and it also ensures that I'm able to attend my classes.

A visual dictionary is a good idea. On the other hand, I also like those really small dictionaries so that they are easy to carry and I can just bring it anywhere and read through it each time I have extra time. For example, if I'm waiting in line in a restaurant, instead of just standing there doing nothing, I can quickly look into my dictionary and actually learn new words. It's a good way not to waste the time that's available to you. I also don't like extremely thick and big dictionaries because that can be very overwhelming. It can demotivate me to learn little by little because I would see clearly that there are still a lot of other words to learn and I'm so lagging behind.

Yeah, that happened to me as well, when I was learning French everyday back in university. I would even dream that I am writing French. This happened quite often as well when I have an examination the next day. I guess that's the brain's way of actually helping me assimilate what I've learned so far.

I can do this pretty well, as these two are probably the most common ones that my English speech teacher taught us before. It was very difficult at the beginning but if you have to do it often in your class, you will end up saying it with ease. I think tongue twisters are really effective in practicing proper pronunciation.

There are particular countries which are known for very neutral accent and I think in that case, it's difficult to tell where you are from. Also, there are people who have the ability to actually adapt easily to the environment and get the accent around them right away. In that case, you may not be able to guess where he's from.

I think it's really important to commit to a particular habit, before making a decision to start learning a foreign language. If you don't do it consistently, you won't really end up learning, especially when you don't get to practice the language all the time. It will help if you will set easy targets first, just for you to get into the habit without much trouble. For example, you can allocate only 15 minutes each day to learn. It's not that much and so the likelihood htat you will get lazy is low. Keep your targets easy and just increase it as you get used to it.

I totally agree that it helps a lot to hear the language being spoken in order to learn faster. That's why being in the place of the language actually is useful. I think it would influence all (reading, writing, speaking, listening) mainly because you gain more familiarity as compared to when you are not staying in that place. Familiarity is the most important factor, plus a good level of practice.

I tried to learn some sign language before when we were teaching some courses to high school students with disabilities but since it's been a while since I last used it, I couldn't remember much about it anymore. I would be more than happy to refresh my memory again. I think it's very useful. Also, I'm not sure if it's actually American sign language or something else. How can you know the difference?

It may be interesting to do that but I think I would rather spend my time learning languages that are real and which I can use in various situations such as business. There are way too many languages on my list that I would like to learn and I would not waste my time on other things. I already spend like 30 minutes a day to devote to learning a language.

Different places have different accents, that is for sure. I also notice that accent is very easy to adapt to, especially when you hear it so often. I have been living in a foreign country for quite some time now and when I do go back to my home country, people make a comment that I sound a bit different now. So I guess I have adapted a bit of the accent in the place I live in.

I don't really forget some of the words in my native language, especially when I have used most of them quite often in the past. However, what I notice to be doing is using some words wrong or pronouncing them wrongly, especially since I have been using English as my main language for quite a while now.

I do not like speaking or writing slang language as I know it can get you used to it. I like to constantly train myself to be formal and I will only use slang language when I think it's necessary. Maybe if I'm just talking to my friends, I may be ok with slang. But I would not want it to be a normal thing for me. I easily adapt to different languages and I don't want slang to be my norm as I deal with a lot of executives at work and I would not want to be considered as unprofessional in my language.

It is true. It's very much aligned to the belief that practice makes perfect. It's like practicing your ear to hear the language and so that you do not find it weird anymore. The more used you are to the language, the more you are able to adapt to it. I experienced that although it did not really take me one year to get used to it. It's just about 3 months of continuously living in that place and then constantly hearing people speak it.

That can really be a very difficult situation. You just get lost in the conversation. Sometimes, I also feel it's rather rude for people to speak their local language when they know for a fact they have someone around them who do not understand. What I will do is just work hard to really learn the language on my own. Eventually, you can get to practice with them, but at least exert effort on your own to be able to do it.

Yes, people will always have a unique accent, no matter how fluent they are. Accents are greatly influenced by the people around you. For example, if you are an American, but you live in Australia for a long time, there is a strong likelihood that your American English is somewhat mixed with a few Australian accents. You may be using typical American sentences, but the way your pronounce a few words will be Australian.

It may help, although it depends on where you associate it to. If the words are totally different, you may end up getting more confused. I have used this technique as well. For example, between Tagalog (Filipino language) and Bahasa (Indonesia or Malaysian language), there are so many similarities. Therefore, whenever I hear a Bahasa word, I will just associate it to Tagalog and I would observe that pattern and compare the other words as well. With that technique, I find it easier to actually construct sentences.

I think it depends on the movie that you watch. If there's a lot of slang in it, it may not be a good idea because you will not learn the proper words. I would go for more wholesome movies because then again, those are guaranteed to use proper words and sentences.

I totally agree that the internet has somewhat killed the different languages of the world. Not only that, I really think the shortcuts that the internet has introduced will lead the younger generations not to know the proper way of spelling words. The internet has definitely created its own language. Even words like "unfriend" did not exist in the past but now because of Facebook, it has become a normal word that almost everyone understands.

It is important for me to practice good grammar all the time, mainly because I have learned English since I was a young girl. Therefore, there is not much excuse for me for not learning it well enough, since I have more than 30 years of exposure to the language. I am more tolerant to people of another culture, who do not really consider English as their second language.

I do believe that there is no such thing as starting too early to teach your baby another language. You need to get him used to hearing different languages as early as infancy days. Even when the baby cannot speak yet, he definitely can hear already, and his brain will be able to process the language that is surrounding him. This way, the learning process becomes faster and easier.

The advantage is that communication will indeed be easier because everyone would understand each other. There is no need to bring a translator when you travel to another country, for example. However, I really do not like that idea because somehow, language takes a good part of a country's culture. Without a country's unique language, it will not be that interesting to me anymore. It is nice to learn about a language as well as the history behind it.