DiesIrae

And trained it as if it was a puppy. After being trained like a house pet, the tiger learned to follow Alberta around the castle. One day, Alberta ventured at the edge of the castle, near the dark forests of doom, curious to know what is scary about the forests.

It depends. If the book is something that I would read casually, I can definitely breeze through it. I don't really read out loud most of the time, only when I want to feel the emotions on text more. As for my science books in the uni, I have to take time to really digest the meaning because I need to understand it. Same goes for something like Shakespeare or KJV Bible.

I feel so weird because I do talk a lot. I live with family so there's really no reason for me to not speak, we're a noisy bunch. Even if I'm alone in the house, I have cats who I yell at when they're misbehaving. xD So yeah, I guess, maybe an hour or two? Not including when I sleep of course!

I guess, Jose Rizal for Filipinos. First, he's our national hero and he's well-known as one of our smartest historical figures. If he was maybe in another country, his smarts might not be enough for him to get sooo well-known but during the old times, we were under Spanish rule, which makes having a good education and really using it something that can be very difficult to achieve. Anyway, he wrote books that I think were in Spanish first, but the government made it a required reading for people when we got freedom so we had translations. I guess he's one of the main reasons why fiction that serves as commentary to our cultures, and idioms for that specific use has influenced many of our writers to do the same.

I remember I used to have a grammar book in English, but with old books being destroyed or given away, I sometimes do miss having just one resource for grammar reference. Do you have any suggestions, whether an app or a website, or even a book that you use most of the time for checking your grammar?

When I was a kid, there's this group of kids who look caucasian. Most of them were my friends and they do speak Tagalog but one time, one of their relatives came by. I thought she'd be different so I was talking to her in English. It's funny because she replied in Tagalog and she also played "piko," a local game, with us. It was pretty funny.

I haven't done anything as adventurous as that! I mean, I've been to distant provinces where they use a different dialect but that's only an experience that's limited in time. It was very difficult when people spoke in an unknown dialect so my sister and I kept mostly to ourselves. I don't think you can really do that if you stay in a place with a different language, but then if you encounter it so much, maybe it's easier to learn the language.

I didn't know that info about being bilingual helping against dementia. @whatupswags I agree. I like how learning languages opens people up to other cultures. Even if you don't have to go to other countries, you get bits and pieces of info on how they live, with their words giving you clues on their cultures.

Say, if there's a new word in English, how do other languages use it? Do they use the English word or come up with their own that's similar to the English word? For example, the word "selfie." In the Philippines, it's used as it is, but that's because English is used lots along with our own language. For other countries, are there equivalent words to that? How do other countries even come up with the equivalent word? I'm just curious, because I'm thinking about the evolution of language, and am kind of worried about my own. Who knows, in the future, we'll just adopt whatever the English term is and only older words would be in our native language.

Making it mandatory might be overkill. But yes, by all means, have it promoted well that people would get interested as part of learning another culture and being more open to diversity. If they make it mandatory for college, there will be people who won't really enjoy it and the exercise would be useless.

That is odd. Given where the UK is situated in the world, learning foreign languages would be a great asset. As for this question: Do you think disinterest in foreign languages even contributes to a deteriorating knowledge, understanding and love for one's native language? -- I don't think so. It would probably take more factors than that to contribute to the decline of one's native language.

That's funny. I agree, while most body language can translate well between different cultures, there are some that would mean differently that what you intend for it to mean. Just to be safe, it's better to research more about this before you go to another country/culture.

In a way, it makes me remember some words more. Even if the foreign music I'm listening to sounds like garbled words to me, I just Google the lyrics and then also read the translation. It's also a good way to learn pronunciation, especially if the words are clear.

Yeah, it's funny because I thought about lots of things too, possibly the end of the universe. I love how the ending basically used the creation story from the Bible. <-- obviously a spoiler. Highlight if you have read the story! Oh, I'm reading a sci-fi group of short stories which you can get for free, it's the Machine of Death. There's a free version somewhere here. There are some funny and ironic short stories here, because the machine of death basically gives you a fact about your death, sometimes in a vague or cryptic way. Anyway, here's the shortest short story in the bunch which made me laugh. HIV INFECTION FROM MACHINE OF DEATH NEEDLE “Well,” I thought, “that sucks.” Storyby Brian Quinlan

I think most people who are exposed to English literature has heard both works. Honestly, I'm more concerned on which one was written worse but I would like to keep an open mind about the two. Which one do you think was written better? As for me, I haven't finished both yet not because I'm busy, but more because I have an aversion towards fanfiction-y type of work. Whichever wins here, I'll try to read about more, for the sake of learning!

OMG, someone mentioned Twilight! We're doomed! Honestly. It's sooo hard to read. I can't take it seriously myself. I have it on ebook and I can't bear trying to read another page. On another note, Twilight is a good novel to bash. If you google it, you'd find sites that point out errors or annoying stuff about it. It's one of the books I love to hate.

Yes, but not really because English is the most awesome thing evar!!1. Heheh. It's more of our country not using our own language much that English is used more, especially for foreign words or concepts instead of us making a Filipino equivalent. Also, if we can't express ourselves in Filipino, we tend to use English words anyway.

I was thinking where I have encountered the word Ersatz and then I remembered TV Tropes, I checked it out and basically spent an hour browsing. Anyways, I didn't know that it was German. As for (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Über) über, I only knew about it first from Übermensch which is probably why I sort of use it like "super" although it has many uses which is enumerated on Wikipedia.

Wow, I think I've only heard of bacne. The others, I've never really encountered either through paper or by ear. As much as I say lol, I don't think Lolarious sounds like a real word. It sounds more like a word that people might forget after a few years.

It depends. I only get a bit stressed for difficult exams. As for exams in English, it's nothing new. Our medium of instruction is more English anyway. I've had oral exams though that I got a bit nervous about, especially when we're supposed to speak in English extemporaneously. I think it's more of speaking in public though, which usually leads to running out of words to say.

I remember our speech teacher using tongue twisters before just to help us with our pronunciation. I haven't done it for quite a long time now so I guess it's time to dig up the ones we've used before. Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. Did Peter Piper pick a peck of pickled peppers? If Peter Piper Picked a peck of pickled peppers, Where's the peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked? She sells seashells by the seashore. The shells she sells are surely seashells. So if she sells shells on the seashore, I'm sure she sells seashore shells. How much wood would a woodchuck chuck If a woodchuck could chuck wood? He would chuck, he would, as much as he could, And chuck as much as a woodchuck would If a woodchuck could chuck wood. Aside from these, I've said somewhere here how rapping's been also helpful for me in improving my spoken English. Some verses can even be like tongue twisters. How about you, what's your favourite tongue twister?

No. I love my language and I do have a longing for my countrymen to love it more. I don't know why but there are people here who think that just because you can speak English well means you are already superior to others. It's a shame.

I don't have one favourite foreign film, I have many! I love the Korean film, My Sassy Girl's quirkiness and even though I don't think the leading man was cute, the story itself was adorable enough that I was cheering for both of them to be together!.

Yes. Most Filipinos understand English but not so many can speak in English well enough to be understood clearly. Most might stammer and get too nervous, they aren't able to express themselves well. I've learned to speak it decently enough that I was able to work in a call center and I took calls for a year answering people's questions about DirectV xD. It was fun and although I have friends who troll the US, my job actually made me appreciate the fact that all places have their idiots and well-mannered people.

Nice to see movies like Pan's Labyrinth and Y tu mama tambien being suggested here. I've known about those through my university's film center and those are cool, although I love Pan's Labyrinth more. Anyone else who has seen La piel que habito or The Skin I Live In? It's so surreal and unusual and it has Antonio Banderas in it. There's a twist in the movie that just breaks my heart.