Baburra

I agree with Gelsemium. It may become true once the internet gets really integrated in a global scale, but as of now, I think this is just the tip of the iceberg and I doubt the effects will be visible now or in the next few years. I think the only way this would happen is when even the less industrialized countries become connected, but even then I think there will always be support for ones own language in one way or another.

"Bad Apple" isn't exactly uncommon, but it's surely a lot less used these days. I think it was probably used a lot more in the more innocent times wherein everyone was a lot more polite and proper. Nowadays, if someone is considered to be a bad apple or a bad seed, they just call him or her by using profanity.

Very good examples, thanks! I honestly don't hear the big boned one very much, though. I don't know how it is in other countries, but here, the most common one used to pertain to fat people is to call them "healthy", which now that I think about it is kind of ironic.

I'd personally start watching videos online and joining forums such as these to get some supplementary information and support for what I've learned on the videos. In my opinion, videos are a lot easier to pick up since you'd pretty much get all the information you'd need in just a few minutes, given that the video is well made enough.

Yes, I think it helps to some extent. If you don't have many English speakers around and thus can't really immerse yourself that much in the spoken language. At least, this way, you'd have an experience near to it since the characters onscreen do still converse and you as a viewer can probably learn a lot from it, especially if you are an avid viewer and watch a lot of them.

Majority of my problems with learning English stemmed from pronunciation, since English words sometimes tend to not be spelled out the way they are pronounced and vice versa and there are usually some silent letters in a good number of the words, so it does get a bit confusing.

I'm usually confused by the use of past or passed in some specific sentences. I do know the difference of the definition of each, but whenever I come across the need for either, I usually have to pause and think about it for a second and sometimes I even have to double check.

Yes, this has happened to me. I rarely speak my other languages because I live in a place where my native language and English is enough for me to get by with my daily life. How I usually combat losing my other languages is I try to think of the phrases that are the most practical to use often just so I don't end up forgetting them one day.

Sorry to hear about your situation. I don't understand why he wouldn't want to teach you, though, I think it's wonderful that you are showing interest. Anyway, I recommend just learning online if you really want it. First, we already have a good amount of resources in this forum and there's even a Spanish section where you can get specific help. You might also want to check out some online videos just to get started with. I find watching videos very helpful because this way you'd get to hear the accent and proper pronunciations as opposed to just reading them and pretty much guessing what it really would sound like when spoken out loud.

Definitely. I love pop songs, and I think they are pretty much similar in all countries in terms of the beat and style, which is why I usually do seek out songs from other countries to diversify my library. Sometimes, I will look for the definition online, but admittedly it's not really enough for me to comprehend the lyrics to a point where I'm satisfied, but it's enough for me to just know the topic of the song at least.

I think there is some truth in this. I lived with people who spoke a different language for years and after a while I definitely picked up a good number of words and phrases from them even though they never spoke to me in that language in conversations.

I saw a few flirtatious phrases when I first started learning Japanese as well, and I also found them a bit funny because the English translations felt a bit too literal, I could tell. It's why I never dared to utter the phrases out loud to people even if I did find them so amusing that I memorized them and still remember them now many years later.

Yes! I would love this. I'd want something badass like Vin Diesel's name, probably. If I could choose, I'd pick my name to be something like Fred Steel or Max Titanium.

The best and non-internet based way is probably to just read a lot of English based literature. If you are just starting out, I'd recommend getting into comic books first because then you'd at least have the benefit of visual aids in conveying emotions and actions.

I suggest getting started with the Chinese alphabet first. They are relatively easy to memorize and learn, and when you learn it and know how the combinations work, you'd be able to read any word that has the alphabet written next to it with total ease, and this way even if it takes you longer to know all the words, at least you'd get the pronunciation down first thing and you'd have more chances of getting understood when talking to the people there. Good luck!

Very good point, emilyrose93. I think slang in video games exemplifies its purpose a lot more than in most mediums, because when communicating within video game chats, you usually have to get your point as efficiently as possible so shorthand really helps.

Yes, I do. Talking to the same people and about the same things regularly tends to get very boring for me so I try to change it up from time to time. Furthermore, I think just the slang words themselves are very whimsical and fun so even if I weren't bored I'd probably still be amused by them.

I was reminded of this term in a previous thread, and I thought it would be nice to talk about. Also, I'm especially curious if there are any interesting euphemisms outside the English language. For those unfamiliar, euphemisms are pleasant words used to describe harsh situations, entities, or events. I can't come up with one in my native language as of now, but as for ones in English, one of my favorites has always been "homely" to describe someone who is considered to be unattractive. There's also terms like "Passed away" or "Passed on" or even "departed" to describe someone who has died. And of course, who can forget "passing gas" to describe farting? :wacky: Which are your favorite euphemisms?

"Sleeping with the fishes" is a common one used by the mafia, I think. At least it's what I've heard from popular culture and media. It is a term used for someone that the mob has murdered and is now in the deep sea presumably to hide the body from the police.

"Six feet under" is a commonly known one, I think. It means to be dead and buried and it's probably mostly used to serve as a euphemism which is common to use for such a tragic event. A few other ones are to pass away or to pass on, but I'm not sure if these are exactly idioms, although they are surely figures of speech.

I agree. That is the best place to start, in my opinion. It's much better if the words can be related to the things they represent instead of just being words on a textbook, and I think it would be especially helpful when the people learning it know what practical uses the words they are learning would entail such as daily greetings and transactions, etc. As for my favorite way to teach a language, I more or less try the same but usually just teach as each word comes up in conversation. The person I'm teaching usually just speaks in English and would usually just ask me specific words to be translated in my own native language and then asks how it would be used.

Yes, I think so, as evidenced by the many actors and actresses from around the world basically pretending to be American in their movies by feigning an American accent. However, I think American accents are a bit of an exception to this rule because we are all too familiar with it due to it being a sort of international language and having it so widespread through American media such as movies and TV shows. For other countries' accents, I think it's possible to copy the accent but it wouldn't sound very authentic, especially to the ears of locals.

This is a little bit true for me. I grew up learning a couple different dialects of Chinese but my household mostly spoke just one which wasn't the one taught in my school. So because I was around it so much I ultimately did end up understanding it even though I never really spoke it myself.

I think they start to build vocal communication skills at right around two years old, so I'd start there. I don't think there's any special lessons you can really do aside from just talking to the child and maybe having her watch some English kid shows like Barney. It worked for my nieces and nephews as they have become very fluent in English just by doing this.

I agree. I think languages are too complex for computers to translate, at least for now. In the far future, things might be different, but technology still is fairly new as of now even as much progress as we've seen in the recent years.