Baburra

I completely agree. Chinese characters contain a lot of indicators and if people looked closer and fully understood each character they will unlock a good amount of mysteries in this world. I love the way that every small detail in these characters have a reason behind it. Other languages have this quality too, of course, but Chinese characters being symbols just makes it more universal, in my opinion. Phonetically, however, I'd have to give it to French.

I don't think those two can be used interchangeably, but in some situations, they may both apply and you can just choose one or the other to describe something, but it doesn't mean that they mean the same thing. "Smart" is a lot closer to "practical" or "sharp" than "elegant" in my opinion. "Elegant" is probably a lot closer to "classy" and those might be more forgivable when used interchangeably.

I think the best way to go about it is to learn how to properly use words that were made specifically for this purpose. For example, instead of saying "on the other hand" you can just say "alternatively". Details like these might seem minor, but it helps a lot with keeping a statement as efficient as possible.

If I'm in a hurry to write something, I would probably commit this mistake once or twice, but thankfully I often catch myself before sending the message out. I think this is a little more understandable for people to be confused with than you're and your in some ways.

I don't get it either. I think it's one of the least confusing ones out of the commonly mistaken words, but I guess some people just don't care as much. I used to mind it when I was fairly new to the internet culture, but nowadays it's pretty much an accepted norm as far as I'm concerned.

I attribute almost my whole knowledge in English grammar to reading comic books at a young age, so I'd suggest looking into that. Of course, school helped a lot too, but the basic structure of conversation is easiest to learn by means of comics, in my opinion.

I know a lot of movie quotes got so famous that they made it into the universal consciousness and sometimes they even got integrated into daily communication. One that comes to mind immediately is "run Forrest, run!". I remember hearing that a lot for some time as the movie got very famous, and I probably have even heard it once or twice in recent years. Anyone know of any pop culture references and phrases that have made it to everyday use in language?

I've always been interested in marketing and advertising, even when I was younger, so I was always keen to notice whenever I feel like the industry was either introducing a new one hoping it will catch on, or merely riding the wave to be "trendy". The most prominent one I remember from the past was the word "extreme" in the 90's, and it was a word that was pretty much used in almost all advertisements and movie dialogues. In some ways, the "extreme" buzzword is still alive today, but now it's more commonly known as "epic". I really hate when people overuse these terms, and another recent one that I'm glad is on its way out (or at least I hope so) is the phrase "comfort food". It really makes me cringe whenever I hear it for some reason, it sounds so artificial and forced. Bonus Round: Here is Microsoft's recent attempt at inventing a buzzword called "Scroogled". I'm doubtful it will catch on, and it's actually pretty amusing to me how hard they try to look cool. Anyone of you got any more examples of these buzzwords?

"Free as a bird" comes to mind. I don't think it gets used as much nowadays, I rarely hear or read it being said anymore, but I feel this is one that really exemplifies the feeling of freedom.

Yes, I have felt embarrassed, but I think it was mostly due to the feeling of getting stuck more than anything. After realizing that I had no options left to use for communication short of acting out what I wanted to convey, it started to feel awkward.

I think it's a great idiom and it encompasses the whole range of emotion that comes with the statement. Granted, like most sayings, it isn't really technically sound since it begs the question of "where else would you hit the nail?", but this detail is not as important as the idea it conveys is done very well anyway.

"Raining cats and dogs" has always been the most amusing to me. Whenever I hear or read it, I always picture it literally and then proceed to wonder how the expression came about. Animals are definitely not the first thing I think of when it begins to rain, especially cats or dogs.

I agree. I don't think there is a set formula or pattern on how good writing is or should be, but more just about how well the author understands how people's attention span works and knows it well enough to tug it in all the right places.

I'm assuming that most of our members here probably are learning it to enrich themselves, I know I am. As for the rest of the world, I would suspect that most of them are driven by financial gain or employment.

I use association a lot too. I'm not that good with memorization, so if I find a way to naturally incorporate a word into my memory via use of already familiar ones, I'll use it. I often find it helpful when a foreign word sounds anything like any word from my native language or English.

I'm not that good at my native language either, especially from an academic perspective. There are a lot of traditional words that I probably don't know or will get confused with.

I write in my second language everyday because it's English and I participate in a lot of forums daily. I actually like writing in English, and I'm hoping to use it to write some short stories or scripts someday.

I've had long vacations in the U.S., Thailand, and Singapore, and all those countries are very English friendly, so I never really had that much trouble. I imagine that it's even more true nowadays that everyone is going online and getting to practice their English more. That, on top of all the American shows that we all love to watch.

I don't have a problem with bad words as much as I have a problem with the intentions behind them. If they are used for fun, I would let it slide. It would only be when used to dehumanize someone would I have a problem with it, and even then I know that the word only has as much power as the "victim" gives it.

I understand how it can sound a little annoying to someone who's grown up with the language, but I wouldn't take it as an insult, personally. Usually, foreigners are just finding their own way of speaking, and having no idea of how it fits best on him or her initially, it's understandable that he or she would start off by copying the most prominent factors of the new language.

I'd have to agree, even if it doesn't turn out to be the sole defining factor of our thought process, it probably contributes a lot to it. Our languages contain our whole history behind it, so just like how history shapes a whole nation's behavior, I suspect so does its language.

The best part for me would be if the video were funny or at least memorable. I've memorized a few foreign phrases from movies this way, and it surely helps if a whole video is dedicated to just those types of scenes. If I can remember the video or a scene, then it follows that I can remember the dialogue in it much easier.

My strength in English would be in writing. I like using English a lot more in writing than my native language because it affords me much more flexibility and whimsy. When speaking, however, I'm much more able to be descriptive using my native language most of the time, although even then it is rarely enough for me to convey what it is I really am trying to say, so I also usually pepper in a lot of English words and phrases, as does almost everyone else here.

I agree, I think it's a common assumption that most English speakers don't learn a second language, but I think it's warranted because I honestly think they don't really have to either, at least not as much as other countries who need to learn English. After all, English is the international language.

I don't really seek it out, but it does come across one way or another because it provides insight on how the language came about, which does make it a little easier to learn the language to some degree. Foreign friends are usually more than willing to give me a background of their language and country, and of course, I'm willing to listen.