sidney

I have liked Rammstein, a German band, because of their beat, so ever since I discovered their music, I developed an interest in their language. But apart from German, I would also listen to Spanish/Spanglish music like those songs of Enrique Iglesias, since apart from them being nice, like "Bailamos", I get to learn some Spanish words too.

Of course I would, because it would also be an advantage if they were to learn my native language, rather than being able to speak only one type of language. I do know of parents wanting their kid to learn only English, which I find odd.

On 6/2/2016 at 0:44 AM, Katerwaul said:

Actually, that's not exactly wrong, it's just dialect!

It's a common mistake; AAVE, or African American Vernacular English, is usually mistaken for bad grammar or the user "just not speaking English very well," even by native English speakers who were born and raised in the U.S. But it really is its own dialect, complete with its own internal and consistent rules about how to use the language. It's not really any different from hearing Southerners say "ain't" or "y'all," or someone say "make like" when they mean "act like," or put "a-" before a verb. It's definitely good to know that it's a dialect and therefore if you're trying to learn to speak what's thought of as "proper" English, you should be using different grammar, but it's not just wrong grammar.

(I'm mostly responding to you because I thought you might find it neat to know this stuff. I don't mean it as a lecture, I just find dialects really interesting!)

Wow, I didn't know that. So I guess Nivea was grammatically right all along? I actually didn't know that such a vernacular type of English existed! So she was grammatically RIGHT all along with her song. Thank you for that info!

So I stormed out of the taxi and waited for another one...

I think that one of the stereotypes among native English speakers is that they speak grammatically correct sentences. This is actually not the truth, because my teacher did say that native English speakers are the ones most prone to speak erroneous English sentences, and that's actually quite true. I did notice some native English speakers speak incorrect English.

No, I have no experience teaching English in a foreign country, but if ever i was qualified to do so, then why not right? I heard that the pay is good if you tutor English in Asian countries like South Korea.

No, I haven't tried playing video games in another language. In fact, I accidentally downloaded a game that was in Spanish or Portuguese, and I had a hard time installing it as I was reading the instructions in notepad since it was in another language. I think I would rather learn a new language via other means like watching foreign tv shows rather than playing video games.

That's quite true, because my dad learned a few a those local dialect words just by mingling with his office mates that spoke this certain local dialect, so he was able to learn from that method. Immersion is quite effective when learning a new language.

What motivates me is the added knowledge of learning something new, since not all people know a foreign language. So the thought of increasing my knowledge in general is what motivates me to lean a new language.

I grew up in the Philippines, and I am also fluent in English because English is the 2nd main language over here, so I can also effortlessly switch from Tagalog to English while conversing. I think switching languages effortlessly is quite common for bilingual people.

Good advice, I don't think I can try to imitate a new accent though especially if it's distinct, like British or Irish accent. If ever I do decide to imitate an accent, I think it would be the US accent, since it sounds much easier to mimic.

Everytime I encounter a new word it's always via reading or watching new material. But I still remember when I was still studying, my teacher always used the word "highfalutin", so I just had to look that word up.

Ashley or Chelsey sounds really nice in my opinion. Tyra is also a nice sounding name in my opinion. I also like unisex sounding names like Alex or Sam.

True, rap songs nowadays have great wordplay, although from my experience, they also have the most horrendous use of grammar, lol! Like in Nivea's song "Laundromat", she said, "You's a lying, cheating, son a b*tch".. Lol! "You's"?? Now that is totally wrong, lol!

I think 11 weeks of holiday is the correct one. "Holidays" doesn't sound so correct.

Man, I wish I knew the answer to that one, but ever since, I have no difficulties in speaking English, mainly because it is the 2nd language in our country, so ever since I was a kid, I was exposed to it, so it's like natural immersion, so even as a kid, I was able to speak and write fluent English.

I would also have to agree that it's a regional thing. Over here in the Philippines, "ketchup" is the word that's widely used. I think in the European area "catsup" is the more favored word.

I would prefer American English since it's easier to understand. I do have to say that while British English sounds sexy when spoken by natives, they have words that I'm not familiar with, so I prefer the American version since that's what I have been accustomed to.

Living in the Philippines where English is considered as a 2nd major language, I have always known English and was always fluent in it. It was never hard for me to construct English sentences and I even always have high marks in that subject in school.

Well I haven't been out yet of my country so I haven't experienced being mocked yet because of my accent, but if ever that happens to me then I will just take it in stride because I'm not really sensitive and I will just shrug off the mean comments.

I only want to learn Spanish, German and French, because those languages interest me and they are widely spoken worldwide. However, as much as I would want to be fluent in those languages, I am always lacking in time learning them.

Well, I just wanted to learn more about German and Spanish language because they are widely spoken and Spanish seems easy to learn, so my motivation was mostly out of curiosity.

Our rap artists are such a big rip-off from the US version of rappers. They also dress in loose clothing and they have those big bling on their necks and copy the swaggers of the US rappers, and it looks appalling! They rap in our local language though. Their gangsta swag and look just looks so trying hard!

That's a good observation, and I think it's a good complement. But if you really think about it, it does have a flaw, since the language that you are learning is not your native language to begin with. So to become fluent in it, you really have to work for it. But since some can be quite forgetful, myself included, some do have a better shot a mastering a language because of "genetics".

I used to talk to someone who is pure Chinese and she talks to me at times in Mandarin, so I got curious in learning her language. But after a while, just remembering all those symbols just made me all the more confused, so I ditched learning it.