Lin

Do you love reading? Do you think that only persons who love to read do well in English exams and challenges? I know a few people who do remarkably well in writing and speaking English, yet they are not avid readers. I love to read though. It's what accounts for my success with the language so far.

I think almost all words roll off my tongue naturally. I just have problems saying a few words that are somewhat convoluted. For example, methodological. :cry:

I can attest to this my friend. I myself am not a native American. Yet, I find it so easy to mi-mick Americans and even British citizens. It's really the television watching that I engaged in from my childhood, that has really contributed to this. Thank God for telecommunications technology and media.

I am a fan of eBooks in the sense that I can actually write and publish my own; earning from it at my disposal. Being a fairly good writer, I like the eBook idea. I tend to worry about using my tablet to read books though, when the traditional book would not require me using up any battery power. lol :grin:

Well, my take is simply that I if there are alternatives to anything that work out to be more cost-effective, why not use them? I don't have e-readers either. I think my windows 8 tablet is good enough to do the job.

Yea...so I still see people getting miracles and all of a sudden speaking.It happens regularly in my region. I am wondering though, have you heard any news concerning any new advancements in technology to enable dumb persons to express themselves through their brains being connected to a computer machine? It sounds weird, but I know scientists have to think weird in order to invent. lol :grin:

I agree with most of what you said. Language is looked at as the aggregate, while dialect is simply one of the units in the language. It has it's own variations, but it is still a derivative. :emo:

Yea, it is difficult to garner the resources, but something has to be done. If it's even to get a small group of native speakers who live within your mother country, and ask them to gather themselves together at a particular meeting place where you would bring your students to interact with them. Yes, this again will require money for paying the speakers and transporting the students, etc. But it is worth it.

That is so....true. It's bad though. Students always seem to have to be prompted or coerced. I don't like this. What may work though, is hooking up the boys with native girl speakers, and the girls with native boy speakers. Attraction and chemistry will do the rest.

Definitely...compulsory....mandatory...have to do it. I firmly believe the above statement. In order for students to excel and remember what they learn, they have to interact and have hands-on experience in the field of study. Language is learnt through interaction, so...let the students interact on field trips with native speakers.

I know it's harder for adults to learn a foreign language, but it's even harder for them to loose that language once they have learnt it. It really depends on the depth of one's experience with the language over weeks, months, and years, and also on one's memory capacity. A mere accident can delete all of one's language knowledge. I do believe however that once we've gotten a good grasp of a language, even after we haven't spoken it for a long while, we will recall the language once we go back into the environment where we interact with native speakers.

Have you every met upon anything in particular that makes you frustrated when learning languages? :frozen:For me, it is my inability to understand the spoken words in the particular foreign language (especially when it is spoken fast). I find it much easier to read and understand, than to listen and understand. What about you?

I have heard of these cases. I even practice telepathy (Lol)...only in meditation to God. I would say that it is a language since it involves symbols, modes and mediums of communicating in a way in which individuals understand each other. :angel:

They may never know that you are disrespecting them depending on how you do it, and the cleverness of your friends' responses to what you say. You can keep it as your little secret, but then again it's not nice to be insolent; for I wouldn't want someone to do the same thing to me. :confused: Confusion is sometimes caused by ignorance. But the confused doesn't necessarily have to worry himself; for what he doesn't know can't hurt him. It only helps you to have a little laugh and a little internal contentment for a moment. Then that's it. If you're brave enough, speak your mind understandably.

I speak English as a native language, even though it really isn't; but my country tries to incorporate it as one in the school curriculum. I find that I grasp it easier than the Spanish I am currently studying; but this can only be due to the fact that I see and hear it around me everyday. I was taught that Spanish is a more simplistic language however, and I find that it isn't hard to grasp either.

I believe you have answered your own question a bit. You said your son is really like a little sponge with it. There are just some individuals who are very proficient with learning languages, like myself. Some persons' brains are just made for it. What is even more, is that the earlier one begins to learn is the better one will be with the language as one proceeds in life. Therefore, your husband and his side of the family should not be complaining, but rather rejoicing. They've got a little treasure in their family and they should keep it. Good choice, and good job.

Ok. Thanks for the brief etymology. Now I can see the connection. So, if I say that I have swag in Scotland, it's just relating to the way I walk. You know...I would really want to find out who was the first American to adapt this misinterpretation/catchphrase and spread it like wild fire?

I don't use this word excessively, even though it seems to be on everybody's tongues nowadays. I didn't even know that it was in the dictionary. You just saved me the trouble of looking through the lexicon myself (thank you). So it actually means a bunch of flowers or stolen goods, and yet people are using it to mean that they've got "style"...? It just doesn't connect!

I read fast, but not as fast as some of my fellow comrades. I have some friends who would be like swinging their heads from left to right in a downward direction as they sweep through the pages of a novel. Some of them even finish reading 500 page :nerd: novels in a single day. I think I can take about one day to finish a 200 page novel.

I can't say I've really had a personal experience of someone trying to disrespect me in their native tongue and I found out. Yes, I do speak a little Spanish, but I've never been disrespected by any "Spaniards"...lol :grin: Do you mind sharing your experiences?

I think people just have to try to be more open-minded and understanding. It's really human tendency to run ahead and judge a matter without looking into the facts. I guess that's why we have tour guides, because they know how to better deal with the tourists who may seemingly sound rude in asking questions, but are actually naive in speaking the native tongue of the country that they are visiting. :wink:

Well, I believe I have no problem with the language I am learning...except that it's hard sometimes to recognize or pick out the particular words that a native speaker may be speaking. I can pretty much do anything in and with the language. But the pronunciations or accents of the natives give me a challenge.

I find it more interesting because I love this new foreign language. There's an inborn passion to learn Spanish. So, I can't help it. No disrespect to my mother tongue of course. I love English. I read lots of novels to prep up on my English, but Spanish is the love of my life. :grin:

You know...you make a good point here pal. Even with my native language, I still find that if I really want to improve on it, I have to do more writing. Believe me, it works. I believe writing causes you to think even deeper than how you would when reading. Well, at least that's the case with me.

I think you have good hearing and memory...me...on the other hand... :grin: Well, if I hear Spanish, I'll recognize it, cause that's what I'm studying. I may recognize french as well; however, that's just about it.