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atomiczagnut

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    Spansih, Greek
  • Native tongue
    English
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  1. I think this is perfectly acceptable English. You can already turn any verb into a noun by simply slapping the "-ing" suffix on it. This is called a gerund. Why not turn nouns into adjectives with a "-y" or adverbs with an "-ly". It sounds kinda funny, but this means it be used for great comedic effect. Anyone with a decent grasp of the English language will surely understand your intention. Turning nouns into verbs can be done without even adding a suffix, and that's how a lot of new words are ending up in the dictionary these days. "Google" became "to google" rather quickly, and is now in the OED.
  2. In the case of "single flight", I'd be confused. To me, that could imply a one-way flight, a non-stop flight, or a solo flight depending on the context it was used in. We have those terms already and know what they mean, so one of those terms should be used for clarity. In terms of being corrected, I appreciate it most of the times it happens to me. I read a lot, and I learn a lot of words through reading that I rarely have the opportunity to use in day-to-day conversation. As a result, when I do get a chance to use one of those obscure words in conversation, I sometimes butcher it horribly and somebody corrects me. I thank them and explain to them that I've only ever seen the word written before. The only time I don't like being corrected is when the person correcting is a snob or jerk about it.
  3. Seems like a great idea to me. The asynchronous nature of e-mail would mitigate any problems with schedules and timezones. Partners could respond to each other whenever's convenient for them. As for sustaining interest, you just need to find topics both of you can relate to. I think the easiest one might be simply planning a trip to the native speaker's country. This way you can ask him any questions you have, and he can tell you about local customs, places of interest, and anything else that would be good to know. Plus, when you get there, you'll have a friend waiting for you!
  4. I would definitely say listening is the hardest for me. As others have pointed out, native speakers speak faster than you're used to and tend to run words together. Trying to keep up and translate in my head at the same time is difficult. The trick, according to my high school German teacher, is to stop translating into your native tongue in your head. For example, when someone says "kugelschreiber", instead of thinking "that means pen in English", you should just picture the image of a pen in your mind, like you would if someone had said "pen" to you. Learning how to bypass your internal translator and having your internal monolouge think in the foreign language is the key to acheiving fluency. I'm slightly faster at speaking than I am at listening, though I still speak far more slowly than native speakers. I will also pause a lot to think of a certain word, or just say the word in English if I can't think of the foreign one. Still, sometimes when I'm speaking a foreign language the right words just come out of my mouth, and I'm totally surprised! Reading/writing are the easiest for me, since I can take my time and use a dictionary. This also helps me learn proper grammar, tenses, conjugations, etc. I've noticed when I'm speaking, if I don't know how to say a verb in the proper tense, I'll just default to present tense. It probably makes me sound like an idiot to native speakers, but it gets my point across. When writing, though, I take the time to look it up and make sure I'm saying everything correctly.
  5. I've used books to help learn languages before. Most books will have a pronounciation guide to help you speak correctly. Plus, with a language like Spanish, every letter is pronounced just one way, for the most part, so you can easily figure out how to pronounce a word just by reading it. Of course, if you truly want to master a language, you need to listen to it too. I'll study a book for a little bit, then listen to a tape or watch a movie to hear the language as well. Nothing beats having an actual conversation in the language, though. I learned more Spanish in one week in Mexico than I did studying Spanish for three years in America.
  6. I usually let it slide, but if I hear the same mistake over and over, I'll generally mention something. Earlier tonight, actually, two of my friends were talking about PINs, but they kept saying "PIN number". I tried to bite my tongue, but after the 10th time I had to say "You know that PIN stands for 'personal identification number', right? So, stop saying 'personal identification number number'!" I could tell they were a little annoyed, but I was too.
  7. I'm definitely the kind of person who uses proper spelling and grammar in almost all of my communication, both written and spoken. The one exception is that I often find myself typing "wanna" and "gonna" instead of "want to" or "going to". Of course, being from Chicago, that's how I talk to.
  8. I only use lol if something literally makes me laugh out loud. There's varying degress, though. A small chuckle may warrant a haha, while side-splitting laughter will earn you an ROTFLOL!!! I dislike people who use it in every sentence because it waters down the phrase and makes it meaningless. However, one of my friends pointed out that if he doesn't put enough lols in his messages, people think he's being mean. This probably stems from him overusing it in the first place, but it does bring up a valid point. Emotions are hard to convey via text. I myself use sarcasm a lot, and right before I send a message I'll realize the recipient might think I'm being serious. That's when I'll append a or a jk so people know I'm joking.
  9. I work for a Greek couple that owns an Italian restaurant (kinda strange, I know). Since they talk to each other in Greek, I've kind of picked up a little bit. Combine this with knowing a lot of the Greek roots of English words, as well as the Greek alphabet, and I think I'm well on my way to getting pretty good at Greek. My question is, does anyone know of any really good websites or other resources for learning the Greek language?
  10. I love to cook, so yes, deinitely. Cooking a meal is a great way to get in touch with a culture. I've never tried following a recipie in the language I'm trying to learn. Sounds like a great challenge. Oddly enough, I learned a great deal of the Spanish that I know while working at a Mexican restaurant. As a result, food is one of the main topics I can talk about in Spanish (I'm pretty good at speaking it, but I'm by no means fluent). I also like to order in Spanish when I go to Mexican and Spanish restaurants. Ordering food is a pretty simple conversation, so it's a great way to keep your language skills sharp without getting in over your head.
  11. I have to say that I agree with BWL about Native American languages. I lived near the Navajo reservation for a while and learned enough Navajo to say "hello", but that's about it. It's got a lot of glottal stops and other sounds us native English speakers aren't really used to. I can see why America used it as a code during WWII. I've also heard that English can be very difficult to learn for a non-native speaker. Though it's my native tongue, I can sort of see why. There's so many exceptions to the rules and it's not clear how certain words should be pronounced. Look at the letter combination "ough", and how it's pronounced in words like "though", "through", "thought", and "rough". What's the rule for that?
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