Rosa

Welcome to Linguaholic. I have always admired things about Italy, like their ancient buildings and foods and dream of one day traveling there to experience it firsthand. Linguaholic is certainly a great forum to meet people who love language and I do hope that your dream of going to Italy will also come true .

When I finally can speak Spanish fluently I'd be able to talk to my daughter without reservations . Also, I have a friend that has excelled in Spanish and is now a teacher, we could finally correspond in Spanish. Over all I would have gained my bragging rights.

I have always liked to hear children with names such as Asia and Africa but I always wondered if it would have the same beautiful sound when the child becomes an adult. I do like my name and have no plans on changing it but there are still a few words that I think would suit me for names such as Serenity, Bliss and Unique.

I would suggest you keep a small note pad close to you at all times or save information you'll need later on your phone. I really couldn't say either whether it is good or bad for you but I would lean more to the bad. You see, those inks weren't made for the skin so it may likely cause problems later.

I find mimicking accents quite amusing. We do it a lot here, especially in our cultural scenes. I especially like to do Nigerian and I like to hear British. I think it's just a lot of humor but as you say, if it's only for fun and not hate.

I don't really have any pet peeve but there are certainly words that does annoy me. For example some slang used by our locals. Some of them are zeen, instead of seen and instead of saying hey or hello to get someones attention they'll say yow. One word that might be familiar to many is the word dawg, it also annoys me.

I live in Jamaica. I think the most beautiful building in my town is the Rosehall Great House, named after the wife of George Ash. It sits high on a hill overlooking the coast and was built in the style of a Georgian mansion. The great House was inherited in the 1800's by an English family. A family member had a wife named Anne who has been rumored to have used black magic to kill multiple husbands and lovers. It is said that people still experience her ghost when they visit the Great House.

Another one I recall is "birds of a feather, flock together." This means that people of like minds or with the same motive always hang out together. I find that I always have to use it whenever I remind young people to stay out of trouble or I see them hanging out with the wrong crowd.

I don't often use a dictionary but whenever I do it is hardly ever for finding word meaning. Whenever I am reading and I come across a new word I automatically know the meaning by the context of the sentence. If I am on the computer and I need to check out a word then I also don't need my dictionary, I just use the computer.

Well Humbleman, being Jamaican, mi andastand everting yu a try seh . Jamaican Creole is such a unique language and I love that. I should also add that although the two major languages that the jamaican Creole is derived from are African and English, others such as Spanish, French and Irish do make up the language too.

I love the new smileys and page layout, they're great . The only problems I face is that not all the smiley names appear before you click on them and I would have liked to see all the postings that I have done tagged in a way that I can see them first hand and not have to go back all the time to make sure that I did not respond to a thread before.

I have never thought of learning a new language affecting me in that way. I do understand what you mean though. It can be quite intimidating for those around you who are not as fluent as you are and also the same for you if you are among people who are more fluent than you are. However, you should not let that discourage you from reaching your goals in learning a new language. My advice is go ahead, learn Spanish and see where the road takes you .

I never thought of learning a new language as an investment. I really learnt because it was taught to me without a choice. I however, liked it and as an adult now have no regret so I continue to study on my own. I realize that it can be beneficial in many ways too.

Sign language is a means of communicating with others so I do consider it another language. If this language was not developed many hearing impaired would be left behind in the world of communication. Sign language is not only used by the hearing impaired but many people including myself do find it an interesting way to communicate even with others who do not have a hearing problem .

I too use the word "however" quite often. I most times use it in the form that takes on the comma. I do know that it is grammatically correct to use it in the other ways too. I have never been corrected in English Language class for using it and since I do use them often my conclusion is that it is perfectly right to be used in any of the ways.

It is interesting to know that English actually sounds the same to non-English speakers as strange languages would sound to an English speaker. I however, believe that the accent in which the English is spoken has a lot to do with the indistinctiveness. There are countries that speak the English language with much less accent and it is much more clearer. You are able to hear the correct sound of each letter perfectly. Unlike hearing letter "T" sounding like "D" and letter "A" sounding like letter "O".

The important words don't bother me at all. They are words that I use also and I have seen them been used quite often now a days. On the other hand, the unimportant words do seem a bit disturbing to me. I think it was a perfect split between both list. I have never even ever heard of them before. Just one word seems familiar and it is artisanal, if it comes from the word artisan.

I have always thought that Canadians and Americans sounded alike. I could never distinctively say whether one person is American or Canadian. This has come as news to me, learning that they both have a different accent. Next time i'll pay closer attention to both when they speak.

Yes, the form with "u" is generally used in Europe and other countries that were under English rule. Here in Jamaica we still use that form although we are an independent country. If I am doing a business or school paper I wouldn't have a choice because that is what we were taught to use in school. However, I do spell words without the "U" on other occasion.

Jamaican Creole is a language made up of other languages, such as Spanish, French and mostly English. To say happy thanksgiving in Jamaican Creole it would be, appy tanksgivin, not much different from saying it in English.

Having fun learning a language does make it easier to learn the language. Putting words on colorful flashcards or making pictures of things is a good way too. Watching TV programs that are funny in the language you are learning or cartoons should be interesting to learn from too.

I don't think learning a different dialect should be difficult if both dialects are spoken within the same country. In Jamaica, everyone speak Jamaican creole but each parish dialect is a little different. I think it would be quite easy for me to learn another dialect here but it may differ in other places.

I think that having a dictionary with you is a good thing, especially if it is a pocket size one. I mean, you may not have a phone to research what you need to know or something could go wrong with the one you have. A dictionary would be much better than having to ask someone to translate all the time.

It is my opinion that a person can be fluent by learning only 1,000 words. I consider 1,000 words to be a lot so it should be enough to communicate with in a decent way. I speak English and quite often I come across a new word that I have to try to remember and study it's meaning so the number of words would naturally go up continually.

Jamaican Creole is not a language that is written frequently by our natives unless it is something formal for cultural purpose or more recently for informal texting. I am therefore much more comfortable writing in English since it is the language that I was taught to write in at school and all my writing in my native language was self taught.