Rosa

My native language is English and I do speak a mix of it and Spanish all the time. I really do this unofficially though, just to have fun with my daughter. She is more fluent in Spanish than I am and so if I forget a word while speaking with her instead of asking her I just mix both languages and we get to laugh about :grin:.

I have often heard people say that they can speak three or four different languages and it makes me wonder if they have a good reason for it. If you learn these languages in order to use them on a regular basis or you'll have need to use them at some point in time then that is alright. However, if the only reason is obsession, then I think anything over five is too much.

I don't think that there is much difference between elegant and smart. However, I would not use them interchangeably. I see elegant as a word I would use to describe a female's fashionable look. Smart, I would use to describe a males way of dressing but I still wouldn't see it as being wrong to describe a female either.

The way you explained it is perfect. I don't think it could be done any simpler. Great tip for those learning English language as a new language and for English natives who may have had problem with the usage.

I mastered the rolling r's in Spanish by practicing a lot. I remember my sister who did Spanish before, assisting me many times. I would look carefully at how she placed her tongue and practiced that until I got it.

I do agree that having a pen pal is a great way to learn a new language. When I was in high school I had a pen pal from Germany. We both learnt a little from each other but at that time I didn't think of learning the language so what I learnt was minimal.

I agree that being a tour guide is a good way to learn a language. I once met a native English that spoke fluent German. He was proud to announce that he learnt the language completely on the job. Working as a travel agent or a receptionist in a hotel could also be beneficial to learning a language.

I am not one to swear but I have heard a couple in other languages and I doubt any would surpass my second language. Jamaican Creole to me is most suitable for swearing. There are some quite impressive expressions in that language which can be both very disturbing and disgusting.

How unfortunate for these companies. I guess somebody didn't do their homework. I wonder who got the blame.

I believe that the reason for some people not being able to learn a second language is because it has to do with the mind. If someone has a willingness to learn a second language and put their mind to it they will definitely succeed.

This kind of error in pronouncing often takes place with children or adults when using words that are of foreign origin. I was in the US and witnessed a foreigner reading the sign on the door to the deli. Instead of saying bagel, she pronounced the word ba-jel. another word I heard pronounced incorrectly recently was peking (peeking) which the person called pecking.

Loss of words does happen to the best of us. Not only has it happen to me, I have also been embarrassed because of it. To be questioned by a little kid and find that the answer just isn't coming is actually a shameful thing :speechless:.

I guess I have a strong immunity system as Seddik said. My experiences mainly come from listening to the preachers in church. Some are quick to correct themselves while others don't even know they made a mistake. In any way it's just funny .

Dialect is definitely different from language. Language is a specialized way in which a group of people communicate and this does not have to be by speech only. It could also be by sounds or symbols.A dialect is the characteristic speech of a district. Meaning, smaller groups within a bigger group speaking differently.

I do prefer to use simple vocabulary when I speak. It is best, so that I don't have to be clarifying all the time. Complex, I only use when I am in a more formal setting.

My favorite English book is one that I have read a long time ago, To kill Mockingbird by Harper Lee. It has alot of life's lessons. Including, how peolpe can perceive others and the level at which injustice can prevail in our society.

My favorite American authors are Harper Lee and Mark Twain. Their style of writing is just captivating and the stories send your thoughts way back into yester-years.

The books I would encouage you to read are books that I have read when I was much younger. They do give an example of the world we live in.They are To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, A House for Mr. Biswas by V. S. Naipaul and George Eliot's Silas Marner. Hope you will enjoy them as much as I did.

The first English novel I read was A House for Mr. Biswas by V. S. Naipaul. Created within a caribbean setting , it was sort of close to home and very enlightening .I don't remember all the details but I hope to read it again someday.

I do find non-fictionals to be quite interesting and motivating.Most of the fictions I read are abit on the spooky side so there isn't anything much to learn from them. My most pleasant non-fictions are by John Maxwell and Robert Kiyosaki.

A good writer will write very long sentences but at the same time manage to avoid grammatical errors. My advise to you would be to complete what you are writing then go back through it and eliminate the least necessary words and phrases or make each long sentence into a few small sentence.

My preference would be lyrics. Poetry is sometimes boring because it may be too lenghthy for me or doesn't have a good flow. With lyrics, it's quite the opposite. The rhythm is attractive and impressive.

A great story for me is one that gets straight to the point and has good flow from start to end.

So often I have people around me who just seem eager and miserable and I will say to them "patience is a virtue'.This line speaks to me all the time .

Words that catch my attention in titles and make me feel like reading more are competition, dramatical and new. I just have to read to find out what it's all about.