katara

I prefer the American (New York) accent because it is simple and easy to understand.

I don't know why but when I was a kid I just could not spell the words "definitely" and "probably".

Yeah it has happened to me several times. It is some sort of a game that we play in my family, we ask each other to translate parts of a movie in English or French without watching. It is pretty fun

I never tried to translate a poem but I can understand why it is a difficult task to do. In one language the poem may sound perfect and in another not so much. You just have to find the right balance.

It surely is not perfect and sometimes you get awkward results from the translation, but it is free and even this translation is better than nothing.

A Christmas Carol and Oliver Twist are by far my favorite ones. Too many happy childhood memories

I don't read much, but the Lord of the Rings books are something I will never forget.

You can understand that by the way they look at you and their body language.

"Bark up the wrong tree" is an expression that used to confuse me when I was a kid.

"A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingeunity of complete fools." Douglas Adams

I don't think I would ever forget my native language. I won't as long as my family and friends speak this language.

I do consider myself religious, but to be honest I don't believe every single thing I read in the Bible. There is no archeological proof of a common universal language. I can't imagine how people living in Middle East spoke the same language with people living in America for example.

I never heard anything similar to this one. I don't know much about it only what I've read or the true intentions behind such a bold move, but it looks like it is heading towards a positive direction.

Where I live we start learning our first foreign language which is English in elementary school. In middle school you have to pick your second foreign language which is a choice between French and German.

It is "καλά χριστούγεννα" in Greek. Kala Hristugenna using the Latin alphabet

Really useful, I didn't even know such a site existed, thanks for sharing the link.

Conflate and elixir are two words among a few others that sound really beautiful to me.

I still keep learning new words every single day by reading. As for maintaining the vocabulary I have already learned, that is simply done every time I see a word that I don't seem to remember I go back and read it again.

Really nice tips, but the only method that seems to be working with me is repeating and writting the word over and over again.

I have to admit that giraffe sounds quite funny to me

You are absolutely right. English and Spanish are widely spoken due to the fact that their ex colonies still speak their language. As for China, 1.350.000.000 people is more than enough to be in that list.

I remember having a pen pal was popular quite a few years ago... and then internet came into our lives. I wouldn't say no having a pen pal again though.

I wouldn't say I use proper English when talking or texting to friends and that is only because I feel confortable when I am with them and don't have the time to worry about grammar or the vocabulary.

There are so many movies I really like, but the first one that comes to mind is Harry Potter.

Although most of the people already can speak English one way or another I'm not quite sure things will remain the same in the future. I'm not convinced a universal language is such a great idea as I prefer diversity.