angelicagapit

I'm from the country of the Philippines and English is actually very used here, contrary to Japan.

I do believe English is becoming a worldwide language that will spoken by every country in the near future. Globalization has already taken its toll, and since English is the universal language, it just takes time for it to fully kick in.

I was born and raised in the States, but then around 5 years ago, I moved to the Philippines.

I was put in a high school where everyone practically spoke Filipino and they were culture shocked when I would speak to them in English. I understood Filipino fairly well, so I allowed them to talk to me in Filipino, but I had to respond in English.

However, the fact that most of my day was filled with the Filipino language made me kind of "lose" my English skills as well.

Fortunately, now I'm in a college where everyone pretty much communicates in English, so I pretty much got my English skills back.

Sometimes I have to speak literally in order for people to understand what I'm saying. It's frustrating at times when they look at me confused and say, "What are you talking about?" but I have to deal with the fact that some people aren't smart (Okay, that's kind of mean of me to say :shy:)

So most of the time, I speak in a literal sense!

I haven't done this before, but maybe you can play charades or "act it out" to learn a language!

The person must either guess the translations of words or phrases. Though charades is a common game, it's one to love by everyone.

Good luck playing!

I honestly don't have much of a problem with this most of the time. What I do have a problem with is actually "lose" and "loose". Even when someone corrects me every time I make this mistake, I still make the same mistake the next time.

I can never really get that instilled in my head. Hopefully I get used to using those words in its correct sense.

Nice thread.

In my opinion, I think Mandarin and French are the hardest languages, but who knows? There are probably many languages that I haven't even heard of, but from the ones I know, it's Mandarin and French.

They seem to be so complex, and I'd really have difficulty attending these kinds of language classes.

Good question!

I don't even remember the last time I checked a dictionary. If I need help with understanding a word or a phrase, I either use context clues in the sentence to help me figure it out. Most of the time I just ask a friend what the word or phrase means.

I'm a student, so to give you my certain perspective about this, I would definitely enjoy learning English on a field trip. Try taking your students out of the classroom so their excitement in learning would be stronger than usual.

Another way to motivate your students is to create a game for your students to play.

Good luck!

Try creating an English game!

It would make the class fun for your students and they would be happy to participate.

I hope my suggestion works.

I have no idea if they still teach cursive writing in the lower grades in my country, but I'm sure they do. Cursive is a big part of writing and the practice, I believe, cannot just vanish out of nowhere.

I write in cursive very often. It's faster to get things written down and I believe I have very nice cursive handwriting

I honestly think it takes practice to write creatively. People have to strengthen their imagination and creativity because that's very important when it comes to writing.

A lack of creativity can make your writing seem mediocre and not unique at all.

The ability to write creatively doesn't come overnight, but my opinion is that it just takes practice.

You should put in your book what characters you feel would fit the part of the book. It doesn't matter what race you are. If an African American fits the part, then he should get the part, whether the writer of the book is white or not.

The color of the writer's skin shouldn't affect the way he rights. Having it affect the way you write would not only limit your writing potential, it also seems a bit racist, in my opinion.

Thank you for the link, Laura. The Catcher in the Rye is one of my all-time favourite books, but I never picked up anything else by Salinger. Will try to find the time to read these stories.

The Catcher in the Rye will always be a favorite of mine. It is often being compared to The Perks of Being a Wallflower, but that book caters to more of the younger generations.

The Catcher in the Rye will always be a classic for the generations to come, so I will have a strong respect for that book until the end.

I also haven't read any other book by JD Salinger.

To be honest, I've only read from Emily Bronte. I read Wuthering Heights back when I was in high school and I found it absolutely breathtaking. Her use of words are perfect in every line and her story is so beautifully arranged.

I wouldn't say Emily is better, but I would say she has an extreme amount of talent that seems very unbeatable.

I think the best way to get the perfect translation is by asking your friends, or discussion forums like here. If you're lucky, you'll find a teacher that you can become friends with online and ask him or her via Skype or voice. This way, you'll get the correct grammar and the right translation.

Google translator isn't reliable and it's only basic as far as translations go.

I definitely agree with you. Forums like these are extremely helpful. You simply start a new thread, and people are willing to translate for you.

Google translate doesn't translate each word sometimes and I'm left off still not understanding a certain phrase in a different language.

I'm thankful I found this site.

It depends on who made the English translations. I know that some languages are very  difficult to translate, and maybe there are even some words that don't have an English translation!

I actually find it quite funny when watching a movie of my second language, and seeing that the translation is incorrect.

I haven't read the book, but I've seen the trailer. This is the movie featuring Shailene Woodley, am I right?

And yes, I completely agree with you when you say that it is compared to "The Hunger Games." The plot seems extremely interesting and I would definitely watch the movie. I would also like to know if it is good enough to be recommended, because if it is, I'd purchase one.

That's a very good question. Our world is already quite civilized, so I don't think a completely new language will appear out of no where.

However, I do believe that languages alter through the ages, so possible a new language could be the an altered version of a current language that we know of today.

There are many possible ways to invest your money because there are a wide range of people that would spend money differently to buy things of their preference. I know alot of people out there who want to learn a new language and they find tutors and vocal mentors to hire.

I definitely think learning a new language is an investment. It's also a plus because, well, you get to learn a new language!

I was born and raised in California, but I moved to the Philippines about 6 years ago.

My Filipino friends told me that when I was fresh in the country, I had a strong Californian accent, and now my accent has turned a bit neutral. It doesn't sound like an accent at all. It just sounds neutral.

I don't even know what that means, but I got those words from them.

My first word was the typical "Momma."

However, my friend's first word was actually "aluminum" which is pretty ridiculous. It's a very funny story.

At first, I wasn't much of a good reader at all. I was slow and slightly dyslexic, but now I'm actually pretty fast.

My exercise into becoming a fast leader was to always speak. I told myself to never stutter and never leave any spaces in between my words. Try to read smoothly and in an easy pace.

Don't laugh at me, but I'm going to recommend a children's book series.

I don't actually consider it a children's series, but that's what they label it. It's called A Series of Unfortunate Events.

The  story line and characters are more mature than you think. It's a 12-book series about 3 orphans who try to escape their evil pretend "uncle."

Throughout the series, they deal with terrible and miserable things daily, yet they never lost hope. It's inspiring for me and its dark humor is a plus.

The Game of Thrones book series is a great one to recommend for an advanced English speaker. I haven't read the books, I've only watched the show, but I hear great things about the books. At the same time, I also hear that it's hard to understand.

It deals with many characters, many individual story lines, and each chapter gets even more interesting.

Think of reading as a way of learning! It's true, actually. Reading allows you to gain wisdom, to become more creative, to see things with different perspectives, and most importantly, it makes you more open-minded.

There are a great amount of benefits from reading books. I suggest you read about something you're interested in. Look it up online, read some plots about certain books, and if the ratings and reviews are positive, then try picking that book up from your local library.

I hope my suggestion helped.