Dora M

Thank you for refreshing my memory on this subject. I don't think that I make that mistake often, as to me it's all about sentences sounding right. But that obviously comes with years of experience. Even though I have spoken English for half of my life, I am still learning new things about this very useful language.

I have never really had a problem with "your" or "you're". It seems totally logical to me when to use one form or the other. But I see this mistake made so often, even amongst native English speakers. I think some of the posts above contain really good information of how to remember the rules about "you're" and "your".

Thank you for posting this question. I have been asking myself for a long time which way is the correct way. Most of the information that I have found on the internet left me a little confused. I am still not quite sure, I guess both ways are acceptable, and it's only a minor issue.

I have been thinking about increasing my income with some online translation work. Have any of you got any experience with this? I see a lot of places advertised, but wonder at the same time how many of them are scams. Obviously, I don't want to waste my time or energy. Have you got any suggestions?

That's an interesting topic. If chose to change my name into an English word, I would choose "Horizon", "Sunrise", "Summer wind", "Leaf" or "Moonlight". I would definitely want a name that fits my philosophical and poetic nature.

For me it's "women" and "men". So many of my friends whose native language isn't English forever make the same mistake, saying "womans" and "mens", which seems a lot more logical than the unusual pronunciation of "women" and "men".

In my perception "smart" always pertains to being intelligent. If someone dresses "smartly" I associate that with a person being clever about impressing others with his or her particular choice of clothes. Whereas "elegant" has a totally different meaning to me. Elegance to me is something that is already an inherent quality that exists in the person or clothes already.

I think I am overusing commas. I am never quite sure if I use them correctly as I see so many different styles of writing in books. Sometimes the writer hardly uses any commas at all, and I definitely feel that there are some commas missing, whereas other texts are full of commas. Am I imagining this, or are the rules about commas in the English language somewhat relaxed?

Could someone please explain to me when do you say "in their life" and when is it "in their lives"? I am still not 100% sure about it. Thank you.

Have you ever tried learning a language but for some reason just couldn't make any real progress even after weeks or months of study? I mean in terms of remembering grammar and vocabulary and speaking the language? I am asking this because I have a Russian friend who just doesn't seem to grasp proper English, no matter how much I try to teach him. He developed his very own unique language that I call "pseudo-English" back in Russia and is very hard to understand. He wants to be understood, and he makes an effort to learn proper English but always keeps falling back to his own particular style of English.

Yes, I have several friends who speak the language that I am currently learning, and their help can't be underestimated. And not to mention the fun of understanding all their national jokes, or jokes particular to their language. I don't know about going out and befriending people only to be able to converse with them only to improve my own skills. I would want to know about the person and what kind of life they have, and whether we have some common interests.

I love those sites with jokes about common language mistakes. Actually those jokes remain in my head and I learn to never make that same mistake again. Or at least, not that often any more. I find it to be a unique and unorthodox way of teaching. I wish it would be more employed in boring class rooms.

Yes, you are absolutely right. In my own experience, I have also noticed that non-native speakers can teach you about certain "mental crutches" that will help you to better remember grammar and vocabulary rules. But on the other hand, I often found it disadvantageous not to be able to properly pronounce certain words, as non-native teacher usually have thick accents.

To put it bluntly, I would say that some students simply lack imagination. They probably wouldn't be able to write a creative story in their native language either. So why should it be any different in a foreign one?

I feel almost melancholy reading this thread. Cursive writing not being taught anymore in certain countries or schools, is almost unthinkable to me. It is such a wonderful way to convey something special, personal or intimate. How would you write a love note to the most important person in your life? Texting? Facebook? Twitter?

I have been accused of rolling my "R's" too strongly. Especially when I speak Spanish, my friends always make me aware of rolling things a little softer. I guess it has a lot to do with my native German language, where the "R" tends to be very pronounced in most cases.

I have done both, and have no particular preference. Although, in groups, I like there to be no more than 10 people in a classroom, so everyone gets a lot of chances to ask questions. I feel that in big classrooms with 20 or more students, a lot of important things can easily get overlooked. Also, some people are just too shy to speak up in public and it has a negative effect on their studies.

I always had a passion for strange Spanish movies, and that's where I picked up a lot of my vocabulary. Needless to say that I have been the centre of many jokes, since I have an interesting repertoire of phrases and expressions. Blame it on Almodovar!

I don't know about failure, for me it's more the fear of overload. If I take on too much, try to study too hard, or don't give myself enough time to absorb what I am learning, I make silly mistakes and get frustrated. So I try to plan and organise everything carefully.

I think you are doing a great job here. I am still checking out the site. I am currently learning a brand new language and find flash cards very useful. Let me get back to you on this one in a little while, after I checked out everything thoroughly.

I really love Italian and its melodic sound. It's (usually) like music to my ears. I find it romantic and also comforting in many inexplicable ways. My grandfather is from Italy, but for some odd reason, I never got around to learn how to speak Italian properly, although I can understand a lot of it. I would like to go and live in Italy for at least half a year and absorb the Italian mentality and culture, and also the great food and art, while learning the language. But, until that happens, it will take a while...

I like all English accents, and in particular the ones that are prominent around northern England and Scotland. For me it was one thing to learn English at school, and then go to a country where English is the native language. It took me a while to understand and place all the different accents that I encountered. And then , when I moved to Australia, I was often told that my English is just too "neat". I tried to comply by learning how to swear in every other sentence... (Just kidding)

I don't really have any special preference for any language. I like them all, and those that I speak well, I like even better. ;-) I like the melodic sound of Italian and the flowery feeling of English (well, it feels like that to me). German is powerful, while Spanish is fast and pushy. And my list goes on. Basically, I find beauty and fascination in every language.

I like studying languages for the purpose of easy communication with people wherever I go. Even though English has become the most important language worldwide, there are still countries where hardly anyone speaks that language. That's when it comes in handy to be in command of several different languages.

I think it all depends on how interested you are in the language that you have been learning. I studied French several years ago, but never had much opportunity to practice it, hence I forgot a lot of what I learnt. I can still understand about 70% of what I read, but I can't speak French very well. I know that I could relatively easily pick up on it again, but to be honest, I lack the interest as at this stage in my life I have no or very little use for the French language.