trenchant

Wow, I'd completely forgotten about that word, "cheque." I've never actually used the word myself, nor have I heard anyone use it, either. What's the difference between the two words?

I would be mildly comfortable with teaching it; I think as long as I give myself a brief overview of certain grammar terms again before teaching, I'll be able to handle everything quite well. My grammar isn't perfect, but it's certainly better than almost everyone I know.

Like the others in the thread have already said, I don't think a person can ever possibly be "done" learning a language. However, if you're asking about when a person can safely consider themselves proficient, then I'd say as long as you can hold a basic conversation with a native speaker of that language, and be able to understand 70% of the words you'd see in a normal, general piece of writing, you can safely consider yourself proficient.

Speaking is definitely the most difficult; I'm constantly worrying about whether I've horribly screwed something up pronunciation-wise, which could be disastrous when dealing with a language like Mandarin, for example.

I'm going to join the "watched anime so much I started learning Japanese" train, here. In general, watching one or two films in a different language you aren't familiar isn't going to help you a whole lot; in my experience, you only really begin to pick up words and understand the language if you watch a lot of films or TV shows. Repetition is always nice, as well. I would say that watching films is a great supplement to learning a language, though. It's nice being able to listen and realize you can actually understand what people are saying.

My friend is a huge fan of The Lord of the Rings, and both she and her sister have memorized the Elvish language. I think it's super neat - they write notes back and forth to each other in Elvish all the time. I don't have enough dedication for that, but conlangs always fascinate me.

I stress out a lot before an exam, but once the day of the actual exam rolls around I feel pretty calm. I guess it's because by then, I've already done all I can to prepare: the rest is just simply a matter of applying my knowledge and answering the questions.

Obsolete words are my favorite! One of my favorite words to insult people with is "drazel," meaning a wench or vagabond.

I don't get annoyed; I simply view them as less intelligent. With instant messaging, shortened words are more acceptable, but if it's in an email I will usually expect proper grammar and spelling. Even text messages are a little iffy, in my opinion, but it's expected there so I don't get too irritated about that.

A universal language would make communication significantly easier, but I actually think only having "one language" would be impossible - people feel a need to create more private means of communication, and I believe that new, more privately community-based languages would soon begin to form. It would likely start out with area-specific slang terms, and evolve from there. There have already been cases of this happening with the English language, for example, to a point where the casual passerby wouldn't be able to comprehend almost any of it.

Correct grammar is almost vital to me. It really grates on my nerves whenever I see someone using incorrect grammar, especially when I know that person is a native speaker of said language. The same applies to spelling, as well. The most recent cringe-worthy case I can think of at the moment is when I caught someone trying to say the word "albeit," but instead said "all be it."

I've only read the first book so far, though I've placed holds on the other books at the library and will read them once I have the opportunity to do so. I wasn't a fan of the first one too much, though. I felt the romance seemed forced into the plot, and the pacing was terrible - almost all of the important plot elements were mashed together at the end. It's an interesting read, sure, but I wouldn't call it my favorite.

I'm certain that everyone has an accent, no matter where you live. Actually, even my friend who lives barely three hours away from my location claims that I have an accent, despite me not being able to tell any difference between my speech and hers, haha. I find accents fascinating. It's quite neat listening to them.

It really depends on the specific friend I'm speaking with at the moment. Most of the time, I use correct grammar, but it tends to fall when speaking to certain people - usually friends that frequent websites like Tumblr.

I would consider myself a fast reader. I read at a speed of about 1000 words per minute, typically. This skill has been a saving grace, many times. I know it definitely comes in handy on tests where a lot of reading is required! Even if I tried, I don't think I'd be able to slow myself down very much; this is simply my natural and most comfortable reading speed.

Actually, I don't use "LOL" at all when speaking with friends. Either that, or I only use it in a sarcastic manner. I certainly over use other things, though, such as smileys and emoticons. Instead of acronyms, I tend to express my laughter through "AHAHAHA" types of phrases.

As others have said before, I don't consider English to be a "backward" language. Perhaps in comparison to other specific languages, but in general it's fairly natural for the adjective to come before the noun. Chinese has a similar structure in regards to the placement of grammatical pieces.

Google Translate is useful for understand a quick overview or general idea of a piece of text, and occasionally it will be useful for translating a single word as well. However, in my opinion, it's better and more accurate to go directly to a website specifically geared towards that one language in order to get the best translation of a single word.

Yes! This actually happens to me all the time, and this problem only gets worse the more languages I learn. :cry: Especially when I'm speaking English - often, there is a specific word or feeling I'll be trying to express, but I end up blurting out a word in Chinese instead because I can't think of the English equivalent. In addition, learning Spanish messed up my English spelling skill pretty badly, since a few words look quite similar in the two languages. I'll never be certain how to spell "professor" the right way now, for example.

I grew up in a bilingual family, since my family is Chinese and I live in the United States. I consider myself blessed to have grown up in a bilingual family; learning Chinese would be almost impossible for me had I not grown up knowing it. I began learning Spanish halfway through Elementary School, and continued lessons up until my final year in High School.

In every language I've tried to learn, it's always been speaking that's the hardest for me to master. When writing, you have ample time to think about conjugations and edit mistakes to your heart's content, but everything must be thought up on the fly when speaking. Of course, I also think it's speaking that helps a person most effectively master a language, since you're training your brain to think in that language instinctively.