karean

That idiom doesn't have a definite origin but there are a lot of speculations about the phrase. There's one version which proposes that it came during the 17th century when the houses were made of thatched roofs. To keep warm, pets like cats and dogs supposedly warmed themselves up on the roof. When it suddenly rains hard, the roof becomes slippery, the animals lose foothold, and they fall through the roof and into the house hence the term "it's raining cats and dogs."

Oh! That's exactly what I mean. I thought I saw it before but I skipped it this time. Can you add a subcategory for media as a means of real world practice that would be easy for beginner writers. It's hard to search for those over the internet. THANKS!

Distractions really come in many forms especially when you have to focus on a task. To counteract that, I heard that when you set up a ritual as well as a specific time of day to do your studying, you train your brain to focus faster on your learning and keep that attention longer. Personally, I do a simple routine after watching TV after supper. I bathe. That's about it. I take a bath and then go to my study corner and start learning French.

Is there, or could there be, a resources page for us members of the forum? It would really be helpful if there was a page or a subforum where links could be posted to direct language users to easy to read materials and audio of the language we can learn. Or perhaps linguaholic itself could host these materials. This may be separate from the tutorials that we see posted as threads in the respective language subforums.

I still am under the impression that the Greek plural octopodes is not used in the English language. Your argument is useful in debunking the wrong pluralization that is "octopi" although this quirky plural form is a favorite. Octopuses should be the English plural of octopus.

I can't imagine taking on learning more than one language at a time. Would it be easier to learn two languages that are similar with each other like French and Italian at the same time or would it be confusing? Should you learn two completely different languages then? Now I'm curious about this topic. If it were in a formal learning setting, then it's definitely feasible but average self-learning people like me probably should stick and focus on one at a time.

That's one way of describing the relational difference between the three. However, when you define them separately without the context of a connection between each other, you will find a more fundamental difference. To abet is to encourage a wrongdoing (i.e. a crime in particular as in "aiding and abetting"). To enable is to provide the ability to do something such as delegating authority. To incite is to stir up violent behavior which are usually unlawful in nature. As you can see, you cannot use these three words interchangeably for they have very different contextual meanings.

It is for me since Filipino and English have similar syntax and grammar. It is one of the bigger influence of our national language after all, at par with Spanish. Most of the time, it's only a matter of translating almost word for word.

I could empathize with this sentiment as I've also started learning the English language at an early age and despite that advantage, I still have difficulty recalling grammatical terms, rules, restrictions, and exceptions. I also tend to depend on my ear when using the language when my statements sound right. It's not a perfect method but it lets me carry on fine.

I guess the dynamics of language is at work there. Personally, I'm not bothered at all, especially if you engage in casual talk. But I guess your exposure to hearing those affects your tolerance. I hear it a lot because of my teenage sisters and it's often expressed on TV. Sometimes I even find myself saying them!

The first thing that popped in my mind is "online language penpal". But I agree, it does seem difficult maintaining both party's interests in the exchange if you only try to find it randomly on Yahoo Answers and similar sources. I think the language exchange forum is a great solution for this.

I agree, it's listening that takes a while to learn. I think it's because we have trained through our formal education to learn through reading and writing most often that it is considered both a life skill and a formally learned skill.

It's true that every aspect of learning a language gets easier when you immerse yourself in the culture. However, I think that reading and writing may not be as enhanced because accessing different materials can easily be accessed over the internet. I personally can't think of the added value when you go to the place in these aspects.

The primary reason why I wanted to learn foreign languages is because I want to watch movies in their raw/undubbed form and I also want to read books and publications written in their original language. There is always something lost in translation which I believe takes away, even if it is just a little, from the original. Of course, when I say I want to learn a language, I believe that learning about the culture is integral to it.

In relation to my provincial accent, other Filipinos are surprised that I don't have our strong local accent. I still am yet to receive such a comment from foreigners but that's probably because I've only interacted with a few so far. If I were to guess, although accents aren't supposed to be detected by the speaker himself, I would say that I have the typical Filipino accent.