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I don't mind returning to school if I'm to learn a new language. Though a self-study/review helps, you can only learn so much. It is way different if you are part of a learning institution, complete with competent faculty and up-to-date teaching materials and resource modules. Unfortunately, time and money is a luxury I don't have, therefore learning a new language would be difficult given the circumstances.

I study language for personal and work reasons. Though I'm already proficient in the English language, I am still halfway towards mastering it. I'm also orally translating my favorite movies from English to the vernacular and vice versa. Earlier I attended a special tutorial class in English to brush up on my language skills, and so far my tutor was more than impressed. However, I'm still very far from perfect, so if I think that I'm not yet well-versed in English, I will strive to improve myself.

The idiom jump on the bandwagon now means to go along with the trend. It traces its origins to the Wild West era where people lived in isolated areas and the only way they can get to faraway towns is to ride on the earliest available bandwagon that will take them to their destination. Actually, I got these idioms from a language reviewer I just purchased online. Also, another idiom on my mind is rob Peter to pay Paul, which in present times now refers to the infamous Ponzi scheme. The etymology of this idiom is religious in origin as it refers to payment of St. Paul's Church taxes at the expense of funds belonging to St. Peter's Church.

The Japanese have a certain affinity for U.S. news, as well as curiosity as to what is going on in the U.S. mainland. That is why they learn a great deal of English.

I'm an avid listener of J-music artists as well as an anime and tokusatsu fan. In addition, one of my favorite Japanese language films is Battle Royale II, as well as certain Western films which involve Japan, such as You Only Live Twice and The Last Samurai. In the end, all I really wanted was just to learn another language.

You are given five to six sentences which you have to organize into a single paragraph. You will be asked in which order of sentences is the most logical and coherent, which should be the first sentence, the second, third, and so on. This is one of the trickiest questions ever, even moreso than other language proficiency questions such as reading comprehension. Has anyone encountered these types of questions?

I can't remember the last time I ever carried a dictionary. There are quite a number of dictionaries that I browsed through, from a pocket dictionary to an unabridged one. Some dictionaries carried a thesaurus within its pages. There was one dictionary which I once browsed that did not carry proper nouns. Whenever I had difficulty finding the meaning of a certain word, I consult the dictionary, but only after I had guessed the meaning of the said word.

I no longer correct people's grammar or spelling mistakes because I already know the message they are conveying. People are more interested in hearing the overall message than grammar or spelling issues. For instance, in press conferences, the speaker conveys certain information to the press without any regard for basic grammar or spelling issues, as they have already sorted these out during the pre-conference phase. Even as much as they want to make their speeches error-free, time is something that they don't have. However, in certain ceremonies such as graduation rites or public speaking, grammar and spelling are very critical. From the speaker's perspective, he makes a thorough preparation in drafting and writing his speeches, as well as asking people to help him go through his work so he can improve himself. Of course, the occasional errors can slip through, so the speaker must be meticulous to read and re-read his speech over and over until there are no more errors. In all other situations, it would be best if you tell the person privately that he has made a mistake.

This is indeed a great list of antonyms. Actually, I'm reviewing for a government service entrance examination and identification of antonyms is part of the examination. Antonyms can sometimes be used for verbal analogy questions, particulary the single-word and double-word analogies. Most of these antonyms are quite easy to remember, while there are some which takes time. Thanks for this list!

Both words are still pretty much acceptable, depending in which region of the world you are in. Check and cheque mean an instrument that can be used as a substitute for money or legal tender. Most local and foreign banks here in the Philippines subscribe to the American spelling, which is check. Outside of the sphere of banking, some companies use the word cheques to distinguish it from ordinary bank checks, such as gift cheques. Here in my country, both words are used but in a different context - checks refer to banking instruments while cheques are equated with coupons.

These Tagalog words are quite bizarre; nevertheless they exist in our dictionary. However, people would prefer speaking mikropono to miktinig as the former is understood to be a microphone. Pook-sapot, sulatroniko, and yakis are also new to me as well, while pang-ulong hatinig or headset seems reasonable. The physics and math terms (e.g. bilnuran, dagibalniing liboy, danumsigwasan) have yet to be integrated into the curriculum as they have yet to be formally used.

I am currently reviewing for the government service licensure examination, and right now I'm refreshing myself on the most basic of English grammar rules, namely the subject-verb agreement. In addition, there is also the sometimes confusing pronoun-antecedent agreement rule. Here are some sample sentences: Each of the contestants was given a room for themselves. Each contestant was given a room for herself. In the first sentence, the pronoun themselves refers to its antecedent contestants, while in the second sentence, herself refers to contestant. Here is a common error: Each of the contestants was given a room for herself. Without the phrase of the contestants, the sentence would be correct, e.g. the second sample sentence, or also read as follows: Each was given a room for herself. In this case, the pronoun herself refers to each or each beauty contestant, which is singular. The modifying phrase of the changes the antecedent, making it plural, which in turn changes the pronoun from herself to themselves. Here are some more sentences: Each soldier listened attentively to the captain and then reached for their rifles. In this sentence, the pronoun their refers to the antecedent rifles, notwithstanding that each soldier is singular. I've chosen these sentences because this is where I had my share of errors during our diagnostic and achievement tests in English, so I thought I'd post them here for any clarifications.

I stayed in Saudi Arabia with my family during my elementary years as well as first year high school, and we were required to study Arabic in the third grade. Learning the Arabic language was a requisite, as we were in an Arabic country. However, after leaving Saudi Arabia in 1994, I just couldn't bother to speak in Arabic anymore. Besides, Arabic is one of my least likable languages. Except for a few Arabic phrases and words, I have no desire to learn Arabic anymore. Although lately, I started to watch Arabic channels but I don't think I'll ever be interested in learning the language. Aside from Arabic, I even tried to study the Cebuano language. Aside from Tagalog, Cebuano is also a Philippine native language. But although I can understand a bit of Cebuano, as my mother is in fact a Cebuano, I just can't speak it as well. Much like Arabic, I just couldn't get Cebuano at all. After leaving my mother's hometown in 1997, my knowledge of Cebuano simply dissipated.

The word sila has been used more frequently than sina, but it looks like that most users have already forgotten the language basics. I am currently enrolled in a review class, and our instructor always stresses that we must never forget our basics, both in English as well as Filipino. Given the heavy emphasis on the English language, I guess it can't be helped why we sometimes neglect our native language.

I must admit that I used to dislike reading comprehension questions, though these kinds of questions are often found in college entrace examinations. Back in my senior high school year, I took an entrance exam for a public university in my country, and my average in answering reading comprehension questions is at a 60+ percentile. Now, I am applying for the government service exams, and I expect reading comprehension questions will be coming out. I don't have a problem with English questions, but non-English reading comprehension questions will slightly tick me off a bit. In effect, I now have a mixed opinion on these kinds of questions. I don't necessarily love them, but I don't hate them as much compared to my high school years.

Mayroon can also be shortened as meron, but this is mostly used in conversational Tagalog. Whenever we speak to each other in the vernacular, we sometimes do not distinguish between mayroon and meron, as they are pronounced in the same way. In terms of usage, mayroon/meron is used before a noun (e.g. merong problema, mayroong tao), pronoun (e.g. meron silang, mayroon tayong), or adverb (e.g. mayroon pa ba), while may always follows a noun or adjective (e.g. may tao, may marangya). May is also used to depict a certain place of destination (e.g. Papunta ako sa may kanto).

I have a library of movies in my computer, and I really enjoy watching them. Actually, it's not just English movies, but there are also some cartoons as well as foreign language movies, but English films dominate my library. I've learned a lot of English from movies, but I also supplement my learning by attending weekly lectures in English, since I'll be taking a government service examination in two months.

I like the Japanese language the most. Aside from being an anime fan, I really love their vocabulary. They have words which are addressed to teachers and professionals in the form of honorifics. At the same time, they also have words which are addressed in a somewhat negative or unfavorable way, such as "kisama", or the person talking to the addressee in a hostile manner. As for the language I like the least, it's Arabic. Maybe it's just me, but I just don't appreciate learning the language at all. Besides, we have been using English more frequently in Saudi Arabia, where I stayed for 8 years more or less.

The words native and indigenous mean the same thing, but in the case of native, it usually refers to people living in communities, while the word indigenous usually refers to both people, animals, and other living organisms. Also, native tongue is more appropriate than indigenous tongue, just as indigenous peoples has a more technical meaning than native peoples.

This is indeed helpful. Even proficient and fluent Filipino speakers can sometimes confuse between ng and nang as they sound identical but have different usages. Nang is quite complex, especially the third usage thereof.

I've appreciated the tragedy of Macbeth. I never cared much for Shakespeare's other tragedies or comedies at all, and Macbeth is the only Shakespearean work that I ever liked. I do recall that I watched a film adaptation of A Midsummer Night's Dream and I fell asleep trying to appreciate the story in my Humanities class.

I sometimes have this problem of using the word raw/rito after a consonant. Sometimes I interchange raw and daw as regards their usage, as I believed it to be correct. With this guide, I can now be governed by proper grammatical rules in the vernacular. As of the moment, I am reviewing for the government service examinations, and proficiency in Filipino is a requisite.

I would definitely agree. Watching cartoons is a great way for children to start learning their vocabulary and grammar. Of course, they will learn the basics, as well as understanding how the cartoon characters mention a particular word which the children will learn visually. Once the children have gotten the hang of learning the language from cartoons, they may choose to diversify their knowledge by watching children's stories, or they can learn more by watching educational programs such as Sesame Street and The Electric Company.

In my English literature class during my college years, some of the short stories I recall are In A Grove by Ryunosuke Akutagawa and Feast of the Dead by Cevdet Kudret. In A Grove tells the happening of the event from multiple perspectives, and this was adapted by AKira Kurosawa for his film Rashomon. The Feast of the Dead narrates the effects of poverty on a family, and how the family is eventually ruined because of the death of its only breadwinner. It likewise shows the helplessness of the widow in failing to support her family, and the ulterior motives of the younger brother for his elder brother to die.

The English language is constantly evolving, and words which we used to believe were slang have now been accepted into the mainstream. Most of the traditional language buffs have found these terms to be slang. To these older folks, adding them into the dictionary would diminish the dictionary's reliability as a reference material. However, the younger generation believes that the English language must continue to evolve and accept changes, even those which the traditionalists think of as taboo. It cannot remain static, but it has to move in a dynamic manner.