Jump to content
Linguaholic

elenamarie

Members
  • Posts

    76
  • Joined

  • Last visited

    Never

Everything posted by elenamarie

  1. Yes. Though I don't have any foreign friend I can talk to, I watch a lot of foreign movies mostly American, British and Australian so my english is a mix of those three languages all together plus my native tongue. I don't do it on purpose, infact I can't copy how others speak but I figured maybe it's because of watching those movies that I unconscioulsy mimic how to say the way they say the words.
  2. All of us have their own reason of studying a foreign language. My main reason is that, I find it interesting and I like European countries. I am a big fan of ancient Europe with royalties and such, as well as the great painters and composers in history. It just amazes me so much.
  3. The only language I know that's written from left to write are Arabic and Persian. I once watched the movie "Children of heaven" and I thought it's in Arabic so I shared it to my friend in Algeria. He told me, that's not Arabic, that's Persian and mentioned that they both look alike and written in the same pattern.
  4. My most favorite English word would be "Integrity", I don't think it is commonly used for I don't read it much online or in books and I don't think it is commonly practiced either. I learned it in the company I used to work at. Integrity is defined as "doing the right thing even no one around is looking because you know it is the right thing to do."
  5. I don't know about the naked wedding in Chinese but thanks to you, I learned about it today. My grandfather is a pure Chinese who migrated from China to Philippines during late thirties or early forties. Years before world war 2. My grandmother would always tell us their story that my grandfather was in China the time the war started, he got stranded there with their eldest daughter. When he went home after the war is over, grandmother said he told her his mom asked him to marry a Chinese woman and he can’t say no so he did but he still went back to stay in the Philippines to be with my grandmother, I think they have 3 kids that time and they had 5 more children after. My mom is their 5th child. My eldest aunt is now around 70 years old, she didn’t went back home after the war and no longer speaks our native language, she now lives in Hongkong. I am not sure if my grandfather had children with his wife over there but I know that his Chinese wife was the one who took care of my aunt like a step mother. I am aware that Chinese people prefer a Chinese partner too unless influenced by outside environment and that they mostly practice fixed marriage but I never knew about the naked wedding. In my opinion as long as couples are wed, that is fine and what matters most is their love for each other is genuine and about your question if I will accept to marry someone just because my family likes him for me, my answer would be no. Thank goodness we don’t practice that over here otherwise my life would be a living hell if I’ll live it with someone I don’t even love or like or worse, someone I don’t even know. I know some people would say “that is disrespectful to parents” because who are we to disobey them after everything they’ve done for us but maybe parents also forget we are not their property, we have feelings too and most of all we have our own life to live.
  6. I usually just interchange them mainly because I thought they have the same meaning. I could be wrong too for I am not a native Eglish speaker. In my understanding, the word perhaps is more polite and more possible while maybe have more uncertainty and informal. The word maybe also denotes doubts. Like the common phrase “maybe yes, maybe no”.
  7. My favorite accent would be British accent. I think the way they pronounce words sounds pretty that I can listen to it all day. I also think they sound clear though my bestfriend thought American accent is clearer and she mentioned she just can’t understand a word they are saying. I guess it’s just something I get used to. I love watching British movies mainly listening to their accent :grin:
  8. I am interested in learning Latin as it is one of the most ancient language. It is good to learn various language that you can use over time however I think there are few people who understands it and many people are becoming less and less interested in the language. I guess those people who are history buffs might be interested but to me, I don’t find it useful because I don’t know anyone who speaks Latin and I don’t think I can use it in the future as well.
  9. I found that watching movies, listening to songs and reading books helps. I am not a native English speaker and basically that is how I learned it. Chatting in English helps a great deal too. Constant chatting helped me how to elucidate more of my thoughts in a deeper sense with the person I’m chatting with. Not everyone likes to read books but I'm pretty sure everyone either likes watching movies or listening to music which makes the learning process not boring.
  10. Yes. I am not a native English speaker and I mostly learn English just by listening to songs. I find it is easier to learn that way because it is fun and not boring at all specially if I'm listening to a song that I really love, sometimes I would sing along too to practise my pronounciation as well.
  11. I guess I can consider myself pedantic and perfectionist. As much as possible, I don't want any mistake specially with spelling and grammar. Ofcourse I make mistakes if there's some words I didn't notice but as much as possible I try hard to minimize it. When it comes to spelling, I usually rely on my gut feeling as well and when it's telling me I wrote it incorrectly, I check the dictionary or the internet.
  12. I couldn't agree with you more. English is not my native language so I basically learned it from watching both English movies, songs and reading novels. They do expand my vocabulary knowledge even up 'til now. The internet is a big help too and ofcourse the dictionary. I learned a lot from chatting as well because most people write in English, it helped me how to converse in English.
  13. It depends on where you are going, on your profession and how you will use it. I think European countries have other European language subject in their curriculum. If you are American, learning Spanish and other European language can be useful for travel or as English translator since some of the European countries don't speak English and Spanish is also a language spoken in Latin America. If you're a traveler and you want to travel in a country of non English speaking people then it's best to learn even the basics and if you want to be an English translator, you have to take language courses and exams.
  14. I love the sound of Arabic language and French so they are the language I'd love to learn most plus I think they are both sexy. The language I like least are Chinese, Thai and Japanese. I am not racist as I am Asian too and I don't mean to offend anyone but I don't like the sound of it. Chinese and Thai both sort of sound alike and Japanese language's intonations scares me, I watched Japanese animes and there are times when they speak as if they're angry even if they're not.
  15. In my opinion, it depends on your native tongue and I read it depends on your mandible structure too but I don't know how true that is. Being an Asian, the hardest language for me to learn is French. I watched French movies before and listen to French songs. I just can't pronounce some letters like "R" :grin:
  16. It is a shame that I don't know if they abolished cursive writing here in the Philippines. I graduated from the university years ago so I am no longer up to date. My handwriting is chicken scratch but I do know how to write in cursive. I remember when our teachers taught us how to write in cursive when I was in pre-school or kindergarten, that was so long ago when I was like 5 or 6 years old. We used this workbook we do everyday to practise our handwritings and we will be graded if we do it right. I hope there is a way to not abolish it because for me writing is a form of art.
  17. Creative writing is difficult for some and like a play to others who possess it naturally. It is a form of art but requires a great deal of practise to master. I believe it is not different than other skills like learning to play an instrument or learning to draw. Some just do it naturally while others need to practise hard enough to be able to do it.
  18. First, talk to Mr. Johnson then see the supervisor for the next meeting. There is no harm trying :grin: Plus, a friend of mine said "When someone says -please-, you should comply". Though I still want to know the correct answer as an additional information. Everyday is a learning experience specially in this forum.
  19. Let him know your intention to help and properly explain to him that his pronounciations are wrong then tell him the correct one. I am pretty sure he will understand and will be grateful for your help. Don't worry if he'll get offend or something. You mentioned he is eager to learn so surely he will be thankful for being corrected.
  20. A teacher can definitely help provided s/he have a vast knowledge of the certain language. Teachers may help but you can also learn the language from language apps, books and even from movies specially if you want to learn the basics. It is also helpful if you have someone with you like a friend, family or relative who is fluent with the language willing to guide you with the basics.
  21. Both are good learning language tools in my opinion. The basics can be learned using language learning applications but if you want deeper knowledge, I think hiring a knowledgeable language tutor is best. Both language learning apps and teacher have advantages and disadvantages. Language learning apps are cheaper, portable, handy, and definitely informative however if you have any queries, the app may not have all the answers you seek. The teacher on the other hand, can guide you specially if you are just learning the language.
  22. It could be true. However, I believe that any language can be learned although it can be challenging due to our native dialects and languages. I live in the Philippines and we have more than a hundred native language spoken in the country. I am in Iriga which is a town in Bicol and Bicol is a province, the people in Naga City which is about an hour drive from Iriga, speaks a different language even if we are in the same province. Our native language is Rinconada and their native language is Bicol langauge. I can understand some sentences but not every word and I cannot speak their language even if I understand them somehow and they too understand our language but just like us, not every word. We have to figure out the meaning by relating to other words in the sentence and sometimes if the meaning is too deep, we don't understand at all so we ask each other what it means. Some people can speak and understand both language, mostly those who stayed in both places in a period of time or if they have friends or family/relatives who speaks the language. Another factor is the intonation, some languages have intonations that are hard to understand. So I guess the only way to understand and speak a language is by exposure to that particualr language and by practicing to speak it. Mouth structure could be one factor but also there are other factors affecting languages.
  23. I downloaded duolingo some time ago to learn Spanish and Italian. So far, I love it. It makes the learning seems so easy and it is fun too. It has a very user friendly interface that I actually enjoy. I have no negative comments regarding this app. The fact that it is free is a very big help already. I recommend this app to everyone who wants to learn other language/s. I heard they will add more languages soon too.
  24. I suggest reading various books that interests you, most specially novels. English is my second language and it is basically where I expand my vocabulary aside from watching English movies and listening to English songs which are both very helpful to me. I learned a lot from the books "Harry Potter" by J.K. Rowling and books written by Paolo Coelho. I hope it helps
  25. Hi! Try duolingo from playstore. I used it and I can say it is very helpful. They have other languages too like portuguese and spanish. I love how they make the learning fun, they have tests to test your knowledge and animations. You can also try babbel, french lessons and learn french + pic dictionary. I haven't tried any of the three but they have good reviews so I guess they are worth trying. Goodluck!
×
×
  • Create New...