humanoid

Yes, I'm British! I'm at a strange place with my Polish right now - I can understand someone telling me about their work experience and education but there's no way I could follow a conversation about, say, shopping or movies just yet. My classes are very business-language oriented and it's full of people like me who are learning for career advancement. I suppose you could say I'm doing it for the money and that's a great motivator!

I'm learning my fourth language at the age of 38. I learnt French and German at the same time at school and I have to say that learning just one language seems far harder now. Prior to this, I hadn't studied for many years so I expect this is really what's been making things seem more difficult. 

I'm currently learning Polish, Not really for fun but because there's been a large influx of Poles coming to my city and the surrounding area. I work in the office of a recruitment agency and we work with a lot of them. I'd like to be able to communicate more effectively with them. It would do my promotion prospects a big favour too! 

I'm a native English speaker and I have to say, if we'd used "wanna" and "gonna" etc. in class, we'd have got a telling off for being lazy and not speaking "proper English". However, it's certainly beneficial to understand informal terms such as these. Most of us use them and if it deepens a student's understanding of the language then it has to be worth it.

The link you provided doesn't seem to be working. Do I need a Soundcloud account to access it?

I find that writing is really important. Like others have already mentioned, the act of writing helps me remember the words. It's like a postsitive reinforcement. 

I wouldn't say French is a "formal" language. How can you call it formal given there is base rules, but immediately you have many exceptions to the rules, meaning the rule itself is pointless because many of the French rules have only like a 40% hit. It depends of the rule, some will have 80% but a lot of the rules will be more at the 20%.

When I said "formal", I meant there were no idiomatic expressions, colloquialisms or slang words taught at school. Nothing to do with the actual rules of the language.

You mean AMERICANS pronounce things differently? The Brits were the first to speak English...hence the name, lol

It's not called "British English" though, it's just called "English". English-speaking settlers took the language over to the US.

When I was in school, we normally use comma in this way - apples, oranges, and pears. But in my professional life in the office, and even in the newspapers and magazines, I see a different way in using the comma - apples, oranges and pears.

Which do you think is really correct as far as English grammar is concerned?

Apples, oranges and pears is correct. You don't need a comma before the word "and" as the word acts as a separator in its own right.

"May I" is defintely more formal than "Can/could I" but both of these expressions are considered polite.

One thing we don't say when asking for things in the UK is "Can I get an OJ please?". That's an Americanism and is never used here. A native English speaker would say "Can/could I have an OJ please?".

In England I met quite a lot of people that were very hard to understand, in America on the other hand people all over the nation were easy to understand.

I bet I would have been one of those people you couldn't understand! Whilst a neutral English accent sounds very clear and easy to understand, the regional differences are huge and can be very confusing. I have a very strong regional accent and other Brits can tell which city I come from as soon as I open my mouth.

Whilst the US has it's regional variations too, they seem to be far more subtle than those in the UK.

How about "He ran out of the room like a rat up a drainpipe", meaning that he ran out of the room very quickly indeed! There's also "monkeying around" which means someone is behaving in a very silly manner, much like a monkey would do.

I can't say I've really had this issue with native speakers. The only problems I really encounter is when I ask someone a question on French or German and they reply to me in English! I know people are just trying to be helpful but I want to practise my languages whenever I can. Maybe they just want the chance to speak some English themselves, who knows?

I prefer a proper book too. There's just something about having the book in your hand and turning the pages that I like. I've never got on with e-readers at all. I suspect that, as long as you are reading in a well lit area, books are kinder to the eyes too.

I have a couple of "language" friends on Facebook who I've met through different groups. One speaks French, the other two are German and we talk in our native languages to give each other a chance to practise. We're all interested in soccer so that gives us a common ground.

Five languages at once! That's no mean feat. At school, we learnt both French and German at the same time and that was hard enough. I imagine that it would take some real effort not to get these languages mixed up.

I am thankful that English is my mother tongue. Our expressions are so strange and as for pronunciation, well that's a minefield all of it's own! A good grasp of expressions can only really come from listening to native speakers though. At school, the French and German we learnt was very formal and it was only through visiting these countries and conversing with people that I really got to know more.

My favorite book is definitely The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. I could somehow relate to the main character in the story who is named Holden Caulfield. I was sort of a depressed teenager in high school, and I felt kind of out of touch with reality. So yeah, if I am going to pick a favorite book character, it would absolutely be Holden. We just have so much in common; he is a guy though, and I am a girl.

Wow, as soon as I saw the title of this thread, I immediately thought of Holden Caulfield! I was full of teenage angst too and could really relate to him.

Atticus Finch, from To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee is another favourite. Seriously, how can you NOT love Atticus?

In theory, it sounds like an interesting idea. there are a few pitfalls though. Firstly, this technique is of little use to someone who doesn't have a very good grasp of that particular language.

Secondly, different languages have a different syntax. As an example, I might say "Florence's dress is green". Translate that into French then translate that back into English and you'll get "The dress of Florence is green". Whilst that is a perfectly good literal translation, it does not follow the rules of the English language and is not something we would naturally say.

I haven't really studied languages since I left college back in 1999. However, I've managed to keep up with things and achieve fluency in both French and German.

Recently though, I've started learning Polish. It seems so much harder to learn than the other languages and I was really just wondering whether this is typical of new students or is it more likely to be down to my age (I'm now 38) and the fact I haven't studied seriously for many years? How have other people got along with learning to speak Polish? I'd love to know.

As a native speaker, you're more than qualified. To get an idea of the rates you could charge, why not take a look at what professional tutors charge per hour. You can usually find this information on line or in the classified section of your local newspaper.

As for how to start, why not take a subject that your friend is interested in and work from there.

I can probably help you. English is my first language and I spent around a decade working in a technical environment. So if there's anything you want to know, please feel free to ask me :grin:

Hi, I'm a native English speaker and am also fluent in French and English. We have many Polish migrants in this country so I've recently started learning the basics of the language in order to improve my resume. Hopefully we'll be able to help each other out!