reverserewind

Ciao! Mi chiamo Arty or Artemio in Italiano. Ho 21 anni e sarebbe 22 in Aogosto. Ho passato l'esame statale di Italiano all'universita e ho preso "bene". Vorrei continuare a parlare con la gente italiana.

I agree with that approach. It's the only way to get close to sounding almost like a native speaker. It's not about the accent only. It's also about vocabulary. All those textbooks are great in terms of grammar but you can't deny that they contain sort of robotic language. Natives just don't talk like that.

Well, I see some logic in this but something remains unclear to me. What kind of job do you want? Does it involve speaking foreign languages as a necessity? If not, it's a huge waste of time and money. However, keeping a permanent certificate was never a useless thing for the future.

Well, there's a likelihood of that happening. However, I highly doubt that Chinese will become the universal language. Maybe it will be like this in Asia but learning Chinese feels like a nightmare to most Europeans, myself included.

To me, it's certainly yes. Especially, when it comes to making a translation of poetry. It automatically turns into writing a new piece but with keeping the original meaning. That's why the poetry translator should be praised for his job as strong as the author gets.

Great to see American English natives here! I'm learning this version of English.

Learning a foreign language isn't about the final result only, it's a process you should enjoy throughout the whole journey. Otherwise, things can become pretty much complicated. That's exactly my attitude. I'm happy to discover more and more things about the languages I love. I'm happy to keep improving them over the course of time.

And, of course, I'm happy to talk to and understand more and more amazing people.

One of the things I do is googling the lyrics before listening to a song. Or after, it doesn't matter much. If you're a lover of music, I guess it would be interesting for you to understand the meaning of the songs you're into. That helps me train my ear.

If I were you I wouldn't do that. It's better to focus on one language at first and then start mastering another one. It works well for me.

There are several reasons why this tense is used. One of them is making focus on a certain object. In this case, it's roads, not the government. However, If we were talking as If we were willing to praise the government for its deeds, we would have used the "active" version of that sentence.

I've heard about the word punk before. Today it's widely associated with punk rock music. It seems that there's nothing wrong about the word. However, it's historical meaning is pretty offensive.

I guess it's definitely a long road and you gotta have a lot of patience. Start off with an English alphabet. It's the only way I see, as the person doesn't know how to write or read. Even though it's kind of very challenging, you should never give up on your students If they are really willing to learn.

I'd rather suggest using an 11-week vacation.

Good advice there. Practice is the mother of skill.

As I see, the British one holds a strong lead here. To be honest, I'm a little bit surprised about that. Does it really seem easier to understand by ear? 

I don't think that being angry or beating yourself up was ever helpful when it comes to learning something or, basically, doing whatever. The weight of negativity can easily crush you aggravating the whole situation you're in.

I guess it's got way better throughout the time. I remember the first time I had used it. Damn, it's was terrible. So many words in the wrong context. However, Google got it "smarter". I see the results.

Anyway, there's nothing better than a human being who talks confidently and fluently. Yeah!

I did a lot of grammar tests back in the day. They did definitely help me master the basics. However, If I were you, I wouldn't get too much focused on that. The main goal is speaking fluent real daily English. To me, at least.

Prior to the 8th grade, I never took English classes seriously. Around that time I came to realize that I wanted to understand the outside world. So, I became focused on that.

That's a great decision but I warn you that Russian alphabet is a scary thing to those who are willing to start learning the language. But don't be scared. Be persistent and you will likely succeed.

The latter is correct, If you need my approval. It's called an unreal past, as far as I know.

21 hours ago, FujikoMine said:

Another example, in the US, cunt is a pretty offensive and abrasive word. In the UK and Australia it's not as strong of a word. 

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Oh, really? I didn't think you even say it. It's more of a British thing to me. The word "pussy" is more used in the US in that sense, isn't it?

There's also a paid version. It has even much more options. Has anyone of you given it a shot?

I've been using it since February or March. It's pretty much helpful, I'd say. Recently, they have added a function which allows us to look up for a word by clicking two times on it. Hope it will get even much better in the future.

It's very hard thing to estimate. I'd say I realized it when I felt like I was able to get the foreign speech on TV effortlessly. As If I was watching the programs in my native language. What an incredible feeling it was. I hope you've had this, too. Or will get there, eventually. Just don't give up on learning the language you like in the face of difficulties.