Non-native English speakers... what about our English?

by **Leo92** » Tue Aug 02, 2011 4:41 am

abi wrote:And how about 'Ain't No Other Man'? 'Ain't' is already a negative word, right? And then you put 'No' again which is still negative. So, negative + negative = positive? Sorry that song actually made me confused the first time it came out. Now I know the real meaning is 'There Is No Other Man' though.

by **abi** » Tue Aug 02, 2011 4:46 am

but I've learned so much about those slang words pretty fast in the past few years though thanks to some UKMIX ghetto-ish members. :lol:

by **jio** » Tue Aug 02, 2011 5:26 am

jonasmileynlt wrote:I'm very impressed with the non-native English speakers on this forum! Most of the time I can't even tell that English isn't your first language!

I'm curious, how many years of English you all have taken in school... Also does/did you school have an English immersion program (where classes were taught only in English)?

I took 5 years of Spanish but am already starting to forget it.

We do learn English right from the third year of primary school but it is really a joke in public schools. Nobody can learn from there. But it is usual that everybody takes private lessons from that same year and that's where you learn. Plus it really helps that no films are dubbed here. I think countries where films are getting dubbed (Italy, France etc) have populations with lower standard of English in general.

by **Crazy4Brit** » Tue Aug 02, 2011 6:16 am

abi wrote:
Crazy4Brit wrote:
hello wrote:What about the song by Timbaland "The Way I Are"

The same goes for Paula Cole's "I Don't wanna wait" (do you remember Dawson's Creek? lol):

"[...] And say a little prayer for I"

WTF?
What is wrong with 'I Don't Wanna Wait'? You mean it should've been 'I Don't Want To wait'? :

No! It should've been "[...] and say a little prayer for ME"!! You use "i" only when you Are the one who makes the action!

by **jpguy** » Tue Aug 02, 2011 6:36 am

"You was different"
"She don't see me"
"He don't pay attention"
"They was huge"

by **abi** » Tue Aug 02, 2011 6:40 am

Crazy4Brit wrote:No! It should've been "[...] and say a little prayer for ME"!! You use "i" only when you Are the one who makes the action!

Oh DEAD! I thought you were talking about the song's title, not the lyrics. :lol:

by **jpguy** » Tue Aug 02, 2011 6:49 am

jio wrote:
jonasmileynlt wrote:I'm very impressed with the non-native English speakers on this forum! Most of the time I can't even tell that English isn't your first language!

I'm curious, how many years of English you all have taken in school... Also does/did you school have an English immersion program (where classes were taught only in English)?

I took 5 years of Spanish but am already starting to forget it.
We do learn English right from the third year of primary school but it is really a joke in public schools. Nobody can learn from there.

THIS! Same here in Guatemala, it would be a joke if you stayed with that level only! It's actually cringe-worthy to see my notebooks and read what I was learning at age 18...

by **jszmiles** » Tue Aug 02, 2011 8:38 am

my English is doing Sophie Ellis-Bextor's latest album run (33-150->out). It's getting worse and worse

by **Crazy4Brit** » Tue Aug 02, 2011 8:43 am

jszmiles wrote:my English is doing Sophie Ellis-Bextor's latest album run (33-150->out). It's getting worse and worse

How's that possible?

by **jszmiles** » Tue Aug 02, 2011 8:58 am

Crazy4Brit wrote:
jszmiles wrote:my English is doing Sophie Ellis-Bextor's latest album run (33-150->out). It's getting worse and worse
How's that possible?

I haven't been speaking in English for more/less 8 years now. My "words stock" is so limited as I can't write proper statement on specific subject. Most of my opinions here are like 1-2 sentences long. :evil:

by **aishawch** » Tue Aug 02, 2011 9:25 am

Language is not something that can be mastered overnight and I took quite a long time just to have a good grasp at it. Mastering a language for me is a daunting and harrowing task as I need to juggle between 4 languages,which are Malay,Mandarin,Cantonese and English itself. Despite these circumstances, I've tried my very best to flip through Reader's Digest every month since last year. Have the courage to speak up and don't be imtimidated by people who are well versed in it. You might be a laughing stock to them,but you will have the last laugh in the end. Experience is always the best teacher. Plus, by trying to incorporate English in your daily life,you are winning half of the battle already. Only perseverance and hardwork will eventually lead you towards the light of success at the end of the tunnel. Just remember, Rome was not build in a day and so does success.

P/S: Right now, I'm trying to pick up Mandarin and things aren't looking so rosy.

by **Virgostar** » Tue Aug 02, 2011 10:08 am

Cactuar wrote:I took up Japanese several years ago but it's not as easy as it looked...

Can vouch for that. Studied Japanese in high school, wasn't easy and I've largely forgotten it since I graduated. Would like to take it up again at some stage.

Am currently dealing with a lot of ESL (English as a Second Language) folk in the course I'm doing and at times it's a bit frustrating trying to understand some of them, but I think it will teach me even more patience. I'm sure they have issues understanding me too. I do feel for them, as I do for those non-native English speakers here (although I can understand you guys far better than some of these people!). Taking on any new language and trying to communicate in it is difficult!

by **jpguy** » Tue Aug 02, 2011 11:42 pm

I know you guys are NOT teacher or anything like that... but I mean... sometimes I get the best advices from you guys :lol:

If I wanted to say "Coming out of the water" or "coming off the water" ??? It's the same or does the latest word make a difference???

And is it ok if I say:

"Some people here have great English?"

"Some people in here have great English?"

I just couldn't find a logical answer on Google!!

by **sambo9** » Tue Aug 02, 2011 11:45 pm

jpguy wrote:"Some people here have great English?"

"Some people in here have great English?"

I just couldn't find a logical answer on Google!!

They're both fine, but "in here" makes it specific to this thread, whereas the former sentence infers that you're talking about the site as a whole.

by **jonasmileynlt** » Wed Aug 03, 2011 12:01 am

jpguy wrote:If I wanted to say "Coming out of the water" or "coming off the water" ??? It's the same or does the latest word make a difference???

They have two different meanings.

"Coming out of the water" = coming from underneath the surface of the water. Imagine a fish jumping out of the water.

"Coming off the water" = coming from the surface of the water. Imagine a duck that floats on the surface and suddenly decides to fly out of it.

by **jpguy** » Wed Aug 03, 2011 3:41 pm

Thanks to both of you, you could be teachers! LOL

by **tada** » Wed Aug 03, 2011 6:16 pm

very interesting topic! I love English, especially American one as my last three lectors were all Americans. 8-)

I actually also took BEC Higher (just practicse test) with a very good scoring, although it was pretty damn difficult. :lol:

no...it was terrible!! :lol:

I'm also eager for slang expressions, that's why I started using a notebook where i do write some new expressions, interesting words, collocations. That's pretty helpful when you watch TV series or movie in original version with subtitles, etc. :wink:

(for instance, to make allowance for, douche (en francais son sens est tres different) or pubes)

For the record, Czech language is much more demanding than English, including 7 grammatical cases and an incredible amount of *weird rules*. To be honest, without word correction, I would be very often caught up when writing official letter in Czech :lol:

by **tada** » Wed Aug 03, 2011 6:20 pm

btw, this is almost legendary expression in music: LOVE DON'T.... :lol:

live here anymore etc

by **BLover** » Wed Aug 03, 2011 6:30 pm

LOL! This thread is fantastic :lol:

Can anyone explain me the difference between "who" and "whom"?

I've never understood it!

by **Grybop** » Wed Aug 03, 2011 6:46 pm

Frederic wrote:To be honest, UKMIX helped and still helps me a lot with improving my English!

Same here, practice makes us better!

Now regarding "who" and "whom"... Use who when it's the subject in your sentence - use whom when it's the object. I think? :lol:

by **Omnipresence** » Wed Aug 03, 2011 6:49 pm

BLover wrote:LOL! This thread is fantastic
Can anyone explain me the difference between "who" and "whom"?

I've never understood it!

Yeah, this one's difficult for a lot of people. This should clear things up!! http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/who-versus-whom.aspx

BTW, I am impressed with many of the non-native English speakers on here. You fooled me!

by **Grybop** » Wed Aug 03, 2011 7:31 pm

So apart from UKMix, what else has helped you keep in touch with English and improve your grasp of it? For me it's been most importantly the music (looking up anything I couldn't understand in the lyrics for example) and watching movies without subtitles (you get familiar with a variety of accents and lingual mannerisms).

Reading books in english is also very important - you don't have to understand every single word, the meanings become clearer and clearer as you move along.

I took up Turkish last year and one of the reasons I find it so difficult is that it's difficult to practise what you've learned, what with so few turkish movies with subs out there and the majority of turkish music sounding like crap to these ears. You really have to embrace a country's culture to learn their language properly - at least that's how it works with me.

by **tada** » Wed Aug 03, 2011 7:35 pm

Omnipresence wrote:
BLover wrote:LOL! This thread is fantastic
Can anyone explain me the difference between "who" and "whom"?

I've never understood it!
Yeah, this one's difficult for a lot of people. This should clear things up!! http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/who-versus-whom.aspx

BTW, I am impressed with many of the non-native English speakers on here. You fooled me!

so "who do you love" is incorrect?

but it's more used in spoken English, isn't? or really not? really surprising to me.

by **Omnipresence** » Wed Aug 03, 2011 7:49 pm

tada wrote:so "who do you love" is incorrect? but it's more used in spoken English, isn't? or really not? really surprising to me.

Well, technically, it is incorrect, but I think that people can get too hung up over small things. I say go with what sounds better to you -- unless that would actually cause confusion or ambiguity.

by **BLover** » Wed Aug 03, 2011 8:10 pm

Omnipresence wrote:
BLover wrote:LOL! This thread is fantastic
Can anyone explain me the difference between "who" and "whom"?

I've never understood it!
Yeah, this one's difficult for a lot of people. This should clear things up!! http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/who-versus-whom.aspx

BTW, I am impressed with many of the non-native English speakers on here. You fooled me!

Thank you so much!
I get it now.

And I am actually appalled by the amount of mistakes I've been making thus far