I have no faith in how English is being taught

[Breetai]

Wouldn't it be nice if we had a univeral language that everyone learns that helps us achieve that global utopian totalitarianship (not a real word I know) that brings harmony to this troubled planet, and leaves those pesky, intricate languages to academia types?

Get ready to learn Chinese!

[alienjesus]

If she's the one who teaches me then I'm sure I could give it a go.

[Erik_Twice]

I suggest finding a new teacher.

Haha, you can't do that in school. I even complained to the director but they just ignored the issue.

Where is your teacher from?

From Spain I guess. Whenever he spoke English it sounded like a magnetic tape instead of his normal tone.

Sounds to me like English is just being taught in a mediocre school.

No, no it's on the books and not just one but many of them. I plan on getting some scans and write an article about it.


BTW, Alienjesus, Jumpluff is not big enough for the two of us! I should change my avatar

[AmishSamurai]

I'd complain, but my Spanish is probably almost as bad as their English. Since you're in Spain, that makes it worse since I was taught Mexican Spanish, and still sound like a particularly dense elementary school student when speaking.

[Fickieboy]

I have a friend who lived in the USA until he was 15. He moved to Spain and was forced to take an ESL (English as a Second Language) class over there even though it was his native tongue. He told me once that the books he was "learning" from were all incorrect and that a hillbilly could speak better English. That's pretty bad.

Thats maybe because we learn british english. My american friends always corrected me in ways the uk ones never did

I'm doubtful, the differences aren't very great, and I'd hope that most Americans wouldn't think 'a hillbilly could speak better English' than a Brit.

I dont get it then. My books in highschool were, in fact, written by english people. I dont think they would write a redneck tutorial on english, haha

[Fickieboy]

What the heck?

"Gone" isn't past tense of 'go'. It's past participle. English to Spanish would be went = fue.

'Can' never means 'saber', 'to know', ever.

Sounds to me like English is just being taught in a mediocre school.


And now for a free treat for you to laugh at: English as she is spoke! Please enjoy it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_As_She_Is_Spoke

Can means saber in some contexts.

Ie: The Ramones cant play guitar (wich wasnt true) : Los Ramones no saben tocar la guitarra.

And thats because literal translation is impossible in between languages with different roots

[Para]

I went to the website where that image is from (don't ask why) and my Malware detector went ape shit.

[Breetai]

I went to the website where that image is from (don't ask why) and my Malware detector went ape shit.

Mine did too, but I said F'it and went there anyway. It's my wife's laptop!

[CRTGAMER]

I went to the website where that image is from (don't ask why) and my Malware detector went ape shit.

Mine did too, but I said F'it and went there anyway. It's my wife's laptop!

Either brave or suicidal.

My wife, having knowledge of two languages commented to me how complicated the English language is. I have read this somewhere too. The sentence structure and one word can have so many different meanings. Of course each language has its own quirks. Vietnamese language for instance, one would change the pitch and tone when speaking.

[Breetai]

I went to the website where that image is from (don't ask why) and my Malware detector went ape shit.

Mine did too, but I said F'it and went there anyway. It's my wife's laptop!

Either brave or suicidal.

My wife, having knowledge of two languages commented to me how complicated the English language is. I have read this somewhere too. The sentence structure and one word can have so many different meanings. Of course each language has its own quirks.

I've read and been told more than once that English is regarded as the second most difficult language to learn after Mandarin Chinese. I have also been told by those who have learned Mandarin that it is actually not so bad, other than the writing system. Since communication does not require writing, that is a non-factor in most parts of every day life. In other words, in regards to learning a new language for verbal communication, English is very possibly the most difficult language. After having studied a few languages myself, I agree.

Vietnamese language for instance one would change the pitch and tone when speaking.

A lot of Asian languages (Mandarin, Cantonese, Thai, Vietnamese, etc.) are like that. I know that Mandarin has four different pitches for each sound. I think Cantonese is five. I've heard that one language has nine! Malaysian maybe? I have no idea.