Somehow I am still asked to correct my ex-girlfriend's college homework. Here is how the most recent one begins:
MEMORANDUM
To: Ms. Kelly Skinner
From: Nancy Tran
Date: October 18, 2006
Subject: Grammars Common Mistake
Almost all of us encounter to people that are speaking incorrect grammar in everyday conversation. Besides speaking, people are also using incorrect grammar form in writing. By reading this memo below, you will find five helpful examples that help you to speak effectively, to write precisely, and concisely.
Grammars Common Mistake
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Mr Arkadin
- Posts: 3283
- Joined: Thu May 24, 2001 4:00 pm
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Mr Arkadin
- Posts: 3283
- Joined: Thu May 24, 2001 4:00 pm
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Nestor
- Posts: 6688
- Joined: Tue Mar 27, 2001 4:00 pm
- Location: Fourth Dimension Paradise, Cloud Nine!
French grammar is soooo hard to learn. I can speak French quite fluently and can understand 100% of what they say, but don't ask me about its rules and least of all to write it properly, uffff.
English grammar, in the other side, is not easy but it is much understandable and accessible than French. It has sort of a building block procedure to build phrases. The problem perhaps is that there are hundreds of hidden exceptions.
Spanish is quite similar to French grammatically speaking. If you want to get into deep grammar in Spanish language, you better get ready for a painful time if you are a: Chinese, Japanese or Korean native speaker.
I have taught Spanish to Chinese people in Spain, for about a year and a half, but unfortunately after a year of struggle, only one person was able to actually speak some Spanish and make him understand correctly, the rest of them were completely blind. They tried hard, don’t think they didn’t study their lessons; the problem is that Spanish, Italian and French grammar are awfully difficult to learn for Asian natives speakers.
I once had in my hands a very interesting book with statistics on how difficult it is to learn a language depending on which was your original native language. It said that form American people, the easiest language to be learned is Spanish, and one of the most difficult Japanese and Greek.
It all depends on your language. For instance, for us native Spanish speakers, German is a nightmare language to learn, it really is like a joke the never-ending words they have... they seem so complicated when you face them for the first time, and genders is another headache. Now, for an English speaker learning some German is not easy, but much more comfortable.
For instance, for me learning Italian is almost a joke, I could learn to speak Italian in just about three months with a correct accent, without much effort, because it is very close to the Argentinean way of speaking and pronouncing, indeed, half of Argentina is Italian people, that’s where I come from too, Italy.
Chinese grammar in the other hand, it is almost none existent, is the simplest you can ever get to know, but try to pronounce a few of those characters at high speed, and there you are, trying to disentangle your tongue.
Languages are fascinating, and through them you can get in touch not only with a new culture, but with a way of feeling and thinking which can be very different from the one native to you. I think that learning other languages is one of the most enriching experiences in life. I think the effort is more than useful and worthy.
English grammar, in the other side, is not easy but it is much understandable and accessible than French. It has sort of a building block procedure to build phrases. The problem perhaps is that there are hundreds of hidden exceptions.
Spanish is quite similar to French grammatically speaking. If you want to get into deep grammar in Spanish language, you better get ready for a painful time if you are a: Chinese, Japanese or Korean native speaker.
I have taught Spanish to Chinese people in Spain, for about a year and a half, but unfortunately after a year of struggle, only one person was able to actually speak some Spanish and make him understand correctly, the rest of them were completely blind. They tried hard, don’t think they didn’t study their lessons; the problem is that Spanish, Italian and French grammar are awfully difficult to learn for Asian natives speakers.
I once had in my hands a very interesting book with statistics on how difficult it is to learn a language depending on which was your original native language. It said that form American people, the easiest language to be learned is Spanish, and one of the most difficult Japanese and Greek.
It all depends on your language. For instance, for us native Spanish speakers, German is a nightmare language to learn, it really is like a joke the never-ending words they have... they seem so complicated when you face them for the first time, and genders is another headache. Now, for an English speaker learning some German is not easy, but much more comfortable.
For instance, for me learning Italian is almost a joke, I could learn to speak Italian in just about three months with a correct accent, without much effort, because it is very close to the Argentinean way of speaking and pronouncing, indeed, half of Argentina is Italian people, that’s where I come from too, Italy.
Chinese grammar in the other hand, it is almost none existent, is the simplest you can ever get to know, but try to pronounce a few of those characters at high speed, and there you are, trying to disentangle your tongue.
Languages are fascinating, and through them you can get in touch not only with a new culture, but with a way of feeling and thinking which can be very different from the one native to you. I think that learning other languages is one of the most enriching experiences in life. I think the effort is more than useful and worthy.
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Astral Fridge Magnet
- Posts: 347
- Joined: Sat Oct 13, 2001 4:00 pm
Hi all,
Long time no see.
I speak four languages. All of them badly. Well maybe not English. English is my mother tongue, though until I started school I only spoke Italian (my origins-both parents are Italian), so is Italian my mother tongue? But after I started school I didn't speak Italian anymore. I can understand it reasonably perfectly, but l need a bit of time to get into the swing of speaking it. Aftter a day or two in Italy it comes back a bit, but I make a lot of mistakes. I often find myself not being able to come up with the words I want to say, but when someone else uses the word, I know exactly what they are saying, which I find kind of strange.
I also speak French as I have worked in a French speaking environment for the last seven years. It is far from perfect and I still have a long way to go but I can communicate reasonably well in French and can write it OK (with loads of grammar mistakes), so quite similar to your situation Nestor. I am actually quite proud of the fact that I have never had a French lesson in my life, but managed to pick it up. Probably because of my Italian origins. The weird thing is that I speak French better than Italian, but understand Italian better.
I also speak Dutch (but extremely badly!!!), as I live in Holland. I have lived here for quite a while and I just can not make any sense of the language at all!!!! No offence to any Dutch people out there, but to me it is total gibberish. I just can't get my head around the language. In fact I am illiterate in Dutch, I can not even read something as simple as the TV guide. I always have to get my wife to read it for me. Luckily for me, many Dutch people speak English quite well, which might be part of the problem as it means I make little effort to learn it. But with French, I made no effort either, yet I managed to pick that up.
I don't know why I shared that information with you. Well, I was browsing and the subject caught my eye.
Till next time. By the way nice to see that many of the familiar names still use this forum and I see that it is still as helpful as always. In my opinion, PlanetZ is still the friendliest and most helpful music forum on the net. Long may it stay that way!!!!!!!
See ya
Long time no see.
I speak four languages. All of them badly. Well maybe not English. English is my mother tongue, though until I started school I only spoke Italian (my origins-both parents are Italian), so is Italian my mother tongue? But after I started school I didn't speak Italian anymore. I can understand it reasonably perfectly, but l need a bit of time to get into the swing of speaking it. Aftter a day or two in Italy it comes back a bit, but I make a lot of mistakes. I often find myself not being able to come up with the words I want to say, but when someone else uses the word, I know exactly what they are saying, which I find kind of strange.
I also speak French as I have worked in a French speaking environment for the last seven years. It is far from perfect and I still have a long way to go but I can communicate reasonably well in French and can write it OK (with loads of grammar mistakes), so quite similar to your situation Nestor. I am actually quite proud of the fact that I have never had a French lesson in my life, but managed to pick it up. Probably because of my Italian origins. The weird thing is that I speak French better than Italian, but understand Italian better.
I also speak Dutch (but extremely badly!!!), as I live in Holland. I have lived here for quite a while and I just can not make any sense of the language at all!!!! No offence to any Dutch people out there, but to me it is total gibberish. I just can't get my head around the language. In fact I am illiterate in Dutch, I can not even read something as simple as the TV guide. I always have to get my wife to read it for me. Luckily for me, many Dutch people speak English quite well, which might be part of the problem as it means I make little effort to learn it. But with French, I made no effort either, yet I managed to pick that up.
I don't know why I shared that information with you. Well, I was browsing and the subject caught my eye.
Till next time. By the way nice to see that many of the familiar names still use this forum and I see that it is still as helpful as always. In my opinion, PlanetZ is still the friendliest and most helpful music forum on the net. Long may it stay that way!!!!!!!
See ya
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Nestor
- Posts: 6688
- Joined: Tue Mar 27, 2001 4:00 pm
- Location: Fourth Dimension Paradise, Cloud Nine!
Wow, curios what you say, it really matches all my writing here, you see, you can get along pretty well with French but German is so difficult because of your origins.
About Planet Z, for sure it will be as good as it has been for years, because we are going to take care of it, together.
About Planet Z, for sure it will be as good as it has been for years, because we are going to take care of it, together.
*MUSIC* The most Powerful Language in the world! *INDEED*