Language

[gerbie]

I'm getting annoyed with myself, as quite often when rereading old posts I notice language mistakes. For somebody pretending that his second language comes as natural as his first that's not a good sign. Perhaps I should be less pompous from now on.

Comments

[ex-ladyvox549.livejournal.com]

teehee :)

[javamental.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't worry about it. You write English better than a lot of people who are claiming it as a first language.

Re:

[gerbie.livejournal.com]

I know and I used to be proud of that. But it's just that I get annoyed when I see mistakes. It means that I do know them, still don't know how to avoid them. It's not an automatism anymore.

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[gerbie.livejournal.com]

nay need for that!

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[javamental.livejournal.com]

Well, considering that English is supposedly the hardest language to learn, and you write it so fluently that you can have a perfectly clear conversation with a girl half a world away, I think you're doing just fine. ;-)

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[gerbie.livejournal.com]

English has a lot of traps for foreigners, but certainly isn't the hardest language to learn. It is related to Dutch and other Germanic languages. Even the grammar resembles my native language.

Learning a whole new script with different grammar would be much more difficult. Chinese, Arab, Japanese even Russian would all be more complicated.

spelling

[harryroberts.livejournal.com]

I get totally annoyed with myself when i notice i've made simple spelling mistakes and i always check my posts before finally posting just to make sure i'm making sense.

Re: spelling

[gerbie.livejournal.com]

Making sense is a whole different matter. If I type in a word processor, I nearly always use a spell check as well. Just some posts I write directly into LJ. Not a major issue, just don't like it.

Re:

[javamental.livejournal.com]

I started taking Russian in high school, but they canceled the class on me, so I only got to take a semester of it. What I had of it was pretty interesting, though. Learning the new alphabet wasn't so bad, really, just rote memorization. Some of the grammar and syntax was a real bear, though.
I've always been told that English was so difficult because we have so many exceptions to the rules in our language -- makes it a pain in the ass for people to learn. Compared to Russian or Spanish, I can see where English would be difficult. There are a lot less exception to how grammar works in those languages. It's a lot easier to memorize things because of it.

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[gerbie.livejournal.com]

I'm not too sure about Spanish. I'm fairly fluent speaking it, but I couldn't explain any grammar. Three translations for 'To be' , different endings for the past tense depending on how past they are, English isn't too bad.

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[javamental.livejournal.com]

Heh. I never got fluent in either language. I only had each for a semester, so maybe I just hadn't run into the difficult stuff, yet.

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[gerbie.livejournal.com]

The easy thing about Spanish is that you pronounce the exact way as you write.

Compare: to, too, two
or: Worchester, Leicester.

I was never any good at my Spanish classes. Working in the Dominican Republic made it necessary to learn fast though. Having to write my thesis in that language was the last step.

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[javamental.livejournal.com]

Yeah, there was that about Spanish. Russian was pretty much the same way.

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[gerbie.livejournal.com]

I should start learning Russian. Someday. I hope.