English for runaways - the phantom menace

[Carwyn]

Hey folks,

it's been a long time since we've had a thread in here where everyone could join in and try to improve his or her English skills.
All I'm offering is an oppurtunity to post stuff in English here - topics may vary and are not bound to be IT-related - while I'm helping you to improve by correcting a bit on the most obvious mistakes.

So if you feel the need to improve in sort of like a safe space where errors and mistakes are totally fine and not met with destructive criticism rather than helpful advice, feel free to join in and have a nice chat with us.

Disclaimer: I'm not perfect, so if there's a mistake that I made, feel free to also correct me on that.

[Kirschkernweitspucker]

I think I spider...

[Grimlet]

Hello there,

first of all what a great thread to polish my English. I'm quite insecure in my english abilities, because I tend to google everything that doesn't sound right in my mind. But here I'll be the Günther Öttinger saying things "Frei von der Leber".

I suggest we could talk about recent events like amercian politics. Trump is always good for a laugh. Or let's talk about what english things influence your daily life. I personally watch a lot of movies and TV shows in English. Sometimes with subtitles because some accents are so diffuccult to understand like for example the southern english or texans(True detective). What do you guys think?

[StefanE]

From my point of view it is nearly impossible for a non english native speaker to unterstand "True detective" Series 1. I tried hard, but I failed for nearly 50%. I must use englisch subtitles, otherwise I cant follow the story. Every german native speaker who's telling me that he dont need this, I dont believe him ;-).

BTW: Great series, great actors!

If someone want an impression, have fun with it:

 

[Ulfmann]

I forgot to answer yesterday, I'm sorry. Very nice idea, Carwyn!

As for me, I'm quite satisfied with my English, as I was taught to speak my first sentences in English at the age of 5 when we visited relatives in Canada. Nonetheless, I'm attending an English Course in my company for improving fluency in speaking and for training vocabulary and grammar. Surprisingly I recently became aware on how wrong my gut feeling is sometimes with regard to the correct use of the tenses. I totally forgot about all those strange rules (e.g. specifying the time or not). In German it is less likely to do real mistakes if you just chose any of the past tenses, whereas native English speaker will notice immediately 'Oh no, you can't say that.' For that, even as an adult it's amazingly useful to have a teacher who prepares exercises and who'll teach you everything again you already learned years ago.

[Enno]

Tsss, i don´t care about my english. Because none of my business partner are native english speaker. So we alle make mistakes.

And yes, i know, my tenses must be horrible for any nativ english speaking person. But it´s the same for me, with my swabian colleagues.  And until now i didn´t have killed one of them.

So, yeah, sometimes i wish i would have a bigger vocabulary. But at most conversations i´m able to explain the facts with my limited vocabulary. 

[bummel]

First of all, nice idea carwyn.  

By the way, do you really thaught about that offer?!
In my humble opinion I belief that I'll give you a hard in correcting all my mistakes. 

 

What the heck... It's difficult to follow and to understand what they are talking about in True Detective. 
Well, at least the swearing is not that hard to get.  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[Carwyn]

Am 11.2.2017 um 09:04 schrieb bummel:

By the way, do you really thaught thought about that offer?!

Yep.

Zitat

In my humble opinion I belief believe that I'll give you a hard in you'll have a hard time correcting all my mistakes. 

Yeah, I guess so. But here's me hoping, you'll become better in time.
And also I hope that there's not only me who's helping out but many others who can pinpoint and correct other peoples' mistakes (even mine).

[Ulfmann]

vor 17 Minuten schrieb Carwyn:

other peoples' people's mistakes

 Or am I wrong?

[KampfKatze]

I think some passages from 'True Derective' is Quite understandable.
In english there are many other accents like in german, such as 'schwäbisch ' which is my accents. Uhm.. i don't know what to write.

I improved my English skills with WWE, there are many actors who speak quite clear which you can follow easily.

Your opinion to my English skills?

Greetings


Sent from my iPhone using Fachinformatiker.de mobile app

[Carwyn]

vor 27 Minuten schrieb Ulfmann:

 Or am I wrong?

I'd say it's more a question of "apostrophe at the end" and "no apostrophe at the end" rather than "apostrophe at the end" or "apostrophe before s". Your suggestion points more towards a swallowed letter (indicated by the apostrophe) while mine is directed at a certain case that has to be used. But I could be wrong.

But yeah, I was struggling with that one.

[Ulfmann]

For my understanding your way refers to a mistake of peoples, which is not suitable in this context. It feels a bit like hair-splitting, but it's a slight difference to use peoples' or people's.

http://thegrammarexchange.infopop.cc/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/340600179/m/5851095944

https://www.englishforums.com/English/PeoplesOrPeoples/vkzwh/post.htm

[Carwyn]

I'm referring to a mistake of people. A mistake made by people. It's their mistake. That's what I mean by an indication of a case.
But yeah, the problem in your first link seems to be similar to mine. So it's probably people's.

[Grimlet]

vor 3 Stunden schrieb Carwyn:

Yep.

Yeah, I guess so. But here's me hoping, you'll become better in time.
And also I hope that there's not only me who's helping out but many others who can pinpoint and correct other peoples' mistakes (even mine).

Sure I'll help! But I'm not perfect please feel free to correct me.

Am 10.2.2017 um 14:33 schrieb Enno:

Tsss, I don't care about my English. Because none of my business partners are native english speakers. So we alle make mistakes.

And yes, I know, my tenses must be horrible for any native english speaking person. But it´s the same for me, with my swabian colleagues.  And until now I didn't have killed one of them.  

So, yeah, sometimes I wish I had a bigger vocabulary. But at most conversations i´m able to explain the facts with my limited vocabulary. 

 

vor 3 Stunden schrieb KampfKatze:

I think some passages from 'True Derective' is quite understandable.
In English there are many other accents like in German, such as 'schwäbisch '(swabian  )which is my accents. Uhm.. I don't know what to write.

I improved my English skills with WWE, there are many actors who speak quite clear which you can follow easily.

Your opinions to my English skills? (Better: What do you think of my English skills? or What are your opinions to my English Skills?)

Greetings


Sent from my iPhone using Fachinformatiker.de mobile app

Your English skills are fine.

Bearbeitet 13. Februar 2017 von Grimlet

[abby]

Yesterday, I started to watch Sherlock. It's interesting how hard it was to understand british actors, compared to the US ones I'm used to. For the first two episodes I had to put on english subtitles to understand everything he was saying. 

But I have to admit that my english skills are kind of strange. I tend to understand indian english  way better than "real" native speakers, as I only hear that kind of english at work. (And the famous bavarian accent, but thats just really really bad^^)

[Asura]

If I have to rate my english skills, I would give me/them an "ok" and an "understandable".

The only time I had "professional speakers" to correct my skills, were in my school time.
Since then I only spoke to "normal" people, with normal mistakes and normal skills.

If there was an opportunity to ask a native speaker, what he's thinking about my English, I took the chance and asked him. Most of the time the answers were something like "it's good.".

To be honest, I have to think way to long to say or write something. I'm missing the practice..

Since I'm reading some manuals or books loudly (in english and when I'm alone), it's easier for me to speak without to statter or thinking about how to pronounce some words.

Well, let's see how it goes..

[KampfKatze]

For me also it's totally confusing if you have to think about the construction.
It's confusing if you are a german guy 'cuz it makes no sense if you are translating 1:1.


Sent from my iPhone using Fachinformatiker.de mobile app

[Ulfmann]

Be careful with conditional clauses.

vor 11 Minuten schrieb Asura:

If I have to rate my english skills, I would will give me/them an "ok" and an "understandable".
(Type 1: If + Simple Present, will-Future)

The only time I had "professional speakers" to correct my skills, were was in my school time.
Since then I only spoke to "normal" people, with normal mistakes and normal skills.

If there was an opportunity to ask a native speaker, what he's thinking about my English, I took would take the chance and asked to ask him. Most of the time the answers were something like "it's good.".
(Type 2: If + Simple Past, would + Infinitive)

To be honest, I have to think way to long to say or write something. I'm missing the practice..

Since I'm reading some manuals or books loudly (in english and when I'm alone), it's easier for me to speak without to statter or thinking about how to pronounce some words.

Well, let's see how it goes..

 

[Grimlet]

 

@abbyHey, great choice! I love Sherlock. Benedict Cumberbatch is the best. I had problems too when I started watching it. It was mainly Sherlock who talks to fast during his epic conclusions. I recently finshed the series a few weeks ago. It was kind of lackluster, something was missing. But overall stil great, keep on watching!

I also have indians working next to me. And I understand them better than british people XD so I think it's just a matter of how much time you actually spent listening and trying to understand certain dialects.

Oh bavarian english accent? I haven't heard that one yet. Only swabian.

[Carwyn]

vor 37 Minuten schrieb Asura:

If I have had to rate my english skills, I would give me/them an "ok" and an "understandable".

The only time I had "professional speakers" to correct my skills mistakes, were  was in my school time.
Since then I only spoke to "normal" people, with normal mistakes and normal skills.

[...already corrected by Ulfi-Pulfi...]

To be honest, I have to think way too long to say or write something. I'm missing the practice..

Since I'm reading some manuals or books loudly (in english and when I'm alone), it's easier for me to speak without to stautter or thinking about how to pronounce some words.

Well, let's see how it goes..

[Carwyn]

I don't really think about how to translate x to y. Often times I just kinda switch into the other language, meaning that I actually start to think in that specific language. Which saves a lot of time but also takes a lot of practice, I suppose.

It may also be helpful that I seem to have a thing with languages. If only I would know more of them rather than only German and English.

[abby]

Be happy that you can speak two languages without any problem  

I speak german fluent and english and french on a high level. But I also learn spanish and I often confuse french and spanish words and grammar because it is so similar. Sometimes it can be embarassing when your spanish colleague cant understand you because you just said a french sentence in spanish accent and grammar....xD

[Carwyn]

Oh I'm quite happy to know that I am quite fluent in English. It's absolutely helpful all around the world. Still I'd love to learn French and Spanish. Sadly, I just lack the time to do so. There are things that have a way higher priority than learning another language.

[abby]

I was lucky to learn french while being in school there for 6 months. 

Otherwise I would have given up on that. (I was pretty bad in school because I was to lazy to learn my stuff  ) 

Bearbeitet 13. Februar 2017 von abby

[Grimlet]

@KampfKatze Start reading english books or english news. Play your video games in English. Anything related to English. And you'll start to get a notion or feeling for the language.

@CarwynExcuses! xD No but there are some apps you could use to learn new languages if you lack the time. They only take few minutes to finish every day. Of course they are no comparison to a real language learning course with a tutor. I for example use Duolingo to learn Spanish. xD And I'm still looking for someone to compete with.( You gain points when you finish a course.) I guess it's for me a casual way to learn a new language. xD