Do you know that there is only one country in the world that has more Spanish speakers than the USA? And that would be our neighbor to the south-- Mexico.

molesto o molestado? quiero usar la palabra como adjectivo. El esta molestado. Ella esta molestada. pero, cuando yo hablaba con una peruana, ella me dijo que es correcto decir El esta molesto. Ella esta molesta. Que dicen ustedes?

Are there any general principles that the French use ... ...in deciding how they will pronounce a written word. I have something for you.French is the only language I have come across where I often have trouble following the spoken language even while reading the same text.

Refreshing New Uses of a Language by Foreign Speakers It is a common viewpoint with learners of a foreign language that their command and use of the new language will necessarily be inferior to that of native speakers. I would like to point out several ways that foreign speakers can, and often do, make improvements in the use of the new language. First is the hang-up that many students have with accent. To the analytical listener, accent is only meta-data that is communicated along with the main communication content that tells where the speaker comes from. Why hide it? You are from somewhere else-- what is the point of pretending that you are not?

Virtual Keyboard for foreign language on second monitor. I have two monitors. I would like to set my Windows system so that it is using a Russian keyboard, then use a program on the second monitor that would show me a Russian keyboard, so that I could click on any letter I needed to generate the letter. Does anyone know of such programs? It seems like if there was such a program it would not be too hard to modify it to use most languages (except probably Chinese or other oriental languages).

Studying Grammar 2 (continued from previous entry) A reason for studying grammar that I appreciate now, but that was not mentioned to us at all in school, is the concept of "registers" of English (or any other language), and that a way to show respect to another is to use a higher register of language when speaking with them. Grammar includes semantics, which is the study of meanings of words. As grammar school students (in the US, "grammar school" is first through sixth grades, even though not much grammar is taught), we were mis-educated into the idea that learning to use larger or less common words would be a way to impress people. We were not ever educated, that I remember, on the purpose of communication. Maybe it was just taken for granted, and considered beneath us. As an adult, I now have different ideas on the use of larger or less common words, and it ties in with my ideas on the different registers of English. When I communicate (at length, anyway), it is from a desire to have the other person increase their understanding about something. I am not trying to impress people-- I just want to communicate useful information. I actually identify in this much more with German culture than my the American culture I grew up with and live in. Germans commonly seem to have more integrity in their speech. By that, I mean that their main purpose in speech is more likely to be simply to communicate an idea, and it is usually a straight-forward idea that has some practical value. Americans don't always have this as the top priority in their speech. When I use larger words, it is usually because they have a more refined meaning that is closer to the meaning I want to convey, but I also take into account who I am communicating to. If the person I am speaking or writing to is unlikely to understand the larger word, then I will drop to a lower register of English to convey the same meaning. I think it is rude to use a large word where it is obvious the listener will not understand it. It serves no useful purpose. It will not help the communication, and in fact will cut across it. It is like saying to the listener, "Hold on for a second while I hit you over the head". So when I do have occasion to use the higher register of English, it is a way of showing my respect for the command of the language of the person I am speaking or writing to. It is also nice for me to be able to exercise that higher register that does not get used that often, but that allows me to express myself more precisely.

Studying Grammar 1 I remember in school we did not get an in-depth treatment of grammar. It sounds like my parent's generation went a lot further into it than we did. I remember my mother telling me how she did extensive sentence diagramming in high school and college. We just did a bit of that in grammar school. In retrospect, a main part of what was missing in my study of grammar was an understanding of why I should study it. I remember being told that it would help if I wanted to learn a foreign language, and I think it was explained that we would be able to speak English better. Neither of these arguments carried much weight with me as a fourth grade student. I thought I knew English well enough, and I hadn't really considered learning a foreign language at that point. If there had been opportunities to learn a foreign language at that point in my education, I probably would have been interested, and that would have been a motivation to learn grammar better. (Continued) Here in the US it is not usual to have any access in the public schools to foreign language study until you reach high school. When I did reach high school, it was in a period of decline for foreign language education-- at least in the local area. I remember that as a freshman I had the choice of learning Latin, German, French or Spanish. By the sophomore year it was down to just French and Spanish. I think these days, in the high school that I attended, only the Spanish option remains. In today's high school education, learning a programming language is considered as an equivalent to a foreign language study. I can't really agree with this. I have studied several programming languages, and have written quite a few programs, mainly in C, C++ and C#.NET. I have also studied several languages. They are "different animals". The purposes are not the same. They treat different areas of life, and probably use different areas of the brain. I think learning a programming language is quite a bit easier. As an adult who has the perspective of learning enough grammar on his own to allow him to learn a foreign language, I have some additional motivations for learning grammar that I could offer a grammar school student. ("Grammar school" is what we call the first through the sixth grades of public school-- even though they do not teach much grammar). First, a student should be told that they may not find all they are looking for in our culture. Other cultures are a lot stronger than ours in certain areas.

In your language do you have an expression that foreigners do a better job with than natives?

In American English we have "OK" or "Okay". I have noticed that Orientals can often put a lot more life into the word than we do. For us it is just an acknowledgement, but they can make it into a very positive, energetic, or enthusiastic statement.

Have you noticed an expression in your native language that foreigners do a better job with? In American English we have "OK" or "Okay". I have noticed that Orientals can often put a lot more life into the word than we do. For us it is just an acknowledgement, but they can make it into a very positive, energetic, or enthusiastic statement.