I'm interested in the different types and sources of English material that you read.
Q1) Apart from any English textbook or formal learning material, and also not counting Italki, what is the most recent piece of English that you have read? (It could be from anywhere.)
Q2) Please describe the English sources that you read the most often. What are they? Where do you get them from? How much do you like it?
English (like many other languages) has so many ways of greeting someone when you meet them, and saying things when you leave them (some short, some long, some formal, some casual, and some just weird!) What are some that you have heard, but have never used yourself or would not want to use. Why have you not used them? Or do you have a favourite one that sounds funny?
Some people enjoy learning some of their English from sources in the entertainment world. Do you have a really great singing artist, or movie or TV show that you have learned some English from? Please tell us all!
What English expression have you heard/read recently that you thought was very curious/strange or that you didn't fully understand? Where did you hear/read it? What was the story or context behind the expression? Look forward to hearing your stories of weird/mysterious English expressions...!
Do you have any examples, from personal experience, of how culture has affected (or maybe just inspired) or put a certain light on, something you were learning in a language?
I just wanted to hear real stories of the impact of culture - BOTH from the target language, as well as that of the learner - on language learning (so it could be either of two cultures, or the interaction of the two cultures).
If I've confused you, please ask a question.
OK, time for all English learners to vote:
When you consider the English that you can produce, what do you think is the English error - a specific grammatical or other kind of error - that you make the most often?
It will be interesting to see what specific type of error gets the most votes. (OK, it's not really voting, just the recording of group data - but still interesting.)
In case no one else has posted this, and you missed this piece of news today: the Facebook billionaire, Mark Zuckerberg, showed off his Chinese skills today, speaking the language for around 30 minutes in a Q&A session with students from Beijing's prestigious Tsinghua University. Earlier this week, news reports say he was "appointed to the board of the prestigious Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management".
Good enough to be appointed to one of the boards of a leading university of China (the alma mater of the current Chinese President and his immediate predecessor as well), and yet not good enough to avoid having his company's social internet services deliberately blocked in that country, heh heh.
You can watch a short version at Youtube here [ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_168pH9GJk ], and Youtube has the full version as well. If you're in China where Youtube is another service blocked by the government, you can watch it at at YouKu here [ http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XODA5Mzg2ODA0.html ], and the long version can be found at YouKu too.
You might know that Zuckerberg's wife is a Chinese American doctor, Priscilla Chan - a fellow Harvard student, born locally in Boston. Some say Chan's restaurant-owning Chinese parents came from Vietnam; other say her parents came from China via Vietnam. At any rate, an article states: "Zuck prepared for that [2012 second trip to China] - and for his eventual marriage to Chan, it seems - by taking Mandarin lessons for a year beforehand. He told ABC’s Roberts that he picked up enough to chat with Chan’s grandmother but is by no means fluent".
So, is Zuckerberg's Chinese an inspiration... or not?
What city or country are you from, and what different types of transport did you use today? In your opinion, which type of transport is the best and which is the worst? Why? Is there some really interesting mode of transport you have tried in another country, or that you would like to try?
Sometimes, even when the language we have composed is appropriately complex or sophisticated, we sometimes forget the most basic grammar rules.
If you are an interested learner in the field of Business English, look at the following two English extracts about recent natural gas negotiations between Chinese and Indonesian parties, written by the Chinese government's Xinhua news agency (you can find this article by searching for "hike of gas from Tangguh" with the phrase in quotation marks):
"<em>The Indonesian renegotiation team has made agreement with buyer in Fujian, China...</em>"
"<em>...the gas price at that time was at 3.3 U.S. dollars per mmbtu... Starting from July 1, we have agreed the price is 0.065 multiplied by JCC, and then plus 1.5 U. S. dollar per mmbtu,</em>"
I can see a simple grammar error in each extract. It is easy for English learners to overlook these small errors; however, it may be obvious to a native speaker that this article is written or edited by a non-native speaker.
Which small grammar error can you see and explain?
