The Beta Version - A New Playground to Explore?

Tell Me About It One day, my cellphone was pickpocketed on my way home. Soon afterward, there was a phone call from a guy who claimed that he found it on the road. Unexpectedly, he asked me for money as a reward.        I was so angry that I couldn't help but blew up. My neighbour was in my room all the time, watching me in frustration, suddenly opened her mouth and said, "Tell me about it".         I was dumbfounded for a moment. " I-I-I have already t-told you," I stuttered a bit.         In the end, I found out what tell me about it is all about. Questions: (1) Does the writing style deliver the funny message? (2) Does the writing style depict the situation enough? Any grammar, collocation, and punctuation checks are highly appreciated. Thank you for your time and help, Terecia

Nice to Me or Nice for Me Dear English Speakers, I know that the usage of 'to' in the expression like this, "You are really nice to me", means that someone is acting nicely towards me. However, I also read somewhere that there's an expression like this, "You did something nice for me." The questions are: (1) Can I use "to" in the latter sentence? (2) Is there an explanation about the usage "for" as "to" in the first sentence? Thank you for your time and help, Terecia

「任憑」的用法 大家好， 標題該寫「任憑」的含義。 我碰到一個句子言：「因為我們沒有管好自己的思想，任憑思想感情放棄，不加以選擇」。 請問，句子裡的「任憑」是什麼意思？ (1) 聽憑；聽任(動) (2) 無論；不管(連) (3) 即使 (連) 我不知哪個意思正確的，是因為有放棄在句末。若是「聽任」，換句話說，句子就變成「聽任思想感情放棄」嗎？ 謝謝大家的關注與幫助。 謝謝， 玲玲

Freak Out I always get tongue-tied when I have to talk to people in my own language. Until one day, something happened. I was on a train going on holidays with my friend. There was a middle-aged man, sat facing me. He didn't seem friendly, I could see that he sometimes looked at my friend out of the corner of his eyes. My friend could feel the same thing. I whispered at her, asking if she wanted me to tell him to stop looking at her. She nodded slowly. I was about to speak to him, then he took something out of the pocket on his shabby shirt. It was a packet of cigarette. He lit it without any hesitation. Good grief! Didn't he know that it's prohibited to smoke on the train? All of sudden, he sneered at me as if he could read my mind. I couldn't believe what I saw. I tried so hard to keep myself calm until there was a loud noise coming from behind the man's seat. A baby cried and coughed at the same time. The man didn't only ignore the cry of the baby, he kept smoking unceasingly. I asked him politely several times, with my broken Chinese, to put off his cigarettes. He didn't show any response, not the least bit of attention. Then, a train-officer was walking towards us, collecting tickets from passengers. I stopped him and asked his help to warn the man. He responded in a haste, said he would come back. I waited and waited, the officer didn't show up. The room started to fill with smoke, the baby cried louder, but no one did something. I couldn't hold myself back anymore. Suddenly, I snatched his cigarettes out of his mouth without anyone realizing it. He was shocked. I gave him an intense look, my brain shouted to me saying he would definitely hit me. Surprisingly, he didn't. He gave me an awkward expression which I could hardly understand what was in his mind. My friend asked me to promise her that I would never act like that. It was the most insane decision I've ever made. Thank you for reading my story. Any grammar corrections, suggestions for naturalness, or writing style are highly appreciated. Regards, Terecia Image source: <a href="https://www.freepik.com/free-photos-vectors/background">Background vector created by brgfx - www.freepik.com</a>

中文討論版的網站 大家好， 我發現這兒以中文寫的討論極少。我想提高漢語水平，尤其是日常用語。 你們能否推薦以中文討論版的網站？我居住於印度尼西亞，能看繁體與簡體漢字。 關於內容，屬於學漢語的能看懂的網站更好。 謝謝大家的關注於幫助。

ITalki Point System

Dear ITalki Community,

     You probably have noticed that there're points on Community Activities (you could only see it on the website version). I assume that it shows how active you are in writing notebooks, asking questions, and bringing up topics. It would also display how active you are in correcting notebooks, answering questions, and taking parts in others' discussion.

    I was thinking, what if the points used as filters? Here is my idea on how the system would work:

(1) 10 points for writing notebooks, 20 points for each correction, 5 points for an upvote.

(2) 5 points for asking questions, 10 points for each answer, 5 points for an upvote.

After getting a certain amount of points, then one could have some privilege, like:

(1) one or two postings on a discussion forum.

(2) one or two personal messages to the language partners (limited to the selections of one's the target languages) 

   

     What about the teachers and tutors? They certainly get the privilege to post on a discussion board.

Once again, this is only my imagination.

What is your idea of using ITalki's Point?

交通工具的動詞 大家好， 想請大家問關於交通工具的動詞問題。以下是動詞的例子： (1) 我打車上班。 (2) 我坐車上班。 (3) 我搭車上班。 其他例子： (4) 我騎自行車與我騎車是否一樣？坐摩托車可否縮短成坐車？ (5) 我坐單車的「單車」與摩托車是否一樣？ 問： (a) 1至3、4至5，有何區別？ (b) 這五個句子在何情況下說的？ (c) 這五個句子當中，哪個是書面語與口語？ 非常感謝您的時間與解答， 玲玲

New Words For English?

What words in your language (other than English) do you think English need?

Bahasa Indonesia have words which English doesn’t. Those words are:

<ol style="margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><li dir="ltr" style="list-style-type: decimal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">

Kamu means You as a second-person singular pronouns.

</li><li dir="ltr" style="list-style-type: decimal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">

Kalian means You as a second-person plural pronouns.

</li><li dir="ltr" style="list-style-type: decimal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">

Kami means We which exclude someone who the speaker speak to.

</li><li dir="ltr" style="list-style-type: decimal; font-variant-numeric: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; vertical-align: baseline;">

Kita means We which include someone who the speaker speak to.

</li></ol>

I acknowledge that there were used to be Thou and Ye for You as second-person singular and plural respectively. However, I don’t know why English doesn’t use them in modern days, except in KJV Bible and Shakespeare’s piece of work.