Best way to identify current level? What is in your opinion the best way to identify you level and find out what your weak points are? Is the Oxford Online Placement good enough for this purpose?

Find a language partner is painful. But I won't give up It seems to me that it's close to impossible to find someone here, but I also know that it's not true. Last time I was lucky enough to find a friend on italki who lived in Moscow (hi, Alice, if you're reading this). Unfortunately she moved to Spain a year ago, so I gave up after a couple of attempts. After a long brake I decided to resume, so now I looking for a language exchange partner but don’t hold out much hope though. I think it's so difficult not only because some people are not really serious when it comes to learning languages, but also because there are much more people who want to learn English than people learning Russian. I suppose most of the English native speakers receive tens or even more messages during a single online session and it's very difficult to reply to all of them, but I won't give up. Have a nice day ;)

A couple of new words in use 1) Jim walked through the square and was suddenly conscious of people dancing all over the place. When Alice arrived to office she was conscious that nobody was there. Then she realised that it was a day off. 2) You should not make any excuses about lack of free time for your hobby. Not having sufficient time for it just means that you're not interested enough. If the firm does not has sufficient resources to cover the losses during the crisis it'll have to go bankrupt. 3) He was not certain if he will be able to lift the table upstairs by his own. The last thing I heard from his was: 'I'm certain who made it', and then he suddenly dissapeared. 4) We weren't able to manage all orders, therefore we decided to hire an auxiliary. One of the difficulties Russian learners face is that there's no auxiliary verbs in it. 5) It's difficult not to succumb the temptation when you have just gave up smoking Some people feel a strong temptation to eat when they wake up in the night, though they know it's bad for health. 6) Fred's most strong desire is to own a motorbike. Experience workers don't have desire to work for a small salary. She decided to satisfy her desire for peace and find herself a less stressful job 7) Did you hear rumour about her new boyfriend? Some say he's going to win the award this year The spokesmes denied rumours that they won't provide free healthcare next year. 8) -Here's my precription. How much would it cost in total? If they want to stabialise the economy they should follow the prescription. 9) Learning new skate tricks is challenging. My new job is quite challenging 10) Dmitry was not trilled about repeating the same word over and over again. Stacey was thrilled to death about her new car. 11) Did you see 'Fifty Shades of Grey'? I found it spectacular. (of course I don't, the more stupid example is the more easily to remember :P ) Everyone was discussing his spectacular bankruptcy. 12) I've got a potentially lucrative idea. Let's find out if we can ear some money with it. The contract we have signed seems to be lucrative. 13) It's rather difficult to find genuine food in the modern supermarkets. -Was he nice with you? Indeed, he was huble and genuine. 14) She looked fabulous at the party last evening. He's got a fabolous car. 15) I do not like the idea of moving to another city, but I have to admit it. I admit that I have very poor English skills.

27.02.2015 I have to write anothe small note just because I won't blame myself tomorrow for doing nothing today. Today was a good day, I've got a very important task at work and I need it to be finished tomorow. Other people in my company depend on the results of my work, so I do not have much room for mistakes. If I do everyting correct, than other people will be able to do their part of the project. The only weird thing is that my colleagues will have to work on the weekend to finish the project. I hope at least that it was their choice how to spend the weekend. I've got a bunch of plans for this weekend - going to resume visiting the swimming pool - I've skipped the training on the previous week, but I won't skip it this week. Also I've got to meet a couple of friends of mine and one of them was born on 28 of February, therefore I need to find an interesting gift for him. I don't have something in mind at the moment, though I'll manage to find something interesting and useful to present. As for developing my English I have to start learning tenses this weekend, at least I hope that I will. I've got a perfect solid book for upper-intermediate or advanced students - 'English Grammar In Use', and it starts with tenses explanation, which is perfect for me. I feel also that I have to do different types of writings every time - essays, paraphrathing, describing something as everything I write here is about me, and it wouldn't lead me far if I contioue write about myself only. I hope I'll be able to find some materials that will help me with this issue.

My new notebook I've got a couple free minutes to write a short note here on italki, and this time it'll be about my new notebook which I have bought to use as a notebook for Enlish. It's a lovely red Infolio Tweed notebook and I do enjoy how it is made. The main purpose for buying it is that I would like to have a notebook where I can write thing the way I like them bo be arranged (as any other person, I would say). You probably can acheve that more easily using electronic tools as they allow you to do more stuff for making your notes more interesting and attractive by inserting photos, videos, and links, but I feel that a common notebook made of paper in which I can write all new thing I learn every day (alright, let's be fair, not every day :) ) therefore a lovely simple red notebook does fits my needs perfectly. I have already started writing new words and expressions in it as you can see from the photo below. I hope, it'll be full of exciting new words and expressions soon and it'll be easy to remeber (and use) all of them.

Harry Potter Today was rather a busy day. It's 11:50 p.m. and I just came home. Had a lot to do in order to finish a data import for a very important report. Feeling myself a bit tired but will try to write down a few word just to continue getting new usefull habbits. One of them, of course, is writing a note on italki every single day. Haven't got much time for leaning English this week, and my teacher is busy when I'm not, so my next lesson will be only on next week. But I have almost finished the first book of Harry Potter's series. After finishing the book I will watch the film. In spite of the fact that book is much more interesting, the film is interesting too, so I think I'll have fun watching it. Not sure if I will have enough motivation to read it again at a slower rate (I'm also listening the audiobook while reading the book) to remember the pronunciation and practice it repeting every sentense. Anyway, I have six more books to read, and then I'll decide if I should do it again more attentively. The fact that I read all books from series in Russian helps me a lot as far as I know the storyline, so I am able to pay more attention to words and pronunciation. Another interesting fact to mention is that my book is the American edition and the audiobook is Stephen Fry's Harry Potter, so they are slightly different (post-mail, mad-crazy, and much more) but this only makes you to pay more attention to what is written, so I find it very interesting and funny. Not sure what I should read after Harry Potter, but I think there is a bunch of options, so I shouldn't be worried about that so much. There are a lot of interesting books to read, for example any of Remark's books. It'll be also interesting to read Russian classical literature translated into English. That's enough for today and see you soon!

Book for improving grammar

Found this one: English Grammar in Use: A Self-Study Reference and Practice Book. Is it any good?

Errors compilation #1 Wrong: to make as much practice as possible Correct: to practise as much as possible Wrong: I thought it is Correct: I thought it was. Comment: silly mistake. Either "I think it is " or "I thought it was". Think thought thought. Irregular verb. Such a stupid mistake. Wrong: He could understand what I say Correct: He could understand what I was saying Wrong: These details make sense Correct: These details are relevant Wrong: my progression Correct: my progress Comment: have no idea why I wrote that. Progression is a series of things and I knew it when I wrote that bloody entry. Wrong: reliable environment Correct: a native English environment Wrong: the goals are to speak fluently and do not make too much Correct: the goals are to speak fluently and not to make too much Comment: tough one Wrong: to bother people with whom I will speak with Correct: to bother people during a conversation Wrong: As you may noticed from list Correct: As you may have noticed from the list N.B.: try not to use terrible instead of difficult. Finding something is difficult. Not terrible. Wrong: I'm here more than a week Correct: I've been here more than a week Wrong: To have somebody to talk with Correct: To have somebody to talk to Comment: Stop doing it again and again! To talk to. To speak with. Point. Wrong: Nobody is answering the messages Correct: Nobody is answering my messages Comment: Just feel the difference Wrong: Finally, I have found Correct: At last,I have finally found Comment: sounds more natural Wrong: but it absolutely worth it Correct: but it was absolutely worth the effort Mistake: stop using "Despite" instead of "Although"; Wrong: Despite he was studying Russian by himself, Simon did pretty well Correct: Although he has been studying Russian by himself, Simon did pretty well Comment: Tenses, again and again Wrong: i am sure he will develop very fast Correct: I am sure he will improve very fast Wrong: I decided to do my best Correct: I have decided to do my best Wrong: I think it's enough for today Correct: I think that's enough for today Mistake: touch typing vs typewriting. The first one is the skill of typing without looking on the keyboard. The second one stands for typing on a typing machine. Wrong: much less mistakes Correct: fewer mistakes Comment: go and study some rules, erm? Wrong: a thing I'm not even able to try Correct: a thing I'm even not able to try These are the main mistakes I did in previous entries.

Mechanical keyboards part II: my personal experience This time the story I would like to write down would be about my personal experience with mechanical keyboards and typewriting. Since I work as a software developer, I once decided that I should start typewriting. The difference between typing and typewriting is that when you are typewriting, you do not look at the keyboard and use all ten finger for typing. It takes from three to four weeks of practicing an hour a day to feel youself comfortable but it worth the effort. The advantages of typewriting are the following: first of all, you typing speed increases in time, secondly, you make much less mistakes and last but not the least thing to mention is that you start to feel yourself more confident. After some training you will probably be able to speak with somebody and type at the same time or at least listen to someone and type without looking on keyboard. This skill will help you when you have a lot to do or you're in a rush. Writing emails becomes fun, you begin to enjoy typing, no matter what are you typing. After I developed my speed (Russian - 350 signs/minute, English 250 signs/minute) a friend of mine told me about mechanical keyboard. At that moment I was typing on a chep rubber dome Logitech keyboard and I did not like the idea of spending a sighnificant amount of money (40 times more than my keyboard worth at that time) for a thing I'm even not able to try. There were a lot of gaming keyboard in any electronic shop, but there were few truly ergonomic keyboards (not to be confused with "Truly Ergonomic Keyboard" brand) and my aim was to buy an ergonomic keyboard. But then I'd noticed annoying pain in my right arm and that was carpal tunnel syndrome. If you do not know anything about this disease, you can make a small investigation in order to find out what it is. The reason was that I was typing and playing computer games too much, so there were tho ways of solving that problem: to buy an ergonomic device and swap my mouse into left hand or stop programming and playing games. As you can see I had no choice actually, as far as I do enjoy both programming and playing computer games. I bought myself a kinesis advantage keyboard, started to use mouse with a left hand. I also eat, do my teeth and even write in English with left hand despite the fact that I'm right-handed. Well, I have no space left, so I will continue in the part III. Stay safe and do not type too much, or use a proper keyboard.