DonQuixote99
just give me some truth
OK, are you just being melodramatic again, or is this your way of telling us you have some diagnosis?
Confidence in foreign language skills
- Thread starter harman/kardon
- Start date
Will send pm.
Please send me one too if you can, Chris. I'm a little concerned.
I'm quite okay so far, thanks.
Maybe just another cute cosy nice little burnout. There is no reason for concern. Need a little break. So no further posts for now apart from Birthday threads.
Maybe just another cute cosy nice little burnout. There is no reason for concern. Need a little break. So no further posts for now apart from Birthday threads.
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Okay. We all need a break now and then. Don't stay away too long though, and stay in touch.
Adaptor or adapter?
Thanks. The Oxford dictionary also offers adaptor. Maybe both versions are correct.
Chris - there's some good stuff here concerning patterns in English spelling and a pop quiz you can take at the end.
https://www.thefreedictionary.com/Commonly-Confused-Suffixes-er-or-ar.htm
https://www.thefreedictionary.com/Commonly-Confused-Suffixes-er-or-ar.htm
https://writingexplained.org/adapter-vs-adaptor-difference
[Note that the distinction is frequently not followed.]
[Note that the distinction is frequently not followed.]
I love Laurel & Hardy. I love them since I was a kid. For a couple of years I have had a Laurel & Hardy dvd box named "The Collection".
I really appreciate Oliver's elegant mode of expression. But sometimes his pronunciation does confuse me a bit, for example when he is - in a way - saying: "Stan, you get on my noives!" Is this a sort of British accent?
I really appreciate Oliver's elegant mode of expression. But sometimes his pronunciation does confuse me a bit, for example when he is - in a way - saying: "Stan, you get on my noives!" Is this a sort of British accent?
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Last month I visited my 22 year old son who is attending college in Machida, Japan. He only spoke English from birth until a couple years ago when he started picking up some Japanese (compliments of playing video games with other folks worldwide). He then taught himself enough Japanese in order to test out of a basic Japanese college level language course, and is now formally continuing to learn more of the language at school.
Anyway, when we were visiting with him, he would speak Japanese with those around him, then would switch to English when he spoke with us. It went smoothly for the most part, but at one point he couldn't think of a word he wanted to use in English.... and was struggling to recall. He said somewhat under his breath "English is -hard-". Makes me wonder what his English would be like if he stayed there for another 6 months..... a year, ...... 5 years ......?
If we are "forced" to learn a foreign language, for example because of a longer stay abroad, language skills most likely could turn out to a quality we never considered being possible. A six weeks stay (preferably together with a close AK member) in the United States could break my mental block for sure...
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DonQuixote99
just give me some truth
It's a New York City accent. Polyglot influences.
Oliver Hardy was born in Harlem--Harlem, Georgia. His New Yawk accent elements would be affectations for comic purposes.
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Thanks, Sir!
Thinking about your reply I realize and remember that Stan is the British gentleman, not Oliver. Stan was born in Ulverston.
Accents you hear in movies from that era are often somewhat artificial, known as the "mid-Atlantic" accent. It was adopted by actors and upper-crust easterners, but usage declined after World War II.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid-Atlantic_accent
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mid-Atlantic_accent
Just encountered the word "party pooper" somewhere in the forum again. This seems something to be like "spoilsport", in German "Spielverderber".
However, party pooper sounds pretty rude to me (maybe I am too sensitive, as an AK member claimed recently, well, I am how I am), but such a word - literally translated - could never exist in the civilized use of German language.
Doesn't this word, or better: expression - does it actually not sound rude to some of you as well?
However, party pooper sounds pretty rude to me (maybe I am too sensitive, as an AK member claimed recently, well, I am how I am), but such a word - literally translated - could never exist in the civilized use of German language.
Doesn't this word, or better: expression - does it actually not sound rude to some of you as well?
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Just a case of multiple slangy definitions - poop also means to exhaust - the phrase "poop out" means to become very tired or exhausted. Also, even a little more slangy, poop can mean "information" - "What's the latest poop?" Both usable in a family friendly newspaper or other writing.
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Thank you very much for your clarification, Sir.
My dictionaries seem to be very poor linguistic tools, sometimes I suppose that they do not even cover half of a lively language...
My dictionaries seem to be very poor linguistic tools, sometimes I suppose that they do not even cover half of a lively language...
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