who use english as a second language?come in

[shiyii]

as a chinese,it's hard for me to read posts written in english from A to Z,especially there were some misters enjoy writing long essays on each topic.
yes,someone from canada,i exactly refer to you

[noel]

你跟我说话?



=o)

Noel

[Erwan_BZH]

as a chinese,it's hard for me to read posts written in english from A to Z,especially there were some misters enjoy writing long essays on each topic.
yes,someone from canada,i exactly refer to you

That's the way you improve your language Shiyii...reading reading reading reading....

English is my 2nd language, technically, but I can use it almost like my mother tongue, I love it so much. A much easier language to learn than French for sure...

[JanieWatkins]

I think French is much easier to learn than English - our grammar is very difficult.

[flame]

as a chinese,it's hard for me to read posts written in english from A to Z,especially there were some misters enjoy writing long essays on each topic.
yes,someone from canada,i exactly refer to you

the english,first language for english people is normally bulls**t.

[miscuehamburg]

As a tri-linqual I'd like to add my observation that every language is roughly equal difficult to learn (from scratch), since they all have their specialities. The good news are that the practical usage is the most important part of the process, and your being here allready delivers a bit

[Freddie Ng]

I think French is much easier to learn than English - our grammar is very difficult.

Are you sure ???

[Freddie Ng]

as a chinese,it's hard for me to read posts written in english from A to Z,especially there were some misters enjoy writing long essays on each topic.
yes,someone from canada,i exactly refer to you

I'm a chinese too, English is almost the third or fourth language to me. But that's one of the way you learn.. you can always look up for dictionary and even ask around here. I believe many would help you out, plus we know have a chatbar that makes chatting easier and more convenient. Don't be shy..
Most of the long essays in TSF are very informative. Don't miss it..

[ore]

I think French is much easier to learn than English - our grammar is very difficult.

English grammar is one of the easier ones... in Europe at least...
No genders, no cases, not that many tenses, etc.

But then miscuehamburg sounds about right.

& romanic languages (fench, spanish, italian...) feel easier to learn than germanic ones (german, scandanavian ones, english) just because of their flowing sound...

[DandyA]

may I ask how second (or third or fourth) english language speakers cope with spelling mistakes?

for instance, our twisted administrator, Ferret, was today speaking about "miss information" ... I initially thought he was talking about an unmarried female called Miss Information but slowly realised he was referring to a lack of proper information which is normally spelled misinformation ...

I am not complaining, I am just saying that sometimes I struggle to understand my fellow english speakers ...

[Trophymad]

I learned English at school, always was a D student because I couldn't get the grammar into my head and in the end I gave up even trying. But then I started watching movies and TV shows in their original language, English, and after a rough first season of Star Trek TNG I got better and better. By now I sometimes even think English but the downside: Don't have the chance to use it often enough so actually speaking English always makes me VERY nervous.

P.S.: Still haven't got the grammar, though

[Skypigeon]

English is my second language but I have lived in the UK and in the States for many years so it's almost like my first. I also only read books in English..never ever in Swedish...a way of keeping my reading skills up to date. I write in English every day and have many English speaking friends here.

[DandyA]

I learned English at school, always was a D student because I couldn't get the grammar into my head and in the end I gave up even trying. But then I started watching movies and TV shows in their original language, English, and after a rough first season of Star Trek TNG I got better and better. By now I sometimes even think English but the downside: Don't have the chance to use it often enough so actually speaking English always makes me VERY nervous.

P.S.: Still haven't got the grammar, though

your English is excellent - well done Captain Kirk!

at school, my English teacher was always telling me off for "splitting infinitives" but I didn't know what an infinitive was ... until many years later, someone pointed out "to boldly go where no one has been before" is wrong ... it should be "to go boldly where no one has been before"

don't split infinitives Captain Kirk!

[poolqjunkie]

may I ask how second (or third or fourth) english language speakers cope with spelling mistakes?

for instance, our twisted administrator, Ferret, was today speaking about "miss information" ... I initially thought he was talking about an unmarried female called Miss Information but slowly realised he was referring to a lack of proper information which is normally spelled misinformation ...

I am not complaining, I am just saying that sometimes I struggle to understand my fellow english speakers ...

LOL, that is a funny post.

And let's not forget all the different terms we use in different parts of the world when referring to the same things, such as boot vs trunk, smoke vs fag, lorry vs truck, pants vs trousers...etc

[Krypton]

may I ask how second (or third or fourth) english language speakers cope with spelling mistakes?

for instance, our twisted administrator, Ferret, was today speaking about "miss information" ... I initially thought he was talking about an unmarried female called Miss Information but slowly realised he was referring to a lack of proper information which is normally spelled misinformation ...

I am not complaining, I am just saying that sometimes I struggle to understand my fellow english speakers ...

I second that

Not to be offensive, but some people write in a way that makes it VERY hard to understand what they mean - and this is the same for German-speaking online communities or forums.

Some just can't type, some can hardly SPEAK I must suppose - not their fault, necessarily - and some just don't CARE. And this last case is what I dislike the most. If you COULD type, but decide not to. Terrible to read, every time. It makes it almost imposslible to understand, especially for foreigners.

Then, of course, from time to time we all 'suffer from' (or can find ourselves) writing in a slang/sentences coming from the spoken daily language.

A 'funny' thing to me, as a non-native English speaker/writer is the fact that the English language allows you to shorten and simplify certain expressions - which would be a good thing to do - but these forms are used completely wrong by so many native speakers, EVEN if it takes MORE letters to spell it wrong

Common example: "You think the two playeR'S should know how to use THEY'RE cues, but THEIR both struggling..."

Not that I was perfect, beware - but I've seen way too many posts of native speakers even that would have given me a "FAILED" in my first English courses here in Switzerland. As said, I can live with that, especially if I think someone just can't do better (I don't judge people by their writing abilities, I've go a few friends that 'cannot write' here). But I don't like it if someone does it on purpose.

BTW, assorted (depending on when I first started learning):
- Swiss German (not the same as the German one)
- German
- Italian
- French
- English

basic skills (can understand/follow roughly, let's say sports on TV ):
- Spanish and some Portuguese
and written:
- Dutch and maybe Swedish

... maybe I even forgot some...