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linguoboy
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Re: Discussion Group

Postby linguoboy » 2017-08-30, 19:19

Serafín wrote:
linguoboy wrote:[You're not concerned about the ungrammatical first sentence, I take it?]

I wasn't but now I am. Is it that I have to add an "if" or a "whether" in there? "Did anybody check if/whether the translation is correct?"

That's exactly it.
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Re: Discussion Group

Postby vijayjohn » 2017-10-05, 3:25

eskandar wrote:
Serafín wrote:First, which is the correct place to put "just" in, in your opinion, in the following sentence?

    Did anybody check the translation is correct? It's clear that the Hakka translation is wrong just from looking at the Chinese characters...
    Did anybody check the translation is correct? It's clear that the Hakka translation is wrong from just looking at the Chinese characters...

The first one is best, in my opinion, but the second one is possible too.

I agree.

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Re: Discussion Group

Postby razlem » 2017-11-22, 18:43

Could I get a grammaticality check on these?

It may not have yet hit its social apex.
It may not yet have hit its social apex.
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Re: Discussion Group

Postby Dormouse559 » 2017-11-22, 18:52

I think both sound good. A prescriptivist might take issue with the former.
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księżycowy

Re: Discussion Group

Postby księżycowy » 2017-11-23, 23:47

To me the first one sounds odd.

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Re: Discussion Group

Postby Iván » 2017-12-04, 8:56

Lately I've been considering brushing up my English. I think I can speak it fluently, however I sometimes feel that I still have a lot of room for improvement. When I speak to someone who's a native English speaker, they usually say I speak it well, but often I have this little voice in my head telling me: But you don't sound as natural as they do when you speak. I'm not trying to say I want to sound as if I were a native speaker, well eventually I'd love to, but I know it takes time. Anyway, I decided to write a post here so I could get some feedback from other English speakers (both natives and non-natives, despite the latter will be more likely to have experienced this) who have also been in my situation, so that they could give me some tips.

I already watch many TV shows and listen to music in English. I've also read some books written in English, however I don't do it as often as I could - I hate saying this, but as much as I love watching movies and series in their original version, I also love reading in Spanish and Catalan. This is something I should improve...
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Re: Discussion Group

Postby linguoboy » 2017-12-05, 17:29

Iván wrote:(both natives and non-natives, despitealthough the latter will be more likely to have experienced this)

Iván wrote:I hate saying this, but as much as I love watching movies and series in their original version, I also love reading in Spanish and Catalan. This is something I should improve...

Do you mean you read Spanish and Catalan translations of works originally published in English?

In the end, there's no substitute for talking to people. Maybe you're a bit shy and it's hard to push yourself to do this? The good thing is that, living where you do, you have lots of options: you could do a one-on-one language exchange or you could join a larger conversation group. If you don't want to leave the house, you could find a Skype partner.
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Re: Discussion Group

Postby Iván » 2017-12-06, 10:29

linguoboy wrote:Do you mean you read Spanish and Catalan translations of works originally published in English?

Yeah, indeed. Not only in English, but also in other languages as well.

And I know talking to people is one of the best ways to improve, but that’s not my main problem. I’ve got many friends from abroad and fortunately I’m not shy at all, but rather I would like to start increasing my vocabulary in English because sometimes I think that I sound too basic.

Now that I think about it, reading books in English would help me broaden my vocabulary
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Re: Discussion Group

Postby linguoboy » 2017-12-06, 14:23

Iván wrote:Yeah, indeed. Not only in English, but also in other languages as well.

So you could read the English-language books in English and still have plenty else to read in Spanish and Catalan.

Iván wrote:And I know talking to people is one of the best ways to improve, but that’s not my main problem. I’ve got many friends from abroad and fortunately I’m not shy at all, but rather I would rather like to start increasing my vocabulary in English because sometimes I think that I sound too basic.

I misunderstood your problem then. When people talk about "fluency", I assume they mean fluency in production, i.e. speaking and writing without having to think too hard about how to express themselves.

Iván wrote:Now that I think about it, reading books in English would help me broaden my vocabulary

That is the single best method, without a doubt. And it matters what you read. A mix of fiction and non-fiction is best, with care not to concentrate too much on any one subject area or genre.
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Re: Discussion Group

Postby vijayjohn » 2018-02-02, 6:13

księżycowy wrote:To me the first one sounds odd.

I agree. I feel like it's contrived at best for me.

Ciarán12

Re: Discussion Group

Postby Ciarán12 » 2018-05-25, 1:35

If it's possible to wanderlust for dialects/sociolects of your own language, that's what I have for Dizzee Rascle. Specifically, there's a mash-up of "Stand up" by Dizzee Rascle with Philip Glass (done by DJ BC), it's kind of hard to find the track online but it's possible. Super inner-city London "immigrant" accent (I even hear the specificly Jamican influence in there) rap, aurally delicious.

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Re: Discussion Group

Postby Lutrinae » 2018-05-25, 9:24

linguoboy wrote:
Iván wrote:And I know talking to people is one of the best ways to improve, but that’s not my main problem. I’ve got many friends from abroad and fortunately I’m not shy at all, but rather I would rather like to start increasing my vocabulary in English because sometimes I think that I sound too basic.

I misunderstood your problem then. When people talk about "fluency", I assume they mean fluency in production, i.e. speaking and writing without having to think too hard about how to express themselves.


I think I understand what he means, because i feel the same sometimes.
I've been using English on daily basis for several years now, to the point that for some expressions, it takes me time to find them in French, just because I never had to use them in context in my own language.
I can talk and read and understand people with no issues.

However I still feel that I make mistakes in syntax and grammar, and lack some vocabulary, words that seem apparently very common for native speakers but that I've never heard nor used before.

And I am not even talking about the accent, although I've tried so hard to get rid of it.

I found that a good trick was that, if you are talking with someone, and that person is using some random word you don't know, even if you can kind of get it from context, still ask exactly what it means, so you can remember it and re-use it eventually. :)
Thanks for any correction :)

azhong

Re: Discussion Group

Postby azhong » 2018-06-30, 1:31

Is the position of one after another the best one in the sentence below? If no, where can it be better put? And, if yes, are there any other acceptable positions? My thanks in advance.

..., they had been obliged to expel, one after another, all those of the 'faithful' who were of the female sex.

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Re: Discussion Group

Postby JackFrost » 2018-06-30, 17:35

azhong wrote:Is the position of one after another the best one in the sentence below? If no, where can it be better put? And, if yes, are there any other acceptable positions? My thanks in advance.

..., they had been obliged to expel, one after another, all those of the 'faithful' who were of the female sex.

Yep, sounds well placed to me.
Neferuj paħujkij!

azhong

Re: Discussion Group

Postby azhong » 2018-07-03, 15:42

Can you help me analyze the sentence below? I roughly know it's meaning since I have translations with me, but I can not precisely analyze the grammar especially in “...displayed, of the social falsehoods scattered broadcast ... by people...”.

Is “scattered” an adjective? And is “broadcast” a noun or a past particle?

I think the main sentence is
Three-fourths of the mental ingenuity have been aimed at inferiors.

"Of the social falsehoods", what of the social falsehoods? The mental ingenuity? or what?
"By people", what was by people? Be broadcast by people? Or what?
Why “displayed” is not put before “ingenuity", which it modifies, doesn't it?

I am quite confused. My thanks in advance for your help.

Three-fourths of the mental ingenuity displayed, of the social falsehoods scattered broadcast ever since the world began by people whose importance they have served only to diminish, have been aimed at inferiors.

自從人類有史以來,四分之三的心機和虛誇都是被那愈來愈少的一小撮人用來對付比他們底下的人

有世以來,人們出於虛榮而費的心機,而說的謊話,有四分之三是對地位比自己低下的人而發的。

azhong

Re: Discussion Group

Postby azhong » 2018-07-06, 8:05

I have roughly known the sentence in my previous post, but only one question left: why didn't the translator put "displayed" before "ingenuity" (as below)? I suppose the change will make the sentence clearer, once "of the social falsehoods" is more closed to "ingenuity". Any comments, please?

Three-fourths of the displayed mental ingenuity, of the social falsehoods [which were] scattered broadcast...By people...

Ciarán12

Re: Discussion Group

Postby Ciarán12 » 2018-09-24, 18:07

Question for the other native speakers: "I've not" vs "I haven't" - which do you say more? Are there any circumstances where you would use one rather than the other? My theory is "I've not" is an exclusively British thing, I don't think I ever use "I've not" and I don't think I've heard Americans say it much either.

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Re: Discussion Group

Postby linguoboy » 2018-09-24, 19:18

Ciarán12 wrote:Question for the other native speakers: "I've not" vs "I haven't" - which do you say more? Are there any circumstances where you would use one rather than the other? My theory is "I've not" is an exclusively British thing, I don't think I ever use "I've not" and I don't think I've heard Americans say it much either.

I agree. I don't think I've ever said "I've not" when I wasn't consciously imitating British English speech patterns. Perhaps it gets some use in Canada, but I'm stuck for examples.

Same goes for, e.g. "Have you not?" (though that's also tied to the fact that AE speakers tends to make much less use of the perfect than BE speakers).
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Re: Discussion Group

Postby JackFrost » 2018-09-24, 23:24

Ciarán12 wrote:Question for the other native speakers: "I've not" vs "I haven't" - which do you say more? Are there any circumstances where you would use one rather than the other? My theory is "I've not" is an exclusively British thing, I don't think I ever use "I've not" and I don't think I've heard Americans say it much either.

Maybe only when I need to stress "not"? Even there, I have doubts as I'm thinking I'm more likely to say "I have not" in that case. Otherwise, "I haven't" quite dominates in my speech.
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Re: Discussion Group

Postby Saim » 2019-04-13, 16:34

Has the word slur undergone some sort of slight semantic shift or have I just been idiosyncratically misinterpreting it this whole time? I ask because whenever I hear things like "Stalinist is a slur" or "TERF is a slur" I've always found it funny and melodramatic, but I recently checked the Merriam-Webster and Oxford and this usage seems to actually conform to the definition:

Merriam-Webster: an insulting or disparaging remark or innuendo
Oxford: 1An insinuation or allegation about someone that is likely to insult them or damage their reputation. / 1.1 A derogatory or insulting term applied to particular group of people.

I've always understood the word slur to have the connotation of a specifically bigoted insult, although maybe this is just because I most often hear it in the expression racial slur.


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