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English for non-native speakers

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Which of the following options helps you most in your English Language learning?
Reading books, newspapers, or magazines
Listening to podcasts, the radio, or popular music
Writing emails or text messages to native speakers who have agreed to "correct your English"
Watching tv shows, YouTube videos, and movies with English subtitles
Watching tv shows, YouTube videos, and movies without any subtitles
Speaking the language whenever possible
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heyeram On September 15, 2017




Oakland, California
#1New Post! Sep 11, 2017 @ 00:58:33
As an English Language Teacher, I am interested in keeping students engaged in learning the English language. Part of that engagement is doing my own research, and online polls and forums are always helpful! You can participate in this forum by answering the poll and adding any additional comments specific to your study practices in the thread below,.

In turn, I encourage you to post any questions you may have about the English language including grammar, slang, idioms, pronunciation tips, or anything else you can think of! My hope is to create a space where we can learn more about different aspects of studying the English language.

Please keep in mind that there are over 60 accents and dialects of the English language. For the sake of my specialty, I will answer questions to the best of my ability from an American English standpoint. I welcome all feedback and new information acquired from other teachers or sources as slang, idioms, and phrasal verbs are forever evolving.

Since I am new to The Forum Site, I cannot post any links to sites that are helpful for studying the English language yet, but I am happy to share links to my favorite sites if anyone wants to private message me. Thank you for participating, and happy studying!

Ms. Amber
Eaglebauer On July 23, 2019
Moderator
Deleted



Saint Louis, Missouri
#2New Post! Sep 11, 2017 @ 12:09:08
As a native speaker of American English, I can't really say much about English as a second language. As a non-native German speaker, I can say that when I've noticed my grasp of that language slipping, it's helped to find YouTube videos in German of random things and watching them. Content doesn't make a difference for me...I find things I think are interesting. Magic and comedy acts in German are great!

I remember in Texas working with a Mexican guy who grew up in a Spanish speaking house but who spoke native level English, even though it was technically his second language. I once asked him how it affected his thoughts...did he think in English or Spanish? He said it depended on what he was thinking of (if he was thinking of his family life as a child he thought in Spanish). He said that consciously making the effort to think in English about things he normally thought of in Spanish helped him a lot when he was trying to gain better use of the English language.
Eaglebauer On July 23, 2019
Moderator
Deleted



Saint Louis, Missouri
#3New Post! Sep 11, 2017 @ 12:09:36
By the way, welcome to the site!
heyeram On September 15, 2017




Oakland, California
#4New Post! Sep 11, 2017 @ 13:39:53
Thank you for your comments Eaglebauer! I appreciate your insightful comments. Thinking in another language can be quite difficult, but I always encourage my students to be conscious of thinking in English while we are in class. I found that once I started studying other languages, my brain tends to revert back to the first foreign language I learned, which is Turkish. You may be aware of this, but that's called the L2. So, for example, as I currently study Spanish, my brain often translates from English to Turkish to Spanish (especially with learning vocabulary). It feels very silly because Turkish and Spanish are nothing alike, while Spanish and English are much more similar, especially in grammatical structures. I find that I have a hard time with German pronunciation, good for you!
cole On October 22, 2023




Stirling, United Kingdom
#5New Post! Apr 20, 2018 @ 19:51:33
Some English to help non native speakers....

1) The bandage was wound around the wound.

2) The farm was used to produce produce.

3) The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.

4) We must polish the Polish furniture..

5) He could lead if he would get the lead out.

6) The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert..

7) Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present.

8) A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.

9) When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.

10) I did not object to the object.

11) The insurance was invalid for the invalid.

12) There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.

13) They were too close to the door to close it.

14) The buck does funny things when the does are present.

15) A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.

16) To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.

17) The wind was too strong to wind the sail.

18) Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear..

19) I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.

20) How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?

Let's face it - English is a crazy language. There is no egg in eggplant, nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple. English muffins weren't invented in England or French fries in France . Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads, which aren't sweet, are meat. We take English for granted. But if we explore its paradoxes, we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.

And why is it that writers write but fingers don't fing, grocers don't groce and hammers don't ham? If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn't the plural of booth, beeth? One goose, 2 geese. So one moose, 2 meese? One index, 2 indices? Doesn't it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend? If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it?

If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught? If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat? Sometimes I think all the English speakers should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane. In what language do people recite at a play and play at a recital? Ship by truck and send cargo by ship? Have noses that run and feet that smell?

How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites? You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which your house can burn up as it burns down, in which you fill in a form by filling it out and in which, an alarm goes off by going on.

English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects the creativity of the human race, which, of course, is not a race at all. That is why, when the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible.
mrmhead On about 17 hours ago




NE, Ohio
#6New Post! Apr 21, 2018 @ 14:27:04
@cole Said

Some English to help non native speakers....

1) The bandage was wound around the wound.

2) The farm was used to produce produce.

3) The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.

4) We must polish the Polish furniture..

5) He could lead if he would get the lead out.

6) The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert..

7) Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present.

8) A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.

9) When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.

10) I did not object to the object.

11) The insurance was invalid for the invalid.

12) There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row.

13) They were too close to the door to close it.

14) The buck does funny things when the does are present.

15) A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.

16) To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.

17) The wind was too strong to wind the sail.

18) Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear..

19) I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.

20) How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?

Let's face it - English is a crazy language. There is no egg in eggplant, nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple. English muffins weren't invented in England or French fries in France . Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads, which aren't sweet, are meat. We take English for granted. But if we explore its paradoxes, we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.

And why is it that writers write but fingers don't fing, grocers don't groce and hammers don't ham? If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn't the plural of booth, beeth? One goose, 2 geese. So one moose, 2 meese? One index, 2 indices? Doesn't it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend? If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it?

If teachers taught, why didn't preachers praught? If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat? Sometimes I think all the English speakers should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane. In what language do people recite at a play and play at a recital? Ship by truck and send cargo by ship? Have noses that run and feet that smell?

How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites? You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which your house can burn up as it burns down, in which you fill in a form by filling it out and in which, an alarm goes off by going on.

English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects the creativity of the human race, which, of course, is not a race at all. That is why, when the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible.


I wonder what Richard thinks of the language of today.
Komentenmelodie On May 25, 2018




,
#7New Post! Apr 21, 2018 @ 18:11:28
I used to go out with someone who taught English here. Its kinda funny though that she taught it but its not spoken here!!
mrmhead On about 17 hours ago




NE, Ohio
#8New Post! Apr 21, 2018 @ 21:39:38
@Komentenmelodie Said

I used to go out with someone who taught English here. Its kinda funny though that she taught it but its not spoken here!!



I took German classes in HS and College, but it's not spoken here...

No disrespect, but I'd think English would be more important/useful to learn than German.
Komentenmelodie On May 25, 2018




,
#9New Post! Apr 22, 2018 @ 02:46:29
I do speak English in every sense of the word. I have had to "adjust" it somewhat simply because many do not understand what I am saying. I think if you are going to live here (as I do) you HAVE to be able to speak it. I agree German for the most part is not a whole lot of use. If you live in England that was a language that you had a choice of learning at school which make much more sense since Germany is a lot closer. I was forced to learn French & hated it most of the time!
cole On October 22, 2023




Stirling, United Kingdom
#10New Post! Apr 22, 2018 @ 10:27:43
Yah we were "forced" to learn French as well, not sure why, i've never spoken it since I left school nor been to France. There was the option to learn German later on but I wasn't keen on learning German, it sounds too guttural. No offence to Germans but it sounds like they are swearing all the time. It's a harsh sounding language. Who knows maybe English sounds the same to Germans?

We also had the choice to do Russian, which I did do, but apart from sit and drink Lemon Tea made out from a massive silver Samovar I never really learned much Russian.

I took Latin, mainly because I wanted to be a Lawyer and it was recommended back then (25years ago) I didn't end up a Lawyer, I still remember a fair amount of Latin though. It has not been helpful.
Komentenmelodie On May 25, 2018




,
#11New Post! Apr 22, 2018 @ 17:41:31
German is supposed to be a difficult language to learn, I think its something to do with the "tenses" they have which is different from other languages. When I was at school language labs were just "coming in" where tapes were used to help you learn. I used to have a real cute French teacher (she was French) & as I got older I had this dragon of a teacher who stank of fags (cigarettes) that was the demise of my French classes!!
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