How can I improve my English with slang, grammar, and movies?

[Math Is Hard]

Grrr...I actually read that

I know. Somehow I knew you would.

 

[neurocomp2003]

"en" is a standard computer term for english for people using multilingual settings.

 

[zoobyshoe]

For me it's how you pronounce this letter: N

 

[Gale]

You could start by calling it English, unless what you really want to discuss is a problem using en and em dashes. If that's the case, read here:
http://www.getitwriteonline.com/archive/091502.htm

i thought that was kind of interesting. I always used a hyphen instead of the em dash, but after reading that, i won't make that mistake again.

anyrate, when i was learning spanish, my favorite thing to do was to listen to spanish music. lyrics are probably the hardest thing to understand, even when you know the language. so i'd have my spanish friends write the lyrics down in spanish and english, and i'd sing along, and it helped my verbal and listening skills a lot.

 

[tribdog]

i thought that was kind of interesting. I always used a hyphen instead of the em dash, but after reading that, i won't make that mistake again.
anyrate, when i was learning spanish, my favorite thing to do was to listen to spanish music. lyrics are probably the hardest thing to understand, even when you know the language. so i'd have my spanish friends write the lyrics down in spanish and english, and i'd sing along, and it helped my verbal and listening skills a lot.

yeah, but how many times do you use "la bamba" in conversation?

 

[Gale]

yeah, but how many times do you use "la bamba" in conversation?

para bailar la bamba se necessita uno poca de gracia.

the insight I've gained from that sentence is so great, how could i not use it in every substantial convo? why, didn't we mention the la bamba the other day when i called? yeah our convo was like "whats up" "just contemplating whether I'm graceful enough to dance the bamba and the philosophical consequences it would have on my life, you?" "nothin"

 

[tribdog]

really I thought our conversation was more like:
you: "I'm tired of driving and I'll crash if someone doesn't talk to me, you aren't busy are you?"
me: "well, actually I was just about to...'
you: "good. here I am drving past a big catapult. they shoot pumpkins out of it. isn't that neat"
me "yeah, neat. Listen I've really got to.."
you: "I'm driving a truck, my car has bad shocks (ramble ramble)
45 minutes later
you "okay I'm pulling into my driveway now. Thanks for talking to me and keeping me awake."
me: "my pleasure. I had nothing better to do anyway."

 

[moose]

Yeah, english is a pretty crazy language. That's why I think America should change their offical language to binary.

lol

English is a pretty crazy language, we should change it to a mixture of russian and chinese, you know, to make it easier

Hehe, English is one of the easiest languages ever O.O I remember when I moved to the U.S. when I was in third grade, I learned how to speak fluently within a month

 

[tribdog]

lol, it must have taken a bit longer to learn how to count. there is no way you became fluent in a month.

 

[neurocomp2003]

thats like me saying i learned chinese by being born without ever living in the eastern world.

 

[tribdog]

I shouldn't say you are lying. I suppose you could become fluent a month after moving to the U.S.. If you moved here from Australia

 

[Gale]

i became fluent in pig latin in like two weeks- tops. jibberish took even less time. I'm way super good with languages.

 

[tribdog]

emay ootay, alegay.

 

[moose]

lol, it must have taken a bit longer to learn how to count. there is no way you became fluent in a month.

Have you ever tried to learn a language when you were young? It was extremely easy back then. My first language was Polish, and then I learned French because I lived in Montreal. After that I moved to Arizona and was placed into a normal classroom without speaking a word. Within a month i was talking to everyone. No lies here. Maybe it's because I was used to learning new languages, hell I don't know. I also did very well in my German class last year, maybe I just pwn at languages. that ORRRR I guarantee that if you were to move to some country, like France or something, and you were forced to be around french people all the time and forced to try to communicate with them, that you would do just fine within a month.

 

[BobG]

Here's a place you can learn quite a few English http://humanities.byu.edu/elc/student/idioms/idiomsmain.html
Examples:
I believe you and I are in the same boat
how often does that happen? once in a blue moon
that speaker was something, she brought down the house
what's the matter, did you get up on the wrong side of the bed?
Was out carousing again last night, well tomorrow I'm turning over a new leaf

Those are easy.

I believe you and I are in the same boat means "are your pants wet, too?" - i.e. things aren't going very good for us, are they?

how often does that happen? once in a blue moon means it happens about once every three years. Well, except for the three or four times a century when you get two blue moons in one year. Uh it means it doesn't happen very often.

that speaker was something, she brought down the house is a twist on the old idiom "those who live in glass houses shouldn't sing opera".

what's the matter, did you get up on the wrong side of the bed? A subtle way of telling your friend that their face looks like it did a rapid transit from pillow to wall (i.e. - their face is red and lumpy with odd patterns embedded in their skin)

Was out carousing again last night, well tomorrow I'm turning over a new leaf means your hangover is so bad that you're going to put off raking the leaves. It's a lame excuse used by habitual procrastinators who tend to develop alcohol dependency problems in the fall, especially during football season.