talk to me!

[house]

Hi guys!

My name is Mark and I come from Collogne, Germany. Few years have past since I learned English in school and ever since I haven't spoken a word.
A couple of days ago I decided to change that fact, because I really want to learn better English and, of course, maybe one day I have to speak it. At work, on holiday, etc.
I would be glad to find someone who corrects my words and also wants to talk with me.

I wrote this short text without thinking to much about it and I hope it is not fearsome.
See it as a start for getting better.

So long,
Mark

Mein Deutsch ist übrigens ganz ansehnlich.

[tiorthan]

Hi guys!

My name is Mark and I come from Collogne, Germany. A few years have passed since I learned English in school and never since have I spoken a word.
A couple of days ago I decided to change that fact[sub]1[/sub], because I really want to learn better English and, of course, I may one day have to speak it,[sub]2[/sub] at work, on holiday, etc.
I would be glad to find someone who corrects[sub]3[/sub] my words and also wants to talk with me.

I wrote this short text without thinking too much about it and I hope it is not fearsome[sub]4[/sub].
See it as a start for getting better.

So long,
Mark

Mein Deutsch ist übrigens ganz ansehnlich.

1 - That's kind of a logical error here because you cannot change the fact that you havn't used English ever since.

2 - With or without a comma, I don't know. But it's still the same sentence IMO.

3 - I'd say "who'd correct my mistakes"

4 - I wouldn't use fearsome but I can't wrap my head around the concept you're trying to express and thus don't know how to express it better.

There are probably some more things to be changed here but I am by no means the most standard savvy person on earth (not even at home, probably) and I find things acceptable that you, as a learner, had better corrected.

Anyways, I think that you'll find enough people hereabouts who're willing to talk to you, correct you and make you a better English speaker ... if you just stick to it that is.

[kölscheklüngel]

Hi house,

my name is Alexander. I am from Cologne, Germany, too. I want to improve my English. I understand English very well, but make a conversation is sometimes difficult for me. I forgot a lot of vocabulary. In this forum, I get a chance to change that. Please help, and lets talk or write.

Kinds regards Alexander

[Duckduck (Contributor)]

@tiorthan,
couldn't agree more... there's just this little thing that caught my eye:

and I find things acceptable that you, as a learner, had better corrected.

"Ich finde Dinge akzeptabel, die Du als Lernender besser korrigieren solltest."


"had better" + "infinitive without to"

ist also der Ausdruck eines Ratschlages. Wichtig ist dabei:

1. es muss "had better" sein, nicht allein "better"
Also richtig: "We had better go home now, it's getting cold."

Aber falsch: "We better go home now, it's getting cold."

2. dahinter darf nur ein Infinitiv folgen, kein Past Participle. Die Formulierung hat nichts mit dem Past Perfect zu tun, auch wenn sie ein "had" enthält.

Grüße
Duckduck

[tiorthan]

Thanks, oh eagle-eyed Duckduck for spotting this and damned be the deamons that invented editing. What you cannot possibly have know however is that my blunder is far greater than that. After having deleted most of my previous sentence I flat-out forgot to finish it. This is what it should have read: ... that you, as a learner, had better have corrected by someone who knows the ropes.

Hi house,

my name is Alexander. I am from Cologne, Germany, too. I want to improve my English. I understand English very well, but having[sub]1[/sub] a conversation is sometimes difficult for me. I forgot a lot of vocabulary. In this forum, I hope to[sub]2[/sub] get a chance to change that. Please help, and lets talk or write.

Kinds regards Alexander

1 - I'm not at all sure if that's what you meant. In German: Ich verstehe Englisch sehr gut, aber Unterhaltungen fallen mir manchmal schwer.

2 - Well, of course everybody gets a chance but I thought you had probably wanted to express a whish here.

Welcome to the forum, Alexander. You have the name of a great conqueror.


... Ok, now I have "William the Corn Curer" on my mind, and I don't even remember whence that came.

[house]

Hi Alexander,

nice to meet you. As I can see we have probably the same goals.
Reading and understanding English text, mostly specialised text about IT-things, is not a big problem for me.
Speaking and hearing is much more challenging.

I think I have to learn as much vocabulary as possible and also I do watching shows and movies in English.
What do you do to get better?


Tiorthan, thank you for correcting my text.
With the word 'fearsome' I wanted to express that I hope my text, related to expression, grammar, etc., isn't too bad.
In German I would have said: "Ich hoffe, dass mein Geschreibe nicht zu grausam ist."

Guys, where and how have you learned to write and probably speak excellent English?

So long,
Mark

[caro64]

@tiorthan,
couldn't agree more... there's just this little thing that caught my eye:

and I find things acceptable that you, as a learner, had better corrected.

"Ich finde Dinge akzeptabel, die Du als Lernender besser korrigieren solltest."


"had better" + "infinitive without to"

ist also der Ausdruck eines Ratschlages. Wichtig ist dabei:

1. es muss "had better" sein, nicht allein "better"
Also richtig: "We had better go home now, it's getting cold."

Aber falsch: "We better go home now, it's getting cold."

2. dahinter darf nur ein Infinitiv folgen, kein Past Participle. Die Formulierung hat nichts mit dem Past Perfect zu tun, auch wenn sie ein "had" enthält.

Grüße
Duckduck

Hi Duckduck, are you quite sure about this? It sounds ok to me, or is this just another common mistake that many native speakers make?
All the best,
Caro

[tiorthan]

Hi Alexander,

nice to meet you. As I can see we probably have the same goals.
Reading and understanding English text, mostly specialised text about IT-things, is not a big problem for me.
Speaking and listening[sub]1[/sub] is much more challenging.

I think I have to learn as much vocabulary as possible and I also watch[sub]2[/sub] shows and movies in English.
What do you do to get better?


Tiorthan, thank you for correcting my text.
With the word 'fearsome' I wanted to express that I hope my text, related to expression, grammar, etc., isn't too bad.
In German I would have said: "Ich hoffe, dass mein Geschreibe nicht zu grausam ist."[sub]3[/sub]

Guys, where and how have you learned to write and probably speak excellent English?

So long,
Mark

1 - Listeining is different from just hearing in that listening requires attention. Example: I head him speak but I did not listen = Ich habe ihn sprechen gehört aber ich habe nicht zugehört.

2 - If you state somethin as a fact you generally use the simple present. You do watch movies, probably not at the moment but in general, on and off, whenver you like to etc. This is true even for temporary facts if you don't want to emphasize on the temporary-ness

3 - Then "horrible" is the word I would have picked.

[Duckduck (Contributor)]

"had better" + "infinitive without to"

ist also der Ausdruck eines Ratschlages. Wichtig ist dabei:

1. es muss "had better" sein, nicht allein "better"
Also richtig: "We had better go home now, it's getting cold."

Aber falsch: "We better go home now, it's getting cold."

2. dahinter darf nur ein Infinitiv folgen, kein Past Participle. Die Formulierung hat nichts mit dem Past Perfect zu tun, auch wenn sie ein "had" enthält.

Grüße
Duckduck

Hi Duckduck, are you quite sure about this? It sounds ok to me, or is this just another common mistake that many native speakers make?
Dumdidumdidum...hums the duck
All the best,
Caro

Nun, liebe Caro,
ich weiß nicht genau, worauf Du Dein OK beziehst?
Also es ist wohl so, dass in der sehr informellen Sprache - die wir beide ja nieeeee benutzen würden - das "had" weggelassen werden kann. Wahrscheinlich über den Weg
"You had better go now, don't you think!" zu
"You'd better go now." zu
"You better get lost or else..."

ABER so "richtig richtig" ist das nicht.

Grüße
Duckduck

[caro64]

Ok Duckduck I'll believe you, it's just that I have a book here and it's called 'You Better Not Cry' so I naturally thought, it can't be too wrong and I've often read and used the words (you better not.....)
How embarrassing Caro x

[Duckduck (Contributor)]

Tja, liebe Caro, ich habe mich jetzt selbst auch noch in einem Buch vergewissert, dem Standardwerk aller Englisch-Verrückten: Michael Swan: Practical English Usage. Er sagt das so!!!

Das Buch, das Du da hast, könnte das amerikanisch sein? Es kam mir gleich in den Sinn, dass ich die Phrase aus einem Weihnachtslied kenne
You better watch out,
you better not cry (Das wäre ja grammatisch sogar noch fragwürdiger, kann aber auch sein, dass ich es falsch im Gedächtnis habe)
dadumdadumdum
I'm telling you why...
Santa Claus is coming to town.

Andererseits: ich würde mich jederzeit dazu bekennen, dass das völlig Korrekte keineswegs auch immer das tatsächlich Gesprochene sein muss. Das hatten wir ja schon hin und wieder erörtert.

Grüße
Duckduck

[tiorthan]

You better watch out
You better not cry
You better don't pout
I'm telling you why
Santa Claus is coming to town.

This is considered neither slang nor blunder in the US and even ESL teachers have been seen teaching it. The UK is a different kettle of fish though. Come to think of it, I don't know any ESL teacher from the UK.

[franzi]

Hi Tiorthan.

Was, bitte, ist ein ESL teacher ?

Manfred

[tiorthan]

ESL = English as a Second Language.

An ESL teacher is someone who teaches English to people whose native language is not English.

[franzi]

Hi Tiorthan.
Thank you very much.
This evening I will not go to bed as stupid as I got out this morning

Grüßle aus dem Ländle wo man angeblich alles kann außer Hochdeutsch.

Manfred