How to learn a new vocab!

1 2

Share on Facebook

Anonymous

#134755 Wed, 07 Sep 05 02:00 PM

Forbes wrote:
should remember that all native speakers of English speak it perfectly and you cannot improve on perfection.

I'm sorry, but I cannot agree with that. In my opinion noone speaks English perfectly. Perfection, with regard to language, is highly subjective, and hence one's use of a given language could not be judged as being 'perfect' whether one is a native speaker or not. What may be perceived as perfect by one listener may be perceived as being a thorough cat's breakfast by another.

Forbes wrote:
Americans love to hear what they consider a cultivated English accent.

My understanding is that a cultivated accent is an artificially applied, or feigned, accent. I suspect you mean a cultured accent.

I do agree with your other comments, Forbes.

Final comment;
Good luck Mr Hesham. With a lot of hard work you probably can achieve your goal of being able to speak English better than most Americans.

Anonymous

Regards, Speak english, Accents

Anonymous

#147983 Sat, 15 Oct 05 02:56 AM

Hey there Hesham, I'm your neighbor from Israel Smile [:)] Hope you ain't got a prob with that :}

Much like you I'm incredibly interested in being able to speak english as if it were my own mother tongue... Generally I think it's very much possible... However not everyone IMHO can do that...

I utterly think that only people who have a gift of language grasp can acheive that goal... and you have to love it of course hehe, I'd say that you have that gift.

Now I have to comment on some of the things you mentioned in your post.

First of all the idea of chatting on the net with native english speakers as probably the best way to enrich your vocabulary and learning some slang words. From personal experience I have to say that in this way I've acquired more than I would have if I didn't chat to native english speakers. Since the nearest english speaking country to Israel (and Egypt for that matter) is the UK most of the native english speakers I've stumbled upon are brits, hence why I have more knowledge about Brit slang than any of my friends... Since I'm mostly exposed to American english it was a refreshing change for me.

About the accent thing... I strongly disagree, you really need'nt decide which accent you wanna use and stick to it... It's fairly possible to be able to speak like Americans and Brits... sure it can get confusing but if you practice hard you'll be able to get it... The best example I can give you is myself.
Up untill a few months ago I have always thought I can only speak the American accent and all my attempts to emtitate Brits have failed... But when me and my friends have gone abroad (Ayia Napa in Cyprus if you're curious about the location Stick out tongue [:P] ), I met loads of brits... they seemed to be the majority of the tourits there (alongside the Israelies of course LOL). Ahem anyway...

after a couple of days I began to understand some Brit accents and suddenly I was able to speak like em or very similar... Apparently I was so convincing that a lot of ppl mistook me for a Brit bloke (yes thats a brit word and I fecking luv it!!) and thats including some Brit chaps! Apparently I also have a an anglo saxon look (If no one recognizes I'm from Israel that is Stick out tongue [:P] ).

Well I hope you didn't find my post boring... I just thought I'd add my thoughts and personal experience ^_^.

I'll be happy to see some replies...
Well cya later dudes!!! (or bro's,guys,fellows,mates, chaps, blokes) or any other word you can think of lol

Anonymous

American English, Speak english, Vocabulary, Accents, American accents

Anonymous

#154970 Fri, 04 Nov 05 01:53 AM

First of all, I would like to introduce myself as a native born American of native born American parents. I would like to comment in regard to my observation of foreign born people and their use of English. Of those people I have known from other countries, even those who have lived in the United States for decades, I have always been able to detect some type of accent, even if it is slight. However, more commonly, the accent continues to be pronounced. The only exception is among those who moved to the United States as very young children and, for all practical purposes, are native speakers. This is true even among highly educated immigrants. There are subtle differences in pronunciation that seem to be resistant to change.

My second comment pertains to American versus British English. I find speakers of Standard British English to be just as easy to understand as speakers of Standard American English. I agree that there is so much in common and differences are not significant between these two forms of English. The differences lie primarily among the various regional dialects in both countries. For example, I find the speech of the British Prime Minister to be much easier to listen to, as well as much closer to my style of speaking, than that of Americans in various areas of the United States.

Anonymous

American English, Regards, British English, Pronunciation, Accents, Dialects

Anonymous

#155039 Fri, 04 Nov 05 08:02 AM

Hello everyone, my name is Joaquin, Im from Santiago,Chile. This is the first time I read this forum, Well in regard with this topic, according to my personal experience,I would like to say that AmE is defenitively much easier to learn for a student of English as a foreing language, Why? because of the media, cable tv and so on, and we should also consider , this particular differences regarding the pronuntiation,
but we can solve all this studying Fonetics. and then decide which pronunciation

Both ArE and BrE should be studied equally in order to know all this slight differences and reach a proper command of English

that's it

good bye guys !

this is my msn
veganxpride@hotmail.com
feel free to add me

Anonymous

Regards, Pronunciation

Anonymous

#155130 Fri, 04 Nov 05 02:40 PM

I am a graduate student in China. I found this forum recently and began to love it. I hope I can make friends here and learn the language better. I want to be friend of any one of you. So please contact me if you want it too.

Anonymous

Jack LIU

#155139 Fri, 04 Nov 05 03:07 PM

Anonymous wrote:

First of all, I would like to introduce myself as a native born American of native born American parents. I would like to comment in regard to my observation of foreign born people and their use of English. Of those people I have known from other countries, even those who have lived in the United States for decades, I have always been able to detect some type of accent, even if it is slight. However, more commonly, the accent continues to be pronounced. The only exception is among those who moved to the United States as very young children and, for all practical purposes, are native speakers. This is true even among highly educated immigrants. There are subtle differences in pronunciation that seem to be resistant to change.

My second comment pertains to American versus British English. I find speakers of Standard British English to be just as easy to understand as speakers of Standard American English. I agree that there is so much in common and differences are not significant between these two forms of English. The differences lie primarily among the various regional dialects in both countries. For example, I find the speech of the British Prime Minister to be much easier to listen to, as well as much closer to my style of speaking, than that of Americans in various areas of the United States.

I am going to US next July. I badly need your help with my English vocabulary. Could you be my friend through MSN? I really appreciate your help.