By Translation, Idioms

Just out of curiosity, Mr. P, how do you distinguish a native speaker who's learned a non-standard form of English from a decent non-native speaker? (e.g. How can you tell if a speaker born in India, Singapore or other Asian countries is native?) MrPedantic wrote: 1. Discrepancies of register....

Hello EUI'm not an expert in these matters; so what follows should probably be taken with a pinch of salt.Some stray thoughts, in no particular order:1. I think Scandinavian, Dutch and German natives have the best chance of sounding convincingly "British English". I have several such people in...

Hello EU Here are some things that occur to me: 1. Discrepancies of register. A non-native speaker's English may be impeccable, for the most part; but slight failures of tone or register are most noticeable, in impeccable English. For instance, the non-native may use a word which a native...

Aperisic wrote:Isn’t it time that this program is going to squander far beyond our expectations? Is this program going to spend a lot of time to start and execute because it is so slow? The latter sentence I understand and it's clear, but the two are definitely not equivalent, and the one in...

CalifJim wrote:Just a couple of points.Lastly, whether an expression in English happens to be a literal translation from another language is irrelevant. Sure, but in this case Already as a boy is found almost without an exception in letters of German students who wrote about their experience...

My questions concerns the possible usage of "as well ... as" in the sense of "both ... and" or "not only ... but also". I know that "as well as" is a different idiom and means something along "and also".The sentence of question is (the content and vocabulary itself is not important)"They wanted...

It seems to appear on Japanese sites. I guess it is a literal translation of a Japanese phrase or idiom but it is meaningless in English.

Is this a proper idiom?? What I mean is that the way a person looks can give a variety of meanings without even uttering a word. It's somthing you know universal. It's as if eye has its own language of communication. So is there any thing in Eng to descride such a state?? When I say language of...

Thank you so mush. I've found such synonyms for "daydreaming" as "to be lost in reveries" and "to have one's mind wandering". Generally I use Google to make sure if a certain expression exists in English, for the word-for-word translation of Russian idioms, colloquialisms and metaphors of my own...

Hi, This is my first blog. COuld someone please tell me if this blog is fine and no mistake. I'm gona post it on my blog space and i have no confidence uploading it without proofread by someone who is proficient in english language. I would appreciate if someone could rate my blog. I hope to...