English as a Second Language

[inveni0]

I was just perusing some threads with people that apologize for their poor English, and explain that they're still learning. And I thought, "I wonder how much English they learn from public forums on the internet."

So, that's my question. Forums are a terrible place to learn English, but probably the easiest place to do it.

How many of you learn English from Forums?

[neolith]

Actually you can almost never "learn" English from forums,but you can improve it.Usually what you learn from forums are new words and expressions but you can't improve your grammar too much,so you still have to know some things if you want to learn something new.Personally,i've only learnt words like "n00b","pwned","Honki" and "Maggie" on forums :p

[Honki]

I honestly do. (Actually, I have improved my typing and writing skills by using forums).

I don't mean to go off-topic here, but what is REALLY REALLY REALLY starting to get on my t*ts (irritate me), is those who don't speak particulary good english (which is fine by me), but INSIST on talking in leet or txt or whatever the **** they call it.
STOP IT! PLEASE!

If you can't speak english, what makes you think you can talk txt english?

You must learn to walk before you can run, so please, please, please, my non-english speaking primitive friends, until you can speak the language fluently, at least try and speak it properly.

This doesn't apply to all people however, there are many non-native english speaking people on these boards, who I have no problem with what-so-ever taking shortcuts when typing.....

I hope you all understand what I'm getting at.

k? ;)

tnk in advance :)

Sry fr my englisch.

[neolith]

Tat'z a gr8 p0st,Honki,mIspelt w0rdz dreaive mi crAzy letely,uzualy it'z beterr to bE awaere how g00d your englischtz iz and to aCt pr0perli.If yor englischtz is baed u haeve to try at leest to checkk yor spellling with a dictionarycorumforum end not to youse txt englischtzinium or smth.
Kthxbye,d00ds!!!

[Honki]

Shut up moron.

[Robbert543]

I don't know how much I learn by posting and reading here.
I think I learnt my english by watching TV - Cartoon Network. :D
You'd probably learn your language any way you want, as long as you are willing to learn. No matter which method you use.

[Honki]

People are very capable of learning english here, if they pay attention to what they were typing, and tried their hardest to type it correctly (both spelling and grammar).

Although I find him humorous, I have a lot of respect (at the moment) for a new member who calls himself Mozaza. If you read his posts, you will see that his english is almost non-existant, however it is obvious that he really tries, and looks up words in the dictionary.

He will hold my respect in this regard, as long as he continues to communicate to the best of his ability, and doesn't grow lazier as his confidence / english literacy improves.

Also;

Despite being a wierd ditsy circus clown, MaggieQue does the same thing.
I respect her (in some obscure way) with the fact that she speaks multiple languages, and if I know singapore like I think I do, then English would be Maggie's third language. Anything she doesn't understand, she looks up.

[Sip]

Holy Crap! Honki kinda gave a compliment, time to screenshot.

But yeah I agree as long as others try to use correct english or at least try to make sense in what they say then thats all we can ask for.

[inveni0]

Holy Crap! Honki kinda gave a compliment, time to screenshot.


You'll find that trying to screenshot a Honki post is like trying to do the same to a DVD while playing on the comp...it's impossible.

[Sip]

hahaha, yeah noticed when i hit 'print screen' my pc came up with the blue screen of death. Guess Honki's covered all bases so people can't blackmail him.

[MaggieQue]

Hi, if dog barks, the sound is woof
Cat meows, meow
Baby cries, ?
Sheep baas, baa?

[Freespace-3DT]

What the hell are you talking about? :)

[MaggieQue]

I was speaking Romania, dude.

[Nippur]

Well, I've been learning English for many years in school. But then I wasn't using it much so I forgot almost everything I learnt before. And forums ? Yeah, good place to practice :) and to learn things that they don't teach you in schools...like some Honki's or Invenio's phrases that still make no sense to me at all :D

[Honki]

Holy Crap! Honki kinda gave a compliment
Shut up, **** knuckle.

[Honki]

and to learn things that they don't teach you in schools...like some Honki's or Invenio's phrases that still make no sense to me at all :DSome of that stuff isn't exactly 'Queens English'.
I bet Sip understands a fair bit of it.
Unless he's a Kiwi immigrant in disguise.

[markus_omega]

my english got a bit better trough useing forums. but i learned most of my english from games. YES games you heard me. so every parent who says that gaming is bad for you is so wrong. it helped my english so much that i have a girlfriend in america now. but the forums deffenately helped me. not with my grammar but deffenately with my everyday english.

[Aleks]

Sometimes forums aren't that helpful in "teaching" someone the proper English. I for one get a bit confused when I see someone type something like "defenetely" or "defanately" and things like those, so I often have to use Google to check If I'm spelling a word correctly.
Still,since I'm not getting as much practice in English as I used to when I was at school,(we don't have any English classes here at the university this year) so forums are the things that keep me from forgetting the language completely...And with "Check my grammar" in Firefox turned on, it's nice to see if you're doing any mistakes while typing.And if you are, you could easily correct them...

Sorry for my poor English... :lame:

[Honki]

Aleks.

I have http://dictionary.reference.com in my Bookmarks Toolbar Folder.
I must click on it about 10 times a day for various thing I am doing.

I don't think forums are particularly good at 'teaching' english, however I consider it a way of practicing my typing, communication and even formal writing skills.

I also learn a lot from reading other people's posts, especially those who are like myself and try their utmost to avoid typos etc.

How do you enable grammar checking in Firefox?

[Aleks]

I also learn a lot from reading other people's posts, especially those who are like myself and try their utmost to avoid typos etc.

Same here.I enjoy watching you and other guys posting some crazy stuff in this part of the forums,but sometimes I don't get a thing you're saying.But it's a good read anyways...

As for grammar checking,go to Tools->Options->Advances->Browsnig and tick "Check my spelling as I type".

[Honki]

Hmmmm I don't have that option!