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English Speaking/listening via Chat

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wizard

Member
Hello guys,

First of all so sorry for the strange request.
Because I wanna improve my English Speaking/listening I need a native English speaker to chat with Every now and then.
I do know that this request is abnormal but anyway I though maybe it would be fantastic for some of Native English speakers to talk to me as a person who English is his second language!

Thanks a bunch for any suggestion.
 
I am not into "chat", but let us improve your written English first.

"Wanna" is not a word.
The correct expression would be "I want to".

"Thanks a bunch" has a derogatory sarcastic tone about it, as though you were giving meaningless acknowledgement to someone who had done something which did not help you in any way, or more likely set you back.
A more appropriate expression would be simply "thank you".

JimB
 
Continuing along that line...

"I do know that this request is abnormal but anyway I though ..."

"Abnormal" gives the sense of being not normal in a pathologic way. A better term might be "unusual," which can mean it is normal, but rare. In the context of your request, I think "unusual" would have been a better choice.

You might also want to review the use of punctuation. A comma should be used when two sentences are combined with a conjunction. Compare: "It was a beautiful day, and I went sailing" (two sentences with a comma) with, "I went to the boat store and bought some sails" (no comma before "and," because the second phrase is not a complete sentence). Thus, there should be a comma before "but."

Punctuation seems to be left out more and more today -- we see a lot of that on this forum. Punctuation is not usually pronounced, excepting by Victor Borga, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Borga .

British and North American English are different, but there is rarely a problem in people of one area understanding the other. One of the most obvious differences is in spelling. This link describes some of the grammatical differences. Scan down to the section on collective nouns for an example. On this forum, you will see Americans refer to "math." Our British members will use the word, "maths" (plural).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_American_and_British_English

John
 
Hello wizard,


What do you mean by "Chat", do you mean typing to and from each other or do you mean actually talking via a microphone?

There are groups on the web that connect you to people that talk the language you are interested in, and you help them and they help you. You could do a search. They actually talk to you by speaking and probably by typing too. I've never tried it but was tempted too a while back to get better at a second language i was interested in. But usually you hook up with someone who wants to learn your language and speaks the language you want to learn so you help each other, but granted this may take a little luck in finding too with some languages :)
 
I am not into "chat", but let us improve your written English first.

Thanks Jim for your comment.

It is good to me to try to improve my Writing as well. Although I know that my written English is not complete and perfect yet I think it is almost completely understandable for all of you as native English Speakers, Right? Can you guys please try and give me a grade regarding to my writings so that I could see how much of work I should do about it?



"
Wanna" is not a word.
The correct expression would be "I want to".

The word "Wanna" as I know is an Informal Word in English, So Please can You kindly direct me and let me know whats wrong with it, every now and then in informal writings I use it instead of "I want to"?

Thanks a bunch" has a derogatory sarcastic tone about it, as though you were giving meaningless acknowledgement to someone who had done something which did not help you in any way, or more likely set you back.
A more appropriate expression would be simply "thank you".

JimB

Ok, got it, I used to say "Thanks in advance", or "thanks beforehand", Is it ok?

Thanks again.
 
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Thanks John for your Reply,

Continuing along that line...

"I do know that this request is abnormal but anyway I though ..."

"Abnormal" gives the sense of being not normal in a pathologic way. A better term might be "unusual," which can mean it is normal, but rare. In the context of your request, I think "unusual" would have been a better choice.

Yea, You are just Right, Thanks.

You might also want to review the use of punctuation. A comma should be used when two sentences are combined with a conjunction. Compare: "It was a beautiful day, and I went sailing" (two sentences with a comma) with, "I went to the boat store and bought some sails" (no comma before "and," because the second phrase is not a complete sentence). Thus, there should be a comma before "but."

Ok I'll try to improve myself in using punctuation mark as well, Thanks for reminding.

Punctuation seems to be left out more and more today -- we see a lot of that on this forum. Punctuation is not usually pronounced, excepting by Victor Borga, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victor_Borga .

lol, he seems to be a funny guy!

British and North American English are different, but there is rarely a problem in people of one area understanding the other. One of the most obvious differences is in spelling. This link describes some of the grammatical differences. Scan down to the section on collective nouns for an example. On this forum, you will see Americans refer to "math." Our British members will use the word, "maths" (plural).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_American_and_British_English

John



Yea, I am aware of differences between British and Americans, Good link as well, Thanks for sharing it.
Does the words "degree" and "degrees" use the same principle like "math" and "maths" (because I faced two, For instance one says "90 degree" and the other says "90 degrees")?
 
Hello wizard,


What do you mean by "Chat", do you mean typing to and from each other or do you mean actually talking via a microphone?

Hello Al,
Actually I meant talking via Microphone by Chatting Programs like Yahoo messenger, Skype and so on.


There are groups on the web that connect you to people that talk the language you are interested in, and you help them and they help you. You could do a search. They actually talk to you by speaking and probably by typing too. I've never tried it but was tempted too a while back to get better at a second language i was interested in. But usually you hook up with someone who wants to learn your language and speaks the language you want to learn so you help each other, but granted this may take a little luck in finding too with some languages :)

Could you please give me a link or a keyword to one or two of such groups? Actually there is an English learning room in "Paltalk" but to be frank I don't want a Teacher or a nonnative English speaker to communicate with for now, The Platalk teachers daily deal with nonnative English speakers, hence they are able to understand my pronunciations so well, therefore there would not be so much of challenge. Honestly I want to talk to a common Native English speaker So that evaluate myself and see if I am ready to have a travel to the United sate and understand people and be understood by them too, make sense? The other benefit of talking to a guy of here is that we can talk about Electronics as well...
 
The proper use of units in the singular or plural can be confusing. In general, units are not made plural when their sole purpose is as a unit. That rule is followed more in writing than in speech. Thus, we would say a 90 degree angle or 5 Kg weight. I once had an editor who was a real stickler for detail. In those examples, since 5 and Kg are both nouns, that editor required that they be written with a hyphen, e.g., 5-Kg weight and 90-degree angle, which distinguishes them from alternative interpretations, such as 5 Kg-weight(s). In writing, one would say, "it weights 5 Kg" (not plural). In speech, you will often hear the plural used, e.g, "it weighs 5 kilograms."

If you are really into the nuances, I suggest Fowler's handbook (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Dictionary_of_Modern_English_Usage ). It definitely has a British, not American bias. It is a great read, though the original author is long dead. I noticed that newer editions are carried by Amazon.

John
 
"Wanna" is not only informal, it is not a word at all. It is a shortened version of "want to" that is usually used when someone is whining. It is a lazy version that ideally should be avoided. It's the same with "dunno" for "don't know", or "Imma" as in "I am going to". None of them are words and should not be used.

Also, as John said, punctuation is very important. Many young people from other countries nowadays "learn" English on game chats and that sort of thing. The problem with that is that it is very uncommon for someone to speak real English there without shortening words or leaving out punctuation. It is a terrible way to learn a language.

If I may suggest something, this forum does have a chat. It is all written, but it will help you become more experienced with English writing. Perhaps you could try that sometime as well. You can click the "chat" tab at the top of the page.

Good luck!
Regards,
Matt
 
John: Thanks for the memories of Victor B! Loved that, and the "Inflationary Language". We were able to see him here in Vancouver, BC (his son turning the pages of the sheet music), when he said, after a long absence: I like playing Vancouver every 60 years or so! RIP, VB and thanks! E
 
The proper use of units in the singular or plural can be confusing. In general, units are not made plural when their sole purpose is as a unit. That rule is followed more in writing than in speech. Thus, we would say a 90 degree angle or 5 Kg weight. I once had an editor who was a real stickler for detail. In those examples, since 5 and Kg are both nouns, that editor required that they be written with a hyphen, e.g., 5-Kg weight and 90-degree angle, which distinguishes them from alternative interpretations, such as 5 Kg-weight(s). In writing, one would say, "it weights 5 Kg" (not plural). In speech, you will often hear the plural used, e.g, "it weighs 5 kilograms."

If you are really into the nuances, I suggest Fowler's handbook (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Dictionary_of_Modern_English_Usage ). It definitely has a British, not American bias. It is a great read, though the original author is long dead. I noticed that newer editions are carried by Amazon.

John

Thanks John,

Ok I think I got it, by reading your text, here in this post I noticed that there should not be much difference whether I use Singluar or plural unites because anyhow I would be understood just right, right?
After all, please can you (as a native English speaker) tell me your opinion about my English?

Thanks again
 
hi wizard,
Your written English looks OK to me.

Try to not use contractions in your word groups, for example wanna, cant, dunno etc

Eric
 
"Wanna" is not only informal, it is not a word at all. It is a shortened version of "want to" that is usually used when someone is whining. It is a lazy version that ideally should be avoided. It's the same with "dunno" for "don't know", or "Imma" as in "I am going to". None of them are words and should not be used.

Also, as John said, punctuation is very important. Many young people from other countries nowadays "learn" English on game chats and that sort of thing. The problem with that is that it is very uncommon for someone to speak real English there without shortening words or leaving out punctuation. It is a terrible way to learn a language.

If I may suggest something, this forum does have a chat. It is all written, but it will help you become more experienced with English writing. Perhaps you could try that sometime as well. You can click the "chat" tab at the top of the page.

Good luck!
Regards,
Matt

Hi Matt,

Thanks for your comment,
Regarding to your first Paragraph I must confess that I have learnt those nasty Shortened Words/Phrases via watching movies and of course through reading the posts of this forum since 2008!

Thanks for your suggestion in your last Paragraph, but anyway I prefer to Speak and listen Via Chat, That's a key action that I should do, otherwise Finally I will be a professional in English reading/ writing but an absolutely beginner in speaking/ Listening, which it would be comic!
 
hi wizard,
Your written English looks OK to me.

Try to not use contractions in your word groups, for example wanna, cant, dunno etc

Thanks Eric,

Regarding to my Written English Actually I would like guys of here grade me (and then corrct me as they are kindly doing it), by doing so I would be noticed for sure how much of work I should do to improve it. Is it make any sense?
 
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Thanks Eric,

Regarding to my Written English Actually I would like guys of here grade me (and then corrct me as they are kindly doing it), by doing so I would be noticed for sure how much of work I should do to improve it. Is it make any sense?

hi,
Yes, that makes sense.

We do have a Chat Line on ETO, the guys on there will chat with you. It is located on the Top Menu bar on this window.

E.
 
119 Posts......than this :mad: Stop playing games and wasting good peoples time.

Bugger Off say I. Find another Playground rather. This is a Technical Forum.....and that is it. Nobody here is qualified to help you as far as your Language skills might require.....but you knew that before you started this did you not ?

No Regards,
tvtech
 
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119 Posts......than this :mad: Stop playing games and wasting good peoples time.

Bugger Off say I. Find another Playground rather.

No Regards,
tvtech

tvtech, what is wrong? That's no way to treat a new member here! As a matter of fact, that's no way to treat any member! What's gotten into you?

The OP simply wants help learning English. What's wrong with that?
 
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