Multilingual and Polyglot Wannabee Thread! MK I

Just FYI, we really don't use 'apropos' in English. Before someone else jumps in and claims we do - no, we don't. In very formal argumentative texts, yes - in speech, certainly not. Germans (and Danes, I think) use it in a different way to us. People will either think you're a pompous idiot, or that you're bad at English and using words inappropriately - or they simply won't understand 'apropos' at all. That is how little it is used.

I thought "apropos" was a Spanish word he slipped in by accident
I don't suppose he meant to say "apparently" ?

Then I want to ask you for after my weaknesses in English, if you realized some mistakes so far. Speak up! I am here to improve. Not only in this forum, but also in TSR in general.

Well, there's my hopes of doing well in that A2 German exam absolutely dashed!

More seriously, I wouldn't be surprised if lots of professors detested Lynne Truss's Eats, Shoots, and Leaves, but her book is a lot more accessible to the general public than Eric Partridge's works, despite his far superior academic credentials.

Unfortunately, I'm really not up to anything heavier than the German equivalent of Lynne Truss, and certainly not up to heavyweights like Partridge!

The problem with Eats, Shoots and Leaves isn't that it is pop lit - it's that it displays (as far as I know, I never really read it) an ignorance of language change and linguistics in general. Anything that is prescriptive rather than descriptive (ie says 'people/we should do this to protect language/grammar' rather than simply studies what is happening and takes an actual look at why it is and whether it's actually 'bad' at all) is likely not to be held in high regard by academics. Steven Pinker's stuff is very much directed at the layman and is fascinating and accessible - but is descriptive, and based on solid linguistics.

No, that's more or less an accurate description. I think it did touch a little on linguistic change, past, present and hypothetical future.

But then, I don't suppose it's meant to be a guide to linguistics à la David Crystal. It's an explanation about commas, its versus it's, etc, with a bit of the history of how their use developed, for the general population.

I can understand the principle of being descriptive, considering that language does change, and that particular dialects of English (or any other language) aren't automatically better, they simply become more (or less) dominant ...

But at the same time, descriptive books make me feel the way I imagine the Star Trek Prime Directive of non-interference makes pre-warp species feel, after their pleas for aid are refused.

"It's all very well for you in that giant spaceship/with your university tenure to say things are progressing naturally and shouldn't be interfered with, but there's a famine down here/I have cover letters to write for my job applications down here!"

Okay, what's that first sentence supposed to say?

Also, for the second sentence,use the word thread, not forum.

The forum is TSR

I didn't mean my last comment or the comments in this thread before, but in general. I hope that I will not confuse the words 'thread' and 'froum' with each other once again. Anything else what can be improved by myself, if I write and speak in English? Are there any formalities or differences in writing and speaking English in terms of vocabulary?

Aaah, I see...

German still scares me

It's just the little things.

Not much of what you say is wrong per se, just not natural, which gives away you're not a native English speaker.

That can be improved* not what

I interpret your comment as a compliment.

I guess that every single native English speaker would find out that I'm not an one when I begin to talk. There are hardly possibilities to refine my spoken English. It's a difference whether you have enough time to write a thoughtful comment or you must talk in English spontaneously. Moreover there are words which are jawbreakers and difficult to pronounce. For me at least. Apart from that I still use a dictionary, because there are still vocabularies which escape my mind. That is an enormous advantage for myself compared to spoken English.

French, German, and Spanish, but those are at per-undergraduate level So I've still got a looooong way to go but at the level I am now, I think it's important to continue to plug away even when I have no specific target just to keep myself in tune.

Good on you- that's a really good way to be. Are you planning to study any of them at undergraduate?

One interesting thing I'm noticing though is where you are making mistakes as a German native in English, which is actually really helpful for me because it shows me the native constructions you would use in German shoved into the English language. you're still understandable though, it's just sounding more natural.

Yep, all of them. XD so I need to keep going lest I lose it completely.

Did you mean the mistakes which were showed up yet or are there another mistakes in my written English which you found out? and what are the reasons why it is so 'unnatural'? what is 'natural' English compared to my own?

Haha! I only really feel that way when thinking about how much I love learning other languages, though it's all rather academic given that nothing of any relevance to me is likely to get wiped out in our lifetime (she says hesitantly, while thinking of Danish...).

It's certainly pretty easy being a native English speaker.

The mistakes that Fish found and just general 'I would have worded that better' moments, even if it's not grammatically wrong, And it's just...English that's a bit German. There's nothing grammatically wrong with it (apart from a few bits), but it's just a bit German, and it's interesting for me to see how you would word it from an German perspective which actually helps me with my German grammar/word choice.

One thing I found: vocabulary is also singular in the sense of 'my vocabulary is pretty small'. You could use it as plural if you're talking about 'my vocabularies in different languages' for example, but in the general sense, you don't use the plural.

Mandem Be Trippin 'Bout Studyin Two Languages For A-levelz...
Fam, Hush It Man
I would love to start studying 5 foreign languages!

As a non native English speaker...

AS English Language - AS German - AS Dutch
GCSE Russian GCSE French
AS Anthropology

Ich hoffe, dass es möglich sein soll...