Posted: Wed Nov 15, 2006 9:54 pm Post subject: Chatterbox
Our current top 10 posters...
1. Porthos 668
2. André 501
3. Benjamin 420
4. Deborah 391
5. Fab 334
6. Elaine 332
7. Loic 304
8. Greg 255
9. Pauline 239
10. Joanne 170
(Fredrik [165] and KSa [164] are very close to making this list) _________________ Toe ek jonk was, het ek al die antwoorde geken. Nou verstaan ek nie eens die vrae nie.
Interesting to consider the Anglophone ratio of the list. Perhaps I too would have been there if my English vocabulary had been larger, as I often experience that certain Anglophones have written a handful of posts while I have been busy looking up a single word!
(And BTW I use a web German - English dictionary for that, as most Norwegian - English dictionaries are crap. In German I always know all the hard words that fail me in English, as the words for most abstract concepts have been directly translated from German into Danish-Norwegian.)
Interesting to consider the Anglophone ratio of the list. Perhaps I too would have been there if my English vocabulary had been larger, as I often experience that certain Anglophones have written a handful of posts while I have been busy looking up a single word!
You're not alone — I have to use a dictionary almost every time Greg posts in English, because his English is considerably better than mine.
Location: El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Angeles del Río de Porciúncula
Posted: Thu Nov 16, 2006 12:57 am Post subject:
I can't believe someone's got you beat, André. You are (or should I say "were") the all-time chatterbox champ. And what about Uriel? You guys are letting me down.
I can't believe someone's got you beat, André. You are (or should I say "were") the all-time chatterbox champ. And what about Uriel? You guys are letting me down.
Hey, it happens! Sander was our first champion, and he's not even on the top 10 list now... _________________ Toe ek jonk was, het ek al die antwoorde geken. Nou verstaan ek nie eens die vrae nie.
For real? How'd I get in there? " alt="" border="0" />
(André check your PayPal account ) _________________ "Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies." ---- Groucho Marx
I actually came in 4th? I need to get a life! Hasta luego -- tengo que estudiar el pinche subjontivo.
And you've been promoted to the next rank! Congratulations! _________________ Toe ek jonk was, het ek al die antwoorde geken. Nou verstaan ek nie eens die vrae nie.
Interesting to consider the Anglophone ratio of the list. Perhaps I too would have been there if my English vocabulary had been larger, as I often experience that certain Anglophones have written a handful of posts while I have been busy looking up a single word!
You're not alone — I have to use a dictionary almost every time Greg posts in English, because his English is considerably better than mine.
Benjamin: when I first saw your posts I thought you're a non-native speaker with very fluent command of English. Actually, I like reading your posts because they are quite easy to understand for me. I don't mean they are trivial or anything. I just apreciate that you don't use too many colloquial expressions but still your vocabulary range is broad enough for me to learn and improve my English.
Location: San Francisco, Noord-Kalifornië, Noord-Amerika
Posted: Fri Nov 17, 2006 11:47 pm Post subject:
Elaine wrote:
Deborah wrote:
Well, there's a case of the pot calling the kettle café au lait!
And I thought I was being original! Of course, it still wasn't original, because I was just paraphrasing the line from the 1970 movie "The Boys In The Band": "There's a case of the pot calling the kettle beige!" (Beige was pronounced as in French.)
Benjamin: when I first saw your posts I thought you're a non-native speaker with very fluent command of English. Actually, I like reading your posts because they are quite easy to understand for me. I don't mean they are trivial or anything. I just apreciate that you don't use too many colloquial expressions but still your vocabulary range is broad enough for me to learn and improve my English.
Thank you! Actually, I sometimes have doubts myself as to whether or not English is really my native language, lol. When I'm suddenly scared or very surprised, I often seem to speak or shout involuntarily in German for some reason, even though I wouldn't say that my level of German resembles fluency most of the time.
I don't generally use many colloquial in real life, but I specifically avoid them on this forum because I know that a lot of people here are not native English speakers.
And by the way — if I didn't know, I would have thought that you were a native English speaker.
Benjamin: when I first saw your posts I thought you're a non-native speaker with very fluent command of English. Actually, I like reading your posts because they are quite easy to understand for me. I don't mean they are trivial or anything. I just apreciate that you don't use too many colloquial expressions but still your vocabulary range is broad enough for me to learn and improve my English.
Thank you! Actually, I sometimes have doubts myself as to whether or not English is really my native language, lol. When I'm suddenly scared or very surprised, I often seem to speak or shout involuntarily in German for some reason, even though I wouldn't say that my level of German resembles fluency most of the time.
I don't generally use many colloquial in real life, but I specifically avoid them on this forum because I know that a lot of people here are not native English speakers.
And by the way — if I didn't know, I would have thought that you were a native English speaker.
Here, expressions in English aren't uncommon. They seem to be much more common in Stockholm than anywhere else in the country, though. Most of the time I find it ridiculous, especially since it usually comes from the mouths of trendy people. However, I am not innocent, I say stuff in English every day (silently to myself).
How come you generally don't use colloquial expressions in real life? Is it a question of speaking "well"? You said you speak RP and not your local dialect (even though it comes through sometimes).
Interesting to consider the Anglophone ratio of the list. Perhaps I too would have been there if my English vocabulary had been larger, as I often experience that certain Anglophones have written a handful of posts while I have been busy looking up a single word!
Wow, I'm really surprised, Fredrik. Your English always comes across as superb and completely fluent -- I've never noticed a single error or deficiency in your vocabulary at all!
I'm pretty laidback and I use colloquialisms all that time, because that's how I'm phrasing it in my head. I know we have a lot of posters with varying levels of fluency, but I'd hate to "dumb down" my own posts because of that -- I would think that learners of any language would benefit from seeing the language as it is really used by native speakers, and colloquialisms are part of that. Sometimes I catch myself using some phrase that I know marks me as American and kind of giggle as I write it, but what the hey -- that's what I am, no need to be ashamed.
(Walker, by the way, has a near-perfect command of colloquialisms that makes a lot of his posts a scream to read -- especially when I know he's Swedish! There's a boy who's done some serious homework!)
I also think it's fascinating to read the very different styles of all the people here, native and otherwise -- you can feel each personality so clearly. Everyone comes across as so distinct, and I think that's great.
I'm pretty laidback and I use colloquialisms all that time, because that's how I'm phrasing it in my head. I know we have a lot of posters with varying levels of fluency, but I'd hate to "dumb down" my own posts because of that -- I would think that learners of any language would benefit from seeing the language as it is really used by native speakers, and colloquialisms are part of that. Sometimes I catch myself using some phrase that I know marks me as American and kind of giggle as I write it, but what the hey -- that's what I am, no need to be ashamed.
Heck, no! I think you're doing the right thing!
Uriel wrote:
(Walker, by the way, has a near-perfect command of colloquialisms that makes a lot of his posts a scream to read -- especially when I know he's Swedish! There's a boy who's done some serious homework!)
Oh, thanks a bunch, Uriel! Having watched a lot of American shows and movies it's been hard not to pick up some of those colloquialisms.
How come you generally don't use colloquial expressions in real life? Is it a question of speaking "well"? You said you speak RP and not your local dialect (even though it comes through sometimes).
One could say that it's partly about speaking 'well', yes — I find that RP and a lot of slang don't really go very well together. Essentially though, I just don't really think to use much colloquial language, even though I can understand a lot of it (the Birmingham variety, that is — not, say, the Glasgow variety).
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You guys are letting me down. 
Actually, I sometimes have doubts myself as to whether or not English is really my native language, lol. When I'm suddenly scared or very surprised, I often seem to speak or shout involuntarily in German for some reason, even though I wouldn't say that my level of German resembles fluency most of the time.
