Learning English- aim to achieve better English

shefanie

This post is for the people who are interested in leaning English with an aim to be a better English speaker/writer. The learning curve of picking up a foreign language is never meant to be short. There is no shortcut in leaning language as the accumulation process needs considerable efforts and time. If you share a same objective with me to achieve higher level English, pls read on.
Step 1 Pls prepare a small notepad in your pocket, write down the words/sentences you would like to imitate. Don’t worry if you can’t pick up the right one, post it to here and I am sure plenty of people will turn up to help you.  
Step 2 review your notes every second day, post the word/sentences you think it is worth to share, such as a slang, a special expression or just some funky phrases.  Pls use a conversation format to express these word/sentences as i think it might be helpful to learn new words from the context.  Pls try your best to write your post in English, which is good way to push yourself to write and think in English.
This post will witness the improvement of our English.  
Help yourself , Help others! Thanks in advance.
:si50

[ 本帖最后由 shefanie 于 2007-9-20 14:38 编辑 ]

bulaohu

bring it on!

kawara

Pour water

WTFAUS

yeah tried those before. and still keep group chatting on skype with my colleagues everyday. oh well that really helped a lot. But the part for 'try best to write up blogs/posts in English'  didn't really work. Coz none of friends could ever be bothered to read my msn space and leave messages since I kept writing in English. Then whats the point left for having blogs?
I heard someone also suggested to speak English while at home as well with your partner/spouse, which I may never wanna try...
shall we try organising an English chatting group here?

patrickzhu

原帖由 WTFAUS 于 2007-9-20 14:46 发表
I heard someone also suggested to speak English while at home as well with your partner/spouse, which I may never wanna try...
shall we try organising an English chatting group here?

Quite hard to speak English at home between my wife and me. But there are something changed a little bit now, if my daughter told us something happened in the school, we have to be more focused as listeners, - because of ALL ENGLISH from her :)

shefanie

Phil (Manager): I need this report done by 5 PM.
Shefanie: I can’t believe Phil ask me to do this. Doesn’t he know it’s Friday afternoon already!
Paul (colleague): You should tell him “Get a life!”
--------  
Shefanie (Yelling at Phil)hil, Get a life!! Paul asked me to tell you this.
Paul: OMG  -_-!

In this conversation, Get a Life expresses the annoyed attitude that caused by something unexpected to happen. Pls don’t try this word in front of your Manager when your manger is assigning job to you,,,,,
However, you also can say” I need to get a life!” which means you want to have a social life. It depends on the context.


Quote from wikipedia--Get a life is an originally American idiom and catch phrase usually intended as a taunt. The phrase appeared as a generally more emphatic variant of the taunt "get a job"[1] and implies the addressee needs to go out and make their way in the world, without being supported by outside sources such as parents or benefactors. It may also be directed at someone who is perceived as boring or single-minded; suggesting they acquire some other, more practical interests or hobbies and get dates, find a job, or move to their own house.

It has been applied to so-called workaholics and others who are perceived as dedicated to their work (out of "labor of love" as opposed to money or loyalty to the company) but not taking the time to relax or enjoy life.

The phrase is used as an aggressive response to someone with different hobbies, interests or attitudes to themselves: "You don't like the same things as me? Get a life!"

Sometimes the phrase is used against people who are viewed as officious or intermeddling in someone else's affairs. It is another way of saying "Get your own life", or "Stay out of my business."

WTFAUS

原帖由 patrickzhu 于 2007-9-20 14:51 发表

Quite hard to speak English at home between my wife and me. But there are something changed a little bit now, if my daughter told us something happened in the school, we have to be more focused a ...

oh yeah dats true. But i guess you would be soon worried about your daughter's Chinese then.
My wife sometimes tried to speak English at home and I was like ' r u trying to forget shanghainese' then shut up until she switched back. After all English is our second language. As long as it is good enough for work, there's no necessary to improve it too much.

astina

原帖由 shefanie 于 2007-9-20 14:55 发表
Phil (Manager): I need this report done by 5 PM.
Shefanie: I can’t believe Phil ask me to do this. Doesn’t he know it’s Friday afternoon already!
Paul (colleague): You should tell him “Get a  ...

Last week, I overheard a conversation between two of my colleagues. Helen complained to Melissa that she had had a dream about work the night before. I burst out into laughter and asked Helen: don't you have a real life? I feel so sad for you that you have nothing better to dream about.

2 minutes later, when I got back to my desk, there was a new message from Helen waiting for me in the mailbox. In red colour ,bold, size 24, she wrote: SHUT UP

WTFAUS

原帖由 shefanie 于 2007-9-20 14:55 发表
Phil (Manager): I need this report done by 5 PM.
Shefanie: I can’t believe Phil ask me to do this. Doesn’t he know it’s Friday afternoon already!
Paul (colleague): You should tell him “Get a  ...

oh god. you really started your tutorials.
hmm maybe we shall begin with those swearing words/slang? like how to use fxxx words?

WTFAUS

原帖由 astina 于 2007-9-20 15:02 发表



2 minutes later, when I got back to my desk, there was a new message from Helen waiting for me in the mailbox. In red colour ,bold, size 24, she wrote: SHUT UP.

for guys, thats not strong enough. usually we shall say, shut the f*** up

astina

原帖由 WTFAUS 于 2007-9-20 15:05 发表


for guys, thats not strong enough. usually we shall say, shut the f*** up

that is a bit too rude for gals

黑山老妖

原帖由 astina 于 2007-9-20 15:06 发表
that is a bit too rude for gals

In high school we would say "shut your trap" instead. But that's kids stuff.
As a man you want to be macho so... the F word is used more generously.

patrickzhu

原帖由 WTFAUS 于 2007-9-20 15:01 发表

oh yeah dats true. But i guess you would be soon worried about your daughter's Chinese then.
My wife sometimes tried to speak English at home and I was like ' r u trying to forget shanghaines ...

Yes, now we have moved to Chatswood, and my daughter is in Chatswood Primary School and luckily her chinese is being improved because of 40% chinese kids in her class. But it is true that is an issue I concerned.

For English practice/improvement, honestly speaking, I did not feel a "comprehensive" improvement on me since moving to Australia three years ago. I told my friends in Shanghai, the change on me is "I can catch up the local people more promptly than before, because I learnt lot of life/working terminologies here".
Obviously my wife doesn't agree on this, she mentioned that the most remarkable change on me is "so quick response to local "good, and yourself? when they say how are you?", second one learn the term "reckon" instead of "think" but sometimes "misuse".:)

WTFAUS

原帖由 黑山老妖 于 2007-9-20 15:11 发表


In high school we would say "shut your trap" instead. But that's kids stuff.
As a man you want to be macho so... the F word is used more generously.

absofcukinglutely true

astina

I used to sit next to Helen (with a partition in between) and we chatted a lot by email. Sometimes the boss was around and refused to go which was really annoying.

Then Helen would write to me: don't you love it when your boss hangs around?
I answered: It is all John/Paul/Peter's fault (depending on who the boss was talking to at that time)

Once the boss was in our area again but instead of talking to someone, she picked up a newspapaer from a spare desk and began to read.

I got a message from Helen again: don't you love it when you boss seems to get stuck in that chair?
Me: it's all that newspaper's fault. Anything interesting happening in the world at all? another 911 or something that she feels oblighed to become part of?
Helen: I reckon she is just checking the lotto results.
Me: I thought only real human beings buy lottery tickets. Machines do not.

黑山老妖

原帖由 patrickzhu 于 2007-9-20 15:14 发表

Yes, now we have moved to Chatswood, and my daughter is in Chatswood Primary School and luckily her chinese is being improved because of 40% chinese kids in her class. But it is true that is an i ...

I reckon you are improving there.

黑山老妖

原帖由 astina 于 2007-9-20 15:16 发表
I used to sit next to Helen (with a partition in between) and we chatted a lot by email. Sometimes the boss was around and refused to go which was really annoying.

Then Helen would write to me: ...

That's funny.
Hope your boss was not listening.

astina

原帖由 黑山老妖 于 2007-9-20 15:19 发表


That's funny.
Hope your boss was not listening.

we were chatting by email....

WTFAUS

原帖由 patrickzhu 于 2007-9-20 15:14 发表

Yes, now we have moved to Chatswood, and my daughter is in Chatswood Primary School and luckily her chinese is being improved because of 40% chinese kids in her class. But it is true that is an i ...

haha same here bro.

I still remember the dialogs when we started to learn english in primary school
A: How are you?
B: I am fine. Thank you, and you?
A: I'm fine too...

I got to know 'how are you' actually means hello, how'dy, g'day, and etc and people don't really expect you to respond sometimes until I came here. Now I often respond them with hello or even how are you to that kinda greetings.

And sometimes its very interesting to notice Aussie English changes influenced by those American tv shows.

西边雨

looks like only you guys who's got good english level talking around in this thread. Just for encouraging other guys, a brave man like me steps in to support it.

Thanks LZ for starting this thread.

黑山老妖

Language is an ever evolving living thing.

astina

原帖由 黑山老妖 于 2007-9-20 15:31 发表
Language is an ever evolving living thing.

and for everybody

patrickzhu

原帖由 WTFAUS 于 2007-9-20 15:25 发表


haha same here bro.

I still remember the dialogs when we started to learn english in primary school
A: How are you?
B: I am fine. Thank you, and you?
A: I'm fine too...

I got to know ...

ME TOO,
at the first three months since landing three year ago, usually I just kept silence when local say hello to me. :)(because I really don't know how to have a response, not in the textbook!)

流浪的流氓

原帖由 astina 于 2007-9-20 15:02 发表



Last week, I overheard a conversation between two of my colleagues. Helen complained to Melissa that she had had a dream about work the night before. I burst out into laughter and asked Helen ...

was she really mad or what ??

astina

No, she was just joking. We two make fun of each other a lot.

coolioo

I am always wondering what is the meaning of "Fair Enough" ? And when or in what situation I should use it??

[ 本帖最后由 coolioo 于 2007-9-20 16:01 编辑 ]

astina

原帖由 coolioo 于 2007-9-20 15:55 发表
I am always wondering what is the meaning of "Fare Enough" ? And when or in what situation I should use it??

fair enough...

astina

for example:

Staff member A: I will take tomorrow off in lieu of all the time I spent  travelling for business on weekends and/or after hours in the past month or so.
Staff member B: sounds fair enough to me but you'd better confirm with your boss.

coolioo

fair enough: something that you say in order to show that you understand why someone has said or done something.....

WTFAUS

i aways feel like chicks have more talent in language than guys. I mean during the same period of learning English, most of them can improve their English a lot better than boys can especially in speaking and listening.
oh well they might also have more opportunities to practice though. Its always better to learn a language by chatting or talking to a guy who wanted to chase you. hehe. Apart from that, girls can easily get along well with those aussie chicks in the office by bitching about everything, which guys won't be able to if not interested in footy or cricket. sigh...