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Hi.
I'm from Russia.
I'm looking for English native speakers (americans preferred).
I need somebody to talk with through the Internet, for example with using Yahoo IM voice chat.
If you're interesting in training your Russian listening and speaking skills I can also talk with you in Russian.
I need speaking practice during next 2 weeks (minimum) for example 1-2 hours a day at evenings or nights (Moscow time).
... hello
names james and i speak english (proper/queens own) but one thing puzzles me is... whats the fasination with american english... bad spellings and mispronunciation...
but anyway if you need help give me a shout and i'll see what i can pull out of the hat.
James
A few minor corrections:Quote:
Originally Posted by Anonymous
"My name is James..."
"but one thing THAT puzzles me is:" or "but one thing puzzles me: "
"fascination" (there is a "c" in there)
"bad spelling and mispronunciation"
Love,
An American English speaker
Don't poke fun at Americans for their grammar and spelling unless you're going to spell correctly and use proper grammar!! :P
-Fantom
Hello me again with the bad spellings....
so your telling me that you have never poked fun at us brits.... come on for frags sake... hey i might have had bad spellings but there is one thing that i do do and that is that i use the correct spelling for words such as colour and dont change it ot color to be pedantic... but on a note 'one thing puzzles me' is correct you read the context wrong... and im nt here to start a fight but you did fail to answer the object... whats the fascination
:roll:
Jim_the_bob has a point here. Why did Americans screw things up and decide to change the English language. Think about it for a while, it had to have been arrogance. The "because I am me" attitude.
Americans and Brits speak two different languages. American english...and english. As far as Im' concerend, they are two different things.
You've just proved my point!
I'd say blaming Americans for speaking American English is like blaming Brits for not speaking English they spoke in Shakespearean times. Language is changing all the time and separated by distance it changes differently, that's quite natural. I believe that's one of the reasons Australian English is closer to British than American English (because they were separated later).
Thank you Friendly. That is the point I was going to make. Although I have to admit I love Austrailian accents and British accents and I am embarrased to have an American accent when I try to speak other languages. That's mostly because I know people from other countries don't always have very nice opinions about Americans and I wish people didn't know I was one.
Anyway the only point I have is just to agree with Friendly.
To be honest, I can't think of a time I made fun of someone from England... Well, I guess you, Jim, but I wasn't trying to be mean, I just had to after you said that Americans were bad spellers, and you mis-spelled in your post.
To be honest, I don't get the fascination with Americans either. Well, I guess because it's one of the most popular places to emigrate from any other Country. I'm not sure why, though... Our "President", the so-called "leader of the free nation" is an illiterate moron, and yet we have somehow re-elected him. I was planning to put in 20 years in the Army, but I didn't re-enlist after my eighth year because he was elected. Oh yeah, and Arnold Schwarzenegger is my governor (although he has actually done a pretty good job)
Why did we take the "u" out of "colour" and change the "s" in "realise" to a "z"? I'm not sure. Probably because we could. I would like to use the metric system for everything, but I can't. That's just the way it is.
You have a good point, Biancca, I don't like my accent either. I can speak fluent Spanish, basic Russian & Bulgarian, but I can't roll my r's for s-h-i-t-e. (yes, I still spell that with an "e") I guess it could be worse, I have never heard someone from the deep South try to speak another language, sometimes I have trouble understanding them when they are speaking English, that would be kind of funny to hear Russian with a Southern accent...
I forgot where I was going with this post... Everything evolves. You can't blame snakes for losing their legs and (some) developing powerful venom, or humans for growing a lot less hair than they did thousands of years ago... It just happens.
-Fantom
The reason I made my comment is because when you think this through you have to realize that in order to change the spellings of the language that not only you use but millions of people living in other countries also use, you will have to first have to accept that fact that you don’t care that it will affect the millions of people outside your own country that speak the same language. There are many English speaking countries and these countries have never been cut off from one another. There has always been communication between them and usually very close relations. For one of these countries to officially change the rules of the language they all speak is the height of arrogance.
If someone can show me that American spellings were the original English spellings at the time of the Revolution perhaps I will understand how this all happened.
The American units of measure are different from British because in 1824 the British standardized with the Imperial weights and measures and the Americans were left on the old system with only 16 ounces in a pint instead of 20.
I don't think it was a concious decision to change certain spellings, I think it just happened because english spelling is absurd and therefore easily messed up. The z in realize actually makes more phonetical sense than an s.
I heard the Germans want to take all the umlauts and
Son of a... You mean I could have been drinking 20 oz pints this whole time? I want reparations of 4 oz. per pint I have ever bought!Quote:
Originally Posted by DDT
-Fantom
Yeah, that's right Fantom. Another thing, I am not sure which method makes more sense, the 16 oz pint is relevant to 16 oz in a pound (Libra, from the Romans. Hence the abreviation "lb") .......but the 20 oz pint equals a gallon that weighs exactly 10 pounds.
So, if Fantom drinks an Imperial Gallaon of fine lager he will weigh 10 extra pounds. Well perhaps a little more because beer probably weighs more than water.
I haven't drank a gallon of beer in one sitting since I'm 26! :lol:
One question, though: How does 4 extra ounces equate to a net gain of 14 pints?
(you said that 16 oz = 1 lb, and 20 oz = 1 gallon)
Did I read that right?
-Fantom
Yes I have the best english. And I am American. No british accents plus when you listen to me I when I say HEY. I pronounce my H's. It dosen't sound like A the letter. But our times are so far apart. I tried IM'ing with a Russian named Sergey. But if you want to email each other like 3 times a week that is possible.
My email address is Serialxkiller555@yahoo.com
8 Imperial 20 oz pints equals a gallon that weighs 10 pounds.
I think know people who drink that much!
Forget the math, let's go and drink a metric ton of beer! Are you with me DDT?Quote:
Originally Posted by DDT
Oh........that was the old DDT. Now, I am Elegant and Cultured.
What, you want a metric ton of wine then?
Or possibly a single malt scotch... Glenlivet, Glengarry, pretty much anything with "Glen" in it...
I'm still with you on the beer, though, I don't think I'll ever be too refined to enjoy some lager... I hope not, anyway!
-Fantom
OK, an ice cold glass of Cooper's Sparkling Ale. It is hard to find in the US and at one time impossible to find because the US said that it did not have the correct label on the bottle. So the fine brewers of South Australia replied, " Then, you can't have any more of our beer then", and stopped exporting it to the US.
Hey there
cheers for that whole backing my story lark mate... and i opologise for not answering more but i was temporarily in dispose (bloody runners), but cheers for fighting the corner... oh and to a point that was cast earlier about brits not speaking shakespearian english... well tell me someone who does, all that is is simply the words were rearanged and elongated, to simplify it for the commoners was not to change the languge in its integrity, on the other hand with americans they have had the really bad habit of pronouncing words wrong, or changing them... heres an example Alluminium is the british word, my dad used to work at the steel works over here and was hassled by the yanks about an order of Alluminum, now alluminium and Alluminum are two different substances and yet they came over and tried playing hell saying that the brit works had tons of Alluminum when in fact it was Alluminium, hence the reason they are annoying, why do they have to be different, you are not different you were colonists... British, French and Dutch ( I really hate havin to go over history to try to put a point across that will be like headbutting and brick wall)... anyways, like it, lump it or take it with a pinch of salt thats the facts layed down... you can hate me for it but i'm me (English) stubborn and happy in setting the record straight.
:|
I personally would like a cold glass of George Killians Irish Red. Not much Irish about it apart from the name, but a nice dark beer!
I must say Klinky ol' boy that the selection of beer in America has certainly improved over the last few years. I can go almost anywhere now and get a beautiful mug of Heffeweissen (without the fruit, of course)
And, Jim Bob, I was not aware that alluminum and alluminium were two different substances till now.
yes it is... i'm full of random facts that many people don't care about...
question for you DDT where you live?
I am in Oregon these days. As you can see, the Yanks have got me surrounded so I have my hands full trying to "educate" them!
American or British, aluminium/aluminum is one L of an L-ement!
@Fantom: I'm from the south(Texas to be precise)...and even though my accent isn't all that southern I have been told that I sound "funny"(even in comparison to other Americans) when trying to speak other languages(by native speakers of said languages)... I really think it is the southern drawl that ruins it...so hard not to speak like that!
@Jim_The_Bob: Why are you so obsessed with Americans vs. Britons? also..by the by... not all Americans were British, French, or Dutch colonists... for instance my ancestors were German colonists here in the name of Prince Frederick... As for the different spellings of words such as color/colour, honor/honour, center/centre, etc... From what I know it all comes down to the people who started writing the first American Dictionaries deciding that the (current)American spellings were more correct than the British spellings, as well as for the purpose of making American's even further 'seperated' from the British people.
--peace
If that is true then I am correct when I use the word arrogance.Quote:
Originally Posted by Plastic-Saint
thats a perfect word in my dictionary....
oh and the reason i like to pit us brits against the common yanker thinking pattern is the simple reason that most and that means the biggest majority decide to think they are better than brits, saying things like... well you brits drive on the wrong side of the road, why do you spell words differently to us, here yar brit we won two wars for you... you know it tends to get on your nerves when people only see and hear what they want to see and hear... ever heard of reading deeper to find out the facts and not just the gloryfied picture... i mean rorkes drift was a british victory as the story goes... cept when you read into it and you find it wasnt as glorious as it was said to be, or waterloo wasn the complete brainchild of wellington it was won by luck and weather... and they did not win two wars for us i mean they tried to stop us defending our own colonists back in '82 simply because the argentines had invaded. and yes arrogance is the main word because when you take all the little differences and put them all together then it begins to form a picture if you let it and said word is shrouding it.
thats why i like to differ with yanks... although i have met those who actually do the above so i do not speak for all americans before you start saying im racist in some way.
oh yeah, DDT whats the weather like over there?
Perfect summer weather today in Oregon! To bad the surf sucks, though.