Hashiriya Wrote:

ta12121 Wrote:

Ryuujin27 Wrote:You could always join a translation group and translate anime/manga/light novels/VNs, etc. That way the "fans" will rate your translations and you'll know where you need improvement.

Be warned though, this isn't for the faint of heart. People are mean when they are behind an anonymous title.

I was thinking of joining one this year. As for the criticisms I've heard there pretty mean(or should I say crazy at times). I can handle the critics, I've had my fair of criticism in my life. The internet is the internet,so I don't really take any offense from it

If you don't know the difference between "there", "their", and "they're" you might as well give up now. Just kidding of course!

they're=they are
their is: "Their going to a ball game"
there i think usually refers to "I'm searching for something, so going over there seems just about right"
I'm just making random examples here

jettyke Wrote:

Hashiriya Wrote:If you don't know the difference between "there", "their", and "they're" you might as well give up now. Just kidding of course!

Actually I'm quite curious as to how much it takes for him to write his long posts, because I'm getting the feeling that perhaps I should also switch to this writing mode.

fuch dem mistakes, time is more important.

The people who read my posts made their own choice to read my posts... so ...

Even better:
But wait! Caffeinate yourself now and you will save even more time! Drink your cup NOW!

lol. Yea I do type really fast. So mistakes will definitely be there, more than usual.

ta12121 Wrote:they're=they are
their is: "Their going to a ball game"
there i think usually refers to "I'm searching for something, so going over there seems just about right"
I'm just making random examples here

They're = they are
as in:
They're going to a ball game

Their = possessive
I stole the ball from them. This is their ball.

jeez that's so basic. what gets me is it's vs. its
i know that it's is "it is" once you break it down but half the time i forget about that just think oh apostrophe=possessive. i understand if people have issues with this (like I do. like i know which is correct but half the time i forget cause it goes against the usual rule) but for their vs. they're that's like logic/common sense.

howtwosavealif3 Wrote:jeez that's so basic. what gets me is it's vs. its
i know that it's is "it is" once you break it down but half the time i forget about that just think oh apostrophe=possessive. i understand if people have issues with this (like I do. like i know which is correct but half the time i forget cause it goes against the usual rule) but for their vs. they're that's like logic/common sense.

The thing is, its not there fault that sometimes people forget. Every grammar rule has it's own quirks. Your just being to critical, and I'm sure that you're grammar isn't perfect.

Asriel Wrote:

ta12121 Wrote:they're=they are
their is: "Their going to a ball game"
there i think usually refers to "I'm searching for something, so going over there seems just about right"
I'm just making random examples here

They're = they are
as in:
They're going to a ball game

Unless you want to say, "Their going to a ball game was a major bonding experience for the two of them." Then ta121212121's example is correct.

Asriel Wrote:The thing is, its not there fault that sometimes people forget. Every grammar rule has it's own quirks. Your just being to critical, and I'm sure that you're grammar isn't perfect.

Yes, that's true, but they're's some sense in pointing out that its not a good sign that ta121212121 makes so many grammatical mistakes. Being a translator requires a high level of attention to detail, particularly in the grammar department.

Maybe you'll R studyin the wrong language....

JimmySeal Wrote:

Asriel Wrote:The thing is, its not there fault that sometimes people forget. Every grammar rule has it's own quirks. Your just being to critical, and I'm sure that you're grammar isn't perfect.

Yes, that's true, but they're's some sense in pointing out that its not a good sign that ta121212121 makes so many grammatical mistakes. Being a translator requires a high level of attention to detail, particularly in the grammar department.

I think you missed the joke

Tzadeck Wrote:I think you missed the joke

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/misspelling
Have a nice day

Tzadeck Wrote:I think you missed the joke

I guess so. What was the joke? I can see that Asriel was intentionally misspelling words, but what hint was there to suggest that he was sarcastic about what he was saying?

JimmySeal Wrote:

Tzadeck Wrote:I think you missed the joke

I guess so. What was the joke? I can see that Asriel was intentionally misspelling words, but what hint was there to suggest that he was sarcastic about what he was saying?

This joke proves that knowing how to read perfectly definitely doesn't mean that you can spell correctly.

2 different skills.

Neither did I notice those mistakes.

kazelee Wrote:Maybe you'll R studyin the wrong language....

Maybe...

Well, when I wrote it, I didn't expect it to be so hard to pick up on.

I guess I thought that...if you could pick up that I was purposely spelling things wrong, then it would hint that "this post is a joke, don't take any of it seriously."

I often seen people with poor grammar skills defending poor grammar. So I guess I was 'setting up the joke' by playing into the stereotype that I thought was more widespread...

In retrospect, it was probably too subtle. The content of the post itself is meaningless. I usually don't care too much about grammar, but if you're looking into professional writing or translation, I definitely think that learning how to fix very common, very simple grammar mistakes like those is essential.

jettyke Wrote:This joke proves that knowing how to read perfectly definitely doesn't mean that you can spell correctly.

2 different skills.

Neither did I notice those mistakes.

Yes, I was trying to debunk something like this. Just because you're a native speaker, and you can read perfectly, doesn't mean you can use the language well. Even if you try to defend yourself because "itz ok bcuz err1 kn undrstend u neway," you still can't say that you can utilize it well.

Asriel Wrote:I often seen people with poor grammar skills defending poor grammar. So I guess I was 'setting up the joke' by playing into the stereotype that I thought was more widespread...

Actually I understood the sarcasm, but I still failed to notice the mistakes oh...

I usually skip posts with this kind of content right away. The exact moment when I grasp it's tone.

Ah I get it now - an imitation of a bad grammar defender. Well done.

JimmySeal Wrote:Ah I get it now - an imitation of a bad grammar defender. Well done.

An imitation of a bad bad grammar defender*

an imitation of a {bad grammar} defender

can anyone suggest ways of improving grammar via the srs?
I think one way I could help myself grammar-wise is:

Have a sentence/fill in the blank-type one.

Answer: Contains the fill in the blank and have a small explanation explaining that point.

Hmm maybe I could put other things like vocab. But how would I test that?

I suggest reading a few books on the matter. That should help drill it into your memory. SRS isn't the answer for everything.

Eats, Shoots & Leaves and Woe Is I are two good ones.

You could use multiple-choice cloze questions in your SRS to practice easily-confused words:

_____ is a lot of water in the ocean.
(there/they're/their)

One of the better ways I can recommend in my experience that works well for your native language is "active reading" - I'm calling it that because I can't remember what the actually term is. Basically, instead of the way you most likely read, you read the sentences in your book with a purpose in mind. For example, I always have issues with comma splices (joining two independent clauses via a comma when other punctuation marks would be much more appropriate). What I could do to fix this is read through any text that I know I will find correct examples of correct punctuation and read with a question in mind. For example:

How has the author used commas in this work? Why has he placed this here? How does this effect the tone, structure and effect of this sentence?

Doing this in conjunction with regular writing is very powerful!

In addition, I would recommend you, for the time being, proofread your forum posts. This is a great opportunity to start noticing where you could start improving.

I'm not sure that SRS would be the way to go for grammar, but I do think Cranks has a good suggestion, namely reading good or excellent material in your target language while trying to keep an eye on what makes it so good. Apparently Benjamin Franklin (certainly a very good writer!) used an approach like that to improve his own writing: he read essays in one of the best magazines at the time (the Spectator), then would rewrite the essay from memory some time later. He'd put the original and his own away for a month, then come back and compare the two, noting where the original did a better job of saying the same things.

You can find more details on his technique here.

I would imagine using srs for your native grammar being quite 面倒くさい