Tobberoth wrote:

kyotokanji wrote:

Maybe the other English speakers couldn't understand the idioms because they are from N America? British and American idioms differ very much.

That would certainly explain it for me. Even though Sweden and the UK is situated so close to one another, our media is almost exclusively American. I'm horrible at British English myself and have on several occasions been sure that some English was incorrect, only to find out that it's a difference between American and British English.

I'm very surprised to find out that the English speaking Swedish media is mainly American. I had always assumed that within the EU, most of the it would come from the UK.

kyotokanji wrote:

Tobberoth wrote:

kyotokanji wrote:

Maybe the other English speakers couldn't understand the idioms because they are from N America? British and American idioms differ very much.

That would certainly explain it for me. Even though Sweden and the UK is situated so close to one another, our media is almost exclusively American. I'm horrible at British English myself and have on several occasions been sure that some English was incorrect, only to find out that it's a difference between American and British English.

I'm very surprised to find out that the English speaking Swedish media is mainly American. I had always assumed that within the EU, most of the it would come from the UK.

Heh, I can't even name a single brittish TV show... well, except for Coupling (which I love), The Office (Much better than the US version) and Midsomer murders.

American though? The Simpsons, Family Guy, Prison Break, Full House, Friends, Buffy, OC... you name it, we get it. We even get most of the tonight shows, Jay Leno, Conan, David Letterman.

In fact, I grew up watching most of the same shows Americans did. Turtles, Spider-man, Knight Rider, Airwolf, A-team, Biker Mice from Mars, Power Rangers.

Swedish TV = American TV, more or less. Our country is too small to produce anything worth-while, so we leech of American pop-culture.

Last edited by Tobberoth (2009 June 03, 7:27 pm)

OK so that particular one was a bad example. But my point still stands: idioms are a vital component of natural conversation. Even if you don't want to use them you at least need to be able to understand them beyond their literal meaning.

Tobberoth wrote:

Heh, I can't even name a single brittish TV show... well, except for Coupling (which I love), The Office (Much better than the US version) and Midsomer murders.

No Dr Who. No Torchwood. No Cash in the Attic!?

Last edited by kazelee (2009 June 03, 8:45 pm)

kazelee wrote:

Tobberoth wrote:

Heh, I can't even name a single brittish TV show... well, except for Coupling (which I love), The Office (Much better than the US version) and Midsomer murders.

No Dr Who. No Torchwood. No Cash in the Attic!?

Dr Who and Torchwood are the only British shows I watch.  I'm sad they're basically over though with the change of creative team and actor for Dr Who, and Torchwood just ending.

Last edited by cracky (2009 June 03, 10:09 pm)

Nukemarine wrote:

Sorry, I have nothing positive to say to people that went to Stanford instead of Berkeley   Like others have said, your use of written English is native level. Had neither of you told us your were Japanese, we would have thought English was your first language. I think you all three pass the "RevTK Forum Turing Test for Fluency (tm)"

Oh, I love UC Berkeley though! I like their campus and library a lot more than Stanford's actually, but one of my best friends is doing her graduate studies at Stanford, so that was my pick. I've never understood the school rivalry, it seems to me that both universities are equally awesome. In my opinion Stanford is a bit over-hyped, and Berkeley a bit under-hyped. I guess a lot of people don't realize that selectivity doesn't always equal quality.

mr_hans_moleman wrote:

Aijin wrote:

Gosh, no compliments for Aijin's English. Maybe talking in the third person will help

.....!

lol. I meant to include you as well actually. Can you give as some examples of the sentences that you put in?

Sentences? I am not sure how the sentence method works yet, do you mind explaining? I've never really used much more than flashcards. Right now I only have flash cards for certain English words I come across and have trouble remembering since I rarely see them. Words like desideratum, bacchanalia, coterminous, etc.


One of my friends said she was "as sick as a panda that ate cyanide-laced bamboo and promptly died" yesterday, but "sick as a parrot"? That's a new one for me

mr_hans_moleman wrote:

Aijin wrote:

Nukemarine wrote:

.....!

Words like desideratum, bacchanalia, coterminous, etc.

lol. I have never heard of those words before. Sounds like they are words from biology.

Do they have a Rikaichan for English words? I'm starting to feel really inferior right now. Not only is Aijin's Japanese better than mine (obviously) I'm starting to feel like her English is too >_>

Last edited by blackmacros (2009 June 04, 1:07 am)

mr_hans_moleman wrote:

Aijin wrote:

Nukemarine wrote:

.....!

Words like desideratum, bacchanalia, coterminous, etc.

lol. I have never heard of those words before. Sounds like they are words from biology.

Surprisingly, none are from biology. I consider my vocab pretty damn good in English because I read so much growing up, but man... I didn't know any of those. I've never even seen those words before except perhaps bacchanalia, which is related to baccus.

Nii87 wrote:

Bloody 'ell mate! There aren't any dinki di aussie blokes here?! Ah I'll just go get some good tucker for meself.

You know, strangely enough, even though I was born and bred in Australia, I can't speak like a stereotypical Australian. Or use our unique idioms properly.

Thats because the the stereotypical Australian is Croc Dundee, and everyone would feel strange talking like a fictional character

I don't know anyone who speaks like a dinki di aussie bloke, actually. The closest you'll get is a cranky old bloke from up in the wheatbelt who's communication to swearing ratio is off the charts.

Jarvik7 wrote:

boy she's a beut'.

Steve Irwin laid it on pretty thick

Oh god :-(

I've yet to meet a single Australian who did not hate that man

Aijin wrote:

mr_hans_moleman wrote:

Aijin wrote:

Gosh, no compliments for Aijin's English. Maybe talking in the third person will help

.....!

lol. I meant to include you as well actually. Can you give as some examples of the sentences that you put in?

Sentences? I am not sure how the sentence method works yet, do you mind explaining? I've never really used much more than flashcards. Right now I only have flash cards for certain English words I come across and have trouble remembering since I rarely see them. Words like desideratum, bacchanalia, coterminous, etc.

For your question, here's a copy from my post on the last page, it was the fourth paragraph.

Nukemarine wrote:

When you get a chance though, try the sentence method. It's not exactly about finding a sentence with new words. It's about a sentence you haven't seen before, maybe has new words, maybe using words you know in a new way, etc. Early in one's learning, that would be pretty much every sentence. I think I've put half the sentences from Zettai Kareshi in my deck (yeah, I'm just starting out).

For example, I know a bit about humble speech and the word hajiru (sorry, no kana input on my work computer). But one line in Zettai Kareshi was "Happyoukai ga hajimeitadakimashita" (probably wrote that wrong from memory). Now, I don't have many examples of humble speech, but I'm sure I'll hear something like this later. Plus, I know the situation why it was being said (announcer saying the ceremony was about to start). I added the sentence.

The benefit of the sentence method is for sentences being added you know the reasons why the sentence is being said. You know who saying it, and who it is being said to. So drawing sentences from books and tv shows helps you get a fuzzy feeling on when it's appropriate to say something given the situation.

Another observation I made was it's like I'm translating the entire episode, but just for myself. Definitions are there for words I don't know. There may be Japanese to Japanese definitions for words I do know. There may be a note I'll put in to remind me of the situation (Boss to employee, friend to friend, Boss to kabujo "chigautte. Boku ha omae dake.") but this has not been necessary yet. Its personalized to me.

Tobberoth wrote:

Looking around google for these phrases, I found one I liked:
You can lead a horticulture, but you can't make her think.

I'm assuming that's a play on words, or a typo, as that makes little sense otherwise.  (Whore to culture, perhaps?) The original phrase would be...

"You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make it drink."

Also as stated the phrase "sick as a parrot" is an older english idiom.  You don't hear it so much now but its something we all will have came across (us brits i mean)

http://www.usingenglish.com/reference/idioms/  For anyone who is interested.  It lists both American and British idioms.