Grammar: Difference between formal speaking and chatting.

[tom_mai78101]

I have known I am fluent in English, but I am not nearly as proficient as I expected myself to be.

For example, I tend to mix up the conjunctions in compound and complex sentences, sometimes even in compound-complex sentences. In fact, I don't even know if the first paragraph is grammatically correct.

Have you ever had a feeling that you are typing a grammatically correct sentence, when you're actually not? Do you tend to type out a sentence that is normal when spoken, but informal when writing?

 

[Accname]

I dont know anything about gramma mumbo jumbo, i just write how i expect it to be correct.

 

[KaerfNomekop]

I just write what sounds right to my gut. And I get it most of the time too, if it weren't for my horrible pronunciation of words I've seen but never heard.

 

[Fatmankev]

I'll be honest, everyone on here with English as a second language gets mad props from me. Way to go, fellas; you have a better grasp of my native tongue than at least 25% of my country (I feel confident in saying this without looking up any actual statistics... it's that bad). Kaerf has especially solid grammar skills, as I've rarely seen him make any sort of error, but you have an impressive grasp on it as well, Tom.

And as to your question: Of course I have. We all make mistakes now and then that we don't recognize as we're making them. It's nothing to be ashamed of, more something to identify and utilize in an effort to improve your skills.

 

[tom_mai78101]

Yes, however, I have seen the reality of typing versus speaking. You start to develop a hinderance of speaking proficiently, because of so many years typing English and not practicing speaking.

You can think and type just as fast, but when it comes to speaking, my mind is faster than my mouth, and I either blurt out my thoughts or I simply forget the words I was about to say.

EDIT: Also pointing out, by following my guts, I and i is correct if i is not capitalized? This world amazes me.

 

[camelCase]

I've never heard of anyone being unable to speak a language they can write in O_O
But I know a shitload of people who can speak and not write a language =P

(Speak proficiently, that is.)

 

[Fatmankev]

I've never heard of anyone being unable to speak a language they can write in O_O
But I know a shitload of people who can speak and not write a language =P

(Speak proficiently, that is.)

Really? When you were learning a second language in school, you couldn't write out your thoughts better than you could express them through words? That seemed to be pretty common while I was in school.

 

[camelCase]

I must come from another planet =/

 

[KaerfNomekop]

When you were learning a second language in school

Learning 3 languages, I'm not sure which would be second ._.

 

[Accname]

I've never heard of anyone being unable to speak a language they can write in O_O
But I know a shitload of people who can speak and not write a language =P

(Speak proficiently, that is.)

I have!
Dude, you know its rather easy to write in latin but speaking that shit is horrible.
What tom is trying to say is that the only touch with the english language he has is through writing/reading on the internet. Although he knows most of the vocabulary he doesnt know how to pronounce most of it. Or at least its harder for him.
But this is the same for me, there are many words i would probably pronounce incorrectly when i would be trying to talk in english rather then write.

For example, for all my life i never found out how to pronounce laugh in english. Is that word the same as love? I really dont know Oo.

 

[tom_mai78101]

Speaking of love, if only we are able to transcend our love and passion of a significant other through text and digital information, then we should be able to enjoy life more and be happy with ever-advancing technology.

 

[Fatmankev]

For example, for all my life i never found out how to pronounce laugh in english. Is that word the same as love? I really dont know Oo.

Laugh - sounds like Laff, soft 'a'.
Love - sounds like Luv, soft 'u'.
You guys can always check out dictionary.com, that tells you how to pronounce words.

 

[tom_mai78101]

I can not, for the life of me, read those thingamajig pronounciation symbols. 'a' sounds like 'e', while 'ae' likes to be 'a_e'...

 

[Fatmankev]

Yeah, they can be hard to decipher when you're a native-speaker, so I can only imagine the difficulty you're having.

 

[Slapshot136]

English just doesn't make sense - take "laughter" for example - say it (if you can) - now try "slaughter" - now can anyone explain how 1 s at the beginning of a word changes the way the entire word sounds? (laughter has a l-a-f-t sound, slaughter has a s-l-a-u-t sound)

 

[tom_mai78101]

The pattern "slau" is the culprit. According to some of the English books over here, pattern pronounciation takes precedence over rhyme sounds. (or sounds based on similarly spelled words.)

 

[Slapshot136]

it's one of those things where you ask why does an s affect something 3 letters down - I can understand letters next to each other "joining" together to make a sound, but I really don't see any relationship between the two - not that I have read many English pronunciation books.. but it just doesn't make sense to me despite knowing what it is (English isn't my native language.. )

 

[tom_mai78101]

Oh wait! I was a bit wrong. I know why, and you'll see why it's easily explainable.

Caught, taught, onslaught, they all have the base word, "aught". Laugh is not part of the base word "aught". When joining words, they either tend to add a new syllable or extend the pronunciation of a consonant. So, "laugh + ter" would be "laughter", and it's not "laught + er", or "l + aught + er".

Laugh is actually a derivative of the base word "aff", "af", and/or "affe". So, slaughter is not pronounced as "slaffter" or "slafter". This is why you see that adding a "s" to the front of "laughter" produces a different sounding word, because it affects how we perceived upon the base word. "aught" and "augh + t" can easily be mixed up.

Thus, pattern pronunciation > joining sounds.

 

[Slapshot136]

congratulations tom_mai78101, I think you know English better than 99.9% of all native speakers

"aught" and "augh + t" can easily be mixed up.

and I still don't really see the difference there... I just know which one to pronounce

 

[OMGOMGOMG]

hahahahah, I really do fail at English then
Time to vanish from the face of the planet
--- xD