Fancy a little chat in English?

[Bilby]

Hello there

a lot of our beauties seem to be really talented at languages – there is a thread for Spanish and also one for French so I think we should have one for English, too!

I love the English language and I've travelled to quite a few English-speaking countries. Also, I like to read books in English and I try to catch an English film every now and then. But in the last few years my spoken and written English has gotten a bit rusty. Time to practice – I'm inviting everyone to come in and chat about everything under the sun!

[Unequa]

That´s a good idea! After my schooltime i don´t speak, read, write or hear English very often. I would take the opportunity to improve my English knowledge.

How´s about that:
- If someone write something wrong, everybody can say or improve him or her.
- If someone don´t know how to write his/her minds in English, somebody can help to translate it.

How do you think about my proposal?

[susi]

oh, an english-tread

i like your proposals let's see how many beauties will join us

[susi]

did anyone do the "cambridge certificate"? i did the first one (with a B) but thats a few years ago

[Nova_Heart]

Hi, what a nice idea. Although, I'm in a lot of English forums already *lol*.

No, I haven't done any of these certificates - I grew up with both languages anyway and studied English at university. I could speak fluently when I was in my first year at school. Gosh, did the teachers hate me, or what?!

[alaska]

how nice!



my boyfriend's lingua franca is english, so i'm speaking now for...hmmmm... almost 4 years english every day. he admitted that i improved a lot, although my english was by the time we met on the advanced level. unfortunately my law studies doesn't include a language course, like it's common in bachelor studies (except for courses like : american law in english that is being offered just for one semester and u r through ) that caused, that my written english got really bad, the grammar too. (plz forgive me my endless laziness in writing capital letters and also the basic and also more sophisticated mistakes i make in grammar and sentence structure )

well, as i decided this semester to dump law and concentrate on what i always wanted to do - translating (simultan - keine ahnung wie das auf englisch ist ) i chose to start english language science studies, that will, hopefully, make me reach the lingua franca level so i need a lot of practice right now... this seems to b the perfect opportunity

unfortunately, i don't have any of the common certificates that may prove my language abilities. there r many reasons 4 ... first, i attended private lessons and wasn't prepared 4 solving typical certificate ******* second, the courses preparing for those tests were simply too expensive. third, the high tuition for a single test was too high to take a risk writing it without the proper practice b4... considering all that and the fact, that i wanted to start my studies abroad, i decided not to take it, hoping that i can make it one day (after reaching l.f. level, so that i need to take only the CPE , that is btw. extremely difficult, because it's no longer only about the language and ******solving abilities, but it's also a "how smart r u?" - test)

last year in august i was given a very nice link to a movie and tv-series database, where u can watch tv programs and movies even b4 they appear as a download file in programs like torrent or emule etc... fortunately they appear in the original version, so that i can watch english programs quite regular

[Bilby]

I never did any of the certificates, either – I never needed them for anything. I started to learn English at school, at the age of 13 (yeah, that late! ), then I did two ten-day-courses in Ireland. I also learned quite a bit of English by listening to music! And when I was 20 I was lucky enough to spent a couple of month in London on the ERASMUS exchange program.

@Unequa: That's a good idea!

@Nova_Heart: Teacher's nightmare

@all: Did you notice that there are lots and lots of beauty-relevant English words that we use all the time in our discussions here? There's make up, minerals, mascara, eye shadow, there's lotion and shampoo, and also hairstyles: the French twist, the Gibson Tuck ...

[alaska]

I never did any of the certificates, either – I never needed them for anything. I started to learn English at school, at the age of 13 (yeah, that late! ), then I did two ten-day-courses in Ireland. I also learned quite a bit of English by listening to music! And when I was 20 I was lucky enough to spent a couple of month in London on the ERASMUS exchange program.

@Unequa: That's a good idea!

@Nova_Heart: Teacher's nightmare

@all: Did you notice that there are lots and lots of beauty-relevant English words that we use all the time in our discussions here? There's make up, minerals, mascara, eye shadow, there's lotion and shampoo, and also hairstyles: the French twist, the Gibson Tuck ...

what is a gibson tuck? never heard of it

[Rosenstolz]

Hello,

this thread is a very good idea
Now I have the chance to improve my english.

English is the native language of approximately 380 million people throughout the world, and uses as a second language by about the same number.
It is estimated that within the next few years the number of people speaking English as a second language will exceed the number of native speakers.
English is used in over 70 countries as an official or semi-official language. 1.4billion people live in these countries.

[Bilby]

what is a gibson tuck? never heard of it

Look here.

Hello,

this thread is a very good idea
Now I have the chance to improve my english.

English is the native language of approximately 380 million people throughout the world, and uses as a second language by about the same number.
It is estimated that within the next few years the number of people speaking English as a second language will exceed the number of native speakers.
English is used in over 70 countries as an official or semi-official language. 1.4billion people live in these countries.

What I also like about English is the fact that many, many people around the world speak it at least a little bit. Makes it easy to get around!

[BubbleTea]

I English!

Half of my family lives in the US, I've been there several times and speak (American) English fluently, even better than my mother tongue (Vietnamese). My family is joking that I speak English like a native and Vietnamese with a German accent.

I try to watch films and TV series in English as I like the originals better than the synchronized versions, often the jokes and even the voices just don't sound right when you already know the original.

I gained the Cambridge Advanced Certificate when I was 15... My Dad really supported my education and attended the course for the First Certificate at the same time while I was sitting next door for the advanced one.

[Bilby]

Hey BubbleTea,

that sounds interesting! Whereabouts in the States do your relatives live?

I've been to the U.S. twice: first time on the East coast (Philadelphia, New York , Cape Cod), second time in California – I wanted to visit a friend in Santa Barbara but ended up travelling all the way from San Diego to San Francisco. It was a great experience and I'd love to go there again!

[BubbleTea]

Most of my relatives live in Seattle, one uncle lives in L.A. and one of my aunts lives in Washington, D.C.

Do you read English magazines? I have an abo of the Allure, it comes monthly and I love reading about the American beauty trends as they usually are later to come to Germany (I have already seen many Allure articles that came a month later in the German Glamour).

[Gloriaviktoria]

Hi guys

To start this thread was a very good idea, my English is not as good as it used to be but somehow I don't have the opportunity to practise.
After school I spent one year in Scotland and there I passed the CPE-Certificate, but this is more than 10 years ago.
Recently I started to listen to Scottish radio programmes via Internet. I really do love this nice Scottish accent even though I do not always understand every single word. Sometimes it really is more like a dialect and not only an accent.

[alaska]

Hi guys

To start this thread was a very good idea, my English is not as good as it used to be but somehow I don't have the opportunity to practise.
After school I spent one year in Scotland and there I passed the CPE-Certificate, but this is more than 10 years ago.
Recently I started to listen to Scottish radio programmes via Internet. I really do love this nice Scottish accent even though I do not always understand every single word. Sometimes it really is more like a dialect and not only an accent.

"dear frankie" with gerard butler



recently i was watching little britain in english and i must admit, that i barely understood vicky (except 4 the "but yes, but no, but yes, but no )

[Bilby]

M
Do you read English magazines? I have an abo of the Allure, it comes monthly and I love reading about the American beauty trends as they usually are later to come to Germany (I have already seen many Allure articles that came a month later in the German Glamour).

I do not regularly read English magazines but I'll go for them whenever I have the opportunity. Even when we were on our three-months camping trip in Australia I used to buy women's magazines (they had more gossip and VIPs than beauty and fashion) every week – my boyfriend was pretty irritated about me sitting in the camping chair, drinking beer and reading glossy magazines

Hi guys

To start this thread was a very good idea, my English is not as good as it used to be but somehow I don't have the opportunity to practise.
After school I spent one year in Scotland and there I passed the CPE-Certificate, but this is more than 10 years ago.
Recently I started to listen to Scottish radio programmes via Internet. I really do love this nice Scottish accent even though I do not always understand every single word. Sometimes it really is more like a dialect and not only an accent.

Oh, I've never been to Scotland but I'd love to go there! Do you know the novels "Espresso tales" and "44 Scotland Street" by Alexander McCall Smith? They are set in Edinburgh.

I'd also love to go to London again – the last I went there was in 2000 – but it's sooo expensive at the moment

[Vio]

Most of my relatives live in Seattle, one uncle lives in L.A. and one of my aunts lives in Washington, D.C.

seriously? how exciting! i used to live in seattle...on kitsap peninsula, to be precise. what part of town do your relatives live in?

[Lamb]

Dear all,

me too, I'd love to chat in English!
I adore Britain and all that is related to it since I spent a semester abroad near Nottigham in 2000. That was lovely.
I regulary wish to have those polite English people near me - here in Germany, people tend to be so rude in certain situations, just think of queuing!

I love British women's mags like "New Woman" and "Shine" - I just wonder if they still exist

I wish you all a wonderful day!

[Lamb]

Vio!

I watched "Maurice" and parts of "Howards End" on TV (Arte) a few days ago - I'd never have guessed they would broadcast these movies once again, especially "Maurice"...
Rupert

[BubbleTea]

seriously? how exciting! i used to live in seattle...on kitsap peninsula, to be precise. what part of town do your relatives live in?

Bellevue. I never heard auf kitsap peninsula, is it a nice part? What did you do in Seattle, were you there for an (student) exchange?

[Max und Moritz]

Hello dears! Lovely to find an English thread as well I´m really in love with good (classical style) British and American literature, and I´ve made so many great friendships around the world thanks to everybody´s ability to communicate in this easy, fast-to-learn language

(Lately, thanks to all those exchanges I´ve even become so fluent I´ve written two of my novels in English, and I´m currently looking for an agent to represent them )

[Vio]

@bubble: it's in the puget sound, so it's not exactly a part of town...more like a suburb. very pretty. i did my senior year in high school there.

Vio!

I watched "Maurice" and parts of "Howards End" on TV (Arte) a few days ago - I'd never have guessed they would broadcast these movies once again, especially "Maurice"...
Rupert

yeah, rupert's the shit! and i love me some james ivory.

[Bilby]

(Lately, thanks to all those exchanges I´ve even become so fluent I´ve written two of my novels in English, and I´m currently looking for an agent to represent them )

Does that mean you wrote some novels in German already? Are you famous? Can we read/buy them somewhere?

[Max und Moritz]

LOL, Bilby! No, I wrote the others in Spanish - that´s my native language - and ROFLMAO, I´m SO not famous, I had two books published in Spain more than ten years ago... no success with them really... so I´m still trying

[Lamb]

yeah, rupert's the shit! and i love me some james ivory.

Oh yes, he certainly is
I had my initial "Ivory" era in my early teens, I even read the relevant E.M. Forster novels - which was mostly due to my fancying the actors, costumes etc., I guess

Julian Sands in "Room with a View" is not bad either (though he made quite a number of rubbish movies ever since )

[Vio]

Oh yes, he certainly is
I had my initial "Ivory" era in my early teens, I even read the relevant E.M. Forster novels - which was mostly due to my fancying the actors, costumes etc., I guess

Julian Sands in "Room with a View" is not bad either (though he made quite a number of rubbish movies ever since )

haha, so true. "warlock", anyone? i will always love "a room...", though - just caught it on arte the other day. maybe because the book's one of my favorites, as well.

IMO, "the remains of the day" is the most sublime of all the ivory films...just flawless. and so freakin' english. hee, i know what i'll be watching tonight! thanks, lamb.

[Lamb]

You're welcome
Enjoy your movie night then

I thought about watching "Don't look now" tonight, also one of my all-time favourites.

[Sui]

That "cambridge certificate" sounds interesting, would anyone here able to tell me more about it? How difficult was it for you? Why do you need training before?

Compared to all the English haters in my class, I have always been good at it and loved (I watch a lot of tv shows and read books in English) the language, but I fail at grammar & speaking it - it's more an intuitional thing for me. A few years ago we had an exchange programm with isreali students at school. Of course their language skills were a lot better than ours - they spoke English fluently.

Sometimes I am in mood where I can't get enough of that language, writing it as much as I can, reading a lot of Shakespeare ( cursing Elisabethan English ) that even in my dreams everone speaks English

[Jools]

Hey there!

I'd love to join your english chat, too! Thank you so much for starting this thread, Bilby!
I really want to improve my communicatiuon skills in english, unfortunately I don't have the opportunity to speak very often .

I adore Britain and all that is related to it since I spent a semester abroad near Nottigham in 2000. That was lovely.

That really sounds great, I also love Britain! I'm thinking about spending a few moth there as an assistant teacher, but first I have to pass my exam.

I regulary wish to have those polite English people near me - here in Germany, people tend to be so rude in certain situations, just think of queuing!

So true! Most of my friends do not understand why I love Britain and the British attitude so much but that's a very good example! I wish the people here would be a little more polite (in the british way, I don't really get along with the american kind of politeness ).

I wish you all a pleasant evening!

[Rosenstolz]

I just wanted to say a short hello in order to find this thread
again later

[Gloriaviktoria]

That "cambridge certificate" sounds interesting, would anyone here able to tell me more about it? How difficult was it for you? Why do you need training before?

Hm, I think every test demands a certain kind of skill and every test contains a certain kind of questions and of course you are well advised to get familiar with the kind of questions wanted beforehand. So you should do some training before you sit the test. It is 12 years ago that I passed the CPE (that is the higher Cambridge Certificate) so I can't really tell you what exactly the questions were. But if I remember correctly you had to fill in vocabulary into a text, answer some questions to see if you understood what you have read and things like that.

Oh, I've never been to Scotland but I'd love to go there! Do you know the novels "Espresso tales" and "44 Scotland Street" by Alexander McCall Smith? They are set in Edinburgh.

No, I don't know them. I only know the Inspector-Rebus-books, which are set in Edinburgh, too. I am not that familiar with Edinburgh but I have been there a couple of times during my year in Scotland (I lived in Dundee, which is not very far away from Edinburgh) and of course the city centre is quite familiar to me.

Anyway, I like Glasgow better

[Lamb]

Hey there!

That really sounds great, I also love Britain! I'm thinking about spending a few moth there as an assistant teacher, but first I have to pass my exam.


So true! Most of my friends do not understand why I love Britain and the British attitude so much but that's a very good example! I wish the people here would be a little more polite (in the british way, I don't really get along with the american kind of politeness ).

Jools!!

We have quite a lot in common, don't you think

I would really recommend some months in England - I had such a good time there. And I think the university can support your plans in this respect a lot.
Is Gordon Collier still working in Giessen? He was our councellor, when I was about to go abroad.

The only thing I never could get used to were the "hot" and "cold" water taps I am a spoilt one when it comes to aspects of convenience

[Bilby]

That really sounds great, I also love Britain! I'm thinking about spending a few moth there as an assistant teacher, but first I have to pass my exam.

Go for it! It will be one of the best experiences in your life As a student, I spent a few months in London on the ERASMUS exchange program - the only thing I ever regretted about it was that I couldn't stay longer!

Have a nice day, everyone!

[Gloriaviktoria]

First I wanted to go to London or to the south of England (because everybode went there ), or to Ireland... But Scotland was the best offer and now - looking back - I think it was a very good decision to go to a region where people do not only speak "standard English". That is something you learn in school or when you watch the BBC news, but I think, that once your ear got used to the dialect it is far easier to understand other dialects, too. So if you have the chance to spend some time in the UK, do not only think of London

[Lamb]

Oh, Scotland.

I would have loved to go there for my semester abroad, too.
But there were only very few one's who got the chance to got to Sterling

Nevertheless, I certainly love to think of my time in England. I loved Leicester and Nottingham.

I have also been to Brighton for a few days. This is beautiful, too.

Apart from England, Ireland and particularly Dublin are favourites of mine, too.
Btw, I am laughing my head off reading another book written by the Irish author Marian Keyes ("Further under the Duvet"). If you want a good laugh I would certainly recommend her

Thinking of all this, I would like to pack my bags and be off

[Bilby]

So if you have the chance to spend some time in the UK, do not only think of London

That's certainly true! I went to London because it was the only exchange program my litte Fachhochschule had to offer It is a great city and I really fell in love with it but it has its disadvantages as well: it is huge, expensive and rooms are hard to find.

I know somebody who spent a year in York and was very enthusiastic about it. And then there's Oxford and Cambridge and Brighton and Canterbury and probably hundreds of other charming places ...

[Bilby]

Apart from England, Ireland and particularly Dublin are favourites of mine, too.

Ireland was the first English-speaking country I ever travelled to and I loved it so much I returned for three years in a row! The accent, the people, the landscape ...

Btw, I am laughing my head off reading another book written by the Irish author Marian Keyes ("Further under the Duvet"). If you want a good laugh I would certainly recommend her

Oh, I quite like her books, too! "Watermelon", "Sushi for Beginners" and "Last chance saloon" are my favourites!

Thinking of all this, I would like to pack my bags and be off

Finished packing? Come on, let's go!

[Gloriaviktoria]

I would have loved to go there for my semester abroad, too.
But there were only very few one's who got the chance to got to Sterling

Stirling

[Lamb]

Oops, sorry
As I said, I didn't come to get there

Bilby:

[Gloriaviktoria]

Oops, sorry
As I said, I didn't come to get there

No problem, as you can see, I knew what you meant And the pronounciation is the same anyway.