What Do You Think Of My English Language?

[web_designer 7]

hi, i came up again with this question:what do you think of my English language. is it good? is it bad? or let us classified it as beginner - intermediate - advancedas i said before, English is not my mother language but i use it a lot. now i have to pass the TOEFL exam which is the English test for foreigners. i want a clear critique about what do you think about my posts for example. may be it is hard to decide for people who didn't read my posts before, but i hope you can check them and give your opinion.also, i hope you can suggest me some good books, poems or stories that i can read to improve my language. but please stay away from shakespeare. i tried to read some of his books. but it was so hard. i was already read "merchant of venice" a few years ago, but i found the rest of his books very hard. thank you in advance.

[anwiii 17]

your english is fine from what i have read. it can always improve. but that is just your writing. if you don't struggle to write, and your speaking compares to your writing where you can speak the way you do without looking words up in a dictionary or stuttering, then i say it's pretty good. sure, there are others that speak it better, but then i have known people born and raised here who write it worse than you do.so from a scale to 1-10, i give ya a 7 only because it's a foreign language to you. if you were born here, i would give you a 5 1/2 or 6. don't know why other opinions are so important to you. i can understand pretty much everything you write. speaking it though is a whole other ball game as speaking is more free flowing and accents can get in the way of understanding. but then, i like a good accent as long as i can understand a person....

[web_designer 7]

your english is fine from what i have read. it can always improve. but that is just your writing. if you don't struggle to write, and your speaking compares to your writing where you can speak the way you do without looking words up in a dictionary or stuttering, then i say it's pretty good. sure, there are others that speak it better, but then i have known people born and raised here who write it worse than you do.
so from a scale to 1-10, i give ya a 7 only because it's a foreign language to you. if you were born here, i would give you a 5 1/2 or 6. don't know why other opinions are so important to you. i can understand pretty much everything you write. speaking it though is a whole other ball game as speaking is more free flowing and accents can get in the way of understanding. but then, i like a good accent as long as i can understand a person....

thank you for your honest opinion. about me, i never used a dictionary to write, or stutter when i speak. but to be more specific from time to time, i couldn't know the meaning of a word or two. also, i watch tv series like "desperate house wife" without a translation. i completely understand the whole conversation, may be miss a word of two that's all.

the most important thing, i can pass the toefl with a high scores. wish me good luck.

[kleong 0]

Your English is understandable with some grammar mistake here and there. If say you are in a conversation, I would say people will have no problem, understanding it.

[DodgyPhil 1]

i was already read "merchant of venice" a few years ago

I have already read.

 

Honestly, apart from that grammar mistake.. There were very few mistakes! It's good to concentrate on writing, but as a person learning German I can say it flows more easily when I speak it, because I don't have to think about spelling.

I only wish I could speak a foreign language as well as you can speak English..

 

Meine Deutsche ist nicht so gut, weil meine Lehrerin zu streng ist! Ab und zu denke ich, dass man sollte nicht eine fremdeSprache lernen, weil es zu schwierig ist!

 

If any Germans could see that (my own destruction of their beautiful language) it'd probably pain them.. But honestly, your English is good, and it seems like you have a large vocabulary at your disposal!

[webishqiptar 0]

Well, I am a foreigner to English too, and your English is pretty awesome, stating that English is not your primary language. Though keep up the good work. I think that being an English speaker will help anyone a lot in his/her career. Good. I would rate it 8 as what I read on this article.

[web_designer 7]

thank you a lot for your cooperation, you make me more confidant. i really need that, because the last few days, when i was reading examples of toefl test exam, i felt a little disappointed because i found that i can understand and pass the listening section and the writing section but i found the reading section is kind of complicated. so, i am now keep on reading in many subjects. hoping i can improve my knowledge. wish me good luck.

[Nik 0]

Your english is good. According to me you are at the intermediate level. You need to improve your vocabulary. Your grammer is perfect. As you said you are appearing for TOEFL so your vocabulary should be good. You must write in English, because writing can be a great way of properly learning the kind of vocabulary you need to describe your own life and interests, and of thinking about how to stop making grammar mistakes.

[deadmad7 4]

Before I post and give my opinion on your english, could you tell me how old you were when you started learning english? It's much MORE difficult to learn it when your say over 25 then you could if you take it as a second language when you are just 10-15 years old.

[web_designer 7]

Before I post and give my opinion on your English, could you tell me how old you were when you started learning English? It's much MORE difficult to learn it when your say over 25 then you could if you take it as a second language when you are just 10-15 years old.

well my first words in English began when i was six, but i started it officially in school when i was 10 years old and continue till college. of course i was developing my language with reading English books and magazines and listening to English songs. in fact i know i don't have a problem in speaking English with others, because in my job i was speaking English most of the time when it was necessary and in my daytime too.

but i don't know if you heard about the TOFEL test exam, it is so hard exam for those who speak English as a second language. it contains four parts, reading, writing, listening and speaking. i made the virtual test and i got the highest scores in listening and speaking even speaking needed more work and concentrate from me. because they ask questions like "Who would you like to go on a trip abroad with? Describe this person and say why he/she would be a good travel companion for you"
and you should answer that question in ONE minute. 30 seconds to think of the answer and 30 seconds to talk. so i found that hard to be done because i am sometime out of ideas. it contains minimum about 10 questions and all of them the same 1 minutes to answer and think.

all the other parts are timed too. the writing part is kinda good, the free writing exam is fine but there is another part that i found it a little hard, they give you a paragraph about 10-20 lines and you should read it and took notes because it will disappear from the screen in 3 minutes and answer questions about that paragraph.

the reading is the worst part, they give you about 4 passages each one about 50-70 lines they are articles most of the times and we have only 20 minutes to read it and answer the questions which are mostly from 15-20 question. the hard part for me is that these articles could be talking about anything astronomy, biology, human resources, policy, anthropology, literature...ect. and there are many words that i never heard about them before especially in biology, since my major was in math and computer science so i am so far away from other sciences terms. add to all that they give scores for punctuations, like using semi colons and dots in the right place and using a capital letter for the first word of each new line ...ect.

therefor i have doubts about my English, because i know i should learn a lot of new vocabulary to pass this exam with high grade or it will be worthless if i pass it in low grade.

[deadmad7 4]

well my first words in English began when i was six, but i started it officially in school when i was 10 years old and continue till college. of course i was developing my language with reading English books and magazines and listening to English songs. in fact i know i don't have a problem in speaking English with others, because in my job i was speaking English most of the time when it was necessary and in my daytime too.
but i don't know if you heard about the TOFEL test exam, it is so hard exam for those who speak English as a second language. it contains four parts, reading, writing, listening and speaking. i made the virtual test and i got the highest scores in listening and speaking even speaking needed more work and concentrate from me. because they ask questions like "Who would you like to go on a trip abroad with? Describe this person and say why he/she would be a good travel companion for you"
and you should answer that question in ONE minute. 30 seconds to think of the answer and 30 seconds to talk. so i found that hard to be done because i am sometime out of ideas. it contains minimum about 10 questions and all of them the same 1 minutes to answer and think.

all the other parts are timed too. the writing part is kinda good, the free writing exam is fine but there is another part that i found it a little hard, they give you a paragraph about 10-20 lines and you should read it and took notes because it will disappear from the screen in 3 minutes and answer questions about that paragraph.

the reading is the worst part, they give you about 4 passages each one about 50-70 lines they are articles most of the times and we have only 20 minutes to read it and answer the questions which are mostly from 15-20 question. the hard part for me is that these articles could be talking about anything astronomy, biology, human resources, policy, anthropology, literature...ect. and there are many words that i never heard about them before especially in biology, since my major was in math and computer science so i am so far away from other sciences terms. add to all that they give scores for punctuations, like using semi colons and dots in the right place and using a capital letter for the first word of each new line ...ect.

therefor i have doubts about my English, because i know i should learn a lot of new vocabulary to pass this exam with high grade or it will be worthless if i pass it in low grade.

Well, to start off.. i will say that your English is terrific Coming from a different country where you have talk to your people in different languages in the streets and probably in your house, it isn't easy as other people have it because they can interact with english where ever they go. Besides, when YOU were born -- i bet WAY LESS people in Turkey spoke English and it wasn't as widely used as it is today. Most of the World's countries are just starting to have a high growth in English literacy in their countries.

I don't know how you "speak" english, well, probably because i have never heard you talk haha But from how you talk and chat in the Chatroom and in the forums and how you blog on your website, i see that you would be at the "higher" level in the intermediate stage. The only mistakes that i rarely see from you are the little tiny misspelled words here and there and those occasional grammar mistakes where a verb has a "-ing" when its not supposed to or when a word that is supposed to come after a noun or something comes BEFORE... or vice-versa. Other that that, i don't see that much... though now i think i'll start looking :ph43r:

I don't know what a TOFEL exam (if you asked me what it is, i would have said that it stands for a internet abrev. for something like "Tall Offices Falling Everywhere Laughing ) is but from what you tell me, it sounds similar to the state exams that we take in schools. They give you some reading material thing about ANY topic and then they ask you some questions from it and ALL the answers look like the correct one. And another is when they give something like "you are [this guy] and that you have [this job] and then they give you [some situation] and then ask you to write some kind of essay on it. They have these tests EVERYWHERE and EVERYONE seems to to struggle with this one, so you are not alone LOL

If i were you, i would start getting some *new* novels that have just been published in the past decade or so and read them.. ALOUD everyday for 30 minutes at least... and it would be better if you could read it your baby at bed time or something like that. You and your baby can learn at the SAME time hahaha . Just wait till the baby reads for you You could also watch some TV Shows like "friends" , "glee" , "house" and stuff like that where there is LOTS of conversations and you could listen to them. And another thing that could HELP ALOT is getting some hip-hop music and listening to them, its fun and it helps too. I'm sure if you just try, you could become a "advanced" english person in no time

[web_designer 7]

thank you deadmad for encouraging me. i feel more confident now .

Besides, when YOU were born -- i bet WAY LESS people in Turkey spoke English and it wasn't as widely used as it is today. Most of the World's countries are just starting to have a high growth in English literacy in their countries.

well, either it is turkey or not. but let's say, in general, in middle east, there were less people talking English in about 100 years ago or more. not a 50 years ago or even 70 years ago. for example the average here of old people like my parents who are in 6oth age or more, are talking English. if not perfectly but the way enough to understand and react with others. they studied English since they were in 10 in primary school, not mention that all their study in colleges are in English too. and my father is a huge fan of tom jhons, diana ross and demis roussos. so the time you are talking about was about 100 yeas ago or more, because i remember clearly that even my grand father know some words in English.

I don't know what a TOFEL exam (if you asked me what it is, i would have said that it stands for a internet abrev. for something like "Tall Offices Falling Everywhere Laughing ) is but from what you tell me, it sounds similar to the state exams that we take in schools. They give you some reading material thing about ANY topic and then they ask you some questions from it and ALL the answers look like the correct one. And another is when they give something like "you are [this guy] and that you have [this job] and then they give you [some situation] and then ask you to write some kind of essay on it. They have these tests EVERYWHERE and EVERYONE seems to to struggle with this one, so you are not alone LOL

hmm interesting so i am not the only one who suffer to get a high score. it is relieving to know that .

If i were you, i would start getting some *new* novels that have just been published in the past decade or so and read them.. ALOUD everyday for 30 minutes at least... and it would be better if you could read it your baby at bed time or something like that. You and your baby can learn at the SAME time hahaha . Just wait till the baby reads for you You could also watch some TV Shows like "friends" , "glee" , "house" and stuff like that where there is LOTS of conversations and you could listen to them. And another thing that could HELP A LOT is getting some hip-hop music and listening to them, its fun and it helps too. I'm sure if you just try, you could become a "advanced" English person in no time

thanks for the suggestions, i do that already. even it is kind of hard to find many books in English here, because now i am living in a small city, not very small but smaller than Istanbul. so there are a few book shops that sell English books. but i order what i want through the net. and my usual way is to watch tv series without translation. there is a channel shows all tv series without translation, so i always watch what i want there even i may not understand a word here or there bit i always understand the overall subject.

hip-hop music deadmad!!!!
and you put funny notes about me when i post "don't stop the music" by rihanna!!
and by the way, i only listen to English songs, well mostly English songs. and sometimes to French, Turkish or Arabic songs.

thanks for your words and your suggestions, i appreciate them all.

[The Simpleton 2]

You created this thread in March and I'm sure you've come a long way since then in learning English. Have you appeared for the TOEFL yet? If so, how did it go? If not, when is it? I think you write English well enough, and unless you are aiming to be a professional writer, there isn't anything too wrong with your language Sure, it could do with some cleaning up in a few places but you're doing just fine and from what I've heard, TOEFL isn't really too tough to crack. So I'm sure you can handle it! English is a foreign language for me as well and I know how important it is to keep up with the rest of the world. But as long as you're using the language regularly, I don't think you'll face any problems at all.

[web_designer 7]

You created this thread in March and I'm sure you've come a long way since then in learning English. Have you appeared for the TOEFL yet? If so, how did it go? If not, when is it? I think you write English well enough, and unless you are aiming to be a professional writer, there isn't anything too wrong with your language Sure, it could do with some cleaning up in a few places but you're doing just fine and from what I've heard, TOEFL isn't really too tough to crack. So I'm sure you can handle it! English is a foreign language for me as well and I know how important it is to keep up with the rest of the world. But as long as you're using the language regularly, I don't think you'll face any problems at all.

well simpleton, not yet. i finished studying for the exam. i have two books, and they helped me a lot. i finished them three months ago, and i think i am ready for the exam but i have a reason not to take it now, so i am delaying things to the last moment . now i keep on learning new vocabularies that may help me in topics. and when i take the exam i will make sure to tell you guys. thank you all for your responses.

[The Simpleton 2]

well simpleton, not yet. i finished studying for the exam. i have two books, and they helped me a lot. i finished them three months ago, and i think i am ready for the exam but i have a reason not to take it now, so i am delaying things to the last moment . now i keep on learning new vocabularies that may help me in topics. and when i take the exam i will make sure to tell you guys. thank you all for your responses.

Is TOEFL one of those exams where you get to decide the date? That's a very convenient system Anyway, here's wishing you all the best for when you take the exam! Give it your best