Slang, idioms and colloquialisms, they're all just kind of in a vacuum for foreigners. Even if we understand the meaning perfectly, knowing what feeling or image it evokes and when is proper to use it is a pretty nebulous thing to understand! For instance, the phrase, "fucked up." This is not something we'd usually use right off the bat with our boss or the grocery clerk. Or the phrase, "hotter than hell." For me, it makes me think of an older person from the South.
I got a new conversation partner recently, and he wrote in a message, "You ain't in Chicago now??" This is definitely English that gets said in America, but it's strongly associated with southerners and speakers of the "urban" dialect. It's pretty hard to list all these intricacies in each definition of slang!
Honestly, when I teach my conversation partners slang, especially something that might be a little stronger like "fucked up" or "tickets to the gun show" (LOL, yes, I've taught this), I try to get them to wait and hear how it's used instead of just barging into their next conversation and going, "That's FUCKED UP," to their little old lady neighbor or somebody.
What strategies do you have for learning and using slang, etc. in another language? Do you wait to hear it and get a feeling, or do you just find it online and immediately start trying it out? Let me know in the comments!
Chicago's new bagel spot, The Bagelers! シカゴの新しいベーグル所のザ・ベーガラーズ
My friend and I checked out this new spot on Lincoln in Lincoln Park. They have an interesting selection of bagels--I had never seen a sea salt bagel before. I found the menu a little hard to read--I thought they had smoked salmon, but it's actually a smoked salmon cream cheese. Also, I found out later that gardinara is actually supposed to be a spicy vegetable condiment, and the "gardinara" cream cheese was not spicy at all, which is a little confusing. They also do not yet have lettuce or tomato, which also seems like a must for a bagel joint. However, they must be doing something right because all the tables were full while we were there, and a ton of people drifted in an out in the 30 minutes or so that we were there. Worth checking out!
Lang-8: Have Your Writing Corrected By a Native Speaker... for free??
For those of you who follow me on Twitter, you probably already know about this website, or at least have seen links I've posted to there. For the rest of you, read on!
Lang-8.com is the writing equivalent of finding a conversation partner. It is a wonderful website where you write in the language(s) you're learning, and then native speakers will correct it for you. Of course, you are expected to do the same. Here's how it works:
Once you join, you're encouraged to write a self-introduction in the language you're learning. Users see your essay when they search for pieces to correct, and they carefully edit, delete, and add to your sentences! You can then thank these lovely people for taking the time to help you, and even send them a friend request and a private message.
After this, you're totally welcome to keep writing essays, journal entries, opinion pieces, start conversations, or just write a few sentences. OR you could go correct other users' entries. I have very strong tendencies toward teaching, so this is usually easier for me than writing. I generally try to correct entries only from Japanese people because it helps me to connect to others, and it's also helpful to see what mistakes they make over and over. Believe it or not, it will help you to understand how your target language works.
Lang-8 gives you points for each entry you correct. I know you get more points if a person's piece has yet to be corrected, but otherwise, I'm not sure how they figure it. I think the site also looks at how good of an explanation you gave for you corrections. It's fun to see your ranking go up with the more entries you correct.
I will also say that the users are very active and corrections come quickly. I was working on a large project for work at one time, and it probably took 20 minutes for me to get a response on a pretty long document. Nice!
This site is FREE and completely invaluable. Written language is often completely different from spoken, so it's important to pay attention to and practice. Check out the site and check out my entries!
Lang-8.com is the writing equivalent of finding a conversation partner. It is a wonderful website where you write in the language(s) you're learning, and then native speakers will correct it for you. Of course, you are expected to do the same. Here's how it works:
Once you join, you're encouraged to write a self-introduction in the language you're learning. Users see your essay when they search for pieces to correct, and they carefully edit, delete, and add to your sentences! You can then thank these lovely people for taking the time to help you, and even send them a friend request and a private message.
After this, you're totally welcome to keep writing essays, journal entries, opinion pieces, start conversations, or just write a few sentences. OR you could go correct other users' entries. I have very strong tendencies toward teaching, so this is usually easier for me than writing. I generally try to correct entries only from Japanese people because it helps me to connect to others, and it's also helpful to see what mistakes they make over and over. Believe it or not, it will help you to understand how your target language works.
Lang-8 gives you points for each entry you correct. I know you get more points if a person's piece has yet to be corrected, but otherwise, I'm not sure how they figure it. I think the site also looks at how good of an explanation you gave for you corrections. It's fun to see your ranking go up with the more entries you correct.
I will also say that the users are very active and corrections come quickly. I was working on a large project for work at one time, and it probably took 20 minutes for me to get a response on a pretty long document. Nice!
This site is FREE and completely invaluable. Written language is often completely different from spoken, so it's important to pay attention to and practice. Check out the site and check out my entries!
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