Official thread to practise English (whine = punish)

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B

#2970 Thank you!!

1
pirobiro

2967 Haha, he is a favorite writers, but I read something written by Irvine you need to have been born in Scotland at least...

PS: Today i think that will be in house watching a rugby match

Peluxoo

How do "arroba @" and "guión" say in english?

1 respuesta
pike_97

#2973 "Arroba" would be "at" and I think "guión" is "hyphon", but i'm not sure :/

EDIT: It's actually "hyphen"

1
NosFeR_

'Dash' is also used for 'guión'.

1
17 días después
comx

Guys.. Which books would you recommend me for a B2 level? I want to improve my vocabulary and I was wondering which books to buy for this summer. :D

3 respuestas
thunder_89

#2976 You could try with autobiographys of non-native speakers, young adult books or technical books. I would recommend this ones:

-The Hunger Games
-Running for my life
-Fear and Loathing in La Liga (if you like fotball, ofc)

I hope this helps ^^

B

I am reading this http://colegio-rousseau.edu.mx/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/Charlottes_Web.pdf

XDDDD

hamai

#2976 I started reading "The maze runner", and I think is fine for a B2.

pirobiro

What is the difference among there will be no And there won't be?

3 respuestas
Slowduck

#2980 There's no difference between them, I presume.

cabron

#2980

'there will be no' it's used when you want to impose yourself, letting everyone know that this is serious business, something in the line of 'there will be no more fights in this house!', also it's a form that you can use with other verbs, like 'i will hear no more about this!'.

2 1 respuesta
Resa

In general you do not use the short form of "not" if you want to remark the word "not" or you are in very formal enviroments (p.e. legal).

Any other time you should use the short form.

1 1 respuesta
evilucho

#2976

I want the same but with a bit less level, i try to pass B1 exam.

Kartalon

#2983 I don't think #2980 was asking about when to short the "not" in a negative sentence. I think he meant when you use an affirmative sentence but then you negate the object as the example described in #2982.

More than to impose yourself I would say it is used mainly spoken and in informal environments to emphasize what is it that you are negating.

For instance,

"She speaks no English at all."

You want to emphasize the fact that it is English what she doesn't speak.

"You are wasted already, you are drinking no more beer today."

You want to emphasize that it is beer what you are not going to be drinking.

By the way, I would advice against shortening anything when writing, at least you are writing something very informal as an email to a friend. I had the bad habit of shortening everything ("not", "have", even "would"...) and then here at uni when I had to write assignments and essays I could not avoid shortening those terms even if I knew I shouldn't.

1 respuesta
Mirtor

#2985 In the sentence: 'at least you are writing something very informal' you mean 'unless' instead of 'at least', don't you?

1 1 respuesta
Kartalon

#2986 Yes, well spotted, sometimes I get confused with the idiomatic use of "at least" which is also translated as "al menos" but is used for smaller things or to highlight something positive as in
"llego al menos dos horas pronto" or "estudio poco pero al menos aprobó", but not in "no acortes al menos que estés escribiendo algo informal".

Two years in the UK and I still copy Spanish expressions... :(

1 respuesta
H

Yo guys, does anyone here uses Babbel app for Android? Is worth it pay the premium package?

Mirtor

#2987 I think that your problem there is with the Spanish. In Spanish you don't say "no acortes al menos que estés escribiendo algo informal" but "no acortes a menos que estés escribiendo algo informal".

1 respuesta
Kartalon

#2989 So now I am unlearning Spanish rather than learning English as I pointed out before in this thread. :(

In any case, I should stop using "at least" so much to express contrast.

2
3 meses después
Aziwar

Just bumping this thread for asking if anyone has used http://www.mylanguageexchange.com/.

What is it about? You find an English native interested in learning Spanish and start a videoconference through Skype, or do they use custom software, etc.?

2 respuestas
pirobiro

#2991 I used this web once,I met a girl, we usually speak by FB, but we are thinking to meet one day because we live in the same city, but yes,you can start a videoconference using Skype or similar

PD: As you can see my english is awesome, but I hope that you can understand something

cristofolmc

#2991 I'm currently using it! It's a very handy tool as it is a very active site where you won't have any trouble whatoever finding people willing to practise the language with you as long as you also help them.

Edit: Yes, most of them use Skype, 90%. Only a little few want to meet up in the city they are living in.

21 días después
T

Hi y'all.

I tried to translate some of this shit. This niggah gets out of prison and makes the show.
I know it is not even 90% accurated, not easy to translate though.
https://youtu.be/6EkksP7Nb64

spoiler
T

Fucking hate 'y'all', use 'yous' instead, yankee.

2 meses después
fercalbla

Wow, this thread is dead. Let's revive it guys!

I used to play with a british guy in the internet and he gave me a very good website to improve my english's grammar skills, here it is: http://www.gsbe.co.uk/

If your guys have websites like this which can improve our english please type it.

Mirtor

I don't know any specific site but I can give a piece of advice: every site is good! (Every site in English, ofc)

Reading and writing in English in a forum, for example, can greatly improve your skills. However, you'd need to look for ways to practise your speaking and listening, so you can keep them up with the other skills.

1 respuesta
fercalbla

I've been very busy and I started playing less to videogames and I think that affected a little bit on my speaking skills. I used to play a lot in international servers and it helped a lot.

As advice too, watch a lot of series in english, and if you don't understand them use at least english subtitles, and then, if you don't understand a word, use WordReference or a similar site to translate it.

1 respuesta
antss

#2998 The last advice might sound cliche but it's actually true. Lately I've been watching Breaking Bad in original version with English subtitles and I've improved my listening a lot.

1 respuesta
Sylph

#2997 Yeah, to improve reading I would also recommend books. That requires more concentration, and depending on your level it can be challenging, but if you start with appropriate books (or you're very eager to read a particular book...) and keep it constant you're bound to improve.

If you can afford an eReader I'd say it's faster since they have dictionaries included (I only used the English one, never dual) so you don't rely on anything external. I've been told audiobooks are good too for listening and so, but I've never tried myself.

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