The Small Rants Thread, Continued...

[Tshern]

I speak English.  The people I talk to also speak English.  Why the hell is it, then, that what they're saying doesn't make sense?

To be fair, I am not a native speaker and I know my written and spoken output leave a great deal to be desired, but I always feel the slightest touch of desperation when I read a native speaker's text and have no clue what he is trying to say.

Dude, if this level of written output "leaves a great deal to be desired" for you, I'd hate to see what "perfect in every way" is.

High standards, I suppose. My Finnish is extremely elaborate and eloquent, so I don't like lagging behind in English.

I know the feeling. I am aware of the fact that my written English is inferior to my spoken (I'm not satisfied with that one either). Yet rather recently I was told by an Australian girl that she would've believed me if I told her I was from the UK.

Probably partially because heaps of people here don't actually speak English. The Aberdonian accent is one of the worst offenders.

[Monotremeancer]

I speak English.  The people I talk to also speak English.  Why the hell is it, then, that what they're saying doesn't make sense?

To be fair, I am not a native speaker and I know my written and spoken output leave a great deal to be desired, but I always feel the slightest touch of desperation when I read a native speaker's text and have no clue what he is trying to say.

Dude, if this level of written output "leaves a great deal to be desired" for you, I'd hate to see what "perfect in every way" is.

High standards, I suppose. My Finnish is extremely elaborate and eloquent, so I don't like lagging behind in English.

I know the feeling. I am aware of the fact that my written English is inferior to my spoken (I'm not satisfied with that one either). Yet rather recently I was told by an Australian girl that she would've believed me if I told her I was from the UK.

Probably partially because heaps of people here don't actually speak English. The Aberdonian accent is one of the worst offenders.

True that. The worst I have to deal with are a bunch of guys from Bangladesh with a pronunciation that makes my inner perfectionist want to commit suicide

[Tshern]

Then again, go to Malmö and try to understand their Swedish...

[Monotremeancer]

Then again, go to Malmö and try to understand their Swedish...

Been there, done that. I went there to visit a friend a few years back and every 20 minutes I had translate it for another friend who went there as well.

[Tshern]

Then again, go to Malmö and try to understand their Swedish...

Been there, done that. I went there to visit a friend a few years back and every 20 minutes I had translate it for another friend who went there as well.

Imagine yourself in my shoes. Sure, I do speak Swedish, but I use it like once every two years, so it takes a few hours to get the engine started. If I try to start that engine in Southern Sweden... Oh shit.

[bhu]

I, on the other hand, express myself considerably better in English than I do in my native tongue. I NEVER stutter in English, but I do in Portuguese. Crazy shit, I know.

One would think my English would be better than this as well. All education (apart from Finnish lectures) in high school were in English and now I live in Scotland. Curiously, I am still the guy who gets asked to read through all the essays of other Finns. I probably spend more time doing that than writing my own papers. Thank god they pay me in the most valuable of currencies, alcohol.

Your English is better than many natives.  Personally I'm embarrassed by the nerve damage making my hands go numb.  If I don't stare at the keys as I'm typing I miss or screw up the letters.

[Tshern]

I, on the other hand, express myself considerably better in English than I do in my native tongue. I NEVER stutter in English, but I do in Portuguese. Crazy shit, I know.

One would think my English would be better than this as well. All education (apart from Finnish lectures) in high school were in English and now I live in Scotland. Curiously, I am still the guy who gets asked to read through all the essays of other Finns. I probably spend more time doing that than writing my own papers. Thank god they pay me in the most valuable of currencies, alcohol.

Your English is better than many natives.  Personally I'm embarrassed by the nerve damage making my hands go numb.  If I don't stare at the keys as I'm typing I miss of screw up the letters.

Well, I was comparing my expectations with a bunch of wrong standards. I don't really care about being on the same level with the native speakers, I just want to write good English, which is a quality that escapes many native speakers as well. The same goes for all languages though.

[Amechra]

I, on the other hand, express myself considerably better in English than I do in my native tongue. I NEVER stutter in English, but I do in Portuguese. Crazy shit, I know.

One would think my English would be better than this as well. All education (apart from Finnish lectures) in high school were in English and now I live in Scotland. Curiously, I am still the guy who gets asked to read through all the essays of other Finns. I probably spend more time doing that than writing my own papers. Thank god they pay me in the most valuable of currencies, alcohol.

Your English is better than many natives.  Personally I'm embarrassed by the nerve damage making my hands go numb.  If I don't stare at the keys as I'm typing I miss or screw up the letters.

May I suggest finding some free voice recognition software, just to try it out? Most programs are rather shitty, but you can essentially type a post by just dictating to the computer, which is seriously cool.

[InnaBinder]

I, on the other hand, express myself considerably better in English than I do in my native tongue. I NEVER stutter in English, but I do in Portuguese. Crazy shit, I know.

One would think my English would be better than this as well. All education (apart from Finnish lectures) in high school were in English and now I live in Scotland. Curiously, I am still the guy who gets asked to read through all the essays of other Finns. I probably spend more time doing that than writing my own papers. Thank god they pay me in the most valuable of currencies, alcohol.

Your English is better than many natives.  Personally I'm embarrassed by the nerve damage making my hands go numb.  If I don't stare at the keys as I'm typing I miss of screw up the letters.

Well, I was comparing my expectations with a bunch of wrong standards. I don't really care about being on the same level with the native speakers, I just want to write good English, which is a quality that escapes many native speakers as well. The same goes for all languages though.

Indeed, I find large swaths of the population do speak English good.   

[bhu]

I, on the other hand, express myself considerably better in English than I do in my native tongue. I NEVER stutter in English, but I do in Portuguese. Crazy shit, I know.

One would think my English would be better than this as well. All education (apart from Finnish lectures) in high school were in English and now I live in Scotland. Curiously, I am still the guy who gets asked to read through all the essays of other Finns. I probably spend more time doing that than writing my own papers. Thank god they pay me in the most valuable of currencies, alcohol.

Your English is better than many natives.  Personally I'm embarrassed by the nerve damage making my hands go numb.  If I don't stare at the keys as I'm typing I miss or screw up the letters.

May I suggest finding some free voice recognition software, just to try it out? Most programs are rather shitty, but you can essentially type a post by just dictating to the computer, which is seriously cool.

If I can get my life back under control before it disintegrates I'll give it a shot.  Otherwise I may be in homeless shelter.

[Amechra]

I, on the other hand, express myself considerably better in English than I do in my native tongue. I NEVER stutter in English, but I do in Portuguese. Crazy shit, I know.

One would think my English would be better than this as well. All education (apart from Finnish lectures) in high school were in English and now I live in Scotland. Curiously, I am still the guy who gets asked to read through all the essays of other Finns. I probably spend more time doing that than writing my own papers. Thank god they pay me in the most valuable of currencies, alcohol.

Your English is better than many natives.  Personally I'm embarrassed by the nerve damage making my hands go numb.  If I don't stare at the keys as I'm typing I miss or screw up the letters.

May I suggest finding some free voice recognition software, just to try it out? Most programs are rather shitty, but you can essentially type a post by just dictating to the computer, which is seriously cool.

If I can get my life back under control before it disintegrates I'll give it a shot.  Otherwise I may be in homeless shelter.

I wish you luck in any endeavor you attempt to bring your life back in line.

[ariasderros]

I, on the other hand, express myself considerably better in English than I do in my native tongue. I NEVER stutter in English, but I do in Portuguese. Crazy shit, I know.

One would think my English would be better than this as well. All education (apart from Finnish lectures) in high school were in English and now I live in Scotland. Curiously, I am still the guy who gets asked to read through all the essays of other Finns. I probably spend more time doing that than writing my own papers. Thank god they pay me in the most valuable of currencies, alcohol.

Your English is better than many natives.  Personally I'm embarrassed by the nerve damage making my hands go numb.  If I don't stare at the keys as I'm typing I miss of screw up the letters.

Well, I was comparing my expectations with a bunch of wrong standards. I don't really care about being on the same level with the native speakers, I just want to write good English, which is a quality that escapes many native speakers as well. The same goes for all languages though.

Indeed, I find large swaths of the population do speak English good.   

He meant "write good English" as "write proper English", not "write English well", as I understood it.
TBW Tshern, you do an awesome job, don't worry about it. I don't know if your talking is the same as your typing, but if it's anywhere close, its quality is more than enough to meet any standard.

[InnaBinder]

I, on the other hand, express myself considerably better in English than I do in my native tongue. I NEVER stutter in English, but I do in Portuguese. Crazy shit, I know.

One would think my English would be better than this as well. All education (apart from Finnish lectures) in high school were in English and now I live in Scotland. Curiously, I am still the guy who gets asked to read through all the essays of other Finns. I probably spend more time doing that than writing my own papers. Thank god they pay me in the most valuable of currencies, alcohol.

Your English is better than many natives.  Personally I'm embarrassed by the nerve damage making my hands go numb.  If I don't stare at the keys as I'm typing I miss of screw up the letters.

Well, I was comparing my expectations with a bunch of wrong standards. I don't really care about being on the same level with the native speakers, I just want to write good English, which is a quality that escapes many native speakers as well. The same goes for all languages though.

Indeed, I find large swaths of the population do speak English good.   

He meant "write good English" as "write proper English", not "write English well", as I understood it.
TBW Tshern, you do an awesome job, don't worry about it. I don't know if your talking is the same as your typing, but if it's anywhere close, its quality is more than enough to meet any standard.

"Write English well" and "write proper English" are interconnected, to my mind.  My comment was nothing more than a jab at the large number of folks I see IRL who lack the skill to do either.  This often includes the ability to speak it especially well - for example, not knowing when "good" should be replaced by "well".  I never said Tshern used "good" incorrectly in his statement, because I'd have been lying if I had.

[ariasderros]

@ InnaBinder
The word order does make a difference.
However, you were the designated OP of the language argument, and I was one of the most prolific contributors, so....
* A la The Vultures From The Jungle Book*
"Oh, no........... let's not start THAT again!" 

[InnaBinder]

@ InnaBinder
The word order does make a difference.
However, you were the designated OP of the language argument, and I was one of the most prolific contributors, so....
* A la The Vultures From The Jungle Book*
"Oh, no........... let's not start THAT again!" 

Word order makes a difference in English, because it can change the part of speech: In the above example, it changes from needing an adjective (good) to needing an adverb (well).

[EjoThims]

"Oh, no........... let's not start THAT again!" 

+1

Unless, of course, it were to be picked up in the other thread so the rest of us could jump in without risk of another derail... 

[Tshern]

Major, major computer failure is here. The entire HD seems to be fucked and for whatever reason now my external HD I use for back-ups is corrupted as well and I can see or access any of the files. So both the HD and external show that the space I have used is taken, but claim there are no files. Still, my laptop opens Windows normally and even starts the programs it usually does when switched on, but nothing else can be accessed.

FUCK!

[altpersona]

ulness you have major (audible) mechanical hard drive problems, linux should fix it.

unetbootin on a thumbdrive can get you up and running, then TestDisk.

has save me several times.

[dman11235]

Thanks to a vanishing deadline (deadline not posted anywhere, not spoken of, hinted at being this coming Thursday, but was actually last Saturday), I may have failed an Easy A class.  Three required assignments, otherwise just get a tohusand points.  Two of them: done.  Third, due three days ago.  Not done.  My fault?  Mostly, but still.  This assignment was supposed to be the last assignment we do, forgive me for thinking it was supposed to be due in the last two/three weeks.

[zugschef]

Can people please fuckin' stop to mix up "pirating" with "making an illegal copy"?!

Or do they really think that making digital copies involves physical violence, life-threatening, taking hostages, etc.?