Ask Mr. Language Person

DukeLeto · January 3, 2003

It has come to my attention that some people have difficulties with English. It IS quite a hard language to learn. So, I have started a thread to help you out. If you're confused on smething, or need a translation (mainly, I do French), just ask! (Note: I have a 105% average in Langauage Arts, and I live in the US.)

I'll also try to do short "lessons" every day or so.

Lesson 1: Commas and Decimal Points.

Hmm...there's obviously some confusion n which is which. I see people using 0,5 to indicate one-half and 10.000 to indicate ten thousand. So, here you go:

Decimal point (Looks like a period{.}): These are used, well, to start decimals. eg, 1.5 would read "one and one-half" or "one-point-five".

Comma (Looks like a, well, comma{,}: Used between every third digit in thousand+ numbers. Not absolutely nescessary, but it makes it easier to read. eg, 10,000 would read "ten tousand" and 1,000,000 would read "one million".

OK, that ought to clear up a little confusion.

VigilVirus · January 3, 2003

Lol, English is not a hard language to learn. I've lived in US for just several years and can speak English fluently. I have a better grade in LA than many people who were born here ;D

Vanguard3000 · January 3, 2003

Actually, although a comma is acceptable here, digit groups should be separated by spaces (i.e. 1,000,000 => 1 000 000), since a comma is sometimes used as a decimal.

Terror · January 3, 2003

strange americans :)

in the netherlands it is usual that you do it exactly the other way around. Comma for decimals. Dots for 10.000 and 1.000.000, etc.

Anathema · January 3, 2003

I find English to be the easiest language to learn, and I also can speak French and German (though my French is a little rusty :) ).

Nyarlathotep · January 3, 2003

It has come to my attention that some people have difficulties with English. It IS quite a hard language to learn. So, I have started a thread to help you out. If you're confused on smething, or need a translation (mainly, I do French), just ask! (Note: I have a 105% average in Langauage Arts, and I live in the US.)
I'll also try to do short "lessons" every day or so.
Lesson 1: Commas and Decimal Points.
Hmm...there's obviously some confusion n which is which. I see people using 0,5 to indicate one-half and 10.000 to indicate ten thousand. So, here you go:
Decimal point (Looks like a period{.}): These are used, well, to start decimals. eg, 1.5 would read "one and one-half" or "one-point-five".
Comma (Looks like a, well, comma{,}: Used between every third digit in thousand+ numbers. Not absolutely nescessary, but it makes it easier to read. eg, 10,000 would read "ten tousand" and 1,000,000 would read "one million".
OK, that ought to clear up a little confusion.

Nice initiative, thumbs up !

To those that replied that English is easy to learn, do not forget that there are people who have difficulties in learning English :)

DukeLeto · January 3, 2003

strange americans :)
in the netherlands it is usual that you do it exactly the other way around. Comma for decimals. Dots for 10.000 and 1.000.000, etc.

That may be so, but:

http://www.dune2k.com/forum/Images/Misc/English.jpg
This forum is English based so don't post in other languages.

And that would constitute another language.

Terror · January 3, 2003

hmm, well you get what i mean don't you? besides... why don't you guys learn dutch. the majority of the ppl here is dutch anyway ;) ;)

And yes, to me, english is also easy to learn. as is German. French on the other hand is some hard shit. 3 years of that hard, but beautiful language (a language for nobilities :) ) and i can't remember anything... well except je ne sais pas francais ;)

Dunenewt · January 3, 2003

French is very easy

Francais est tres facile

Acriku · January 3, 2003

Learn latin, then you can easily learn French, Italian, etc.

Terror · January 3, 2003

French is very easy
Francais est tres facile

hmm perhaps i didn't pay enought attention in class, or maybe my language differs too much from french. (Dutch, english and German are all a mix of each other)

DukeLeto · January 3, 2003

French is very easy
Francais est tres facile

Parlez-vous francais? Bon! Comment-allez vous?

Oh, and Flameweaver, is Dutch similar to German? I know some German...

Cyborg · January 3, 2003

German shares alot of words with norwegian too. (I am good enough to conversate in german)

I think that english is easy to learn if you live in norway, though we never speak the language in here, I could speak lots of english as a 7 year old.

Anathema · January 3, 2003

French is very easy
Francais est tres facile
Parlez-vous francais? Bon! Comment-allez vous?
Oh, and Flameweaver, is Dutch similar to German? I know some German...

Yes they're similar, at least compared to English and French.

Cyborg · January 3, 2003

When we're talking about small errors like decimals and commas...

An error many, many people do when they write english is their "a" and "an" in front of nouns.

You say AN apple, not a apple

You say A machine, not an machine.

Why?

It's simple to correct this.

A apple crash when you pronounce it. Do you notice that?

That's because if the noun (I.E apple) begins on a vowel(which it does), you can't just have an "a" in front of it. You must add a consonant (which always result in "an"). This add floating in your language and makes what you write better to read for the reader.

The same applies if the noun start on a consonant, you don't use "an" in front of it because "an" ends on a consonant which will crash with the noun.

List of vowels:

a,e,i,o,u

List of consonants:

b,c,d,f,g,h,j,k,l,m,n,p,q,r,s,t,v,w,x,y,z

Hehe, was this hard? ;D

Acriku · January 3, 2003

A common mistake in english is the word "it".

the "'s" in it's, means is. It's means it is. To show possession of the noun, you would write Its. It's not very hard, but its usage is wonderful.

Cyborg · January 3, 2003

Something I don't know is the difference of:

Who and whom

Can you tell me the difference?

Acriku · January 3, 2003

You use who for the subject of the sentence, and the rest (direct object, ablative, etc) you use whom.

Who is eating cereal?

The cereal is being eaten by whom?

I threw the ball at whom?

Cyborg · January 3, 2003

Ok thanks that was really enlightening ;D.

Dunenewt · January 5, 2003

French is very easy
Francais est tres facile
Parlez-vous francais? Bon! Comment-allez vous?
Oh, and Flameweaver, is Dutch similar to German? I know some German...
Yes they're similar, at least compared to English and French.

Ich komme aus UK

exatreide · January 5, 2003

i dun need none of dem englas lessions to make me talking better. i talking just peachy keen as the kobbler now!

Navaros · January 6, 2003

my Q is: what do you think should be done about the idiots (most ppl actually - just goes to show that most ppl are idiots i s'pose) who always incorrectly use "their" as an incorrect pronoun when the grammatically-correct word is "his" or "her". sometimes i am even forced to do that just so the idiots reading what i've wrote won't have their brains melt, or something

Terror · January 6, 2003

French is very easy
Francais est tres facile
Parlez-vous francais? Bon! Comment-allez vous?
Oh, and Flameweaver, is Dutch similar to German? I know some German...

yeah it's very similar, especially for me :) i live only 20 miles from the German border. And our dialect is quite german, oh and btw, Netherlands was in the past part of germany so we share many things. I'm a saxon :)

Nyarlathotep · January 6, 2003

my Q is: what do you think should be done about the idiots (most ppl actually - just goes to show that most ppl are idiots i s'pose) who always incorrectly use "their" as an incorrect pronoun when the grammatically-correct word is "his" or "her". sometimes i am even forced to do that just so the idiots reading what i've wrote won't have their brains melt, or something

Did you ever figure those people might not have English as their mother language ? I'm not calling you an idiot for not speaking Dutch am I ?

Stop calling people names if they do not master the English word.. sheess..

Terror · January 6, 2003

ok that's it. BAN BAN BAN BAN!!!! No mercy, burn the witch.

you go and learn Dutch. And if you say "de" instead of "het" i'll call you a moron, cuz if YOU can't even say THAT right, then you must truly be a moron

Sign In

Ask Mr. Language Person

Recommended Posts

DukeLeto

VigilVirus

Vanguard3000

Terror

Anathema

Nyarlathotep

DukeLeto

Terror

Dunenewt

Acriku

Terror

DukeLeto

Cyborg

Anathema

Cyborg

Acriku

Cyborg

Acriku

Cyborg

Dunenewt

exatreide

Navaros

Terror

Nyarlathotep

Terror

Join the conversation

Activity

Important Information