Learning English- aim to achieve better English

shefanie.

This post is for the people who are interested in leaning English with an aim to be a better English speaker/writer. The learning curve of picking up a foreign language is never meant to be short. There is no shortcut in leaning language as the accumulation process needs considerable efforts and time. If you share a same objective with me to achieve higher level English, pls read on.
Step 1 Pls prepare a small notepad in your pocket, write down the words/sentences you would like to imitate. Don’t worry if you can’t pick up the right one, post it to here and I am sure plenty of people will turn up to help you.  
Step 2 review your notes every second day, post the word/sentences you think it is worth to share, such as a slang, a special expression or just some funky phrases.  Pls use a conversation format to express these word/sentences as i think it might be helpful to learn new words from the context.  Pls try your best to write your post in English, which is good way to push yourself to write and think in English.
This post will witness the improvement of our English.  
Help yourself , Help others! Thanks in advance.
[ 本帖最后由 shefanie 于 2007-9-20 14:38 编辑 ]

bulaohu.

bring it on!

kawara.

Pour water

WTFAUS.

yeah tried those before. and still keep group chatting on skype with my colleagues everyday. oh well that really helped a lot. But the part for 'try best to write up blogs/posts in English'  didn't really work. Coz none of friends could ever be bothered to read my msn space and leave messages since I kept writing in English. Then whats the point left for having blogs?
I heard someone also suggested to speak English while at home as well with your partner/spouse, which I may never wanna try...
shall we try organising an English chatting group here?

patrickzhu.

原帖由 WTFAUS 于 2007-9-20 14:46 发表
I heard someone also suggested to speak English while at home as well with your partner/spouse, which I may never wanna try...
shall we try organising an English chatting group here?

Quite hard to speak English at home between my wife and me. But there are something changed a little bit now, if my daughter told us something happened in the school, we have to be more focused as listeners, - because of ALL ENGLISH from her :)

shefanie.

Phil (Manager): I need this report done by 5 PM.
Shefanie: I can’t believe Phil ask me to do this. Doesn’t he know it’s Friday afternoon already!
Paul (colleague): You should tell him “Get a life!”
--------  
Shefanie (Yelling at Phil)hil, Get a life!! Paul asked me to tell you this.
Paul: OMG  -_-!
In this conversation, Get a Life expresses the annoyed attitude that caused by something unexpected to happen. Pls don’t try this word in front of your Manager when your manger is assigning job to you,,,,,
However, you also can say” I need to get a life!” which means you want to have a social life. It depends on the context.
Quote from wikipedia--Get a life is an originally American idiom and catch phrase usually intended as a taunt. The phrase appeared as a generally more emphatic variant of the taunt "get a job"[1] and implies the addressee needs to go out and make their way in the world, without being supported by outside sources such as parents or benefactors. It may also be directed at someone who is perceived as boring or single-minded; suggesting they acquire some other, more practical interests or hobbies and get dates, find a job, or move to their own house.
It has been applied to so-called workaholics and others who are perceived as dedicated to their work (out of "labor of love" as opposed to money or loyalty to the company) but not taking the time to relax or enjoy life.
The phrase is used as an aggressive response to someone with different hobbies, interests or attitudes to themselves: "You don't like the same things as me? Get a life!"
Sometimes the phrase is used against people who are viewed as officious or intermeddling in someone else's affairs. It is another way of saying "Get your own life", or "Stay out of my business."

WTFAUS.

原帖由 patrickzhu 于 2007-9-20 14:51 发表
Quite hard to speak English at home between my wife and me. But there are something changed a little bit now, if my daughter told us something happened in the school, we have to be more focused a ...
oh yeah dats true. But i guess you would be soon worried about your daughter's Chinese then.
My wife sometimes tried to speak English at home and I was like ' r u trying to forget shanghainese' then shut up until she switched back. After all English is our second language. As long as it is good enough for work, there's no necessary to improve it too much.

astina.

原帖由 shefanie 于 2007-9-20 14:55 发表
Phil (Manager): I need this report done by 5 PM.
Shefanie: I can’t believe Phil ask me to do this. Doesn’t he know it’s Friday afternoon already!
Paul (colleague): You should tell him “Get a  ...
Last week, I overheard a conversation between two of my colleagues. Helen complained to Melissa that she had had a dream about work the night before. I burst out into laughter and asked Helen: don't you have a real life? I feel so sad for you that you have nothing better to dream about.
2 minutes later, when I got back to my desk, there was a new message from Helen waiting for me in the mailbox. In red colour ,bold, size 24, she wrote: SHUT UP

WTFAUS.

原帖由 shefanie 于 2007-9-20 14:55 发表
Phil (Manager): I need this report done by 5 PM.
Shefanie: I can’t believe Phil ask me to do this. Doesn’t he know it’s Friday afternoon already!
Paul (colleague): You should tell him “Get a  ...
oh god. you really started your tutorials.
hmm maybe we shall begin with those swearing words/slang? like how to use fxxx words?

WTFAUS.

原帖由 astina 于 2007-9-20 15:02 发表
2 minutes later, when I got back to my desk, there was a new message from Helen waiting for me in the mailbox. In red colour ,bold, size 24, she wrote: SHUT UP.
for guys, thats not strong enough. usually we shall say, shut the f*** up