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I'd just like to thank all those here who learned the English language which is a lot of work. Thanks to your efforts we can communicate here and I really enjoy having the privilege of conversing with people from all over the world. I never would have imagined this possible when I was younger.

I'm very impressed by how well people here write in English too. I rarely have any difficulty understanding what you are saying and often forget you are not a native speaker. Sometimes though, if I am differing with someone I do start to worry that maybe I am not fully understanding them or they fully understanding me. I need to be more mindful of that but I am admittedly forgetful. Again, I think this has something to do with how well non-native speakers have learned to write in English.

It's funny how I was bright in some areas in school but always found foreign language difficult. Despite my years of study, I could not speak French or Spanish to save my soul from the fires of hell. I would simply be doomed. So I sure am glad you guys are smarter than I am and I thank you for the work you did so we can talk with each other. :D
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StingingVelvet: ...
Excuse me!? My mother is a classy lady!
It's just because we're armored pineapples. Anybody who watches even a bit of anime knows the spiky haired one is always dangeros.
Nice thread +1 :).

My first contact with native English-speaking people was via JP->EN fan translation project (I used to do editing stuff). I was very stressed at first how bad my English was and if people could understand what I wanted to express. However, others were awesome and supportive, so I got my confidence back a little bit.
I'm aware I have issues with definite and indefinite articles and I tend to edit my post later because of grammatic mistakes or typos. In spoken communication, I tend to make a slip of the tongue and mess subject-verb agreement occasionally :X.
I rarely correct myself nowadays. It breaks a flow of communication and other people don't care that much anyway.

Someone mentioned "pineapple". I used to confuse it with "ananas" in English. That's how we call it in Czech and the name always sounded foreign to me :).
Post edited February 12, 2013 by Mivas
Some of the times I'm misunderstood is because I failed to find the best way to express myself in English, but most of the time it's just brain farts and over editing.
Oh great, now I've got this weird craving for pineapples again. ;)
Post edited February 12, 2013 by Leroux
I have some weird hiccups here and there, like writing "rouge" instead of "rogue", or "witch" instead of "which". But in general I don't think I encountered any adverse lost in translation mishaps.
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Piranjade: I think the funniest language mistakes I made were when I was in Venezuela and slowly learned Spanish.
Asking for a pig (cochino) when I wanted a knife (cuchillo), asking for ham (jamón) when I needed soap (jabón) - this resulting in a really embarrassing conversation about my hygienic preferences...
I was about to say: "Surely you mean cerdo," but then I looked it up and saw that it was a word indeed!

Anyway, on a similar note, back in high school me and my friend both studied French and Spanish at a relatively high level. For him, French was the dominant third language so he'd use it to help out his Spanish, whereas for me it was the other way around. Anyway, we had to do one of these tests where you're supposed to interpret for two people, one of whom only speaks English and the other one only speaks Spanish. Anyway, it was a farm scenario where he was enumerating the animals on the farm and was supposed to conclude with "and two pigs." So he said "y dos cojones." Ah, the joys of being a teenager.

Anyway, for those of you who don't get it:
cochon = pig in French
cerdo = pig in Spanish
cojones = balls in Spanish
http://www.urbandictionary.com/

Laugh and cry at our slang.

1. badass
Ultra-cool motherfucker.
Post edited February 12, 2013 by Fuzzyfireball
'Ananás' might also mean pineapple in spanish, but here it's most commonly known as 'piña'. When I read P1na's name, I thought he might be from a spanish speaking country, but he's from ireland.

I figure the word has something to do with pine and hence the name of the fruit.
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El_Caz: When I read P1na's name, I thought he might be from a spanish speaking country, but he's from ireland.
P1na is Basque. ;)
UrbanDic is the manna from heaven and double-edged sword at same time. Great slang source but also full of very twisted descriptions :D.
One time I used "who" when I should have used "whom."

Oh, I could have died of embarrassment.
Post edited February 12, 2013 by Dominic998
So just skimming through the news today and see this:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-21423499

"Coroner David Crerar said her Coca-Cola consumption had given rise to cardiac arrhythmia, a condition when the heart beats too fast or too slow."

What the hell? On the BBC?
Post edited February 12, 2013 by FraterPerdurabo
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Fuzzyfireball: 1. badass
Ultra-cool motherfucker.
Do you mean "Disobedient Donkey"? http://wiki.lspace.org/mediawiki/index.php/Bad_Ass