Let's talk in English - Page n°2

One of the tips I usually give is to make short sentences. Or at least explain one idea , developed it and lead to an other. Niceman : Germans speaks very well English , finnish people too. We'll have more and more difficulties to be able to be fluent at 10 (witch is the case in those countries) because of our bad education system. We've to wait at least 10 to have oral exchanges in class than doesn't talk about colors or the days of the week. I mean , french education system think it's a great idea to introduce English language during all the primary school. Of course not ! Kids need a full English classes with film in original version and so on... If one day I've a child (one of the thing I don't want but we'll see) I'll spoke to him in English.  He will learn both languages without any effort and will be fluent when his friends only say "Hello my name is Stain" (haha :D )

Texas is a really cool place to visit :) I guess we do have weird accents, like heavy southern accents. And we kind of make up our own words, like (y'all). We are always making fun of NY accents, they talk like they have a stuffed up nose lol I think the problem with French teachers teaching English is that they want to make things very complicated. Even though technically its correct, no body really talks like that. Americans like to keep things simple. We use alot of slang words. I've haven't met too many Italians or Spaniards, but the ones I have met speak horrible English ^^

Hi there !  Mookie is right ! Finnish people have such great skills in English ! Their accent is wonderful. First, the educational system is competent here. Teachers truly know how to speak English, whereas in France it's kinda ridiculous to call that "lessons". I could understand the students that were dummed, even if I was still interested and I learned more on my side. And English is everywhere here! For instance, cinema's voices are not dubbed, there are just subtitle in Finnish. Furthermore, the University are at the cutting edge of technology! It's extremely exciting to study here. Being a year in Finland thanks to the Erasmus program; it's a dream that come true :)  (I didn't want to go to England, I hate their mood... I apologize to all Britons who are reading this^^)

Omg omg omg omg omg *-* fellow english speakers :D yay , I'm originaly from  London *-* I now live in line a really empty corner of France , nice to see that some engish speakers ( and good ones at that ) are creating a topic *-(

Hey folks , two native speakers said we're  not to bad speakers , we must keep the line and practice more and more :D Come on !

London!!!! Best town ever!!! Can't wait to go back there!   Mookie: yeah we must!!! I'm soooooo glad people like this topic!  Btw, I don't know if you guys are familiar with phonetics, I'm working on some exercices right now (for an upcoming exam) and as much as I love english, all these rules will be the death of me!!! I really think english phonetics should be taught in High School (or even before), people would have a better pronunciation!!

->Freaks I think phonetics is very confusing... but I admit that the "schwa" is very helpful to sound better lol. ->Rachou,Molly I can't believe some people leave the US or UK to live in France... Is it really a good country in your opinion? Because I think people here are very nasty (I work for mcdonald's I can assure you there are many mean people (maybe because it's Paris)), but when there are a few people from the US I find them really relaxed and cool and much more friendly.

OMG, I'm not alone!! lol :P I like France, I can't really say one country is better than the other. They are both completely different, but France is a really good country. The people are less superficial over here, unlike most Americans, which only think about the brand of their clothes, or what kind of car they drive

@Molly Superficials people still exists even in France but a lot of people here can't  stand people who are proud enough of themselves to bash  people. We are not dumb  enough to wait and being the target of some haters. I think America is a good option for an artist because of all the opportunities that involved. A lot of music labels and records studios and a awesome music industry system. But at the same time , I see America as the country of all the sins a man could have. Thousand of wounded people each years because of weapons , everything is just supersized. Mac Donalds everywhere , school shootings every months and a poor health system. I do a lot of excess here to denounce the things that stop me to go in Uncle Sam's  country.

I am too lazy to debate in english but I'm amazed to see that all the world are speaking cheerfully ! I wish my teacher saw that and she may stop saying that french people are awful at this ^^

My opinion on America, recently updated thanks to a great documentary and article ( "), is that its political system is completely rotten (ok it might be exessive). But at the same time, this country amazes me how it can produce the best and the worst things in this world. It's a fascinating country, more interesting and appealing to me than other english pseaking countries like UK or Australia for example. But again, I think that there is a real democracy problem in the USA. (nsa, patriot act, guantanamo, justice, campaign finances, foreign policies, etc. )

Interesting. But I disagree. The problem is wider than that. It's worldwide. The entire system (economical, politcal) is going to break down. The consumer society is not viable anymore. The USA are just the most visible part of the Iceberg. Why ? Because they "won" the WWII, and their system survived the Cold War ? Come on, USA has never got power, and the attacks of the 11/09/01 prove it. Four planes, and an entire Nation kneeling. And this is good for any other country. One man can defeat the entire world easily. And the UN has no power. Today the Jihad is the immediate threat, but the real threat is just Mankind itself, because the Man is selfish, proud, and think he's above all. Things have to change. But only a cataclysm can change the minds. The WWII's end united the entire world... Only for 2 years. Now, what if we dropped cleavages, money, and focused on a viable strong and brilliant future (Yeah, i'm an utopian). But what kind of event could shake our conscience so hard, that we would definitively change our way of life ?

USA has and have a lot of power, maybe less now, but its mlilitary and political moves the past century shaped most of today's geopolitical issues, from south America to Middle-east (maybe less Africa, which was more shaped by european colonialism). And the 9/11 made the Nation rise, not kneel. By telling that I'm mostly saying the arguments I read on the Article I mentioned on my previous post. I didn't got the time to take a real step back and think about what I read so I recommend you to read it (5-10 min reading, very instructive and from a serious newspaper), you surely will understand my point more precisely.

I just studying it in philosophy : The importance of the individual work on our society.  As one of you said before , it's not a matter of country but the problem is worldwide.  People just work more , produce more and hope to be rich one day. But the more you have the more you wish. And capitalism is not the better way to stop running after time and money. People are unable to take time instead of money. We need to back to basics.  Work was a state of mind. Now is only a way to be rich. The best example is how money works  First , it was a system to store the value of an item no wonder about how many time you stored it , the value was the same and it was a way to trade vitals things. But the day people starting trade money with money and only think "Buy something > be a wizard and increase the value of the item > make profit " the system was corrupted. Think about the work of a trader. Work and play with money to be dollars wizard and wear a smile everyday because you know "I'm  badass  look at my millions , don't care about starving childrens  who died every single day when I take drugs" Like Georges Abitbol  say in the American Class  (a brillant spoof of American films) "Monde de merde " before dying. Listen to World on Fire by Mass Hysteria.  A French metal song who spoke about political power , slavery and capitalism. Actually , it's  a testimony of my mind.

Mookie : I'm not sure education is the key when it's about languages, I think it's practice. Education is good to give you the basis only. I live right on the border with Flemish Belgium and I receive some channels from over there. When there's an American or a British movie or series, it's not dubbed into the local language, but it's only subtitled. So they actually watch movies in English most of time, and I think it's the main reason why they have a good accent. It might sound stupid, but how many hours a teenager, or even a child spend in front of tv ? It's quite huge, and even if it's only 30 or 40 or 50% of their programs which are in English, it's still a lot. And it's the same in many countries of northern Europe (e.g. Sweden, Norway, Denmark, the Netherlands,..).  One of my favorite series "Desperate Housewives" : Spain :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQuF6pAts9Q  Italy :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HglLowdY60g Sweden :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orIwkxqTfiU Belgium :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mS18tCI6PcY I don't think it's a coincidence that people coming from countries where shows are subtitled have a better English than the one coming from countries where it's dubbed.  But of course I also agree that English isn't taught properly in France. There's a huge lack of practice, it's obvious.   As Molly said we are taught shit pretty much, I mean they're trying to teach us the nice British English as if we had been invited to drink tea with the queen haha. I guess it's important to know how to talk properly and those kind of stuffs, but like in Australia you would probably sound silly if you say "Good morning, may I have a can of Coke please" and once you got it "Thank you, have a nice day. Bye". Aussies talk like "G"day mate, can I grab a coke please?" "Cheers mate, see ya!" And that's something that your teacher would never teach you. The difference between English we are taught and English used in everyday life in any English spoken country.  I won't talk much about philosophy or democracy as I don't know much about those things haha. But about democracy, and so politics I guess, I think what we need is a brand new system, in which politicians wouldn't be paid to be politicians. As long as they will be paid for it, as long as they will be able to handle huge amount of money, as long as there won't be a wall between politicians and money, the system will be rotten and corrupted. I'd like to add something. Seyfr said " Now, what if we dropped cleavages, money, and focused on a viable strong and brilliant future". My opinion is divided about money cause it's really powerful. I don't want to look like someone from the far-left saying "it's not good to earn money" lol of course it's good and I wish I could earn heaps, but at the same time money calls money and that's really dangerous, it can corrupt people. But at the same time we need money, I mean have you ever imagined how the world would be if everything was free ? I have, and all I've managed to see was the world sunk in chaos. Abolishing money would only let anyone have what he wants, and that's the same as destroying the world to me. No more forest, no more drinkable water, no more animals, no more food,.. that would just be our end (maybe I'm pessimistic haha). USA had and still have power. It's only that new powers are emerging, and for some others their powers and influences are weakening. It's obvious that China and India will become even more important in the future. For others (i.e. west European countries) they will remain important and powerful only if they stick together. France's future is in the improvement of the European Union I think. We can't compete anymore with giant countries and huge economies such as the US, China, or India. We just can't. If the European Union become an US-like, I mean a federation of states, we would be able to compete. In terms of GDP we would be ranked 1st, population 3rd. It's hard to say what would be our rank as a military power or cultural power. But no doubt we would be, at least, one of the most powerful state in the world.