Is learning English difficult?

[gtlm2000]

When I was in Okinawan school. Most of students said learning English is so difficult. I thought that little, but after I went to study Enlighs in state,
I thoguht it's not so difficult.

I remember I tried to memorize a lot of English word, but I could memorize
only word that's I usually use for daily life conversation.

[abonifi1]

When I was in Okinawan school. Most of students said learning English is so difficult. I thought that little, but after I went to study Enlighs in state,
I thoguht it's not so difficult.

I remember I tried to memorize a lot of English word, but I could memorize
only word that's I usually use for daily life conversation.

GT learning any language takes use, with out using it, you don't really know it, or at the very least it will take twice as long to learn.

Although a vocabulary is necessarry, using that vocabulary is what teaches you how to speak.

[gtlm2000]

GT learning any language takes use, with out using it, you don't really know it, or at the very least it will take twice as long to learn.

Although a vocabulary is necessarry, using that vocabulary is what teaches you how to speak.

Yes, that's right. Problem is they have chance to speak English in daily life time or not. If they can keep to speak English, they will get more skill.

[abonifi1]

Yes, that's right. Problem is they have chance to speak English in daily life time or not. If they can keep to speak English, they will get more skill.

Sorry, GT,but that excuse does not work for me in Okinawa, with 40,000 military personnel, and a 5% foreign population, Okinawa should be the standard for English in Japan, but its probably one of the worst.

I don't mean offense, but its nothing more than an excuse.

[Alana]

I've been told english as a second language is incredibly hard, not because the words are hard to use but english is very complex as far as parts of speech and grammar. I think english is one of the most complex because of the different parts of speech and sentence structure, quite a few words just don't translate, as well as pluralizing words and the dozens of different ways we do it.

[dk]

Is learning Japanese difficult?

Lol, you're not going to get a good answer to your question by asking native English speakers.

[Mizzes V]

When I was in Okinawan school. Most of students said learning English is so difficult. I thought that little, but after I went to study Enlighs in state,
I thoguht it's not so difficult.

I remember I tried to memorize a lot of English word, but I could memorize
only word that's I usually use for daily life conversation.

GT, when I went to English school I was 12 years old. I used to watch TV in English and listen lot of music!

If we were in the US at a store, I was able to make myself understandable if need be..

When I met my husband, I knew how much I was lacking, so I agree with abonifi,...It takes time and practice to make it better :-|

And even now..I still ****** up !!

[P_chan]

Is learning Japanese difficult?

Lol, you're not going to get a good answer to your question by asking native English speakers.


Yeah but I wonder how many people actually speak proper english:D

[0341isa]

English is rated one of the most difficult languages for non native speakers to learn. Of course it depends on your native language. If you are coming from other Latin based languages, (Spanish, French, etc) to English it would be considerably easier.

The problem with English is the variety. First, it pulls heavily from Latin and Greek, so its like learning two systems at once. Then, the really aggravating thing for foreign speakers is the ambiguity. Basically, learning English means a whole lot of "and this is the rule for English...oh and these are all the times when that rule doesn't apply..."

Then American English is even worse, because every immigrant group that came to the US has managed to get some words worked into English as well.

Grammar and syntax are pretty damn tricky too.

Talking to a Chinese guy who spoke good English, he always said the hardest thing about English is swearing. The hardest thing to get figured out was understanding the F bomb.

[0341isa]

I cannot state this as an absolute fact, however to give you an idea, When i was at DLI, there was a saying going around that English as a Second langauge was the ONLY language the DOD recognized as a level 5 difficulty.

To put that in perspective, french and spanish were lvl 1 , Russian and Persian Farsi were only lvl 3, and Arabic, Mandarin Chinese(including reading traditional long form) and Korean were level 4.

[Muku]

Sorry, GT,but that excuse does not work for me in Okinawa, with 40,000 military personnel, and a 5% foreign population, Okinawa should be the standard for English in Japan, but its probably one of the worst.

I don't mean offense, but its nothing more than an excuse.

BUT I would mention here that it all depends upon where a person lives here in Okinawa.

Just because there are 40,000 military personal here in Okinawa does not mean that all those people are interacting with the 1,000,000 or so "other" people that are living here in Okinawa.


I know that where I live literally months can go by without seeing a single member of that 40,000 member military community even coming close to interacting with anyone in my community.

People like to think that Okinawa should be the standard for English in Japan but I would venture to say that there are more people living in Tokyo that can and do speak English better than the average Okinawan.:D

[Muku]

Yeah but I wonder how many people actually speak proper english:D

I do! But I add the caveat that I do not speak the "Queen's" English.

[SnaFu]

I'd say fu&k the queen but she's too old... Probably has cobwebs down there...

[abonifi1]

BUT I would mention here that it all depends upon where a person lives here in Okinawa.

Just because there are 40,000 military personal here in Okinawa does not mean that all those people are interacting with the 1,000,000 or so "other" people that are living here in Okinawa.


I know that where I live literally months can go by without seeing a single member of that 40,000 member military community even coming close to interacting with anyone in my community.

People like to think that Okinawa should be the standard for English in Japan but I would venture to say that there are more people living in Tokyo that can and do speak English better than the average Okinawan.:D

Yet that 1,000,000 are not that far away at any pointon this island from those 40,000 (actual distance, not time)

I see a few American friends once per week, I am in the same situation as you, and I have to go out of my way to do it.

It's just a cop out Muku, really it is.

I find it disgraceful that a guy in Hatogoya Akebane, Saitama who has never met a native English speaker, can speak near perfect English, and an Okinawan that has worked on a military base for 40 years while living in Okinawa City can't put a single English sentence together.

To each their own, but Okinawans will be the first to emphasize how small their island is,and yet still complain that everything is to far away.

[izabelai]

English is rated one of the most difficult languages for non native speakers to learn. Of course it depends on your native language. If you are coming from other Latin based languages, (Spanish, French, etc) to English it would be considerably easier.

The problem with English is the variety. First, it pulls heavily from Latin and Greek, so its like learning two systems at once. Then, the really aggravating thing for foreign speakers is the ambiguity. Basically, learning English means a whole lot of "and this is the rule for English...oh and these are all the times when that rule doesn't apply..."

Then American English is even worse, because every immigrant group that came to the US has managed to get some words worked into English as well.

Grammar and syntax are pretty damn tricky too.

Talking to a Chinese guy who spoke good English, he always said the hardest thing about English is swearing. The hardest thing to get figured out was understanding the F bomb.

Well, I have to disagree a little bit with this. As for me actually English was the easiest one to learn. I learned French, German, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Hebrew, Russian, Latin and Spanish. Each language has its own difficult parts. English grammar and Chinese are not so different. Japanese pronounciation is very easy, but the problem is different readings for the same kanji. In Chinese its kanji of course, but the tones are much more challenging. Korean grammar is very close to Japanese. Russian was easiest because it is very similar to Polish. For me German was the hardest to learn. But it always depends on the teacher. I hated English in Highschool because my teacher was not qualified to do this kind of job. Although her English was perfect she couldn't explain it at all. But my collage teacher was great.

[SnaFu]

Albonofi quote:
"I find it disgraceful that a guy in Hatogoya Akebane, Saitama who has never met a native English speaker, can speak near perfect English, and an Okinawan that has worked on a military base for 40 years while living in Okinawa City can't put a single English sentence together."

Who cares if they can speak English or not. It's their country. If they don't want to learn English and it holds them back it's their own business. What if Okinawan base workers said that American civilian base workers should be able to speak Japanese to bridge the language gap. Would that be unreasonable?

[abonifi1]

Who cares if they can speak English or not. It's their country. If they don't want to learn English and it holds them back it's their own business. What if Okinawan base workers said that American civilian base workers should be able to speak Japanese to bridge the language gap. Would that be unreasonable??

No,your in their country and you should be learning their language,its just as disgraceful when you Americans living here 30 or 40 years and they can't speak a word of Japanese,and when you look at the National testing for JPLT, Okinawa, which has the highest per capita foreign population, has the lowest # of JPLT tests taken, not just in Jpan, but in the world.

[dk]

Is learning SQL difficult?

[abonifi1]

Is learning SQL difficult?

uhmm no.
But MQL4 was a royalpain in the ass.

[dk]

Learning SQL is certainly easier than learning a whole new LARGE language.

[Muku]

Is learning SQL difficult?

Besides Tech geeks who cares?!:D

[SnaFu]

Besides Tech geeks who cares?!:D

Ohhh Muku.... Did you have to go there?

[dk]

It's a language, which is why I went there. The OP question is very subjective. Most people will say that English is an easy language. Many of those same people will probably say that learning SQL is difficult. I think learning a language is as complicated as you make it. SQL is far simpler than the English language.

[izabelai]

It's a language, which is why I went there. The OP question is very subjective. Most people will say that English is an easy language. Many of those same people will probably say that learning SQL is difficult. I think learning a language is as complicated as you make it. SQL is far simpler than the English language.

I agree with you. For me programming sounds so difficult that I assume SQL to be also difficult.

[SnaFu]

Who here has mastered the language of drunken izakaya jiberish?

[Richard Burns]

Just because something is easy for person A doesn't mean it's easy for person B.
Easy and hard are strictly subjective terms.

English is a very hard language.

I think Japanese is an easier language it's just hard for me.

[Richard Burns]

Computer language is hard as ****. Whatever Blues had for a signature before kind of stuff.

[dk]

Computer language is hard as ****. Whatever Blues had for a signature before kind of stuff.

It may LOOK hard as ****, but it never is once you've taken the time to wrap your mind around it. Kind of like English. Kind of like Japanese. But on a much smaller scale. The main difference is that it's a different way of thinking. Computer languages are all about understanding computer behavior.

[SnaFu]

It may LOOK hard as ****, but it never is once you've taken the time to wrap your mind around it. Kind of like English. Kind of like Japanese. But on a much smaller scale. The main difference is that it's a different way of thinking. Computer languages are all about understanding computer behavior.

Guess it's like that with just about anything. If you want it bad enough, have a passion for it and are willing to make the effort anyone can learn just about anything if they don't give up. Apptidude helps too...

[SPMF#1]

Yeah but I wonder how many people actually speak proper english:D

I'm with the 12 year old on this one. I've been speaking english for 34 years now and still slaughter it more often than not. Redneck is my primary lanquage...:-|

[gtlm2000]

Have you all talk with Okinawan students by English?
If you have, how was their English?

[0341isa]

Well, I have to disagree a little bit with this. As for me actually English was the easiest one to learn. I learned French, German, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Hebrew, Russian, Latin and Spanish. Each language has its own difficult parts. English grammar and Chinese are not so different. Japanese pronounciation is very easy, but the problem is different readings for the same kanji. In Chinese its kanji of course, but the tones are much more challenging. Korean grammar is very close to Japanese. Russian was easiest because it is very similar to Polish. For me German was the hardest to learn. But it always depends on the teacher. I hated English in Highschool because my teacher was not qualified to do this kind of job. Although her English was perfect she couldn't explain it at all. But my collage teacher was great.

I can see that, its different for everybody. Also, I bet it is relative depending on sya, the order? what did youlearn first.
1. they say that once you learn a second language, learning 3rd 4th etc are easier because you have tuaght your brain to process the new language info.

2. In temrs of order, if you learn say, french and spanish, they jump to english should be easy. Same for german, if you learn german before english the or vice versa the next should be easy. (apparently english and german have a lot of commonality??? who knew?)

As for Chinese, I found it to be super simple ,yet super complicated.
Grammar was mostly easy. No conjugation, no tense, and the patterns where solid rules. Once you learn one grammar pattern you could use it and not worry about ******* it up, if you really understood it.
(Also, I found the whole "ba" pattern really simple and straightforward.)

But then again, Tones were tricky for me. (I can emulate tones well, apparently but I can't distinguish. IE, I could listen to some chinese and then when I spoke it myself, my teachers would say I did the tones just right, however, if I listen to Chinese or even speak it myself and you ask me "ok, now what tone was that word youjust used" I couldn't even tell you. I guess I was playing it by ear?

Ugh and don't get me started on F*n "le". That was a byatch. We'd do like a days worht of work and forget it. it was always lke "umm almost right, but you forget use -le-" Then once you finally reminder it and toss it in there, youre still wrong. "no le there." butI thought... "no LE!"

[0341isa]

Albonofi quote:
"I find it disgraceful that a guy in Hatogoya Akebane, Saitama who has never met a native English speaker, can speak near perfect English, and an Okinawan that has worked on a military base for 40 years while living in Okinawa City can't put a single English sentence together."

Who cares if they can speak English or not. It's their country. If they don't want to learn English and it holds them back it's their own business. What if Okinawan base workers said that American civilian base workers should be able to speak Japanese to bridge the language gap. Would that be unreasonable?

NO. not if you mean an American working on a Japanese base. Not at all. I always think its retarded that you go anywhere and the person behind the counter doesn't speak the commonly used language. If you are Japanese working on base, or hispanic working in a Cali McDonalds, or American trying to work on a Japanese facility, or American trying to work in a restaraunt in chinatown.

The same rule still applies.

"If you want to work at THIS business, you need to able to speak the same language as the majority of our customers/clientele. Period."

it has nothing to do with right/wrong/their country, or any shit. Its about accomodating the customer. If the guy in COCO's on 58 doesnt speak english, ok, its a Japanese resteraun in town. If the guy works in the Foster E club though, he's going ot be serving English speakers 95% of the time right? So why the hell would I not hire someone who speaks english.

If you go to the states and try to get a job at the train station on the border with mexico, wouldn't you expect spanish to be a requirement for hiring?

[Trail]

The masculine and feminine articles always messed me up.

la/el
las/los
usted/ustedes

Bahh... it wouldn't be as difficult now if I went back to learning it. My teacher just over complicated things since she was used to teaching Spanish IV and not Spanish I and II.

[0341isa]

A good example is the Japanese Airlines. Take a flight on JAL or ANA and what do you hear, they have at least a few folks on every flight who speak English, Japanese, and Mandarin. Why? Nothing to do with "whose country it is". they just have a good idea of who their passengers will be, so like any good business, they set themselves up to accomodate the customer.

[Richard Burns]

Language is not as necessary as people make it seem.

Yes, in the situations above knowledge in a particular language will make things better but you can still communicate.

If you go to taco bell and the guys englsh is not good you can point at the picture. If you don't like tomatos point to the tomatos and say and shake your head no. Give the famous arm x for no tomato as well.

As far as a McDonalds employee in Cal not knowng englsh well depending on the lacation englsh may be th minority.

[0341isa]

The masculine and feminine articles always messed me up.

la/el
las/los
usted/ustedes

Bahh... it wouldn't be as difficult now if I went back to learning it. My teacher just over complicated things since she was used to teaching Spanish IV and not Spanish I and II.

Yeah, i always hated the idea of masculine and feminine words too. I mean, conjugation I get. No biggie. As an english speaker I am already familiar with it, but objects being masculine and feimine. WTF?

The Chair is masculine, but hte Table is feminine? What is the chair going to fu<K the table when we leave the room???

[Richard Burns]

Spanish was hard for me in school because most school teach Catillian where as the Puerto Rican Spanish is less formal so using what you learned in school at home with youre friends makes you stick out like a sore thumb lol.

[0341isa]

Funny thing about masculine and feminie, not the same bu tyou just reminded me,

Chinese has some distinct male and female qualities. I think japanese does too?

As in, there are certainly time in class when we should say something, and the teacher would look at us a bit weird. Turns out, the sentence was grammatically, correct. No errors, BUT they would tell us "men wouldn't say it like that".

Case in point, there was one student who did really really well on his final examination. Well, the majority of his teaching staff and his tutor were female.

He took the final, the faculty was kind of giggling the whole time.

They gave him a high score, but they all agreed that he "talked like a girl"

[0341isa]

Spanish was hard for me in school because most school teach Catillian where as the Puerto Rican Spanish is less formal so using what you learned in school at home with youre friends makes you stick out like a sore thumb lol.

Yeah, I knew a guy who used to always say, "Sorry dude, I speak Spanish, I can't speak Mexican".

[Trail]

Funny thing about masculine and feminie, not the same bu tyou just reminded me,

Chinese has some distinct male and female qualities. I think japanese does too?

As in, there are certainly time in class when we should say something, and the teacher would look at us a bit weird. Turns out, the sentence was grammatically, correct. No errors, BUT they would tell us "men wouldn't say it like that".

Case in point, there was one student who did really really well on his final examination. Well, the majority of his teaching staff and his tutor were female.

He took the final, the faculty was kind of giggling the whole time.

They gave him a high score, but they all agreed that he "talked like a girl"

Mehi, who works as a translator, was saying something similar about Japanese having a feminine way and a masculine way of saying things. :scratchchin: Is it like difference between Valley Girl and Surfer speak?

[Biru San]

Funny thing about masculine and feminie, not the same bu tyou just reminded me,

Chinese has some distinct male and female qualities. I think japanese does too?

As in, there are certainly time in class when we should say something, and the teacher would look at us a bit weird. Turns out, the sentence was grammatically, correct. No errors, BUT they would tell us "men wouldn't say it like that".

Case in point, there was one student who did really really well on his final examination. Well, the majority of his teaching staff and his tutor were female.

He took the final, the faculty was kind of giggling the whole time.

They gave him a high score, but they all agreed that he "talked like a girl"



It's all about those damn particles..... Biru San :old:

[dk]

Have you all talk with Okinawan students by English?
If you have, how was their English?
After teaching them for a whole year, their English was pretty darn good.

[SnaFu]

Originally Posted by SnaFu
Albonofi quote:
"I find it disgraceful that a guy in Hatogoya Akebane, Saitama who has never met a native English speaker, can speak near perfect English, and an Okinawan that has worked on a military base for 40 years while living in Okinawa City can't put a single English sentence together."

Who cares if they can speak English or not. It's their country. If they don't want to learn English and it holds them back it's their own business. What if Okinawan base workers said that American civilian base workers should be able to speak Japanese to bridge the language gap. Would that be unreasonable?

NO. not if you mean an American working on a Japanese base. Not at all. I always think its retarded that you go anywhere and the person behind the counter doesn't speak the commonly used language. If you are Japanese working on base, or hispanic working in a Cali McDonalds, or American trying to work on a Japanese facility, or American trying to work in a restaraunt in chinatown.

The same rule still applies.

"If you want to work at THIS business, you need to able to speak the same language as the majority of our customers/clientele. Period."

it has nothing to do with right/wrong/their country, or any shit. Its about accomodating the customer. If the guy in COCO's on 58 doesnt speak english, ok, its a Japanese resteraun in town. If the guy works in the Foster E club though, he's going ot be serving English speakers 95% of the time right? So why the hell would I not hire someone who speaks english.

If you go to the states and try to get a job at the train station on the border with mexico, wouldn't you expect spanish to be a requirement for hiring?

I was refering to Albonifis use of the word disgraceful. I could think of a lot of other ways of describing ones reluctance to learn English in an enviroment where it would be beneficial to them. But disgraceful?

[0341isa]

totally agreed there. There is nothing disgraceful about their desire or lack there of. The only thing I could buy off on for his point of view is maybe a comparison? Like, why is it a guy with little or no access to english language resources can master the language, but people who live and work around english speakers constantly can't seem to attain moderate fluency?

Either way, I agree, it should not be a requirement by any means.

For those that do choose to learn it, you'd think they would be able to do it successfully in this enviroment.

[0341isa]

It's all about those damn particles..... Biru San :old:

haha. Yeah it is. There were a few other things too.


That and that they taught us, basically women can be kind of chatty, but men are supposed to be somewhat direct and concise with their words.

To answer trail's post, I guess the surfer vs valley girl would be a part of it.

THe only thing I remember specifically, was this thing called reduplicating adjectvies.


So, for example if "piaoliang" = beautiful

a man might say "Ta hen piaoliang" simply "She is very beautiful."

Another way to say it, with that duplication is to break up and repeat the word for beatiful,

like "piao-piao liang-liang de nu xing"

which would be like saying "pretty pretty girl" but it comes off really girly and I guy couldn't really get away with saying it that way.


(Disclaimer. The "piao-piao" in the above example is NOT related to "piaopiao" girl, AKA pewpew girl. The fact that pewpew girl IS in fact, "zhen piaoliang" is total coincidence:D)

[SnaFu]

Japanese women phone conversations.

Moshi moshi...
uh... uh... uh... eeeeiiiiiiiiii?
Sugoiiiiiiiiii.
uh... uh... usooo!
20 minutes of same...
Ja matte ne. bye bye.

Hang up

[Tanimaga]

Japanese women phone conversations.

Moshi moshi...
uh... uh... uh... eeeeiiiiiiiiii?
Sugoiiiiiiiiii.
uh... uh... usooo!
20 minutes of same...
Ja matte ne. bye bye.

Hang up

You forgot "Haihai..hai...hai.....haihai.....haihaihai...hai.. ....(long pause)............................................ ...................HAI!"

[Richard Burns]

Phone conversation with a Japanese dude.....

"Mosh mosh,
Umm, mmmmm, Hm, uh , Uh uh, mmm.

[0341isa]

Japanese women phone conversations.

Moshi moshi...
uh... uh... uh... eeeeiiiiiiiiii?
Sugoiiiiiiiiii.
uh... uh... usooo!
20 minutes of same...
Ja matte ne. bye bye.

Hang up

lol. YOU mean ONLY on the phone right?

You couldn't mean it person, cause nobody went "ohhh Kawa-iiiiiiiii" :rolleyes:

[0341isa]

My GF and I are writing a "japanese translation for dummies book"

Chapter one. "O"

"O". use it. All the time. Put O after EVERYTHING. The End.


EX:



:)Do you take credit cards???

"ehh??" :confused:


:-|Credit cards??? DO you take Credits cards?

:confused: Cledit caaaad?

:-|Credit! Do you take Credit Cards???!!!!

ohh ahhh... sumimasen....*gets manager*

(confused mumbling nerovus smiles....):confused: :confused:

:Dummm oh! "CARDO!"

*lightbulb* *big smile*

Ohhhhhh!!!! "CARDO!" HAI HAI!:)

[0341isa]

Seriously dude. I live out in town and my roomate decided she wanted to adopt what is obviously the official state dog of Okinawa :rolleyes: a gold miniature daschund.

Needless to say, by now I have been pretty much "kawa-ii'ed" to death. :rolleyes:

[dk]

Seriously dude. I live out in town and my roomate decided she wanted to adopt what is obviously the official state dog of Okinawa :rolleyes: a gold miniature daschund.

Needless to say, by now I have been pretty much "kawa-ii'ed" to death. :rolleyes:

I have come to hate the word sugoi...

[SnaFu]

I have come to hate the word sugoi...

In a horse but squeeky voice SnaFu responds:

Maaaajii deeee???????

[gtlm2000]

My GF and I are writing a "japanese translation for dummies book"

Chapter one. "O"

"O". use it. All the time. Put O after EVERYTHING. The End.


EX:



:)Do you take credit cards???

"ehh??" :confused:


:-|Credit cards??? DO you take Credits cards?

:confused: Cledit caaaad?

:-|Credit! Do you take Credit Cards???!!!!

ohh ahhh... sumimasen....*gets manager*

(confused mumbling nerovus smiles....):confused: :confused:

:Dummm oh! "CARDO!"

*lightbulb* *big smile*

Ohhhhhh!!!! "CARDO!" HAI HAI!:)

Wait...Cledit card is same word in Japan. Don't they know that? :scratchchin:

[gtlm2000]

You forgot "Haihai..hai...hai.....haihai.....haihaihai...hai.. ....(long pause)............................................ ...................HAI!"

I do that!! :D Hai...soudesu..hai...wakarimasita..hai... :D

[-Rudel-]

Watching the Japanese commercials has opened new sentence endings for me. Mostly feminine words, like Jatta!

At least now you wont catch me saying that to some dudes!

[Oxmix]

Talking to a Chinese guy who spoke good English, he always said the hardest thing about English is swearing. The hardest thing to get figured out was understanding the F bomb.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0903/Oxmix/Misc/F_Bomb.jpg

On Okinawa when you use the telephone, do you press #1 for English? :grin1:

In the past we hosted 41 international students through the ELS program. The students stay ranged from 4 weeks to over a year. Some spoke no English at all, while others spoke some English. I was always amazed at how quickly they learned English. The students ranged in age from 16 to 38 years old.

My wife's niece went through the program and was with us for 11 months. After 10 years her English is still good.

One memorable student was from former East Germany. One day she told me that when I picked her up at the airport and started speaking English to her, she couldn't understand a word that I was saying and want to get back on the plane and go home. She was happy she didn't go home. She told me that she had started dreaming in English.
Funny thing. This students mother was an English teacher in Germany. She had never been to an English speaking country, but when I spoke to her on the telephone, her English was perfect.

Regards

Ox

[0341isa]

yeah, ESL is supposedly very good. One of my ex's moved in from China at age 7. Did ESL. I met her at age 21, and she sounded as all American as you could imagine. In fact not only did she have no acent, her English was better than average.

[0341isa]

Watching the Japanese commercials has opened new sentence endings for me. Mostly feminine words, like Jatta!

At least now you wont catch me saying that to some dudes!

really? That's feminine hmm? Isn't that what Hiro (The nerdy character on NBC's HEROES shouts out like allll the time?)
http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:BdwJqOxPY_GCyM:http://img503.imageshack.us/img503/8553/snapshot20070209080603kf6.jpg
http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:hHqGDpGX7Lt-WM:http://www.heroestheseries.com/stills/hiro-yatta.jpg
http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:d3FGmIHIODeJFM:http://cdn3.knowyourmeme.com/i/11514/small/Hiro_nakamora_YATTA_heroes_.jpg

[gtlm2000]

yeah, ESL is supposedly very good. One of my ex's moved in from China at age 7. Did ESL. I met her at age 21, and she sounded as all American as you could imagine. In fact not only did she have no acent, her English was better than average.

I studyed English in ESL when I was in Texas, and I took class for 2 years!!