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Advanced English TEAM THREAD TAC’15

 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log Post Reply
49 messages over 7 pages: 13 4 5 6 7  Next >>
Via Diva
Diglot
Senior Member
Russian Federation
last.fm/user/viadivaRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 3993 days ago

1109 posts - 1427 votes 
Speaks: Russian*, English
Studies: German, Italian, French, Swedish, Esperanto, Czech, Greek

 
 Message 9 of 49
05 January 2015 at 2:05pm | IP Logged 
btw, does anyone want challenges here? They kinda have to be serious, like writing essays, recording monologues or memorizing a big and scary poem, otherwise the whole thing doesn't look serious enough.
What about thematic Skype conversations? Like we come and discuss literature trying to sound as educated and advanced as it only possible?
Another fun thing I have on my mind is a collective composition, I mean that we write a big thing step by step: one writes a few paragraphs, another has to continue and so on. It could be turned into friendly competition if we would go it in pairs/ a few groups.
The hardest thing here is evaluation. But hopefully we'll find something :)
So, what do you think?
1 person has voted this message useful



agta
Diglot
Groupie
Poland
Joined 5283 days ago

43 posts - 53 votes 
Speaks: Polish*, English
Studies: German, Italian

 
 Message 10 of 49
06 January 2015 at 11:55am | IP Logged 
How great that we have now two leaders!

I think that having guardian angel would be good, especially at our advanced level. It
would be beneficial to have someone telling us "that's OK but native would rather
say..." etc.


1 person has voted this message useful



Expugnator
Hexaglot
Senior Member
Brazil
Joined 4925 days ago

3335 posts - 4349 votes 
Speaks: Portuguese*, Norwegian, French, English, Italian, Papiamento
Studies: Mandarin, Georgian, Russian

 
 Message 11 of 49
06 January 2015 at 8:24pm | IP Logged 
By spelling I meant the whole pack: grammar, style, register...I tried to post once at lang-8 but got no corrections. Texts in English get lost in the vault really fast.

It's ok to have challenges, looking forward to them.
1 person has voted this message useful



iguanamon
Pentaglot
Senior Member
Virgin Islands
Speaks: Ladino
Joined 5021 days ago

2237 posts - 6731 votes 
Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Creole (French)

 
 Message 12 of 49
06 January 2015 at 9:01pm | IP Logged 
I think this group is a brilliant idea for ESL speakers. Most members who post in English (with English as a second language) on HTLAL have a very high level. Still, little (and sometimes not so little) errors sometimes creep in and they don't get corrected because the meaning is clear. Also we tend to hold back because we don't want to "show someone up" (point out their errors). I can't tell you the amount of times I have to grit my teeth and hold back whenever I frequently see "advices" instead of "advice" and "noone" instead of "no one". These are two of my personal pet peeves here on the forum.

The hard part in correcting is that the HTLAL text interface for posting isn't properly set up for corrections. While many of you have a good grasp on English grammar as ESL speakers, I do think it imperative to have a native-speaker on board in order to avoid "the blind leading the blind" in a manner of speaking.

I almost never correct a learner's Portuguese or Spanish postings because, as a second language speaker of those languages, my understanding will always be imperfect in comparison to a native-speaker. I venture to say that probably most of us don't feel comfortable correcting a second language.

One bit of advice, as Via Diva pointed out, that I hope will help some people, is to install a spell checker dictionary add-on in your browser. If you use Firefox, the link is here. They also have dictionaries for most of your TL's. Of course that won't stop mistaking "there" for "their" and "write" for "right" which even I have done on rare occasions. At least with a spell checker they'll be spelled correctly. There's nothing like seeing what you've written with a bunch of red lines underneath to start learning how to spell.

Edited by iguanamon on 06 January 2015 at 11:10pm

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sctroyenne
Diglot
Senior Member
United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 5150 days ago

739 posts - 1312 votes 
Speaks: English*, French
Studies: Spanish, Irish

 
 Message 13 of 49
07 January 2015 at 10:07am | IP Logged 
I'm willing to follow along semi-passively. I can't promise to fix every detail of every post but I can do some occasional roundup posts of major/recurring errors and offer up some random resources and bits of knowledge from time to time (plus it will give me a chance to steal ideas *ahem* get inspiration for the Advanced Study Group).
4 persons have voted this message useful



Via Diva
Diglot
Senior Member
Russian Federation
last.fm/user/viadivaRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 3993 days ago

1109 posts - 1427 votes 
Speaks: Russian*, English
Studies: German, Italian, French, Swedish, Esperanto, Czech, Greek

 
 Message 14 of 49
07 January 2015 at 4:06pm | IP Logged 
Okay, if you want challenges, let's just do one. It's not gonna be easy but since one fourth of January is gone it might be a little more free in the choice of its form than usual.
So the task of the January challenge is to tell about English in your life. What do you feel about it, what's the history beneath it for you etc. You are free to use any form: text, audio, video. Obviously the trick is to wrap up a lot of information as elegant and
flawless as possible. Try not to make it short, in case of a composition you'll need a structure containing introduction, main part and conclusion. In audio/video try to sound as relaxed and natural as you only can. Try to improvise, even. Prove to yourself (and to us) that you
are advanced.
Use of nerdo/rare/old vocabulary gives you more points, but these words have to be clear enough if pronounced.

Feel free to ask questions and make suggestions!
1 person has voted this message useful



mrwarper
Diglot
Winner TAC 2012
Senior Member
Spain
forum_posts.asp?TID=Registered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 4985 days ago

1493 posts - 2500 votes 
Speaks: Spanish*, EnglishC2
Studies: German, Russian, Japanese

 
 Message 15 of 49
09 January 2015 at 8:26pm | IP Logged 
I just finished the whole TAC 2015 thread, so I thought I'd ask here before making even more noise there. May I join this team? My log
Edit: I welcome corrections to any mistakes I make.

Edited by mrwarper on 09 January 2015 at 8:28pm

1 person has voted this message useful



Via Diva
Diglot
Senior Member
Russian Federation
last.fm/user/viadivaRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 3993 days ago

1109 posts - 1427 votes 
Speaks: Russian*, English
Studies: German, Italian, French, Swedish, Esperanto, Czech, Greek

 
 Message 16 of 49
09 January 2015 at 9:13pm | IP Logged 
Sure you can. I'll add you to the list here later.


1 person has voted this message useful



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