I'm not an English speaker and I don't speak english well.
Now, while I'm writing this, it must be lots of errors here.
But please be patient and keep your eyes on this to the end. ^ ^
I usually come in this site and read many writings to make
my ability for English better. I expect many writings here would help me develp speaking, writing English. But suddenly I've come up with a question; How many people participating in this site would be the navtive English speaker? If the rate of the natives were low, I think, reading and exchanging opinions here would not help me with my English and rather, it could lead me to wrong way. As a Native speakers, how much rate of pieces of writing here do you think is written by natives? Could I think most of them written by natives? I can't figure it out just by reading them.
I really want to know about this. I envy you, natives..
~~m(- . -)m~~
2007-02-23 05:40:11 · 11 answers · asked by Erogue M 1 in Society & Culture ➔ Languages
Congratulations to you! It's very pleasing and exciting to see that your truly making an effort to learn English! You seem to be a very intelligent person, I admire that!
There is no reason to "envy" the native speakers!
Your doing perfectly fine!
I'm not sure if this site is actually a great place to
be learning English fluently and correctly!
I suggest watching many TV programs in English,
And reading many books that are in English.
Good luck hun, Let me know if you need any help,
I am absolutely great with English grammer!
Best wishes,
Please don't hesitate in contacting me if you'd like!
I am always up for helping someone learn if they want it!
2007-02-23 06:04:39 · answer #1 · answered by It's Just me.... Kiwi :) 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
This is a very good point, and it's great to see you trying to learn a new language but this might not be the best way since, as has been mentioned before, spelling and grammar on this site is not that great. Those who do speak the language would tend to write in slang.
Also since Yahoo is a global environment, you will find Native English speakers from different countries where the terms are slightly different. For example in Australia most people refer to close friends as "mate" while this does not happen in Canada, US or UK. So the language written here will be very broad.
Your best bet would be to watch tv to get a better grasp on hearing the language but also try reading newspapers (many can be found online). A friend of mine found that while he could read and write very good, he had a hard time understanding spoken english and could not speak it that well. Watching English shows helped a lot.
Good luck.
2007-02-23 06:38:36 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
I wouldn't worry about it. You are getting exposed to a lot of real English on this site. There may be some people who are not native speakers, but it won't have any really bad effect on your learning. There is soooo much here that you can learn about English. This site won't help you with formal English but you have the chance to see the way real American and a few Brits write and even speak day to day. Real English is spoken with partial sentences and even bad grammar sometimes. It's really OK.
The best way to learn English is to find something that you are interested in when you are learning because if it isn't interesting, you'll give it up soon. You like this site, then keep reading. I guarantee it will help you.
2007-02-23 05:58:21 · answer #3 · answered by Love Shepherd 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I think that most of the participants in Yahoo Answers using English for their questions and answers are native speakers.
Although, you might want to find another website to help with your English (which is wonderful, by the way). Many people on Yahoo Answers (or any other type of online forum) have horrible grammar and spelling, or (like me) just don't take the time to answer in complete sentences, or type out a word as it should be spelled. Many people (including me) also use abbreviations ('with' becomes 'w/'; 'though' becomes 'tho'; etc.).
And your English is great for a non-native speaker! It's a bit formal but mostly correct. Keep up the good work!
2007-02-23 05:54:53 · answer #4 · answered by ♥ Dani 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
hmmm...I'm a native English speaker, but I do know that the writing online is different. You can be written as u. Know can be written as kno. Because would be written as b/c. With written as w/. So, I don't recommend learning from here, but i have no estimate of how many Natives there are, because Yahoo is world-wide...
2007-02-23 05:46:07 · answer #5 · answered by water lily 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Your point is well taken. however, many of the native English speakers on this site use improper grammar and spell words incorrectly. If you want to read and learn from this site, you should attempt to identify certain users and then use only their writings to study from.
2007-02-23 05:46:36 · answer #6 · answered by terterryterter 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I'm a native English speaker, and I'd caution you that many posters here, even native speakers, have completely attrocious spelling, grammar and usage.
You'd be better off reading a professionally edited magazine than this site.
2007-02-23 05:44:31 · answer #7 · answered by kent_shakespear 7 · 4⤊ 0⤋
I think most of us are probably native speakers. That is sometimes not a good thing if you are learning though. We take liberties with the language, and sometimes get in to bad habits.
2007-02-23 05:44:01 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
My advice is not to use this site as an example of correct English. People write very quickly, and make lots of spelling and grammatical mistakes.
Your English is very good, but very formal. Watch lots of TV, and read newspapers. Bon chance.
2007-02-23 05:46:05 · answer #9 · answered by Year of the Monkey 5 · 3⤊ 0⤋
Most people here are natives, but a publicly operated site such as this is a bad place to learn. I would suggest a magazine.
2007-02-23 05:55:03 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋