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Nice To Meet You
Hi everyone,
They call me Pieter. I am from The Netherlands also known as Holland. Dutch is my primary language but I doubt many people are interested in learning that. :-) My secondary language is English and I can assist people to reach an advanced level. I can help specifically with business/retailing oriented English if need be and English correspondence.
I should speak German as well but I have had so little practice that I do not feel I would be helpful to anyone. :-)
I would like some pen pals that speak either Ukrainian, Japanese and Gaelic who are interested in helping me at a base level. So I hope to meet some nice people that I can assist and hopefully have a good exchange with! Let me know if you are interested!
Topics I find interesting in no particular order are linguistics, psychology, sociology, philosophy (of science), archeology...and whatever you like to discuss.
Take care,
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Language pair: English; Dutch
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| 216447 |
Re:Re:Nice To Meet You
Привіт Ліса,
Як ви поживаєте? Українська складна мова але теж красива. Я вивчати одиноко. Я чиітаю Colloquial Ukrainian вид Иян Прес а Стефан Пуґ; я cподиваюся я перекладений що довре.
Якщо у вас є питаня я буду допоможу.
There are a few things I would like to point out to you about your message. You forgot a few words and I'll put those in, below, in capitals.
"I'm from Ukraine and can help you with THE Ukrainian language. My level of English is not bad, but still I'd like to improve it, so *I* will be glad to communicate with you."
The Ukrainian language is a bit like a zip-file. Many things are implied and not written or they are recognizable by the case endings. I think that is what they are called. It seems to be a compact language. But English and Dutch and those types of languages seem to be obsessed with the verb ' to be'. And those verbs are always written out. So you have to 'unzip' Ukrainian and be explicit.
I am Dutch.
You are Dutch.
He/she/it is Dutch.
We are Dutch.
They are Dutch.
You (plural) are Dutch.
They are Dutch.
So 'Я Україмка', the part that makes that word feminine must be unzipped, as it were to show the verb 'to be'. We have a 'to be' obsession here.
"...but still I'd like to improve it..." Most English people would use a different word order. '..but I would still like to improve it...'. The subtle difference is a matter of emphasis. In general use, use my phrasing.
If you wish to express 'in any case', use your phrasing. Look:
I play chess really well. Few are better than I am. Still, I want to improve my game. (For a reason: win more games.)
Despite the fact I always win, still they come and try to beat me. (Sigh, why don't they leave me alone?)
Or when you have a conversation and get off topic and want to return to the previous subject. You list your objections. The grammar is hard, the alphabet is strange. I have the flu. Aliens will land tomorrow. ' Still, I have to learn Ukrainian.'
You see the emphasis in the poem 'The Raven', by Edgar Alan Poe as well.
"And the raven, never flitting, still is sitting, still is sitting..."
Poe wants to emphasize the bird is remaining, not that it is sitting. Of course it 'sits'. No problem. But it just will not go away!
'Still' implies a dissatisfaction. So did you want to express you are unsatisfied with your level of English and make that very clear or did you want to express you ' just' want to learn more?
до скорої зустрічі!
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Language pair: Ukrainian; English
This is a reply to message # 216187
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