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Hello! I am an American college graduate in Wisconsin learning Spanish, among other languages, but Spanish is my main foreign language. I am looking to get some more practice speaking with native speakers, since the gringos in my classes aren't much help in terms of quality conversation. I studied abroad for six weeks in Costa Rica and it helped somewhat, but the way the program was structured, I was around my Americans more than natives, which robbed me of some valuable opportunities. Now that I'm graduated, I'm exploring career opportunities (besides making subs at my local Jimmy Johns!). I've been looking into teaching English with CIEE in Spain, although the China program has caught my eye. I'm studying to become a registered judicial interpreter so that I can interpret court proceedings as a job, but it's tough so far! I'm also interested in teaching English over Skype, but I don't really know where I'd begin. I'm working on that so maybe you'll see me on the community tutor page in a little while. Hope to hear from you soon :-)
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  • Corrected

    [What Sandra said ^^, plus:]

    The begining beginning

    I have found italki by chance when I was doing some researches on internet. It seems a good place to make friends, share experiences, improve my English and, who knows, learn others languages like Italian, for example. Beside become fluent in a foreign language and make friends along the way, I can help some of these new friends interested in learn Portuguese.

    I like to travel so much. It is funny (funny = que se hace reír) and, in my opinion, it´s the most interesting way of knowing a little bit about new cultures.

     

    "Knowing" doesn't quite sound like the right word choice for what you're trying to say. I think you're going for "finding out/learning" about new cultures.

    In English, "to know" isn't used as an action verb:

      -Yesterday I *knew how to swim. (Better: Yesterday I learned how to swim.)

    In the context of acquiring information, "to know" is better used to express a continuing state of being, in this case, that you've known something for a while:

      -I know a lot of Spanish because I learned it in school.

      -I know about other cultures because I found out a lot about them when I was traveling.


    I am so glad for joining the italki community.

    Another construction that doesn't sound quite right. It would go better as "I'm so glad I joined..." ("I'm so glad that I joined" but the "that" linking the two clauses can be omitted in English).

    Good luck with your English! :-)

    0 voted
    November 16, 2013
    1
  • Corrected
    0 voted
    July 16, 2013
    0
  • Answered
    Originally the phrase probably came from how your boss does things with authority because he has power over you. It has since transformed in pop culture to anyone doing anything really well or with high confidence, sort of bragging about it. Best to use it ironically, or you risk sounding like a douchebag, fair warning. "I finished that eight page paper for my history class in twelve hours, like a BOSS." And you have to put emphasis on it, and say it kind of like "bowse!" (or "baus!" to be more phonetic about it). This music video from Andy Samberg/The Lonely Island humourous mixes this new meaning with workplace situations from its original context [NSFW]: http://youtu.be/NisCkxU544c Just for a bit of pop culture. But no, you wouldn't use it anymore to refer to something your actual boss does, and if you did it could be considered as making fun of him/her. Nor does it mean that you are being controlling, like Richard's example 2. That would be better said as "She thought he was being bossy." Saying "He's acting like a boss" sounds like he's in a play or other theatrical production and his acting is really good. Tricky because it's a really American colloquialism that popped up recently. Hope this helps! :-) Dan
    0 voted
    March 21, 2013
    1
  • Answered
    The gerund works for all of these and the infinitive in some cases. "I love reading books:" Correct. "I love to read books:" Correct, but the first one sounds a little more "English," somehow. This one sounds more like you're emphasizing that you love to read BOOKS, as opposed to magazines or newspapers. However, I would say "I love to read" and "I love reading" (without saying what it is you're reading) are equivalent. "I like reading books:" Correct. "I like to read books:" Correct, but same thing as the "I love" example. Like Grant said, "I dislike to" is not a common expression. While it's technically correct, the much better option is to say "I don't like reading books" or "I don't like to read books." "I hate reading books:" Correct. "I hate to read books:" **Incorrect.** For whatever reason, "I hate to..." just doesn't work in most cases. There is one scenario, though, that will allow "I hate to." If you are sorry or regretful about something, or you are about to put somebody in a situation that they didn't want to be in, you could say "I hate to ask such a big favor of you, but..." or "I hate to leave you out there without a car in this weather." In this scene from the musical Wicked, the man says, "How I hate to go and leave you lonely." Just to bring in a real-world example. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Li8cryWN2ew&feature=youtu.be&t=3m47s This structure also appears in the conditional "I'd hate to," this tense has a future implication. "Why don't you ask Mary tomorrow?" –"Well, I'd hate to impose on her..." "Peter said he'd loan me his car, but I'd hate to make him miss his date with his girlfriend." So there's the answer to a question you asked and the answer to a question you probably didn't know you had. Hope this helps! :-) Dan
    0 voted
    March 19, 2013
    1
  • Corrected

    Works Work

    <em>     For talking about a job, say "</em><em>work"</em>.<em> As a noun, we usually don't use "work" </em><em>in the plural</em><em>.</em>

    I would like to be employed at a work that is not routine. I'd like to have a job that's not routine.

    <em>     It's more fluid to say "I would like to have a job..." Also the word choice of "work" vs. "job:" work is a more general term, and is the choice when you need a verb, like you would say "I'm going to work," "I work at an office," or "I have a lot of work to do." It also has a slight connotation of manual labor as opposed to office or more advanced skills. So if you said, "I'm a worker in an office," people would think you're a janitor or warehouse worker or something, instead of an accountant or salesperson.</em>

    <em>     Your job is specifically what you do every day, like "I found a job," or "My job is very difficult."</em>

    As for the work camp, As for my line of work,

    <em>     I'm guessing you're translating "campo de trabajo," which would be better translated as "the line of work," or it could be "the field of..."</em>

    I would like to be employed at the sector of investigation of diseases or development of electronic devices. I would like to go into the field of...

    <em>     Again, "be employed at" is a rather wordy construction, and the passive voice makes it sounds a little weak. "Sector" works here as a vocab word, but a more elegant way to phrase that whole chunk is "I'd like to go into the field of disease investigation..." </em>

    Why? The response is because I like to help to the world with the new discoveries Why? because I like to help the world with new discoveries

    <em>     "Answer" is a better word here than "response." You could also just dump that entire phrase and say "Why? Because I like to..."
         "To" in "to the world" isn't necesary here. We don't use "to" like Spanish uses the personal "a," and we seldom use "to" with objects, except sometimes to distinguish an indirect object from a direct object (ex. Give it to me). But that's not even necessary (Give me it).
    </em>

    <em></em><em>     "The" isn't necessary here either.</em>

    and on the other hand to to extend my knowledge,

    <em>     "On the other hand" implies a stronger contrast than you were probably meaning here. Helping the world with new discoveries and extending your knowledge are closely related activities, probably both encouraging each other, so you could say "I like both helping the world with new discoveries and extending my knowledge." "Both...and..." implies two similar things (ex. I like both chicken and beef),  and "on the other hand" implies two opposite things (I like chicken, but on the other hand, I like being vegetarian, too.) I know, it's a really picky thing, but the way you had it, extending your knowledge would be at odds with helping the world, like "I want to make new discoveries, but on the other hand I want to keep all those discoveries to myself and not use them to help anyone."</em>

    <em>     You just put "to" in twice by accident probably :-)</em> 

    since from always my zeal is to learn all things that i can observe of the world.

         <em>First off, "passion" instead of "zeal" would be a better choice in the context of work.</em>

    <em>     Guessing you're saying "desde siempre?" I would write this as "Since my passion has always been learning everything I can about the world." I kind of rewrote that whole sentence, but yeah that sounds better. Another option would be "I have always had a passion for learning..."</em>

    In addition, I do not look for a career according to his remuneration due to if you are good at your work, you always will receive a good salary. ...according to its salary, because if you are...

         <em>A career isn't a person, so it would be "its."</em>

         <em>"Remuneration" isn't a word I'd ever use in normal speech or even writing, just go with "its pay" or better, say "...according to how much you get paid."</em>

         <em>"Due to if..." doesn't sound right. "Due to" should be followed by a noun. Also the relationship between the two clauses implied by "due to" doesn't quite work. "Due to" indicates a result of a prior action or event, a cause-and-effect relationship: "I couldn't hear due to the loud music coming from next door." "Because" would be a better choice here, and it uses fewer words so that's better too. (If you're really into this sort of picky grammar thing (because I am, if you didn't guess by now), here's an article about it: http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/because-due-to-since-as.aspx)</em>

    I want to know my mistakes. Thanks for help ^^.

    <em>There you go, I found a couple. Hope it helps! :-)</em>

    0 voted
    March 16, 2013
    2
  • Corrected

    <em>Building off of Ahmed's corrections...</em>

    <em>
    </em>

    First notebook entry: Introducing myself

    I am learning English because I want to live and study abroad. 
    My native language is Persian and I grow up in Iran. 

     

    <em>You would want to say </em>"I grew up in Iran." Grow<em> is the present and </em>grew <em>is the past, so if you were talking about your childhood, </em>grew <em>is the appropriate form.</em>

    <em>If you grew up in Iran and are still living there and that's what you're trying to say, go with </em>"I live in Iran" <em>or</em> "I have lived in Iran my whole life" <em>to really emphasize the point.</em>


    I significantly enjoy studying and learning English.


    <em>This is correct, but it's an odd word to use in this context. </em><em>Try </em>"I really enjoy..." <em>or </em>"I enjoy studying and learning English a lot."



    0 voted
    February 11, 2013
    0
  • Corrected

    Tutors should show to the students the way to keep in the major and try to motivate them with the idea that the last years of the major are dedicated to more specific topics 

    <em>In Spanish I know you have to be careful about including all the right objects and the prepositions that go along with them, so that phrase would be </em>"Tutores deben mostrar(les) a los estudiantes," <em>but that extra </em>"a" <em>from Spanish something that is unnecessary in English. It's correct, but it just feels a little odd. It sounds more natural to say </em>"Tutors should show the students the way to (etc.)". <em>The sentence structure makes it obvious that </em>"students"<em> is the indirect object and </em>"the way..."<em> is the direct object. That's a very common and constant construct in English </em>(subject + verb + ind. object + direct object)<em> and the </em>"to"<em> before the indirect object is rarely ever required.</em>

     

    Advisors should show ways to go on and what is coming, the following years are focused on specific topics about the course.

    <em>The two phrases that are underlined are parallel in the structure of the sentence, and again, what you wrote is correct but sounds a little odd. </em>"Ways to go on" <em>is a noun and</em> "what is coming" <em>is a noun clause. To make the sentence sound better, both things should be the same part of A way to make this sentence mroe fluid would be to rewrite it so that both of those are a noun:</em>

    Advisors should show ways to go on and the things that are coming.

    <em>Or turn both of them in to clauses:</em>

    Advisors should show how to go on and what is coming.

    <em>Between the two, the second one sounds better to me. Just a picky little thing that will make your English sound better! Hope you like grammar as much as I do haha.</em>

     

    Dan

    0 voted
    February 9, 2013
    0
  • Posted
    First notebook entry: Introducing myself ¡Hola italki amigos! Me llamo José, pero mi nombre es Daniel. En escuela secundaria, escogimos nombres españoles y yo escogí José, y desde entonces siempre me he introducido como José cuando hablando español. Asisto una universidad en Wisconsin en los EE.UU, donde me creí hablando inglés como lengua materna. Estudié en Costa Rica por seis semanas durante el verano 2012, y era muy educacional para mi. Pero aunque estaba en un país extranjero, se condujeron nuestras clases con solamente el grupo de 30 americanos de mi universidad, solitos en un edificio de escuela vacío, y no en una universidad con otros estudiantes costarricenses como pensaba antes de llegar. Por eso, hablaba más inglés que español mientras estaba allá, una gran lástima en mi opinión. Quiero últimamente trabajar en el extranjero, y porque me gusta aprender más idiomas que solamente español (ahora tomo clases de árabe), pienso vivir en varios países en el curso de mi vida. Pero antes de hacer eso, quiero mejorar mi español. Me gustaría hablar con personas de varios países para recibir consejos para mejorar. Por favor, ¡hagan correcciones a esta entrada de cuaderno! No sé exactamente cómo enseñar inglés, pero ¡sería mi placer conversar con cualquiera quiere aprender! En la universidad, estudio música y español, y otros idiomas. Estoy muy activo en el programa de coro en mi universidad. Canto en un coro mixto, un coro masculino, y un grupo de a capela. También toco el piano, y acompaño a varios cantantes en sus lecciones y conciertos. Me gusta componer música por piano solo, voz y piano, o coro SATB y TTBB. Estoy tomando una clase de orquestación, y en esta clase aprenderé cómo funcionan las cuerdas en una composición, porque el repertorio orquestal es una área desconocida para mí. Además del español, hablo (en varios grados de fluidez) francés, japonés, griego, y como dije antes, estoy en mi segundo semestre de árabe actualmente. Los idiomas me interesan mucho y los aprendo bastante fácilmente. Pues, eso es todo en mi primera entrada, ¡espero conocer a muchas personas interesantes en este sitio web! :-) Saludos José
    February 9, 2013
    23
    5