Hi there,

If someone is discussing politics and it is a particularly prickly subject that you'd like to avoid, there are many things you can say which won't be offensive in the slightest.

Some include;
"I don't mean to be disrespectful, but I would prefer if we didn't discuss politics" 
" I am not versed enough in this topic of politics to discuss. Do you mind if we change the subject?"
"Sorry Sir/Madam, I don't publically discuss my political views"
" I respect your opinion, however I do not wish to disclose my personal or political views at this moment"

This way you are being polite yet succinct. Your peer will understand and should respect your request if you address your request in a gentle manner. People enjoy debating politics because it gives them an excuse to argue! I don't think I've ever had a discussion about politics that hasn't become heated.
 

Hey Su Ki,

I am also from Australia. Of course it depends on the situation/formality of the conversation, but most times many Australians would say "I'm 5'2'' [much shorter than Justin!]" - had I not used a measuring tape for other purposes to get my measurements in cm (aprox 160cm), I wouldn't have been able to guess. 
It's certainly contextual though, you are correct. Formalities are probably quite tricky to learn if English is not your native language - I often see students of English writing rather formally for the context they're writing in.

Count me in!

What do you think about accents?

I am from China, I lived in USA and have begun learning an American dialect of English this year. Some of Americans have told me that I have a heavy accent when I speak English. I felt really sad about that: As a foreigner, it is so tough for me to speak English like a native speaker. as a foreigner .

I told my friend who was a native speaker about this, and he told me that I didn’t need to feel ashamed of my accent, because there are many English accents in the world! Examples include such as the British accent, Australian accent and African accent. We couldn’t decide which accent we preferred (?) is better that other one. His words encouraged me greatly. I still thought about it  this conversation when I arrived back back home. I thought that all these accents such as the British accent, Australian accent and African accent indicated that English that means this is a real language in the world, and many people use it in various dialects (?) [that just like dialect?] .

 But my accent only means I can’t speak English very well. 

So what do you think about accents? Is the goal to learn a language to attain native fluency, or just to communicate with local people? Which goal do you choose when you start to learn a language?

Great work Jie - !

I learn languages to equip myself with the necessary skills to get around when I am travelling :) 

Afraid1

Some of my friends have asked me "what are you afraid of?" - I'm afraid of many things. Snake almost people afraid of it  Most people are afraid of snakes. When i was little, about 7-8 years old, there was one snake that almost made me die. I was at a small cliff, I even not see the snake clearly I did not see the snake clearly,I just felt it near my feet. I fell down from the cliff, it wasn't high up, but enough to have possibly killed me.When I was rolling I thought I would die, but suddenly my mother comes into my mind, and I told myself I won't die because I havent yet grown up to take care of my mom. And I catch all waht I can catched an I held on to what I could find to try my best to keep me from falling down. Finally, my mother come to save me. When I fell into my mom's arms, I began to cry and hold her tightly.

Hi there, great work! For your next entry, try to work on tenses. You are writing a reflective piece here about an experience, so remember to use the past tense of verbs when describing events.