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Persian (Farsi)
Chinese (Mandarin)
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Elham
Persian (Farsi)
Jan 5, 2018
خیلی خوب فارسی صحبت می کنید. از اشنایی با شما خوشحال شدم
Ehsan Abbaspour
Persian (Farsi)
Dec 27, 2017
آفرین خیلی عالی بودی
Merry ⭐KIDS /ADULTS
Chinese (Mandarin)
Apr 3, 2017
Alan的中文是最棒的!但是要坚持哟,坚持最重要,为你加油!!!(^+^)
Merry ⭐KIDS /ADULTS
Chinese (Mandarin)
Mar 17, 2017
Alan, 你的家庭作业改好了,不错哟!继续努力,希望我们能按时完成计划,坚持就是胜利 !加油!(^+^)
Activities
  • Commented

    There have been several thoughtful comments here, but I'd just ask this: why are these labels (intermediate, advanced) useful? Short-term goals (eg. I want to learn 30 words this week) are fantastic, but I think long-term goals (I want to be "advanced" by next year) are very vague, and can be demotivating because language learning is an incremental process: there's no such thing as "leveling up" in a language (except in exams, but life's not an exam!)

    For instance, "I want to understand movies" is not a very specific goal. A movie about aristocrats in 18th century England will have very different language to a movie about the 1980s American Mafia. Will you only be "advanced" when you understand 100% of both? 90% of one, 70% of the other?

    My point is this: thinking of abstract concepts like "I want to be able to XYZ" is less useful than thinking of "This week I will do XYZ". Focus on what's in front of your nose, not what's on the horizon!

    0 voted
    May 24, 2018
    0
  • Answered
    Alex Cracknell is correct! "Will" is more certain than "would". Are promises certain? If you say "I promised I would give up smoking", no. But if you have a plan, eg. "I promised I will give up smoking this year", it sounds much more certain! Remember: context is everything!
    0 voted
    May 24, 2018
    1
  • Answered
    Both are correct, but I prefer (b) in both. The word "should" repeats the meaning of "vital/important" in (a), so it's not great style.
    0 voted
    May 24, 2018
    1
  • Commented

    Question tags usually have two purposes: to indicate a lack of certainty ("You're Indian, aren't you?" "No, I'm from Pakistan"), or to confront ("You won't be late next time, will you?" "No, sir. I'm sorry").

    Both of these functions are very common in spoken language, less in written language, because normally readers don't respond to texts. They just read and think.

    Of course, if you expect a personal response from one person (eg. online chatting), then it's fine.

    Here I am writing for the italki community, so I won't use a question tag. But if I were writing to you personally I might write "You understand question tags now, don't you?" ;-)

    0 voted
    May 24, 2018
    0
  • Commented
    Me too. I loved his pronunciation of "Kim! Jong! Un!" though.
    0 voted
    January 17, 2018
    0
  • Posted
    This content violates our Community Guidelines.
    January 17, 2018
    3
    2
  • Commented

    "extraordinary" is very rarely pronounced "extra ordinary". When done so, it's often used for humorous, emphatic effect.


    "Extrordinary" or "extrordnry" are better pronunciations. If you check the word on Forvo.com, the first two pronunciations (by the users anakat and Picadilly) are the best. The third (by the user TopQuark), while not incorrect, is very formal.

    0 voted
    January 17, 2018
    0
  • Commented

    When I first heard that Persian verb stems all have two stems (or even more counting the spoken forms of some verbs like گفتن) I was terrified. Luckily, I quickly discovered that most Persian verbs are noun-verb compounds, using a handful of delexicalised verbs like کردن، گرفتن، دادن, etc. and that memorising a small handful of stems can get you a long way.


    In case the term "delexicalised verb" is unfamiliar, it's basically a meaningless verb that does nothing except act a noun. For example, گرفتن can have the meaningful, lexical meaning of "get", eg. او کتاب را از دستم گرفت (he got/grabbed the book from my hand), but it's very often delexicalised, for example تصمیم گفتن (to decide, lit. "get a decision"): چرا تصميم گرفتی يه معلم بشی؟ (Why did you decide to become a teacher?), translated word-for-word means *"Why did you get the decision to become a teacher?").

    Obviously, here گرفتن (get) is totally meaningless, it has no real use except to complement تصمیم (decision)


    English has delexicalised verbs too, used especially in speaking. For example, we can "try" or "have a try", we can "advise" or "give advice", we can "shower" or "take a shower". However it's astonishing just how many Persian verbs are delexicalised.


    (Note: this is just my humble opinion as a learner of Persian, if any native Persian-speakers disagree I'm happy to learn from your comments!)

    0 voted
    January 17, 2018
    0
  • Commented

    Yes. Incorrect adjective order will make any native speaker's ears prickle.

    There are many rules around adjective order, but here's a basic one to get you started:

    Gradable adjectives before ungradable adjectives.

    For example, "the big brown dog played with the bouncy rubber ball" (not: "the brown big dog played with the rubber bouncy ball")

    "Big" and "bouncy" are gradable, because we can say "X is bigger/bouncier than Y". "Brown" and "rubber" are ungradable because we don't usually say "X is browner/more rubber than Y".

    This is why "big brown" and "bouncy rubber" sound much more natural than the reverse.

    0 voted
    January 17, 2018
    0
  • Corrected

    Collocation practice

    Hi there,
    I know my writing does not make much sense. I was trying to write something using a list of common collocations. If you have time, please take a look and edit where it is needed. Thanks in advance

    Lily wakes up at 5 o’clock. She and goes to the gym where she works out. Then she comes back to take a shower and get dressed. Usually she has breakfast at 6AM, but today she does not have an appetite for eggs and toast. At first she thinks she wants something different but then realises she is not hungry. Instead, she decides to have rest and think. As she lies in the bed she remembers how she used to live with her boyfriend.
    Everything has changed since they she broke up with her boyfriend. They had a relationship that lasted for 10 years. They used to have a good time together, but then he had a problem at his work and got fired. Lily had no sympathy for him. During her holiday she even went to London alone. One day, she had lunch with her friends and have a nice haircut/have her hair done without even calling to her boyfriend. She went to have a nice haircut. When she came back On her way back she spotted her boyfriend at the nearest bar having a drink and chatting with another girl. She got angry and smashed a window with a rock before going home alone.


    Corrections: xxxxx xxxxx

    Suggestions: xxxxx xxxxx

    Well done! Your collocations are all fine, and as you can see, there aren't many mistakes. Everything was very clear and understandable.

    However the text doesn't flow very well because the sentences are not well linked together. Use more linking words and vary your syntax a bit more. Your writing will immediately look more natural as a result.

    Good job!

    0 voted
    January 17, 2018
    1