GMC
Spanish
Jun 29, 2016
Me alegro mucho de que nuestras conversaciones hayan sido de ayuda. Deseo que tengas un buen viaje por mi querida España. Muchas gracias.
Profile
I'm a native Polish speaker so I can sometimes make a correction or answer the question about this language, though I have no experience in teaching anything and no time for regular contacts...
I use a lot of English in reading/writing, though there were 'holes' in my education and sometimes I do very stupid mistakes. I use it only for my hobbies (almost no professional use). I speak rarely (mainly when traveling). I've passed Cambridge FC... but it was over 20yrs ago.
Russian and German I had at school and I was communicative... even more years ago. It would be nice to restore some of it.
Italian and Spanish - I've learned myself from audio-courses at basic (tourist) level. Still I dare to speak them while on holiday. I have a few Spanish speaking friends on WhatsApp, so I have some practice in writing too (still basic level).
I've made some attempts with French, Portuguese, and a few more, but... without any success.
I took a few Spanish lessons here on Italki, but I had to give up (because of my busy schedule).
My current Italki activity:
1) Correcting Polish notebook entries.
2) Taking part in English discussions (to have some contact with the language).
3) Occasionally other activities.
I have currently no time for the regular learning or using Skype (so I refuse language partnership - Sorry)
Learning
English
Spanish
Language Skills
PolishNative
German
Russian
Other
Italian
Lesson Feedback
Lesson history
| Last month | Last 3 months | All time | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Completed lessons | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Attendance rate | 100% | 100% | 100% |
Activities
- Polish language in American movies usually sound very unnatural. It's usually clear that the person knows nothing about Polish and is just repeating the sentence after someone (sometimes with a stress on a wrong syllable or making gaps in the middle of the word). It's sometimes funny, but I see a good actor playing a role that is important - I can only appreciate his trying. I understand that they found the best actor for the role and his language skills were of the least importance I this case. But when I see a person saying only one sentence and being visible for a few minutes... I see that the filmmakers just didn't bother themselves.How much they don't care I saw in an stupid comedy I was watching 20 years ago or so... Two delegates of Soviet army came to the US with an official visit (for what purpose, I can't remember). One of them was really speaking Russian while the other one Czech or Slovak.0 votedMarch 10, 20200
- I agree that it depends on where the sign is. If the place is generally open for everyone - writing something like that seems weird. On the other hand - does the person considered being a pessimist or nerd by others, agrees with that opinion? I would understand this sign "if you are in a black mood, but still want to come in, try not to demonstrate your pessimism and no to to spoil the fun." In this case, when the sign is on the door of an pub or other club - why not? Maybe some people will smile at it and it will make their day.I have some problems with nerd... I understand it's a person so much devoted to the technology that his social skills (at least what we understand under "social skills" in real life) may be somewhat impaired. This person rather will not be less "nerdy" after seeing the sign. But I believe that some nerds may be not so bad companions when they meet people who will not judge them because of the first impression.0 votedMarch 9, 20200
- @RichardI think the OpenOffice and LibreOffice are good solution to recommend to those who can't use MS Office. Unfortunately they would have to save their work in MS Office formats to allow opening it on the commercial product. It is important what Anton said to use only standard features and provide PDF files in case of incompatibility (in my opinion the presentations often make problems).And sorry for continuing the off- topic on your thread.@DrasviI think I understood what you are talking about and I tried to support your opinion a little bit since I'm one of those who benefited from this hmmm not necessarily legal access in my young years and I learned a lot this way.On the other hand I always think about effort needed to develop a software. I was doing small projects then (more than 20yrs ago) in Delphi and MS Access. I was doing it for fun and mostly free of charge. Sometimes I was paid small sums of money for the time consumed. But I realised I can't do it for a living, because it needs a plenty of time and the possible income is not enough to survive. So I dropped it totally. That's why I always try to think about those who create apps, their knowledge and time engaged.Recently my boss in one of my working places asked me if I can create a database app (on Access) for the company. I said he would have to provide me with Access (which I haven't) and give me a month free from other duties (payed of course). He said: "Oh no... you want too much..."I'm with both my hands for the free software... But it's never free - someone has to pay... If not with the money then with the free time ;)0 votedOctober 26, 20190
- <em>Marcin, if there were no piracy, there would be no Microsoft:)</em>I'm not sure. The Apple and IPhone phenomenon shows there are always people who are ready to pay more... But I agree - it wouldn't be so popular.<em>People in most of the world would HAVE to use Linux. And they would use Linux</em>.I personally use Linux for more than 20years... (I use Windows at work and it's not my choice). I was thinking it will gain more users and tried to encourage people to it. Eventually I stopped talking to people about it. People prefer what they know. I could see only ironic smiles.<em>People use MS Office because "everyone is using MS Office". We're are discussing here how people may need MS Office because their teacher is using it.</em>Agree! I was in the same position when my son went to school and we had only Linux at home.<em>I think that immoral thing is done by you and Petteri. Instead of raisng some practice to the level of moral value you should have thought whether the practice is good BEFORE adopting it.</em>My idea was that we were happy to use the pirate software years ago, because we could learn from it. Now when we can pay, it's ok to reward software developers with our money. But I think there should be free versions or at least less restrictive laws for poorer countries to help them to develop. So I don't think I said exactly the same what Petteri did. How could I personally not adopt this practice? I try to use free software wherever I can. When I can't find one I have to pay.0 votedOctober 26, 20190
- Yes. There are many free (GPL) replacements for Word and Excel (the compatibility between Open Office and Power Point sometimes makes problems; I haven't found a good replacement for MS Access - there are different database systems, but I haven't seen anything as easy to use). So at least all users of Office suites can choose to be correct and with safe pocket.But the situation with other scientific software is not always so easy. And we must remember about educational programmes which usually point to one and only proper solution and don't encourage students to look for alternatives. Try not to buy MS Office when your children attend public schools and have to use it for their homework. Of course they sometimes can show the things can be done the other way, but they may feel a little bit excluded from the class.0 votedOctober 26, 20190
- ...The situation of countries in our region improved and people who wanted to use the software with all possible benefits started to buy commercial licences. For sure those who needed it for their job, started to pay for. But those who were using the software for their hobbies and entertainment, now can easily afford it, so they buy it to have their consciousness clear.We can't count it that the big concerns have lost their money during that period, because those people wouldn't buy it then (it's not a water or food which you have to buy under any circumstances to survive). But by using it those people became addicted to this particular software. Try to explain someone nowadays that he can use Open Office for free, when he was using MS Office all his life (the pirated version many years ago, now the licenced one for a long time). So the former piracy increased the demand for the commercial software nowadays.Now those years are the history. The younger generation in our part of Europe spends their parents' money and buys the software without thinking about stealing it (the situation with movies and music isn't so good yet... but it will come to that). But we can't remember there are still countries where young people have limited access to the legal software and technology. Who are we to refuse them their chance?0 votedOctober 26, 20190
- Well. This discussion about using the pirate software by people who just can't purchase it (for various reasons) is very interesting, but can't be solved according to the general moral principles. That's what I'm afraid...For many countries with long tradition of democracy, high socioeconomic level and respect for the law, this discussion must look strange. The people there think: When you need it - buy it. If you need it for your work and have no money to buy it - go to the bank, borrow the money- you will return it when your work will be payed.I must say we think the same here - in my country (Poland) and I'm sure in Drasvi's country too. But we still remember it wasn't always like that. I have similar memories to what Drasvi described. When I was a teenager and young adult the computers were new to us. Most of the software we had at home were pirate copies then. Many of us felt it wasn't morally correct, because the creators of software should be rewarded for their work. But our salaries (or those of our parents then) were too low. Imagine that you have to spend monthly income of a family to buy a software, to learn how does it work. Of course you may create something with the use of this software, but nobody will pay you for it (or they pay you such a low money like they do to someone else).Of course you may say (like in an example with the stolen car) that the people living in poor countries shouldn't have access to the modern technology. Maybe you would sentence them and their children to be just cheap unqualified workers?I see this shameful piracy period as a chance for those who were willing to learn and discover their talents. Some companies were already aware of it and I remember there were many software products free for non-commercial use (like e.g. Borland Delphi which you could download for free after registering on their official site)....0 votedOctober 26, 20190
- The thing I did, was to fly to Edinburgh for a week and visit the town on my own (actually I attended a learning event connected to my profession during 3 of those days). For the last two days I bought an excursion at the local travel agent and visited many interesting places in the Highlands. You can find their offerings in the internet and pick the one you like best. It was an international group of people in a small bus with the driver-guide, who explained us a lot of interesting things during the trip.0 votedJune 28, 20190
- There are people (both native and non-native) speakers who certainly know the answer- they are professional teachers, linguists or just people who have such a hobby for years and they are really good at it.The other group are people (mostly native or those who live in a foreign country for a long time) who just know how to use the language. They will often tell you about the things which are correct grammatically but never used by natives. And about the things ...no so correct... which you can hear many times.There's another group - the people who think they know. It is probably the group which bothers you. But I think they don't pretend to be experts, and you may wait for another answer or post the discussion when you have doubts. Other people's mistakes are often a good learning base. And when the mistake is being discussed, the teachers get to know the people may have problems with the things they weren't aware of. And they try to elaborate new ways to explain it to their students.I personally don't answer the questions which are not about my own language. I did it once, but the question was about the general grammar concept true for many languages. I clearly stated that it was my idea and I wait if any native speaker confirms it.Sometimes the native speakers can't explain the thing, because they have no idea why does it make a trouble to you. A good teacher or another learner may know the reason of your doubts and explain it to you the best possible way.0 votedJune 28, 20190
00:00
00:00