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  • Answered
    I think it depends on what languages you're used to - if you speak a language like English, German, French and so on (or most of the European languages), you're more used to the kind of structure and grammar they use, as well as alphabet (except for a few special characters), and would probably find it easier than if you were to, say, take up Chinese (since most European languages have a lot in common with each other, whereas Chinese is totally different). I'm not really sure how it would work if someone who spoke Chinese tried to learn Japanese, whether it would be easier than it would be to learn a European language or not. I don't think they're quite as similar to each other as European languages are, so I'm not really sure... I'd be interested to find out, though. I think it also has a lot to do with the WAY in which you learn the language. I took classes in French for three years and learned barely anything, then started to teach myself and started learning at - at least - twice the speed. I tried learning Japanese from actual lessons and books and barely learned anything, then I started doing it my own way, which felt much more comfortable, and I started picking it up incredibly quickly. If you're not being taught in the right way, no matter how easy the language may be (from your perspective) you will still find it incredibly difficult. It's just a case of finding whatever works for you, really.
    0 voted
    July 21, 2010
    0
  • Answered
    "Referred to" basically means (in this context) "talked about". If you were having a conversation with someone and they were to "refer" to the sky, they would just be talking about the sky. It's also used to direct someone's attention towards a certain object - for example, being instructed to "refer to page 10 of the document" would mean that you were focusing on that specific page - in this case, focusing on this specific Prius. In other contexts it can also mean to direct a person towards another person (if you were, for example, to go to a doctor, they might "refer" you to someone better to help you, such as a specialist). Not here, though. "Labouring its way", with or without the "u" in "laboring" (British English or American English) means it had to work very hard to get to that speed. Since a "labo(u)rer" is a person who does manual work, usually pretty physical work that takes a lot of effort, maybe you can compare the phrases that way.
    0 voted
    July 21, 2010
    0
  • Answered
    To "keep someone in line" is to use your influence or power over that person (or group of people) to basically control them, to make them act how you want them to act so that it works to your advantage - in this case it sounds like they're filing complaints so that other companies get investigated (likely due to "competition law"), and don't have a chance to use any unfair tactics, when they likely have no evidence of them doing so. They may well have evidence, though, and it could be a valid complaint - but most of the time it's just "scare tactics" - they're just trying to spook them.
    0 voted
    July 21, 2010
    0
  • Answered
    It means someone who's incredibly underweight/thin, to the point where their body looks like nothing but bones in a bag (of skin), so to speak.
    0 voted
    July 20, 2010
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  • Answered
    When the sentence is talking about a metal object, it's referring to a way of shaping the metal, for things like making jewellery (and hundreds of years ago it would have likely been about making swords and other weapons) by striking or compressing it in some way with a lot of force - basically beating it into a different shape. If it's talking about "forging a friendship", then it means to make a new friend - or, literally, to create a friendship. If you want more, try en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forging.
    0 voted
    July 19, 2010
    0
  • Answered
    I hope I'm not too late with this and that it's a good enough explanation... 1. It basically means "Whether it is" in that context. You could say something like, "Be it rain or shine, it's always nice to go for a walk." (Something like that is, of course, for people who love getting outside whatever the weather's like - so you're really just saying, "Whether it's sunny or rainy, it's good to go outside.") 2. To "challenge" them, or respond to them forcefully. If two people get in a fight, they're said to "take each other on", so it's basically another way of saying "We will fight them/it to make sure it stops." 3. To extend and emphasize their efforts. To "step up your game" is a fairly common phrase, and it essentially just means "try harder" - so they're saying they need to put more effort into what they're doing.
    0 voted
    July 19, 2010
    0
  • Answered
    Also, the second sentence would just be "We should go home (now)." Putting in "that" isn't necessarily wrong, but it's not something you would normally say. It's better just to not use it. Other than that yes, they mean the same thing.
    0 voted
    July 18, 2010
    0