Looking for somebody to chat, whose English is excellent ;)

[nadeschda]

Hi, I'm studying English ( 3rd semester because I want to be a teacher one day so my English is not that bad but I'm that kind of person who's not really self confident (. I'm always thinking that my English is not good enough. That's why I need somebody to chat who can correct my mistakes and help me to improve my English skills and my confidence !

[jbrady4]

Hello Nadeschda,

My name is Jack and I come from England. I am currently a student of English literature, French, German, Japanese and Maths (A-Levels). I would be more than happy to help with your English, boost your confidence and correct any mistakes. Judging by your original post, your English is very good.

"That's why I need someone (1) to chat to (2) who can correct my mistakes, (3) help me to improve my English skills (4) and help me to improve my confidence."

(1) Someone reads better than somebody.

(2) The verb is 'to chat to' or 'to chat with', where to and with are essential.

(3) This is difficult. This sentence is called a 'complex sentence' because the verb applies is used more than once. A simple sentence such as "I go to the shops" uses the verb "to go" with one thing - the shops. A complex sentence would use this verb with more than one thing. Use a comma between each thing except from the last thing, which uses "and" instead, for example "I go to the park, the shops, the bus station and the party." In your example, you have used the verb can "who can." Here, the verb "can" is used for all of the ideas - someone to chat to who can correct my mistakes, (+who can) help me to improve my English and (+ who can) help me to improve my confidence.

See my correction and the second sentence of my response for further clarification.

(4) The use of "skills" isn't necessary. It makes sense but when talking about skills in a language, isn't necessary.

I hope that was helpful,

Jack

[Keswick]

Hello jbrady4,

I am afraid nadeschda hasn't visited the forum since January, so please do not be surprised if you don't hear back from her.

Either way, welcome to the forum!

[nadeschda]

Hi Jack! My name is Nadja!


Finally somebody answered! I was afraid that nobody wants to communicate in this forum. So I am really happy to hear from you. Thank you, that you took the time to correct my post and to give me couple advices.
I am not really familiar with the British education system and I think it is different than the German one. You said you are a student. Are you visiting a high school or a university ? I am wondering because of the A-level that you have mentioned . Looking forward to hear from you.


Nadja

[Delfino]

Hi Jack! My name is Nadja!

Finally somebody answered! I was afraid that nobody in this forum would want to communicate with me.
So I am really happy to hear from you. Thank you for taking the time to correct my post and to give me some advice.
I am not really familiar with the British education system, and I think it is different compared to the German one.
You said you are a student. Are you [studying at / attending] a high school or a university?
I am wondering because you mentioned A-Levels.

I am looking forward to hear from you.

Nadja

The English noun "advice" is what's called a "non-counting noun". So it is never plural.

See also

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A-level

https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advanced_Level

[Schuyler]

Hi Nadja!

I would be happy to chat with you, too, and help answer any questions you have about English. My name is Brianna, and I'm from the USA. I am not in school right now, but I hope to start studying linguistics soon and eventually work as a translator/interpreter.

Your first language is Russian? That's really cool. I'm trying to learn Russian for my third language, but I am only a beginner and don't know how to say much yet. It is not necessarily harder than German or English, but being in a different language family, most of the vocabulary is completely new to me. ^^


Also, there are two things I noticed with Delfino's corrections that I thought I would clarify so there is no confusion:

1) "I am not really familiar with the British education system, and I think it is different than the German one" is, in fact, perfect English. It actually sounds more natural to me than "I think it is different compared to the German one," although that is also correct.

2) "I am looking forward to hear from you" should actually be "I am looking forward to hearing from you." You can also say, "I look forward to hearing from you," or even just, "Looking forward to hearing from you."

[Delfino]

Welcome to the forum, Brianna.

Because German is part of the same language family as English
I would expect it to be easier than Russian (for native speakers of English).

Russian has six cases, a more foreign vocabulary, ... and a cyrillic alphabet
which is far more different than the German one (in comparison to English).

So we'll just have to agree to disagree whether Russian is harder than English.

[nadeschda]

Hey Brianna.
That's nice that you are offering yout help. I would love to chat with you too. Where do you live in the USA? I love this country. I was an aupair in Colorado in 2012 .
Yes, my first language is Russian. My family moved to Germany when I was 9. So I can speak russian fluently but my writing and reading skills are not the best. That's cool that you learning this language. I think Russian is so much easier than german. Especially the grammar. You don't need to use 3 differend kind of articles as you have to do in German. If you need help, feel free to ask.

Why do I have to say "I'm looking forward to hearing from you?" I thought that the preposition 'to' is only used with the infinitive.

[Delfino]

Hey Brianna.
That's nice that you are offering your help. I would love to chat with you too.
Where do you live in the USA? I love this country. I was an au pair in Colorado in 2012.

Yes, my first language is Russian. My family moved to Germany when I was 9.
So I can speak Russian fluently, but my writing and reading skills are not the best.
It's cool that you are learning this language.
I think Russian is so much easier than German - especially the grammar.
You don't need to use 3 differend kind of articles as you have to do in German.
If you need any help, please feel free to ask me.

Why do I have to say "I'm looking forward to hearing from you?"?
I thought that the preposition 'to' is only used with the infinitive.

You know which one to use when you know that the "to" in "look forward to" is a preposition;
it's the same "to" you would use in "listen to the radio." "listen to the singing."

"Radio" is a noun, and so is "singing." "Singing" is a gerund (comes from a verb but acts like a noun).
"Look forward to" is a phrasal verb that has three words, and the last one is a preposition,
so you have to use a noun: Look forward to the party / look forward to hearing from you.

[nadeschda]

Ok, thank you. That make sense. Now I have another question : why do I have to say " It is cool .." and not "That is cool.." . I used "that" in my first sentence too: "That is nice that you are offering your help." So is it better to use "it" ?

[Delfino]

Yes, I would probably use it in your first sentence too.

I am not saying you were wrong. I would have used red instead.
I probably felt it sounds odd using 'that' twice in this sentence.

Maybe one of the professionals or native speakers on this forum
can enlighten us...

[Schuyler]

Your original sentences with "that" are not truly incorrect, but they do sound a bit odd; "it" sounds better. Let me see if I can explain it for you:

When you say something like "that is cool," you are responding to a specific thing that has already been said or that is understood in the conversation. For example, in my post you can see how I wrote, "Your first language is Russian? That's really cool." In this situation, "that" is used as a pronoun referring to the statement that Russian is your first language, which is understood because I had just said it in the sentence before.

"It" is usually used in more general sentences when subject is not as obvious, when you are introducing a new topic, and so on. So it makes more sense in your post to say "It's nice that you are offering your help," because I said more than one thing in my post and it is not as obvious what you are referring to. If I had just said, "I'm happy to help you," and you are answering immediately afterwards, then it would be best to say, for example, "That's nice of you," because it is clear you are responding to that specific statement.

It can be fine to use "that" more than once in a sentence (heck, it isn't unusual to even have it twice in a row, like in "I know that that is correct," although the second "that" is often dropped to make the sentence flow smoother,) but most of the time you will not hear something like "That is cool that you speak German," because if you are using "that," what you are referring to is probably understood already and you can just say "That is cool."
If you are using "it," however, you will probably need to say "It is cool that you speak German," because otherwise the other person may not know what you are talking about.


Does that all make sense? I hope I am not making it sound too confusing; I have not had a whole lot of experience with thinking about English from a learner's point of view. If you want more examples or a better explanation, just ask! c:

[nadeschda]

I have a new question: I hope that you can help me, guys. Is it correct to say: "Have you believed that... ?" Or do I have to say: "Did you believe that ... ?".

[Delfino]

@ nadeschda

Please create a new thread for each question you'd like to like to get answered.


"Have you ever believed that... ?" - [Hast du / Haben Sie] jemals geglaubt das...

"Did you believe that ... ?" - [Hast du / Haben Sie] geglaubt das... (abgeschlossen in der Vergangenheit -> jetzt nicht mehr!)

[Matthias_222]

Hey guys,
my name is Matthias and I'am from Vienna(Austria), is there still anybody who would offer to speak in Skype in English with me?
I have to practice for my oral A-levels, so it's really urgent, please help me.

Greetings!