Maksi

As you al noticed, English is not my mother language.. I realise that my English writing is very bad and maybe also very hard to read or even understand.

I want to improve my writing but can't do that without some help of all of you. I don't ask you to be my personal teacher but if you want now and then give me some feedback about my writing mistakes I will be very happy about that. If you don't want to, I'm very sorry that I bother you with this.

For my work I had to speak English a lot, but writing about daily things give me really a hard struggle.

Thanks :)
Maksi

Baren*eh*ked_canadian

You know what? I think your writing skills are great, there are many many people here who's first and sometimes only language is english and they make plenty of grammatical errors and their spelling is not great either.
I'm not an english teacher, but I like to think that I have a pretty good grasp of the english language (even though it is not my first language either), it would be my pleasure to help out. If there is something specific you are unsure about, maybe just point it out in your post and I'm sure someone will correct you or suggest a better way of expressing what you're trying to say :)

gaigai

Maksi, I have friends, coworkers and acquaintances from all over the world, and I can tell you that your written English is VERY good! Much better than my French!

That being said, I can understand your struggle to write a foreign language correctly. Correct congugations, tenses and idioms are HARD! In fact, even though there are so many people here in Texas whose native language is Spanish, I know of a business who had a very difficult time hiring someone who could write Spanish correctly. Of course I know even more Americans who can't write English correctly either!!

Your English writing is just fine! Rather than having us correct you, if you come across something that someone writes that you don't understand, ask THEM to explain it to you. I'll be willing to bet that 99.9% of the time it is an idiom, local colloquialism, or just plain incorrect! LOL

Now, I need to go listen to my Champs Elysee CD's some more!

Maksi

Thank you so much. :) You are very kind. I'm unsure about almost everything I write.
I have trouble to find the right words and if I know them , i have trouble with the spelling.
Most of the time it takes me a few minutes to react. I'm also happy with the babelfish translator from google. :) :)

I do learn a lot just by reading on this board, I also learn a lot because I try to write on my blog in 2 languages.

Thank you so much for helping me out if it is neccesary.

Darlene

Maksi you are doing very well. We can understand everything you have written. I have a Swedish friend on another forum and she has a really hard time but we can understand her too. Keep up the good work and you will build your confidence.

Leota

Your English writing is fine. Don't worry about it.

bearisgray

I think American English is hard to learn - it is inconsistent -
a lot of us use slang and idioms that make no sense when doing a word for word translation.

Some of the slang and idioms make no sense to us, either, when taken literally.

I understood your message - and your spelling and grammar are as good as some "natives" use of the language.

The suggestion that you ask for clarification of something is a good one.

That will also help us write more clearly and understandably.

amma

I think that you have a wonderful grasp on the English language...please feel free to ask for help or ask a question!!! We would all love to help and build up your confidence :D:D:D

Boston1954

You write better than some of the people that I know who were educated in the United States.

Maride

I was in the same situation when I first came here, 23 year ago. I spoke Spanish, and knew English only applied to science, but none conversational.

Someone gave me a piece of advice that I still recommend to people. Watching TV is a great way to learn, specialy sitcoms. It is a short situation that starts and resolves in 30 minutes, but it exposes you to different accents and idioms. You can write down what you don't understand and then ask. I am sure many people will be willing to explain it to you. I was working with a chinesse Dr who spoke Mandarin, Spanish and Portuguese and wanted to learn English. We decided every night which show we would be watching each night and the next morning got together for 15 minutes to discuss what he didn't understand. He learned a lot.

Do you get much American TV? Few years ago I visited Brussels and Gottenburgh and was very surprised to find mainly American TV. Very few local shows.

Maria