Pedro Martínez:Yes, after studying English for a year, one can really speak it to a great extent.  I would say that doing so about Farsi can result in a satisfactory progress, but I also agree that it takes much longer time to understand Farsi, especially the written form. 

On the other hand, farsi is a language whose written and spoken form have gone too far from eachother.  You write Hendavaane, but in a normal speaking, you'd say it Hendoone!

So just enjoy yourself with Farsi.  I'm glad I can fully understand and speak and write it and don't have to 'study' it .

King Reza:

When my daughter was six years she was sent home from school one day with a terrible rash on her face and hands that was itchy, hot and inflamed. A short while later I was telling my sister-in-law about this puzzling incident. As I was explaining that her face had been seriously "irritated" my six year interrupted to say don't your mean "facetated".

Can someone please tell me what "ahoj" means and what language it is. Thank you.

yoyudax: Ahoj means Hi/Hello in Czech or Slovak. :)

yoyudax: Check the Player's dictionary on the Languages page.

Item 10: Hello. (English) ... Ahoj. (Slovak) ...

I checked the dictionalry twice but missed it...It would have been easier to find if my opponent country was identified. Thanx aagin.

Hi.  I know that words "been" and "bin" have different pronounciations.  Now, in movies or generally spoken english I fail to notice any difference between them.  Is there still a difference there or am I right in thinking that in fast and connected speech, 'bin' and 'been' are pronounced exactly the same?

King Reza: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_and_British_English_differences Just because it's in the "movies" does'nt make it true.Try this,i hope it clears a few things up.

King Reza: Not really.... think of been like the name Ben, rhymes with den, hen, fen...

bin rhymes with tin sin pin, you get the idea...
anyway, even in fast connected speech, these words are clearly discernible to the native ear.

King Reza: I guess though, you may have heard someone with a 'southern accent' who spoke with what we call a drawl, and they may pronounce the word been to sound like bin....

Carl:That's why I was asking!  I as a non-native speak English far better than some of the guys in American movies. 

Thanks for the link.

Czuch Czuckers: Very interesting.  I have indeed noticed that some people have their own special accent.  Some pronounce certain vowels shorter than other people do, some pronounce them longer.  Thanks for the examples.

King Reza: Where I am from,, in new england, and especially in the far north east of new england in Maine, we are famous for not pronouncing our 'Rs'in many words.

For example the word 'car' is often pronounced as 'cah'
There is a good sentence we use.... 'Pahk your cah in havahd yahd' to illistrate this point!

Also the 'er' ending in words is often pronounced more like 'ah', as in mothah or fathah.
Anyway, just one more challenge for the non native speaker ;)

Czuch Czuckers:I thought you were American!  Yes, I'm very familiar with the British accent.  I used to have major problems understanding even what the whole sentence pronounced was about, but I've gotten quite used to it.  In fact, I always use Oxford Advanced Learners and think it gives better pronunciations for words.  Just checked' Been' with it.  It says:

Been: /bi:n/ or AmE: /bin/

Bin: /bin/

So I think I was somehow right.

King Reza: lmao..... new England is the north east states in the US! Maine new Hampshire Vermont Rhode island massachusetts and Connecticut. Maine is the farthest north and east of them all.

Czuch Czuckers:Ok, now I'm confused.  Do people in the States drop 'r' sounds just like  British people?
Do you have intrusive R's too?

Like do you ever say something like "Law r and order?"

King Reza: Read this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_accent

Pedro Martínez:I just did.  Very interesting.  Thanks.

I know that shirts which are striped, are called Striped!  If the stipes are thin, then they are called pin-stiped.
But as far as I have noticed, all these stripes are vertical.  Is there any special name for shirts or pieces of clothes in general, if the stripes are horizental?

Can some one please translate this for me.

To umíš česky,tak Ti aspoň napíšu jestli rozumíš,jsem táhla tah na Tvé vítězství a uhrál jsi to bezchybně.Ok

King Reza:

Not that I can think of.

yoyudax: "So you speak Czech; I'll at least tell you, if you understand, that I made a move making it possible for you to win and you played it out perfectly. Ok" (=can be either OK or "eyes" )

Pedro Martínez:
Thank you Pedro Martinez.

gratuluji, už dlouho jsem si takhle nezahrál.

The first word is, without a doubt, "congratulations"; but what does the rest mean?

hexkid: I didn't play such a great game for a long time.

Fencer: Thank you.


How would I reply "May this game be at least as good as the last one.". The game in question is part of a 2-game match.

hexkid: "Nechť je tato hra alespoň tak dobrá, jako byla ta předchozí." :)

Pedro Martínez: Thank you very much.
I hope that smiley isn't an indication you've made a joke with the translation
and this smiley is an indication I don't believe your translation is a joke

hexkid: You're welcome. No worries, the translation is correct, maybe just little bookish...:)

Is there any particular difference between "in the end" and "at the end" ?

King Reza: I'd say "at the end" is more fisical, means location:

• at the end of the corridor there was a door
  
• I'm at the end of the line to buy tickets
  </ul>
  "in the end" refers to time or objective, not location:
  
  
  
  • In the end there can be only one
    
  • All was fine in the end
    </ul>
    
    But this is just the opinion of a non-native speaker...

pauloaguia:But this is just the opinion of a non-native speaker...

And most appreciated.  Thanks. 

comment made to me in a game:

巻貝は　ゆっくり登る　富士山を

Nirvana: This is what I found:

巻貝 - snail; spiral shell
ゆっくり - slowly
登る - rise; ascend; go up; climb
富士山 - Mt Fuji

Pedro Martínez: さすがね、Pedro Martínez! It's a haiku I've encountered for the first time when I was a sixth grader (it's a reconstruction of the original through Hebrew translation that I found). It means, 'The Snail   Slowly climbs   Mt. Fuji", and said 'makigai wa   yukkuri noboru   fujisan wo'. (The lettres you didn't understand, は and を, are topic and direct subject marks respectively.)

Pedro Martínez:

Thank you.

Est ce que quelqu'un peu me traduire ça :
hele, prosím, jak je to přesně s těmi tajnými body ?

Marfitalu: Hey, please, what is the exact way to find secret points?
I don't recommend to answer that.

Fencer: oh yes! thanks

Fencer:

瀬人様:

Not too respectful, young man.

Is there a particular difference between "Why doesn't he eat dinner?" and "Why does he not eat dinner?"

I mean, do they give different impressions ?

King Reza: Not really, doesn't is just short for does not

bouncybouncy:So both "Why doesn't he eat dinner?" and "Why does he not eat dinner?" are used and with exactly the same meaning.  How about this one:

Why does not he eat dinner?

I think it's not a very good question since I cannot recall having heard it anywhere.

I hope i have the right board. Could somebody be so kind and translate the following for me. Thank you

Soda is geschikt voor diverse schoonmaakkarweitjies zoals het reinigen van stenen vloer-en wandtegels, sanitair (b.v badkuip) vuil glaswerk (goed naspoelen!) en aangezette pannen (geen aluminium), vul de pannen met wat water en soda en warm even op.

King Reza: That is very bad English and would not be used.

playBunny:Thanks good Bunny.  I now have a very good image of what I say transferes to others.  Yes.  i was talking about the nagative questions, not eating dinner!  So based on what you say:

If I ask " Isn't he out of town?" or "Is he not out of town?" the hearer gets the same impression, but if I ask "Is he not out of town?" it gives the hearer the impression that I expected the person I am asking my question about, he, to be out of town and now I'm perhaps surprised at hearing that he's not.


R's!  Well, I know that British people drop R's everywhere in a word except where they're followed by a vowel.  So "car" is actually /ka:/ while "car accident" is /ka:r aeksident/.  So I was wondering if in the States there are people who speak like that.

playBunny:Oh O.K.  One so small an 'e' changes the meaning so much!  I meant negative questions!

playBunny:

Great well that translation told me diddly poop