The Non-native English Common Mistakes Thread

[nugaeva]

Im a nonnative Eglish speaker, and I got recently confused with the answer I received to the question: "how are you?"

Is it correct to say "I'm good" in response to "how r u?", or is it just a German invention?

	Quote:	AbFab
	The incorrect use of 'actual' taken from the German Aktuell meaning 'now' or 'current'

Or taken from English, as used by Johnson, Milton and others.

I'm going to look down the back of the settee. Perhaps that box of stones is down there...

	Quote:	nugaeva
	Is it correct to say "I'm good" in response to "how r u?", or is it just a German invention?

I'm fine, thank you.

How are you?

[AbFab]

	Quote:	nugaeva
	Im a nonnative Eglish speaker, and I got recently confused with the answer I received to the question: "how are you?" Is it correct to say "I'm good" in response to "how r u?", or is it just a German invention?

This is new, but true.

My 83 year old mother threw me a couple of years ago when I called her in the Eastbourne Home for the Bewildered, by responding to my "how are you?" with "I'm good". I was then the bewildered one...

[jrspet]

I'm good / Not too bad, thank you are common responses in Oz when asked How's the going ?

[evilshell]

	Quote:	Longbyt
	I'd assumed that here it meant 'actual match discussion' as opposed to other themes connected with the World Cup but not about the 'actual' games themselves. In which case, it was correct usage.

As did I.....

	Quote:	Wollishofener
	This may well be, except that I simply DISagree. will see you tomorrow in all its variants and nuances does not mean that you particularily SEE the other, but that you will meet/encounter the other person, or at least expect to do so. Just as I see does not mean that you see anything at all.

You are, of course, fully within your rights to disagree with whatever you want to disgree with !


However, since you now agree that you've got a bit more insight into the nuances of the English verb to see, you're disagreeing with yourself now.

And, as the English say, that can be most disagreeable
.

[mirfield]

Oooh. Just remembered another one.

"What a slow day. I'm so boring."

[jrspet]

Perhaps it is not wrong .. as one is boring when bored

[MusicChick]

	Quote:	mirfield
	.. German speakers, even good ones often say; "I've been here since two years" ..

It's a frequent French thing, too. As in Je suis ici depuis 2 ans...

Another pet peeve of mine is, anytime somebody has a suggestion, they start with "why not doing this or that...". "Why not go to beach today.." It's just a little too round-about for me. I prefer "Let's do something", instead. I can head those dept store awkward announcers "Et pourquoi pas.."

[PaperMoon2]

	Quote:	i-b-deborah
	LOL, "I got bear dawgs and hog dawgs....."

ROFL!! Yeah that was too funny! LOL!

	Quote:	irinastaxen
	How about "you ain't seen nothing yet" ? You am-not seen nothing ...

LOL! Good point. Yeah "ain't" can mean "I don't", "I haven't" "you don't" or "you haven't". When I was growing up the word "ain't" was banned in my house and in school. LOL! It was like the worst of grammer misusage, same thing with ending a sentence with a preposition. LOL! Those were big no-no's.

[PaperMoon2]

	Quote:	Chicago
	Let's start a thread of common English to German mistakes. I bet we all have our nightmare moments. It could be fun and helpful.

Yeah that's a good idea. I bet there are many mistakes English speakers make when speaking German too. I know I make a lot!

	Quote:	Sky
	No really.... I can't agree. It's quite hard to detect in your case that you are not a native speaker.

Yeah there's a lot of people in this forum that I can't tell and would never know they were not a native English speaker! That's good.

	Quote:	irinastaxen
	Please explain?

LOL! People in glass houses should not throw stones. You know that saying?

	Quote:	Wollishofener
	This may well be, except that I simply DISagree. will see you tomorrow in all its variants and nuances does not mean that you particularily SEE the other, but that you will meet/encounter the other person, or at least expect to do so. Just as I see does not mean that you see anything at all. Just as the German utterance aber natürlich does not mean that you regard it as "natural" in any possible meaning. It is phrasal things comparable to a chimpanzee beating his chest, so that "nuances" are "of no commercial value"

Yeah "I see" and "see you later" do not literally mean seeing with the eyes. It could mean I understand, I agree, or talk to you later. I say "I see" all the time when I mean I understand.

	Quote:	PaperMoon2
	Yeah that's a good idea. I bet there are many mistakes English speakers make when speaking German too. I know I make a lot! Yeah there's a lot of people in this forum that I can't tell and would never know they were not a native English speaker! That's good.

Indeed so. Bad, or lack of, punctuation is often a big give-away...
.

Oh you have to check this link for some funny foreign misspellings:
http://www.dreamhaven.org/~data/humor/signs.html
Couple of examples:
In an advertisement by a Hong Kong dentist:
Teeth extracted by the latest Methodists.

Advertisement for donkey rides in Thailand:
Would you like to ride on your own ass?

	Quote:
	Oh you have to check this link for some funny foreign misspellings

I recalled this quote, and I thought "How ironic..." ...

	Quote:
	They gave us Fen-Phen fiasco that numerous people died from or were disabled. Then there was VIOXX the osteoarthitis drug which caused heart attacks and strokes. They lost billions...and of course they needed to come out with something new to make up for the loss. I wouldn't give that vaccine to a dog no less a human being...this post is not to you personally, just posting about Merck. This company can't be trust IMHO...definetly about profit...

"It's English, Jim, but not as we know it..."

Hey DB find you yet she stones did? Need from me too some...

[Chemmie]

	Quote:	PaperMoon2
	LOL! People in glass houses should not throw stones. You know that saying?

No one should throw stones regardless of their housing situation, that's just crappy behavior.

Although if you're stuck in a glass house, and you have a stone, you should throw it to get out.

In conclusion ONLY people in glass houses should throw stones, provided they're stuck in the glass house

[PaperMoon2]

	Quote:	Chemmie
	No one should throw stones regardless of their housing situation, that's just crappy behavior. Although if you're stuck in a glass house, and you have a stone, you should throw it to get out. In conclusion ONLY people in glass houses should throw stones, provided they're stuck in the glass house

LOL! Okay hahahh!

[evilshell]

	Quote:	nugaeva
	Im a nonnative Eglish speaker, and I got recently confused with the answer I received to the question: "how are you?" Is it correct to say "I'm good" in response to "how r u?", or is it just a German invention?

It is never appropriate to use "r" or "u", but it is correct to say "how are you?". And answering with "I'm good" is just fine.

[mirfield]

But of course the only acceptable answer to "How do you do?" is "How do you do?"

[evilshell]

	Quote:	mirfield
	But of course the only acceptable answer to "How do you do?" is "How do you do?"

Ah, sounds like the "Alright?" mystery I find myself struggling with here in the UK

[Hsiang]

when I was in London, i was often greeted with "You all right?" is this the equivalent of "how do you do?"