How long have you been learning English?

[wenedka]

TooFarGone
British lads tend to say Polish accent sounds good, cute or so.
It's really hard to lose your accent (i mean Polish). To be honest, i can't believe you can speak like a British person whenever you want

[TooFarGone]

Wanna bet ? X>
I can even speak like in Shakespear's drama normal (current) british accent is simple compared to that one.
Its obligatory if you want to take part in english theater (its at my school).
Btw I think you've misunderstood me, learning that accent took me like 3 or 4 years plus people I spoke about earlier were complimenting my BRITISH accent, not polish

And what's so hard to believe here ?
Im not the only one, got two mates that can do the same, I think its cause we've all liked to act like people in the movies and games since childhood days, and I think that helped and A LOT.

Plus lots of conversations on skype, ventrilo, teamspeak a lot of british/english movies/comedy shows watched, after all this plus some training each day it like... came from nowhere ^__^

[wenedka]

i may have misunderstood you, ok
There's just many various English dialects and i don't think anybody is able to know them all.

[TooFarGone]

Now THAT'S a completely different story indeed ^___^
I agree, no foreign country member could ever 'master them all'

[wenedka]

Napisane przez TooFarGone

Now THAT'S a completely different story indeed ^___^
I agree, no foreign country member could ever 'master them all'

I doubt any English man can
Well, my boyfriend is English and he can speak with cockney, scottish, yorkshire(this one sounds just funny!) accent etc. but doesn't know them all.

[TooFarGone]

Well, maybe Tolkien would
(if he didnt, Ive never bothered to check this I only know how huge variety of languages he knew)
or Joyce (but he was Irish)

[Margotka_]

Hi !
I will give you some kind of poem in english which i had on my phonetic classes it's little ... strange ?! hehe ... have a nice reading
Success

English is tough Staff

Dearest creature in creation,
Study English pronunciation.
I will teach you in my verse
Sounds like corpse, corps, horse and worse.
I will keep you, Suzy, busy,
Make your head with heat grow dizzy.
Tear in eye, your dress will tear.
So shall I! Oh hear my prayer.

Just compare heart, beard, and heard,
Dies and diet, lord and word,
Sword and sward, retain and Britain.
(Mind the latter, how it’s written.)
Now I surely will not plague you
With such words as plaque and ague.
But be careful how you speak:
say break and steak, but bleak and streak;
Cloven, oven, how and low,
Script, receipt, show, poem and toe.

Hear me say, davoid of trickery,
Daughter, laughter, and Terpsichore,
Typhoid, measles, topsails, aisles,
Exiles, similes, and reviles;
Scholar, vicar, and cigar,
Solar, mica, war and far;
One, anemone, Balmoral,
Kitchen, lichen, laundry, laurel;
Gertrude, German, wind and mind,
Scene, Melpomene, mankind.

Billet does not rhyme with ballet,
Bouquet, wallet, mallet, chalet.
Blood and flood are not like food,
Nor is mould like should and would.
Viscous, viscount, load and broad,
Toward, to forward, to reward.
And your pronunciation's OK
When you correctly say croquet,
Rounded, wounded, grieve and sieve,
Friend and fiend, alive and live.

Ivy, privy, famous, clamour
And enamour rhyme with hammer.
River, rival, tomb, bomb, comb,
Doll and roll and some and home.
Stranger does not rhyme with anger,
Neither does devour with clangour.
Souls but foul, haunt but aunt,
Font,front, wont, want, grand and grant,
Shoes, goes, does. Now first say finger,
and then singer, ginger, linger,
Real, zeal, mauve, gauze, gouge and gauge.
Marriage, foliage, mirage, and age.

Query does not rhyme with very,
Nor does fury sound like bury.
Dost, lost, post and doth, cloth, loth.
Job, nob, bosom, transom, oath.
Though the differences seem little,
We say actual but victual.

Refer does not rhyme with deafer.
Foeffer does, and zephyr, heifer.
Mint, pint, senate and sedate;
Dull, bull, and George ale late.
Scenic, Arabic, Pacific,
Science, conscience, scientific.

Liberty, library, heave and heaven,
Rachel, ache, moustache, eleven.
We say hallowed, but allowed,
People, leopard, towed, but vowed.
Mark the differences, moreover,
Between mover, cover, clover;
Leeches, breeches, wise, precise,
Chalice, but police and lice,
Camel, constable, unstable,
Principle, disciple, label.

Petal, panel, and canal,
Wait, surprise, plait, promise, pal.
Worm and storm, chaise, chaos, chair,
Senator, spectator, mayor.
Tour, but our and succour, four.
Gas, alas, and Arkansas,
Sea, idea, Korea, area,
Psalm, Maria but malaria.
Youth, south, southern, cleanse and clean.
Doctrine, turpentine, marine.

Compare alien with Italian,
Dandelion and battalion.
Sally with ally, yea, ye,
Eye, I, ay, aye, whey and key.
Say aver, but ever, fever,
Neither, leisure, skein, deceiver.
Heron, granary, canary.
Crevice and device and aerie.

Face, but preface, not efface.
Phlegm, phlegmatic, ass, glass, bass.
Large, but target, gin, give, verging,
Ought, out, joust and scour, scourging.
Ear, but earn and wear but tear
Do not rhyme with here but ere.
Seven is right, but so is even,
Hyphen, roughen, nephew, Stephen,
Monkey, donkey, Turk and jerk,
Ask, grasp, wasp, and cork and work.

Pronunciation - think of Psyche !
Is a paling stout and spikey?
Won't it make you lose your wits,
Writing groats and saying grits?
It's a dark abyss or tunnel:
Strewn with stones, stowed, solace, gunwale,
Islington and Isle of Wight,
Housewife, verdict and indict.

Finally, which rhymes with enough -
Though, through, plough, or dough, or cough?
Hiccough has the sound of cup.
My advices to give up!

hehe don't give up I passed it on 5 so it isn't hard

[SoNeRa]

I have been learing this language since I remembered. First I had studied it in primary school later on in secondary school now I'm finishing my studies I'm Polish student of English Philology so if you have any problems or any questions ask me I'm looking forward to hearing from you

[annemon]

Napisane przez SoNeRa

I have been learing this language since I remembered. First I had studied it in primary school later on in secondary school now I'm finishing my studies I'm Polish student of English Philology so if you have any problems or any questions ask me I'm looking forward to hearing from you

Just like me. I graduated from English philology studies some time ago.

[wilhelmina]

Napisane przez TooFarGone

This thread's name is a bit awkward btw.

Well, been learnin for like 11 years or so.
My grammar and spelling seems proper now, and what Im proud of is my accent.
Especially after some of my british lads told me that it sounds just cool

Plus, after putting some work in english theater and comedy (I just love it) Im able to 'switch' between different accents x]
I can suite myself to sound like american, british, nigg.. I mean black guy.
I can act using my voice to talk like someone from movie or a game.
Acting using different voices and accents is lots of fun, and I'd recommend it to everyone who wants to develop such skill or better accent.

Btw theres a stereotype that you need to move to USA or UK to learn such stuff decently, well its a myth, you can basically learn to speak as any of native americans without leavin your country

So do your best and good luck

I do believe in your... skill, however, the last thing we need here is boasting, 'lad'.

[wilhelmina]

Napisane przez SoNeRa

I have been learing this language since I remembered. First I had studied it in primary school later on in secondary school now I'm finishing my studies I'm Polish student of English Philology so if you have any problems or any questions ask me I'm looking forward to hearing from you

Well, I haven't any questions, yet I'm beginning my English Philology studies in less than a month. Can't wait!

[wenedka]

Napisane przez wilhelmina

I do believe in your... skill, however, the last thing we need here is boasting, 'lad'.

well said!

[nea200pl]

Great poem Margotka - little weird but very interesting.

How long do I learn English? - Since primary school. I must have been 10-11 or something. Long time, LOL.

Im proud of is my accent.
Especially after some of my british lads told me that it sounds just cool...

I haven't got British accent but I can communicate freely with everyone and everything around me. Besides, why should I get rid of it - a first I was doing everything to change it but then I realise in the end of the day I am a Pole and I will be and no different passport will change that. My accent cannot be rooted out, can it? And some find they way I speak quite charming, LOL. As long as people can understand me and vice versa, it's cool.

I do everything in English - I haven't got any Polish people around me nor work with any so I can only speak my language when I call home. From one side it's good for me as I gained the skill necessary to live freely in the UK, on the other hand I do miss simple Polish2Polish conversations sometimes.

[SoNeRa]

Napisane przez wilhelmina

Well, I haven't any questions, yet I'm beginning my English Philology studies in less than a month. Can't wait!

Great !!! I whish you a lot of patience because this kind of studies are very hard!!!and sometimes you may discourage yourself while studing it!. Where would you attend your English Philology?

[jannet21]

Napisane przez nea200pl

Besides, why should I get rid of it - a first I was doing everything to change it but then I realise in the end of the day I am a Pole and I will be and no different passport will change that. My accent cannot be rooted out, can it? And some find they way I speak quite charming, LOL.

I agree. I've heard many times our polish- english accent sounds nice.. well some of my friends have used even word sweet. Me also I think, till I am Pole (indeed I am) I won't change myself.

[wilhelmina]

Napisane przez SoNeRa

Great !!! I whish you a lot of patience because this kind of studies are very hard!!!and sometimes you may discourage yourself while studing it!. Where would you attend your English Philology?

Well believe me: I am the last to be discouraged! I shall attend my Philology at the University of Gdańsk.

[myszeczka00]

I've been learning english for 10 years...

[maryam87]

I can't exactly remember when I started to learn English, I guess when I was a little kid. Actually english is my second language, and polish unfortunately I consider it as a third language ( sometimes I feel that I'm unable to speak polish properly)

[kingkong]

Margotka_ this poem is amazing
I've been learning English for 7 years or sth like that kisses

[monyaa]

i've been learning english for 10 years, then I stopped and forgot many thinggs, now I seat next to the Italian girl I work with, I talk to her in englih and my knowing of english is going to be better, because now I am not afraid of talking in foreign language, after work I go home and look for new words to be able to spek with my colleague

[santos]

Long ebough to know that the name of this thread has a grammatical mistake. I don't really remember for how many years I was learning English. Now my English is better than English of an oridnyary Englishman and due to that and to my pronunciation people usually think I am a native speaker. Now I teach English. I passed my test for Cambridge English Teacher course two weeks ago.

[monyaa]

My congratulations.
And that's right, the name of the thread has mistakes.

[hawrodytka]

I was learning English for 6 years. Unfortunately, now I have a break in learning. But I use English almost everyday - especially when I watch my favourite tv series

[AnnGabi]

I "know" english since I was i 2nd grade, so its about... 8 years now..
but i am not that proud of myself as I want...
I have a bit problem with speaking. Its hard to talk to somebody if you do not know some words or you just dont understand the other person.
I feel much better now than when I came to UK this summer.
I am learning in College so I must to use the language.

[mircia14]

I've been learning English since I was 6
I'm in the upper-intermediate level, I'm 15

[Chismosa]

Hi everyone ,
I've been learning english for 8 years and I think that I'm pretty good in it.

[Malaika85]

According to the main topic of this chat....

I ve been learning English loooooong time, mostly unuseful time...
Lets see...
8 years of primary school, then 4 years in high school, then 3 years on studies....

and i must say, till 2nd year of studies, i was tottaly bad in English...then my life changed somehow, I met many friends from different countries, I started dating some boys, not Polish boys...

and i learnt somehow this cute language, faster and better than at school, and with big pleasure...

so...my point is...screw the school and meet people

[123Agsss456]

well, more than eight I'm still working on it but I think it's not that bad anymore...

[FALLinLOVE]

I've been learning English for eleven years, but honestly now I think that I started seriously learning this language 5 years ago when I went to English camp in Cracow I met there a lot of people from USA. After the camp I was mailing with them and I met another people from UK, Canada and Africa and that made my english better

[go2me]

I ve been learning English for 3 years, I started learning English when I came to the UK and I had to use this language everyday,
I am really proud of myself, my English is not perfect (of course, what can I expect after 3 years?) but I'm still working on it