Squidoo teaches me English
But the weather. Will I ever feel comfortable using words like 'sleet' or 'hail'? I'm not even sure about the spelling (though my spelling checker isn't protesting)
What English Words or Phrases are you struggling with?
This is especially for visitors of this lens whose first language isn't English. What English have you learned on squidoo (or elsewhere)? What words to you struggle with at the moment?
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- somos somos Dec 6, 2009 @ 7:19 pm
- i am native Spanish speaker, but have gone to school all my life in the USA, one thing i still struggle with English is the spelling, since it isn't phonetic, for example, cough, (really ou and gh?) and i can never spell definitely, also, why all the double consonants like in the word exaggerate, i always forget if it's double g or double r. thank goodness for spellcheck. Spanish is more user-friendly, you just write it like it sounds!
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- Abhilasha Abhilasha Nov 14, 2009 @ 11:05 am
- English isn't my native tongue and in the language i speak in I went to the park would be by translating the words "I park went" so i often say sentences backwards. Is there any exercise to help me?
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- spirituality spirituality Nov 16, 2009 @ 11:24 am
- Just practice. For instance you can keep a diary in English about all the things you did that day - and make sure you are very conscious about the word order. Good luck
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- DaveWalters DaveWalters Jun 12, 2009 @ 10:05 pm
- English is my native tongue, but I have been in China teaching it as a second language for a few years now. I think I have probably learned more than my students :-) The subtle and detailed nature of langauge is something we often ignore when we never had to spend time learning it. Learning a language is such a dense undertaking, I can truly appreciate those who learn another language.
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- Brahim Brahim Mar 7, 2009 @ 7:34 am
- english is my second language i have been learning it for ren years ago and amlooking forward to master oral aspect
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Crochet - aka 'haken'
As a kid I was into crafts bigtime. So of course I learned to knit and I learned how to crochet (is that a verb?). But I learned in Dutch. The one year I went to school in the states did teach me the word for 'brijen' - to knit - but not the word for 'haken', which the two lenses below teach me is crochet. Thanks bethd821...-
You will learn to crochet
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If you need help learning to crochet, then this is the place for you. You will find free step-by-step instructions of different crochet stitches, learn basic crochet abbreviations, learn about gauging your crochet stitches, and find free crochet patt...
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Crochet Halloween Decorations
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An adorable scarecrow A cute Polly Pumpkin A Halloween Bunting Crochet is a passion of mine. I do enjoy making things. I have crocheted for over 30 years and have given 80-90% of the projects. I can't wait to decorate with these 3 adorable item...
How about Biology? Blackberries or black berries?
Alright - this lens is about blackberry jelly. Still, it has a great picture of what the fruit looks like: for me, as a learner of English that was enough.
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Easy Blackberry Jelly & Other Jelly Desserts
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This lens deal with Mama Ruby Isbill's delicious, quick and easy blackberry jelly. It also has many other blackberry and jelly recipe links. My mother asked me to share some of her recipes with the readers on Squidoo. Please visit often as I will add...
Great Stuff on Amazon
Speak English Like an American (Book & Audio CD set)
Avg. Customer Rating: 
Amazon Price: $24.95 (as of 12/24/2009) 
American Accent Training (Book and Audio CD, 2nd Edition)
Avg. Customer Rating:
Amazon Price: $26.37 (as of 12/24/2009)
Blackbirds or black birds?
So I never knew what a blackbird looks like. I never had a picture in my head when reading about them. Merels (plural of merel) don't actually figure in our literature much - and aren't seen as romantic. So the association is weird. I was never sure what bird to picture. After all - there are other black birds as well: ravens, crows etc.
But thanks to squidoo I now know what to picture :)
You really have to look hard on this lens. But way down the middle there's a picture of a black bird in characteristic pose. As I said: that's a 'merel' in Dutch.
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Our Nesting Blackbirds
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I love blackbirds and a few weeks ago was priviledged to have a blackbird build a nest on our patio in the trellis of a raised bed! She and her mate have subseqently raised a brood of four baby blackbird chicks from the clutch of eggs. I try to have...
Struggling with English - online
- English as a Second Language, Oll Raigth! - WFMU's Beware of the Blog
- Years ago I saw a South American actor?whose name I don't recall?on a talk show. He was discussing the difficulties of learning English and he said that, to Spanish-speakers, English sounded like barking dogs.
- A Beta Release Microsoft Research: ESL (English as a Second ...
- The Microsoft Research ESL Assistant is a web service that provides correction suggestions for typical ESL (English as a Second Language) errors. Such errors include, for example, the choice of determiners (the/a) and the choice of ...
- ESL - English as a Second Language - Teach English in Taiwan ...
- Tesljobs.com is an international ESL job board, ESL Teachers resume board, community collection of teaching resources and teaching articles.
- No Better Time Than Now to Teach English Abroad | Education
- They are defined as follows: English as a Foreign Language (EFL), English as a Second Language (ESL), Teaching English as a Foreign Language (TEFL), Teaching English as a Second Language (TESL), and Teaching English to Speakers of Other ...
Daffodils
In English though daffodils do appear in literature a lot. Not sure why - the flower is a bit pompous I think. Perhaps the reason why J.K. Rowling turned them into honking daffodils in the Harry Potter books.
I hear that there are actually two kinds of daffodils - and one IS called narcis in English? Or something? I hope someone can enlighten me in the comments.
To my relief this lens doesn't name them anything other than 'daffodils'. I mean - do I really need more confusion trying to keep up with the differences between English and Dutch?
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Daffodils, Daffodils, and More Daffodils
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Daffodil bulbs are available in the Fall, and need to be planted before the first hard frost. Daffodils require a cold period in order to form roots. Have you seen the beautiful daffodils coming up in spring yet? On 4-2-09 the daffodils started bloom...
More common plants
One of the difficulties of cross cultural biology is simply that many plants don't exist on another continent. However, on this page I'm sticking to those things which are the same, just with different names in different languages. For instance the new English word I learned today: dandelion. Can't even think of the Dutch right now.-
Dandelions
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This photograph was taken in a yard in Carson. Dandelions are one of the world's most famous weeds. To many, in fact, they are the poster girl for all weeds. While they are the targets of wrath from many, they are also useful in many ways and a favo...
Medicine - speak English, will you?
In medicine this means that I don't know the first thing about medispeak. I don't know just what an anurism is. Or a visectimy. Judging by my spell checker - I don't know enough to know how to spell them either. I really don't need anybody to help me with English - but if I ever end up in an American or English hospital, I WILL need help just understanding what's going on.
English a second language for you too? Did I make any mistakes? What weird English do you struggle with?
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- a_willow a_willow May 31, 2009 @ 10:12 am
- You're right! I started writing in English for Squidoo after years of no writing at all. Now, when I started to write my first lens on Croatian, I was so confused! ;) More and more often when I think about something, English words come to me first! Crazy, I know but truth! Blessed birthday to you my friend!
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- dc64 dc64 May 15, 2009 @ 2:37 pm
- Here's a poem by T.S.Watt (1954) which describes English perfectly:
I take it you already know
Of tough and bough and cough and dough.
Others may stumble but not you,
On hiccough, through, lough and through.
Well done! And now you wish, perhaps,
To learn of less familiar traps.
Beware of heard, a dreadful word
That looks like beard and sounds like bird,
And dead--it's said like bed, not bead.
For goodness's sake, don't call it deed!
Watch out for meat and great and threat:
They rhyme with suite and straight and debt.
A moth is not a moth in mother,
Nor both in bother, broth in brother,
And here is not a match for there,
Nor dear and fear for bear and pear,
And then there's dose and rose and lose--
Just look them up--and goose and choose,
And cork and work and card and ward,
And font and front and word and sword,
And do and go and thwart and cart.
Come, come, I've hardly made a start.
A dreadful language? Man alive,
I'd mastered it when I was five.
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- tandemonimom tandemonimom Jan 15, 2009 @ 1:13 am
- I have, sadly never learned a second language (though I did study Latin in college). This is a cool lens topic! Again, congrats on making the 100 Club!
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- spirituality spirituality Sep 13, 2008 @ 8:51 am
- I have no idea what raspberries are (any lenses on the topic?) so I wouldn't be able to tell you. From a dutch perspective Rode bessen (which literally means red berry) are THE ESSENTIAL BERRY (or bes). But that's about all I know. The mysteries continue :)
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- Evelyn_Saenz Evelyn_Saenz Sep 12, 2008 @ 7:23 am
- "What we call a black berry (zwarte bes: two words) is more like a black red berry (no idea what rode bessen are called in English)."
I wonder if those are Black Raspberries? Another possibility is that they are a different berry all together. The berries from Costa Rica that are translated as blackberries (mora) certainly are a totally different berry than blackberries here in the States.
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More on The Netherlands
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Little known facts about The Netherlands
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Learn about working women in The Netherlands, our royalty, or relationship with water, some history and a lot more. Like: isn't your country called 'Holland'? Well sort of, I'll explain below... Isn't half the country below sea l...
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Leiden, university town in The Netherlands
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Culture, shopping, poetry on the walls, European Dutch old town architecture, fairs and more. This lens shows you a bit of the history of Leiden, some pictures of the sights and a view into the local culture. Do take a look at the statistics so you k...
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Bikes in The Netherlands, about Dutch Bikes
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There is no country in the world where biking is so normal as it is in The Netherlands - except China. This is a tribute to Dutch Bikes. Yes, we really do a lot of bicycling - and we've got the bikes to show for it. [A reader told me the people of D...
More of me on squidoo
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Spiritual Lenses - Katinka Hesselink Net: religion and spirituality
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A lensography of my best spirituality lenses as well as a summary of my website. I feature information from various religious traditions like Buddhism, Sufism, Fourth Way and Theosophy. I also pay attention to various spiritual teachers, whether the...
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Katinka Hesselink - my other lenses
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I'm a lensmaster, webdesigner an oldest child, an eternal student, a former teacher and single. Most of you know me here on Squidoo as lensmaster 'spirituality' - but I've also got a life outside my interests in spirituality (though perhaps that's n...
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Nerdy lenses - digital info, tips and fun
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Meet the nerd in me... I've made some lenses in which I share some of the things I've learned while designing websites and earning a living. These are them: some SEO tips, CSS tricks, Myspace tips and more.
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