English Thread

[SanFrancisco]

I know that there was already an english Thread here, but somehow it wasn´t really up to date and also not visited very often... I would like to ask if there is nobody here who wants to write and practice a bit - I know it isn´t easy to keep a thread with no real theme up to date - but I think there could be one which is open to all kind of discussion or stuff like that!

Maybe it is also possible to open a english part of the page - one could attract english readers from other European countries with that as well as german readers?

Anybody interested?

Greetz,
Yvonne

[americanhero]

Hi Yvonne,

I think, there will be some members of the Forum, who are interested in writing in English, but I´m not sure if such a thread will survive very long. As you have seen with the old one it was difficult to keep it up to date and also alive.
So what should be the key themes of an English thread? Just writing about some stuff in English like phrases, jokes or something like that? I don`t think that it will be very interesting for many of us.
And to open an English part of the Forum in that kind it is now in German will not made any sense,`cause many members aren´t so fluently with the English language and will be inhibited in writing something.

Iam also interesting in writing in English and if this thread doesn´t work, maybe you are interested in writing to me via PN(in English)

Greetz,

Yvonne

[SanFrancisco]

Hi Yvonne,

you are right, I also think that it will be difficult to keep this thread alive!
With no special topic, you don´t know about what to write!

Maybe we could just start with telling how we "discovered" the USA for ourselves, or something like that. I think it is always interesting to read how others first started!

What do you think?

If it is not working, we can of course write PN - I love writing and practising english in this way!

Greetz,
yvonne

[americanhero]

Maybe we could just start with telling how we "discovered" the USA for ourselves, or something like that. I think it is always interesting to read how others first started!
What do you think.

Hi Yvonne,

that sounds great. I´m not sure what our Mods are thinking about it, but if they want to close that thread we will still have the option of writing to each other via PN.

So, how have you started? What was your reason for visiting the USA? Was there something that caused an special interest?

For me it were my relatives in Detroit and we were visiting them for the first time, when I was ten years old. And after that first time in the States with all the exciting things I had seen, I was totally infected with the US virus. Well, it really started there and I was totally relieved that we were visiting my relatives again two years later. Beside the fact they couldn´t speak German any more and I had to try to speak to them in English I totally enjoyed my visits there and one more followed a few years later.
I also took part in a school exchange program hosted by our local school and spent 3 months in Detroit, really funny. It was just a few miles away from the part of Detroit where my relatives were living.
And after I finished Nursing School five years ago I started travellingt to the US by myself. I spent a lot of time in Washington, Boston, Philli and different cities at the East Coast, where I met a lot of interesting people. So one of my best American friends is studying in Houston and I already have visited her there. As I told you recently, I have been to the US at least once a year. And if there is not much time or not too much money left for a longer trip, I will spent at least a few days in Dc, New York or somewhere else at the EAstcoast.

Greetz,

Yvonne

[ratlady]

*sorry to "interrupt" , but... I'm in!!!    Also, per pm, of course - whoever's interested...    Unfortunately, my English's not really THAT good any more, since I've been living in the Deep South for almost four years now...    

How did I first get to the US? Well, out of "necessity", kind of - since that was where "all the good jobs were"... Never "dreamed" or even thought about going to the US before, on the contrary - that was about the last place I had in mind back then   ... Came here the first time in late 2000 on a J1-Visa, then back and forth between US and Germany... finally, found "my place" (and my husband   ) here on the Gulf Coast... Now, I LOVE IT and wouldn't trade it (or him   ) for the world... ! But if, five years ago, anybody had "predicted" anything like that for me, I would've called for the guys with the straight-jacket...  

Haven't been around the US too much, unfortunately, though... and if, it's basically - of course - the south... But we do have plans and hope we can "put them into practice" one of these days...  

[Schakal]

Great idea of opening another thread in English. I just hope, that we will be able to keep this one alive.

As my Mum is canadian citizen (with asian roots) that moved to Austria, I had something you'd call a good starting point.   At the age of five, my parents brought me to Canada for the first time of my life. From then on, we continued to visit family and friends not only in Canda, but also in Los Angeles, Fresno and San Francisco. And as americans usually are quite frequent movers (I once heard that statistically, every american moves like once every 7 years), we had some relatives on the east coast as well, that had to be visited. So any way, I had been to the States and to Canada another 11 times with my parents. On these 10 trips, I really started to love the variety of the country, the way you are treated by sales persons, waiters and waitresses, the generally easy way of getting into a conversation with residents and the large choice that can be made, almost everywhere.

Long story short: Last year I could convince my girlfriend to join me on a trip to Florida, which had been my first trip to the US without my parents. It was a great trip, and my girlfriend enjoyed this one alot. So we started planning on our next trip already, which will take us to the west coast, and I am already looking forward to this one. I think after this one, she will be addicted to this country just  like I am.  

[Crimson Tide]

*sorry to "interrupt" , but... I'm in!!!    Also, per pm, of course - whoever's interested...    Unfortunately, my English's not really THAT good any more, since I've been living in the Deep South for almost four years now...    

How did I first get to the US? Well, out of "necessity", kind of - since that was where "all the good jobs were"... Never "dreamed" or even thought about going to the US before, on the contrary - that was about the last place I had in mind back then   ... Came here the first time in late 2000 on a J1-Visa, then back and forth between US and Germany... finally, found "my place" (and my husband   ) here on the Gulf Coast... Now, I LOVE IT and wouldn't trade it (or him   ) for the world... ! But if, five years ago, anybody had "predicted" anything like that for me, I would've called for the guys with the straight-jacket...   yearsHaven't been around the US too much, unfortunately, though... and if, it's basically - of course - the south... But we do have plans and hope we can "put them into practice" one of these days...  

Hi, Ratlady,
where have you been in "The Deep South" for four years?
I'm just interested in because I'm right now living in Alabama.
When the customs at the border in Atlanta are looking into my passport, they always asking me,"What the hell are you doing in Alabama, I'm so sorry for you!" I think that's not fair! O.K. it is not really the most developed country in the U.S., but it has beautiful landscape, 80% forest, the rest are Golf-Courses, , and I love the Gulf Coast too.
When we'll go back to Germany, we'll miss the beautiful weather, the mostly blue sky, and our big house with three garages! Our house in Germany (between Bremen and Oldenburg) is as half as big than our house in Tuscaloosa.
Sorry for my bad English grammar, but I hated English before we came to Alabama.
In my schooltime 25 years before I didn't like, I hated my English teacher, so I  wanted to punish her,(I only punished myself   ) with ignoring her lessons. Later I took Latin (for 6 long years), and when my husband suddely came with the idea and the great opportunity to live for three years in the USA, I got a shock!    
Now I HAVE to learn it, and suddenly I like it!
I would never have dared to write these sentences into a public Forum two years before, but I think it can just help me to improve my English!
I like the idea of an English-Thread and I'm sure it will last a long time!
Sincerely,
Monika

[ratlady]

Hi, Ratlady,
where have you been in "The Deep South" for four years?
I'm just interested in because I'm right now living in Alabama.
When the customs at the border in Atlanta are looking into my passport, they always asking me,"What the hell are you doing in Alabama, I'm so sorry for you!" I think that's not fair! O.K. it is not really the most developed country in the U.S., but it has beautiful landscape, 80% forest, the rest are Golf-Courses, , and I love the Gulf Coast too.

"State", you mean...?    Anyway, I agree with you wholeheartedly... although I've come thru ATL plenty of times and never got asked THAT "stupid" a question...  

We're right here on the coast, living maybe a mile or so from the Gulf on Fort Morgan peninsula (and actually there's a golf course in our "back yard"  ...) I know a lot of people come here for the golf as much as for the Gulf but personally, I couldn't care less... and I don't even know a whole lot of people who do play golf around here...  

At this time, I'm not planning on going back to Germany (other than on vacation, to visit my family) but we may move to another state some day, maybe even only temporarily... I'm sure I'll miss it down here - even though with tourism and, consequently, development booming all over the place and especially along the beaches, who knows, some day I might just want to leave here too. That's what my husband says - it's just changed too much since "the old days", it's almost like a "strange" place now... Even in the short time I'm here, I've seen plenty of it... Still, I just LOVE the Gulf, the white sand and the few remaining sand dunes along the coast, the wildlife... Also, people are wonderful and the "local spirit" (where it still remains) is great...  

Sorry for my bad English grammar, but I hated English before we came to Alabama.

Ever noticed grammar ain't no problem around here...?  And do they even "speak English"...??   My standard "joke" is, "well, I used to speak English but that was before I came here - it's been going down the drain ever since..."  

I've almost always loved English (even though I hated my very first English teacher - she used to come down in front of your desk until she was "face to face"... and then spit straight into yours while "demonstrating" the "tongue-between-teeth-TH"...  ) I took English as "Leistungskurs" later on, then it kind of "accompanied" me all thru university (a lot of the literature was in English)... then went down to Australia for about half a year and was completely lost at first!!   Hard-core "Strine" really is something different, too... but I got to "love" that as well.  

I still think that English is probably one of the "easiest" languages to learn, especially later in life... it's just so plain simple compared to something like German... And, "cuss-words" are a lot "better" (and more "versatile"), too...  

[americanhero]

I would never have dared to write these sentences into a public Forum two years before, but I think it can just help me to improve my English!
I like the idea of an English-Thread and I'm sure it will last a long time!

 Hey, you´re absolutely right. It takes some time before you bring yourself to that point that it won´t harm you while writing something in English. Instead you can improve your skills and I´m sure no one of us is really perfect with the English language.
You  still have the advantage of everyday  practice and that improves your skills like speaking, listening to a conversation and also writing. For me it´s just a chance to use all my language skills (I think, some are still there) and become more fluently in using them.
The fact is I like it to talk and write to someone in English, `cause I´ve forgotten really a lot and my vacation once a year to the US for a week or two is really too short for that.

You`re really enviable, ´cause you got the chance of living for three years in the US. And for me it doesn´t matter where someone live in the States. And I think these three years will be very valuable for you, won´t they?
If I had a chance, I would also go and at least I would live there for some time. The reason why I´m still here is my working contract, ´cause it is an unlimited contract and nowadays it´s really difficult to get one. So I am still here and spend the whole year with planning my next trips to the US, but why not? That´s better than nothing and at least once a year I can spent some time  in the States.
So, that´s enough with all that silly stuff, let´s talk about something else.
We could talk about Alabama. I´ve never been there before but it is a state, I will visit in my further future.

Greetz,

Yvonne

[Anonymous]

Hey, it´s really great that my idea is so warmly welcomed by you! I just thought I´d try if there is any chance for such a thread, and here I am...

As I started this thread, I guess it´s finally my part to tell my own little "american history"... It started a long, long time ago (15 years). I have to say, I don´t know what exactly started it, but from the age of 11, I wanted to travel to the USA. First, what interested me most was Boston, and New York, mostly eastcoast as you can see. Just hearing the names of this citys gave me such a longing feeling, that it even made me sad sometimes. Then, I met my boyfriend. He was an American Militarist from Utah. His discriptions of the "most beautiful country in the world", made me wanting to go there even more. Later, as I grew up and my boyfriend hat left back to Salt Lake City, my interests changed, more to the westcoast, especially Los Angeles and San Francisco. When I was 16 years old, I told myself "when you are 18 years old, you will do your first journey to the US". And that´s what I did. Unfortunately, my best friend at that time, wasn´t so interested in the West, she was more interested in Florida. And as she was the only person who was interested in travelling with me at all, she got me persuaded, and we did our first journey to the USA - Florida. Ever since I took the first step out of Miami Airport, and took a deep breath of the hot, wet air, I loved the USA even more than before. And everytime I travelled there since that day, it feels like coming home to me.
I really wish to be able to live there one day forever - even though I know it is really hard, much harder than here in Germany. But I think it will be a long time until this dream finally comes true!

I´m surprised to see that there are so many citizens here - there were people searching for citizens here in this forum I think, and there were no answers at all... But it is so interesting to read how you got there!

As you all can see, my English - neither grammar nor vocabulary is perfect or even close to perfect - but I noticed that practising is everything! I have a Mail-Friend in Minnesota, and I´m reading a lot of english books, and I think I´m getting better!

Well now, enough from me, tell more about you, and thanks again for your stories!!!

[SanFrancisco]

Sorry - the guest was me!  

@Yvonne: good idea, talking about Alabama! I´ve never been there as well, and it´s one of the states I don´t know a lot about!

[ratlady]

...not really a "citizen"   , but I totally agree - it is indeed interesting to read those "stories"... and BTW, thanks for opening this thread!    And, quite honestly, I can't see too much wrong with "y'all's" English...   (...duh, like mine was perfect...   )

As far as a "topic" goes... I think even "small-talk" would be fine to keep this thread going... Strange as it may sound, even though I've been referring to Alabama as "Sweet Home" (and "proud" of it...   ) for quite a while now, I really don't know too much about it as a whole   ... same holds true for the rest of the US. In fact, I'd bet most of the people on this board have seen and "experienced" more of this country than I have! But thinking about it, after all, I've spent well over a quarter-century in Germany, yet most Americans I've met over here have been around Germany more than I have, too...

It's really not that I wasn't "interested", on the contrary - I love "the land" and the "dimensions" over here... and I'd LOVE to go to all those places... but then, it's always hard to get away from work for more than a day or two, and usually whenever I do take more it's because we're going to Europe...

Interesting enough, though - now that Germany has become a "holiday destination", I see it with somewhat different eyes... more focused on the "beauty" and "highlights", and I enjoy visiting there more than ever before. Of course, since all of it is relatively "new" to my husband, we're more like "tourists" over there now - and through his eyes, a lot of the things I always took "for granted" suddenly appear in a whole new light...  

@SanFrancisco - I wish you good luck realizing your dream - you're right, it's not always easy, but it can sure be worth it...

[Crimson Tide]

Hi, Y'all....
what a funny idea to talk about Alabama, and it is an opportunity for me,while you are sleeping, to begin with a little bit of history.

I'm just learning all about Alabama from my English Teacher Polly, who loves her state, and she is trying to infect me (succesfully!) with her enthusiasm.
Before I begin, I have to confess that our family at first wanted to see the rest of the USA like New York, Chicago, New Orleans,etc., instead of looking what to do in Alabama. I think that's normal.
Do Y'all spend your vacation in Germany? No! You want to see what's in the rest of Europe, or in the USA,and in other continents, am I right?

Now, with the help of Polly, my wonderful Teacher, I'm learning a lot of interesting things from Alabama. She asks me, for example:"What, you have never been in Selma??? We have to go there! ".....

ALABAMA, Nickname: The Heart of Dixie
The national  flower is the Magnolia!
(Not a littke plant like you think, but a huge tree, some of them almost 10 meters tall, the white blossom as big as both of your hands together, it is beautiful!)

The capital city is Montgomery, Birmingham is the biggest city, and most of the people call it the Secret Capital City. Birmingham was once a very important city with it's Iron Production, and it is the most important city for the Civil Rights Movement,(Martin Luther King), about seggregation, herassment etc.
The most important city at the Alabama Gulf Coast is Mobile with the oil company (with the same name, you know, now Exxon-Mobile).
 
Alabama has about 4 1/2 Million citizens.

In the 15th century the first Spanish settlers came to Alabama,at the end of the 16th century the French came from the South, 1763, the British conquered Alabama, and, of course, from 1861 to 1865, the Alabamien had been in the middle of the Civil War as one of the Confederated States, who had fought together against the "Agression of the North".  

Tradition is until today very important for the Southern. They are very proud people. You shouldn't discuss with them about the Civil War. You 'gonna' find everywhere the Flag of the Confederated right now.

I love the Gulf Coast, the forest everywhere, the North of Alabama with the lower mountains (the south of the Appalachians), the waterfalls, the creeks, Alabama has a lot of lakes, and don't forget the golf-courses!

Special points of interests are Huntsville, with the Space and Rocket Center,
Birmingham, with the Museum of Civil Rights,the Botanical Gardens,a nice Zoo,
my town Tuscaloosa has its "University of Alabama",very impressiv buildings, (all rebuilt after completely burnt down in the Civil War), and a football stadium for more than 80 000 people,(all the time sold out!) so you can put the whole citizenship of Tuscaloosa in that stadium. And their football team "Crimson Tide" is just a University Team, not one of the professionals!
If someone should be interested in visiting the Mercedes Plant, you can go to a visitor center in Vance (Tuscaloosa County).

Last but not least I have to mention the very south end of Alabama with sugarwhite sandy beaches at the Gulf Coast, Fort Morgan at Gulf Shores, Dauphin Island (very strong devastation after the last hurricanes), Orange Beach, Mobile,where a very special
point for me is "Bellinggrath Gardens",(located in Theodore), a house and garden ( built 1917), from Walter Bellinggrath, who became a Millionair with Coca Cola.
In Mobile is a little historical downtown, where you can celebrate "Mahdi Gras" like in New Orleans, (some people told me, that it would be better in Mobile ), I hope I can enjoy that one time before we go back to Germany.
Mahdi Gras, celebrated in February, is a kind of "Carneval" like the 5th season in Düsseldorf, Cologne, or Mainz.
So, thats it! ....That's all I remember after my last lessons and from my own experiences with my currently home country.
 I hope, it was a beginning for a little discussion about Alabama.
See y'all,
Monika.

[Crimson Tide]

Hi, Ratlady,
while I was creating my Alabama-History-Story.... (I was sweating because of too much grammar!)...   , I didn't notice that you have been here! I just forgot that you don't sleep yet, because you're here in the deep South too!  
So have a nice rest of Sunday Night! It is too warm outside! I can smell the thunderstorms!
We had just an hour before 22°C! That is really too warm for January!
But that is one of the things I enjoy mostly, the weather, the climate, the blue sky!

I just heard a funny saying about the Four Seasons in Alabama:

1. Nearly Summer,2. hot Summer, 3.Summer, and 4.Christmas!
I think that's true!    

[ratlady]

 

True enough - even though it's getting somewhat "closer to bed time" here too, by now...

Thanks for your Alabama "fact sheet" - even though most of it is "familiar" it's quite interesting, and some news for me, too   . Mentioning the iron production in Birmingham brought one of our own few visits there back to mind - went to see Vulcan Park, which has a lot of information on that particular "chapter" in history there...

By the way, I'm not at all into football (even though a loooong time ago someone actually took the time to explain it to me... ) but as far as I know, college football is considered to be a lot better than professional football, and college (university) football will generally attract a much bigger crowd than a "professional" game...   Well, as far as I'm concerned, "these Americans" are crazy anyway...    (just kidding, of course - I'm a soccer fan   )

And, you're right, it is indeed unusually "hot" for the season... I think we only had about a week of "winter" this year, and this close to February I doubt it's going to get back down to freezing again... well, I don't mind    - even though it would mean that this year I've "missed my chance" to light a fire in the fire place... And it can get cold down here too - I think about 15 years ago they even had snow (on the ground!) in the area...  

take care with those thunderstorms tomorrow - sometimes they can be "wicked"...