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To non-native English speakers

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46
OzzyOzrock
5,185 posts
Joined August 2010
Topic Starter
OzzyOzrock
When you joined osu! without a perfect idea of English, did any of you sort of learn as you interacted with the community and whatnot with the knowledge you had, and then got better because of it? Or did you wait until you had a firm grasp of the English language before you talked to anyone else?

Sort of similar to learning English by being around others who do speak it. Just curious, since there are a lot of people here without English as their first language by far that have perfect fluency with the English language.
Pegram
1,497 posts
Joined June 2010
Pegram
I don't think osu! helped me with my language skills that much. I had been chatting with native English speakers a lot before I joined, and most of them actually said that I talk it more fluently than they themselves (although I myself think my grammar sucks), and I always found English pretty easy in school, too. I personally hate the fact that there are multiple languages and think that there should be only English. Poot the cultural meaning of languages, poot Babel's tower, and poot stuff, I'd rather just have things convenient.
Laharl
1,394 posts
Joined January 2011
Laharl
I think it helped me a bit.

I realized it by wtriting english a bit better than french. At the point I wrote my final exam in french it was vice versa.
IppE
IppE
Not really.

Honestly, I've seen more Americans who can't seem to be able to speak proper English than Germans, and that says a lot.
silmarilen
5,581 posts
Joined February 2010
silmarilen
my english was already on this level before i started playing osu.
gurodoll_old
254 posts
Joined August 2011
gurodoll_old
I imagine it would make things worse, nya.
Vish024
2,640 posts
Joined December 2010
Vish024
Living in Australia, where English is a minority language at best, I can honestly say that my English could only have worsened by hanging around here.
Ekaru
3,617 posts
Joined July 2008
Ekaru
Let's consider the level of English used in an email I received from a college classmate recently:

Good evening Classmates,

I am sending this email out to all the particapants in this course and I would like to know if anyone has concerns about the way the class has been taught this semester? Do you think the material was taught at a higher level then it should have been? Was it compatiable with the text book? where the exams fair? Any concernsa let me know please, I would like to address this issue with the dean and would like who ever else has issuses to address them with me, so in the future students dont have to deal with this, nor we next semester in physics 2. My issues were all the above and I believe the course was taught above a calc 1 co req. I'm just learned alll the material on the first exam in the end of calc 2. Let me know if you have issues with the course so they can be addressed. Thanks so much my fellow classmates, good luck on your finals! (Native Speaker's Name)
"I'm just learned"
"where the exams fair?"
"...at a higher level then it should..."
etc.

Now consider that this is still at a higher level than that of many native speakers on osu!.

I rest my case. (I already posted that email in another thread but it's the best example I have ATM of poor English)
OzzyOzrock
5,185 posts
Joined August 2010
Topic Starter
OzzyOzrock
Maybe I forgot that osu! isn't the only cultural melting pot (or even a good one) in the world, maybe, just maybe that somehow slipped my mind.

afdasdasdaDDAfdfa

Interesting responses though (not really once things stopped slipping my mind).
thelewa
3,537 posts
Joined August 2010
thelewa
It's so nice to know English because of videogames
Pegram
1,497 posts
Joined June 2010
Pegram

thelewa wrote:

It's so nice to know English because of videogames
Good point.

For example in Europe, most people don't get to play games in their native language. I think that there usually are German, Spanish, Italian and French translations for the more popular games, but many games are available only in English.

This sentence is kinda off-topic, but that's one of the reasons why less fun things are imported to Europe and especially to small, insignificant countries like Finland ;___;
420Guy
516 posts
Joined June 2011
420Guy
Nope osu! did nothing.
Only if i talk with someone in english it helps.
Heibel
812 posts
Joined July 2011
Heibel
My English is better than my Danish because of videogames
Foxtrot
1,165 posts
Joined April 2012
Foxtrot
I remember my English being quite horrible, and it still is in my opinion, but then I started to use it more and more every day IRL and that's how I improved. So no, I don't think osu! helped me improve my English.
Goodbye Shin
312 posts
Joined August 2012
Goodbye Shin

silmarilen wrote:

my english was already on this level before i started playing osu.
nomen
539 posts
Joined March 2012
nomen
No, osu! didn't improve my English skills.
Naikaze
2,401 posts
Joined July 2011
Naikaze

thelewa wrote:

It's so nice to know English because of videogames
^
silmarilen
5,581 posts
Joined February 2010
silmarilen
for me it wasnt so much videogames, just being on the internet in general that taught me english
CruzadoqL
CruzadoqL
Since I graduated from high school, I think I've lost a great part of my knowledges about english, now in the college the english level that professors teach me is very basic, and personally I never study for tests because I think I'm pro (in comparison to the level of english that they're trying to teach me) lol . But here in osu! some words that I´ve never seen or listened have brought back the interest of improving my english and learn more and more.

And finally I think osu and all videogames are really helpful to learn new things, like languages :D

(this post took me around 11 minutes to write)
Last edited by CruzadoqL , edited 1 time in total.
puncia
509 posts
Joined April 2011
puncia
Yep, osu! helped me a lot, especially in reading it. I simply learned just by reading forum or channels like #osu (well..not always).
However, I always have A LOT of doubts when I write long sentences. I didn't improve here.

And yes, avoid Italian translations in video games helped too!

I know this is full of errors omg ;w;
Nekoroll
513 posts
Joined May 2010
Nekoroll

IppE wrote:

Honestly, I've seen more Americans who can't seem to be able to speak proper English than Germans, and that says a lot.
Sad but true.
bmin11
5,438 posts
Joined October 2008
bmin11
Looking back at my older posts, maybe >_>;
Bass
1,846 posts
Joined January 2009
Bass
I remember when my english sucked when I was newbie in osu! Actually videogames(including osu!) helped me with learning english.
Ha, I even learnt to read russian cyrylic and some bad words because of osu!
Ekaru
3,617 posts
Joined July 2008
Ekaru

Puncia wrote:

I know this is full of errors omg ;w;
You used "avoid" when you should have used "avoiding", and it can be argued that you should have used "there" instead of "here".

That's it. As I demonstrated earlier, that's far better than many Americans. This is why remedial English classes in college is a thing. :P
Noobita
597 posts
Joined June 2009
Noobita
i think osu! deteriorated my english ):
dNextGen
4,689 posts
Joined May 2010
dNextGen
yeah i my english improved a lot because of this game

well,thanks to the grammer nazis for fixing my errors in english
JesusYamato
247 posts
Joined April 2012
JesusYamato
je ne parle pas anglais
silmarilen
5,581 posts
Joined February 2010
silmarilen
je ne comprends pas
Ameko
149 posts
Joined September 2011
Ameko
Maybe just a little o.o
Not sure ;w;
Pegram
1,497 posts
Joined June 2010
Pegram

dNextGen wrote:

yeah i my english improved a lot because of this game

well,thanks to the grammer nazis for fixing my errors in english
Did someone say "grammar nazi"?

IT'S GRAMMAR, NOT "GRAMMER", AND ENGLISH IS WRITTEN WITH A CAPITAL: "English", NOT "english"!!!!11
BESIDES WHAT DID YOU MEAN WITH "YEAH I MY ENGLISH" YOU SILLY sorry I just had to.

I think someone told me that you actually can spell it "grammer" instead of "grammar". Is this true?
silmarilen
5,581 posts
Joined February 2010
silmarilen
While you're at it, sentences should be started with a capital and ended with a dot.
Oh and there should be a space after a comma.
Last edited by silmarilen , edited 1 time in total.
Mianki
2,701 posts
Joined September 2008
Mianki
uHuehUhe

I learned a lot of English from fansubbed anime. I remember that everytime there was a word I didn't know, I looked it up from the dictionary. And when I started playing osu! my English was kinda bad but I guess osu! has had a bit of an influence for me learning more English. Communicating in chats and reading posts. Didn't learn any GRAMMER from here though, all that came from school. And ofc I learned a lot from videogames and Englsih tv shows.
Hika
1,553 posts
Joined February 2010
Hika
When I was young, I didn't know any English. I actually almost failed Kindergarten just from not being able to speak it well. My mother taught me to speak Lao because she didn't want me to be an American but rather an Asian American. My father got mad at her & thought that reason was stupid, forcing her to teach me English after I taught myself some from randomly reading books. I had difficulties with my English up until the age of 12 (sometimes I still do, tbh). I started playing online games because they were pretty fun. I didn't know how to type on a computer so my English was often broken & such. I used text talking in almost all cases. I then started playing some MMOs & then I got into osu!. These games taught me more words than school could ever teach me & now, I'm able to write very well but I still have trouble saying some words in English that everyone should know how to pronounce.

Oh, it's quite sad also that some non-native English speakers know more complex words than I do. I sometimes have to pull out a dictionary every now & then. I also keep a set of notecards & add to them when I don't know a word very well.
Kanye West
2,222 posts
Joined July 2011
Kanye West
I'm not a native English speaker but I learned to read and write it in India when I was 2. Pretty much anyone educated in a Westernized school in India can read/write/speak heavily-accented-English fairly well. And then when I moved here, I was surprised that most of the other kids could not read or write (wtf). And picking up on colloquialisms is pretty easy, just listen and repeat.
TarantinOo
TarantinOo

Kanye West wrote:

I'm not a native English speaker but I learned to read and write it in India when I was 2. Pretty much anyone educated in a Westernized school in India can read/write/speak heavily-accented-English fairly well. And then when I moved here, I was surprised that most of the other kids could not read or write (wtf). And picking up on colloquialisms is pretty easy, just listen and repeat.
When I was 2, the only thing I did was pooping my pants and throwing food at walls. Apparently indians already learn how to write in a foreign language at that age. :(
Ekaru
3,617 posts
Joined July 2008
Ekaru
@Hika: Give yourself a couple more years. I know of quite a few Hmong peeps who had similar issues until near the end of High School. :P Out of curiosity, though, did you have any Hmong friends to help you? I noticed that Hmong students at my school (30+% of my high school was Hmong) sometimes helped each other with English by explaining things in Lao (They also sometimes used it to talk behind the teacher's back ;P).

EDIT: Assuming you're Hmong because being taught Lao makes no sense otherwise.
Hika
1,553 posts
Joined February 2010
Hika

Ekaru wrote:

@Hika: Give yourself a couple more years. I know of quite a few Hmong peeps who had similar issues until near the end of High School. :P Out of curiosity, though, did you have any Hmong friends to help you? I noticed that Hmong students at my school (30+% of my high school was Hmong) sometimes helped each other with English by explaining things in Lao (They also sometimes used it to talk behind the teacher's back ;P).

EDIT: Assuming you're Hmong because being taught Lao makes no sense otherwise.
I actually have Hmong cousins as well as an uncle but I'm not Hmong myself. I'm just part Laotian with my mother also being part Laotian, that's why she taught me. At school, I sometimes accidentally speak Lao with friends. I don't have any Lao or Hmong friends that go to my school, it's just me ;_;
Ekaru
3,617 posts
Joined July 2008
Ekaru

Hika wrote:

I actually have Hmong cousins as well as an uncle but I'm not Hmong myself. I'm just part Laotian with my mother also being part Laotian, that's why she taught me. At school, I sometimes accidentally speak Lao with friends. I don't have any Lao or Hmong friends that go to my school, it's just me ;_;
Awww ;_; See, if you were Hmong and lived in a Hmong area then it'd make sense. Your mom really should have taught you English first and then later Lao in that scenario.
Wishy
2,974 posts
Joined September 2010
Wishy
My english is still bad everyone should speak spanish or br.

It's still good enough to mock americans on DotA 2 when they say I'm a taco and then fail to use their own language properly.
Wishy
2,974 posts
Joined September 2010
Wishy
huehueuheuhuhe
Kanye West
2,222 posts
Joined July 2011
Kanye West
Learning BR is easy. There's only a few phrases you really have to know.

"Gibe moni pleaze", "I repot u", "eu gusto de fap" and "huehuehuehue"
Shohei Ohtani
Shohei Ohtani

TarantinOo wrote:

Kanye West wrote:

I'm not a native English speaker but I learned to read and write it in India when I was 2. Pretty much anyone educated in a Westernized school in India can read/write/speak heavily-accented-English fairly well. And then when I moved here, I was surprised that most of the other kids could not read or write (wtf). And picking up on colloquialisms is pretty easy, just listen and repeat.
When I was 2, the only thing I did was pooping my pants and throwing food at walls. Apparently indians already learn how to write in a foreign language at that age. :(
>India

Have you never

That's like behind for indian babies.
Kanye West
2,222 posts
Joined July 2011
Kanye West
Nah, I don't think everyone does that. It's just that a few schools in India teach Western-style and they expect you to be fluent in English before grade school.
Ekaru
3,617 posts
Joined July 2008
Ekaru

Wishy wrote:

My english is still bad everyone should speak spanish or br.

It's still good enough to mock americans on DotA 2 when they say I'm a taco and then fail to use their own language properly.
After having Facebook for a couple years, I'm not surprised to hear that in the slightest.
OzzyOzrock
5,185 posts
Joined August 2010
Topic Starter
OzzyOzrock

Kanye West wrote:

Learning BR is easy. There's only a few phrases you really have to know.

"Gibe moni pleaze", "I repot u", "eu gusto de fap" and "huehuehuehue"
I'm actually heading to Brazil this summer so this is very helpful.
Moriya Suwako
269 posts
Joined June 2011
Moriya Suwako

Hika wrote:

When I was young, I didn't know any English. I actually almost failed Kindergarten just from not being able to speak it well. My mother taught me to speak Lao because she didn't want me to be an American but rather an Asian American. My father got mad at her & thought that reason was stupid, forcing her to teach me English after I taught myself some from randomly reading books. I had difficulties with my English up until the age of 12 (sometimes I still do, tbh). I started playing online games because they were pretty fun. I didn't know how to type on a computer so my English was often broken & such. I used text talking in almost all cases. I then started playing some MMOs & then I got into osu!. These games taught me more words than school could ever teach me & now, I'm able to write very well but I still have trouble saying some words in English that everyone should know how to pronounce.

Oh, it's quite sad also that some non-native English speakers know more complex words than I do. I sometimes have to pull out a dictionary every now & then. I also keep a set of notecards & add to them when I don't know a word very well.
Wow are you Laotian?
Pronunciation is surely a barrier for non-native English speakers especially those who are living in English-speaking countries.
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