English Language Learners

Damkerng T.

19:01

Sizzler (Thailand) usually makes its onion soup without croutons.

Heh, Sizzler has no final s!

Anonymous

Where I grew up, everything has a final s

Damkerng T.

Yay!

Anonymous

We had a grocery store called Jewel, but my dad called it Jewel's

Anonymous

"I'm heading over to Jewel's to get some groceries"

Anonymous

Dairy Queen could easily be Dairy Queen's

Damkerng T.

19:04

:D

Anonymous

Just the local dialect, I s'pose.

Damkerng T.

Don't know why, but mentioning Dairy Queen makes me think of Burger King!

Anonymous

Well, they're fast food royalty.

Damkerng T.

Indeed! :D

Anonymous

I don't remember if my dad added an s to Burger King

Damkerng T.

19:05

He might have!

Anonymous

When I got older, he started pronouncing some things with regional accents from places he visited because he liked their pronunciation better

Anonymous

So instead of our native Illinois dog /dɔɡ/, he started saying dog /doʊg/

Anonymous

And he started saying bag /beɪɡ/

Anonymous

I forgot where they pronounce them like that!

Damkerng T.

I wonder if he said "oh-il" for oil.

Anonymous

19:08

It was somewhere in the southern US

Damkerng T.

Ah, I thought it was BrE!

Anonymous

No, it was somewhere he visited in the US

Anonymous

I forgot where he met his new wife

Damkerng T.

Oh!

Anonymous

I should probably remember, but I don't :-)

Anonymous

19:09

My dad remarried after I moved away

Anonymous

My parents divorced when I was a teenager

Damkerng T.

It was a tough time, I suppose.

Anonymous

Yeah, but it's okay. It was a long time ago :-)

Damkerng T.

nods

Anonymous

It's more or less why I started studying Japanese―I wanted something challenging to take my mind off of things :-)

Damkerng T.

19:10

Ahh

A new challenge is good!

How did you start learning Japanese?

Anonymous

I had a friend in high school who helped teach me some basics

Anonymous

And I got a bunch of books! :-)

Damkerng T.

That's neat!

That's neat too!

Anonymous

I'm afraid I was a pretty inefficient learner!

Anonymous

But it's okay. I eventually learned some stuff anyway :-)

Damkerng T.

19:12

Nah, I think your Japanese is great.

Anonymous

Hehe

Anonymous

I'm still learning! :-)

Damkerng T.

Did you take a Japanese course or class too?

Anonymous

In Japanese, it would be customary to contradict that compliment

Damkerng T.

@snailboat Ah! Like, ie-ie, I think!

Anonymous

19:14

But it's also customary in Japanese to give people compliments, just as a social thing

Damkerng T.

nods

Anonymous

Kind of like how in English we thank people when we're not really showing gratitude

Anonymous

It's not insincere, it's just greasing the wheels of politeness :-)

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. I haven't taken a Japanese class

Damkerng T.

When 7-11 started saying something customary to customers, I felt weird.

Anonymous

19:15

I never felt like my learning meshed really well with how my friends taking Japanese were learning

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. What did they start to say?

Damkerng T.

@snailboat nods -- Because most of them took some Japanese classes, I presume.

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. Yes

Damkerng T.

@snailboat Hmm... It was... maybe right from the beginning.

Anonymous

I do tutoring for students in Japanese classes sometimes :-)

Anonymous

19:17

Right now just two people

Damkerng T.

@snailboat Yay!

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. Coincidentally, 7-11 is owned by a Japanese company now

Anonymous

I think it used to be American, and it was open from 7 until 11

Anonymous

But all my life I've known them as a 24-hour store!

Anonymous

They're big in Japan, too

Damkerng T.

19:19

Oh, the first branch in Thailand was open in 1989, but 7-11 became really popular after 2002.

Anonymous

Although Lawson's is the first convenience store I think of in Japan

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. Ah, I see!

Anonymous

I liked them when I was younger. When I was in high school, after I got my driver's license, I'd head there all the time to get slurpees :-)

Damkerng T.

Oh, slurpees!

Anonymous

I don't usually drink sugar water these days. I drink plain ol' water and a lot of tea :-)

Anonymous

19:20

But I loved slurpees back then.

Anonymous

I was always hyperactive, which I credited to a mixture of caffeine and sugar in my diet

Anonymous

Although I read recently that sugar doesn't contribute to hyperactivity in children!

Anonymous

I was surprised to read that

Damkerng T.

They added dim sum to their fast food menu five years ago, I think. :-)

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. Oh!

Anonymous

19:21

I want dim sum!

Damkerng T.

@snailboat Hah!

@snailboat Hehe!

Anonymous

Chinese food is everywhere in the US, happily

Anonymous

In various styles

Damkerng T.

Oh, do you call "salapao" salapao?

Anonymous

It's very easy to find American Chinese food (with the dishes invented here by Chinese immigrants and their descendants over the last 150 years), but other styles can be found as well

Damkerng T.

19:23

You probably know it as siopao.

Anonymous

Hmm... At a Thai restaurant?

Anonymous

I don't think Chinese restaurants have "salapao" on the menu

Damkerng T.

Usually, dim sum and salapao (siopao) would come together here.

Oh!

Anonymous

At least, not spelled that way

Damkerng T.

Siopao

Siopao (Chinese: 燒包; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: sio-pau) is a Hokkien term for bāozi (包子), literally meaning "steamed buns". It is a famous Filipino-Chinese snack. It has also been incorporated into Thai cuisine where it is called salapao (Thai: ซาลาเปา). A popular food item in the Philippines and Thailand, siopao and salapao do not require utensils to eat and can be consumed on-the-go. Like bāozi, there are different varieties based on stuffing: Asado or bola-bola (which may use pork, chicken, beef, shrimp or salted duck eggs). There is also a baked variety. == See also == Bāozi, the Chinese version of the...

So, Salapao is not from China? LOL

It's like another dish, American Fried Rice, which I did so naively think that it's an American dish until I read about the fact in some magazine.

Anonymous

19:27

Hehe!

Anonymous

What's American Fried Rice?

Damkerng T.

Btw, the quarter Chinese of mine is Hokkien. :-)

Anonymous

Neat!

Damkerng T.

@snailboat LOL

ข้าวผัดอเมริกัน (American Fried Rice) usually looks like this:

Rice fried with tomato sauce, fried egg, some sausages, some chicken wings or legs, some tomatoes or green thingies, and definitely the ketchup!

I remember that your tomato sauce is not ketchup, but both of them are synonymous around here. :D

Anonymous

Wow!

Anonymous

19:32

It does look kind of American

Anonymous

Some people think French fries are French.

Damkerng T.

Oh, they aren't!? -- lol

Anonymous

At one point in a fit of nationalist hysteria they were renamed to "freedom fries" in the US

Damkerng T.

LOL

Anonymous

→ en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_fries#Culinary_origin

Anonymous

19:39

It seems that it's unclear where they were invented

Anonymous

I remember learning that they weren't actually French when I was young

Damkerng T.

pommes de terre frites!

Anonymous

Now I don't know! :-)

Anonymous

Sometimes when I want to type something in English, I backspace and edit or rewrite over and over

Anonymous

But of course I don't have the opportunity to do that when speaking

Anonymous

19:46

I wonder if that's a sign of a disconnect between how I speak and how I write

Anonymous

I was just thinking of writing "Do you think native speakers have an easier time understanding something that's not written clearly?"

Anonymous

And I came up with about six different phrasings and kept thinking "Nah, that's not quite right"

Damkerng T.

@snailboat That sounds like you usually change your mind in the mid-air.

Anonymous

So then I tried expressing the concept out loud, and I came up with the phrasing I just typed up there

Anonymous

So I typed it in :-)

Anonymous

19:47

@DamkerngT. I suppose I do!

Damkerng T.

A-ha! I see. You mean you can think better when saying it aloud.

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. I guess it's supposed to be a Japanese flying squirrel!

Anonymous

Damkerng T.

Oh, that cute little thing!

They are super cute!

Anonymous

When most people here say squirrel, they don't mean the class of animals to which flying squirrels belong.

Anonymous

19:49

I think they usually mean tree squirrels.

Anonymous

I think most people here would say a groundhog is different than a squirrel

Damkerng T.

Tree squirrels can jump very far.

Anonymous

But they're all in the Sciuridae family

Anonymous

Which is the "squirrel" family

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. We have dozens of them living on the property!

Anonymous

19:51

Several families

Damkerng T.

Oh, I thought groundhog would live on (or in?) the ground.

@snailboat Nice!

Anonymous

Ground squirrel

The ground squirrels are members of the squirrel family of rodents (the Sciuridae) which generally live on or in the ground, rather than trees. The term is most often used for the medium-sized ground squirrels, as the larger ones are more commonly known as marmots (genus Marmota) or prairie dogs, while the smaller and less bushy-tailed ground squirrels tend to be known as chipmunks. Together, they make up the "marmot tribe" of squirrels, the Marmotini, and the large and mainly ground squirrel subfamily Xerinae, and containing six living genera. Well-known members of this largely Holarctic group...

Damkerng T.

I'm sure I've seen at least four of them, so I guess there are more.

Anonymous

Word of the day: gregarious

Anonymous

@DamkerngT. We have squirrel families living here in the redwoods

Anonymous

19:52

Sometimes we see cute baby squirrels :-)

Damkerng T.

@snailboat The stance reminds me of meerkats!

@snailboat Awesome!

Anonymous

Mongeese!

Anonymous

I love the things squirrels do with their tails while they're hopping around.

Anonymous

I suppose I'd normally say they run, but their running seems to consist of little squirrel hops, one after another!

Damkerng T.

And so fast!

Anonymous

19:54

In Japanese, squirrels are りす and flying squirrels are ももんが (both would normally be written in katakana rather than hiragana) so their names don't relate the two

Anonymous

Here in the US, squirrels are an everyday fact of life, and flying squirrels are something we mostly read about in books!

Anonymous

In Japan, there are many people who have never seen squirrels

Anonymous

It always strikes me as interesting the differences in vocabulary that relate to our differing life experiences

Damkerng T.

Because they (the squirrels) don't live in the city?

Anonymous

They mostly don't live in Japan!

Anonymous

19:56

They're not entirely unheard of, though

Damkerng T.

Oh!

Anonymous

Japanese squirrel

The Japanese squirrel (Sciurus lis) is a tree squirrel in the genus Sciurus endemic to Japan. The Japanese squirrel's range includes the islands of Honshū, Shikoku, and Kyūshū. Recently, populations on south-western Honshū and Shikoku decreased, and those on Kyūshū disappeared. One of the factors affecting the local extinction of this species seems to be forest fragmentation by humans. == References == == External links == Media related to Sciurus lis at Wikimedia Commons...

Damkerng T.

Squirrels to Japanese people are probably like snow to Thais, then. Hehe. :-)

Anonymous

Does it never snow in Thailand?

Anonymous

It basically never snows here. But where I grew up, it snowed every winter!

Damkerng T.

19:57

Never. :D

Snow always looks like fun, from my point of view. :-)

Anonymous

I don't really miss snow

Anonymous

I don't like the cold!

Anonymous

But it does have some sentimental value for me

Damkerng T.

Though I guess that I could think of it differently if I lived in a place where it showed every year.

Anonymous

Where I grew up, we had "snow days"

Damkerng T.

19:59

Oh, the days that snow?

Anonymous

Every school needs to be in session a certain number of days by law, and schools need to have a certain percentage of the students show up in order for the day to count

Anonymous

So if they think students will have trouble showing up because of snow, they call a snow day (cancel school that day) and add one day to the end of the school year

Damkerng T.

Ahh

Anonymous

But the school I attended, unlike most Chicagoland schools, was reluctant to call snow days

Anonymous

So we'd listen to the radio (or watch The Weather Channel) in the morning to get the list of schools that had closed for snow

Anonymous

20:00

And ours was never on it!

Anonymous

And being dutiful students, we'd go anyway

Damkerng T.

Hehe!

Anonymous

I went to school in the Blizzard of '99!

Damkerng T.

Oh, no!

Anonymous

But so few students went that day that the day didn't count

Damkerng T.

20:01

I guess I might have had something else, like coup days. ;-)

Anonymous

Eep! Hehe

Anonymous

Sounds frightening!

Damkerng T.

No, not very frightening. It's basically based on the same concept, just replace snow with coup. :D

I remember I got to the school when only a handful of us were there and they called it off.

Blizzards, on the other hand, sound dangerous.

Oh, I just noticed that Wikipedia marks Japanese squirrel as Least Concern (IUCN 3.1).

Anonymous

They aren't unheard of, but of the Japanese friends I've asked most have never seen one or have only seen them at a zoo

Damkerng T.

0

Q: What would be after word "ALREADY", "Present" or "Past Participle"?

I just want to know, what is the correct form of using word Already? Should I use "Present form" of verb or "Past participle form" of verb? Example: Already share your video in my facebook. Already shared your video in my facebook. Which one is correct? Thanks in advance. Have a good day.

Probably depends on the dialect.

Anonymous

20:16

Hmm...

Damkerng T.

Share is tricky, too, I think.

Anonymous

Already share seems suspect

Anonymous

They're also omitting the subject

Damkerng T.

nods

I guess they wanted to say, "I('ve) already shared your video on my facebook page."

Anonymous

Although it's presumably the past tense, they're calling it the past participle―so are they omitting have as well?

Damkerng T.

20:17

"in my facebook" should be fine, too.

@snailboat That's why I don't even dare to leave a comment.

Anonymous

Okay, I commented

Damkerng T.

Yay!

Anonymous

@StoneyB: how could someone listening to the sentence as it is spoken possibly know that the clause was restrictive? The listener would have no idea whether there were "commas" there or not. That is what I meant by its having nothing to do with the language per se. — TRomano 23 hours ago

Anonymous

I'm surprised they don't know the answer to that

Damkerng T.

I was surprised by that too. And it was a long run of comments.

Anonymous

20:43

> Integrated relatives are integrated intonationally into the larger construction. Supplementary ones are set apart, spoken as a separate intonation unit. In writing, this difference is reflected in the punctuation, with supplementary relatives generally marked off by commas (or stronger punctuation, such as dashes or parentheses) [...].

Anonymous

> Punctuation does not provide quite as reliable a criterion as intonation, however, because we do find relatives which are clearly supplementary but are written without being set apart by punctuation.

Anonymous

(A Student's Introduction to English Grammar, p.187)

Anonymous

There is a very close correspondence, though

Anonymous

And it's usually felt to be an error when the punctuation is left out

Damkerng T.

nods

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