FW: English as a Second Language

A note that went around here.

 

Interesting in light of our discussion of “idioms” and their impact on
translations.

 

Are there similar sites in other countries?

 

 
Gregg

 -- ------------------------------ 
Gregg C Vanderheiden Ph.D. 
Professor - Ind. Engr. & BioMed Engr.
Director - Trace R & D Center 
University of Wisconsin-Madison 

-----Original Message-----
From: Lisa Zovar [mailto:lzovar@ie.engr.wisc.edu] 
Sent: Wednesday, July 02, 2003 4:07 PM
To: IE Undergrads; IE Grads
Cc: IE Faculty
Subject: English as a Second Language

 

Hello:

 

If English is NOT your mother tongue, please read on.  If English IS your
native language, sorry I spammed you.

 

When someone said he was going to "take the bus," did you think he was going
to steal it?

When someone said she was going to "run across town," did you think she
would really run?

 

These types of phrases - Americanisms - can cause confusion and
miscommunication in your daily life.  If you would like to improve your
English - written, spoken, American idioms, etc. - a good place to go is
Dave's ESL Café at http://www.eslcafe.com/.  It is a great place for
international students to begin learning and to better understand informal
English - English like it's really used here.

 

Lisa

 

 

 

 

Lisa Zovar

Student Status Examiner

Industrial Engineering

360 Mechanical Engineering 

1513 University Avenue

Madison, WI  53706-1572

608-263-3955

fax 608-262-8454