If you are interested in traveling you might want to consider learning English. The English language is extremely complexed and fun to learn. Many people will be confused by the quality and logic of English. If you do not speak English, make no mistake not learning to speak the English language can be a problem when you travel the world. It is loaded with slang, twisted sayings, illogical phrases that are rooted so deeply that it is a hard act to follow. Let me give you an example of how we say what we say.
Original Sentence- I like going to my parents on the weekend to go swimming in the lake
Rephrased Sentence1- On the weekend I enjoy visiting my parents and swimming in the lake
Rephrased Sentence2- Visiting my mom and dad to go for a swim on the weekend is one of my favorite pastimes
Rephrased Sentence3- Mom and dad have a waterfront home that I enjoy visiting on weekends for a swim
Rephrased Sentence4- Swimming at my parent’s home on the lake is something I really enjoy at the end of the week
Rephrased Sentence5- My parents live on a lake and I like swimming there on weekends
In the English language many words have synonyms (words that mean the same but are spelled differently). When you learn to effectively use synonyms you can become a master of saying the same thing in different ways, like my synonymous sentences above.
Let’s take a closer look at my original sentence…
I
Meaning- the nominative singular pronoun, used by a speaker in referring to himself or herself.
Synonyms-me, myself
Like
Meaning- to take pleasure in; find agreeable or congenial: We all liked the concert.
Synonyms- admire, adore, appreciate, approve, care for, care to, cherish, cotton to, delight in, dig*, dote on, esteem, exclaim, fancy, feast on, find appealing, go for*, hanker for, hold dear, indulge in, love, luxuriate in, prize, rejoice in, relish, revel in, savor, stuck on*, take
going
Meaning- to move or proceed, esp. to or from something: They’re going by bus.
Synonyms- activity, agility, alacrity, alertness, animation, bag*, ball game, big idea*, bit*, business, bustle, commotion, dash, deal, energy, enterprise, flurry, force, functioning, game, going, happening, haste, hoopla*, life, liveliness, motion, movement, occupation, operation, pipeline, plan, power, process, proposition, racket*, reaction, response, rush, scene, spirit, stir, stunt, trip, turmoil, vigor, vim, vitality, vivacity, work, working, works
To
Meaning belonging to you, your own, my arm has fingers, self ownership
Synonyms- visiting, going to, over to, from-to
My
Meaning- the nominative singular pronoun, used by a speaker in referring to himself or herself.
Synonyms- parents- ancestor, architect, author, begetter, cause, creator, father, folks, forerunner, fossil, fountainhead, guardian, mother, old lady, old man, origin, originator, procreator, progenitor, prototype, root, sire, wellspring
on- above, adjacent, against, ahead of, approaching, at, beside, close to, covering, forth, forward, held, leaning on, near, next, onward, over, resting on, situated on, supported, touching, toward, upon, with
The
Meaning- before a noun, with a specifying or particularizing effect, as opposed to the indefinite or generalizing force of the indefinite article a or an): the book you gave me; Come into the house.
Synonyms- refers to
Weekend
Meaning- the end of a week, esp. the period of time between Friday evening and Monday morning: We spent the weekend at Virginia Beach.
Synonyms- celebration Synonyms:anniversary, break, celebration, feast, festival, festivity, fete, fiesta, gala, gone fishing*, holy day, jubilee, layoff, leave, liberty, long weekend*, recess, red-letter day*, saint’s day, vacation
To
Meaning- (used for expressing motion or direction toward a point, person, place, or thing approached and reached, as opposed to from): They came to the house.
Synonyms- from-to, going to, traveling, physical motion
Go
Meaning- to move or proceed, esp. to or from something: They’re going by bus.
Synonyms- abscond, approach, beat it*, bug out*, cruise, decamp, depart, escape, exit, fare, flee, fly, get away, get going*, get lost, get off*, hie, hightail*, journey, lam, leave, light out*, make for*, mosey*, move, move out, near, pass, proceed, progress, pull out, push off, push on, quit, repair, retire, run along, run away, set off, shove off*, skip out*, split*, take flight, take leave*, take off*, tool, travel, vamoose*, wend, withdraw
Swimming
Meaning- to move in water by movements of the limbs, fins, tail, etc.
Synonyms- body of water for swimming Synonyms: pond, water hole, watering hole, water pocket- lap pool, natatorium, plunge bath, pool, swimming bath, swimming hole, wading pool
In
Meaning- (used to indicate inclusion within space, a place, or limits): walking in the park.
Synonyms- interior Synonyms: central, indoors, inner, innermost, internal, intramural, inward, mid, middle, surrounded within Synonyms: indoors, under cover, withindoors
The
Meaning- before a noun, with a specifying or particularizing effect, as opposed to the indefinite or generalizing force of the indefinite article a or an): the book you gave me; Come into the house.
Synonyms- refers to
Lake
Meaning- a body of fresh or salt water of considerable size, surrounded by land.
Synonyms- inland water Synonyms: basin, creek, inland sea, lagoon, lakelet, loch, mere, millpond, mouth, pond, pool, reservoir, sluice, spring, tarn
Sources
1. Roget’s New Millennium™ Thesaurus, First Edition (v 1.3.1) Copyright © 2007 by Lexico Publishing Group, LLC. All rights reserved.
2. Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
3. Myself
As you can see synonyms, in their literal sense could not simply replace the original word. However, when you break down any sentence into fragments it is a fun way to assign synonyms to word groups rather than single words.
All of these sentences above have the same meaning. What we have just learned is that there are many ways to say the same thing; the more enriched your knowledge base of the English language the more powerful your ability to speak is. The less you know, your choice of words will be limited. To start with a good dictionary is critical in trying to find the right words and what they mean. When you apply the proper English Grammar and use the right words it will make you a pleasure to listen to. On the web your knowledge base of words is arguably the most important factor for achieving a high search engine placement. Important, descriptive words on your site are called keywords. It is important that you choose them wisely! Once you have chosen your keywords your skills with the English language are used to explain, discuss and promote your keywords and that’s where your knowledge with words is a great asset.
It is estimated that more than 1 billion people are engaged in learning the English language for many reasons such as on the job, classroom or relaxation. English is a difficult language to learn, at the same time it is very forgiving. In its written form it is seriously challenging for newcomers. A fun and effective way to learn English is by listening to music. Many language accomplished learners have relied on a library of usable songs for language learning. For example by using a syllabus to assist a student, the whole learning experience becomes fun. The ability to quickly learn the English language is dependant on the students listening comprehension abilities. One of the most fundamental elements of language learning is the culture you come from. There are some cultures that English speaking populous are present which can provide a natural way of learning as you grow.
In the USA one of the biggest dividing issues is non-English speaking people. As of January 2007 languages spoken in the US are as follows
English 215,423,555 82.10%
Spanish 28,100,725 10.71%
French 1,606,790 0.61%
Mandarin 1,499,635 0.57%
German 1,382. 610 0.52%
Tagalog 1,224,245 0.46%
Vietnamese 1,009,625 0.38%
Italian 1,008,370 0.38%
Korean 894,065 0.34%
Russian 706,240 0.26%
Polish 667,415 0.25%
Arabic 614,580 0.23%
Portuguese 563,830 0.21%
Japanese 478,000 0.18%
French Creole 453,365 0.17%
Greek 365,440 0.13%
Hindi 317,055 0.12%
Persian 312,080 0.11%
Urdu 262,895 0.10%
Cantonese 259,745 0.9%
People learn to speak because it is a lot easier than any other form of communication such as writing. Listening and speaking are the two most important tools in trying to learn English. You will be able to read and write and increase your oral communication abilities once you grasp English speaking basics.
I like talking, sometimes too much. I am not a qualified english professor, I just love to play with words. The truth is it has been is a bad habit of my 45 year old life
. So lighten up and let’s have some fun with words.
Cheers,
John