俺は最初はフランス語の例文をただ読んでたんだけど、そのうち何を思ったのか翻訳に参加してしまって気が付いたらはまってた。の英語

At first, I was only looking at the French sentences, but before I knew it, I was hooked into translating them.

Fundamentally, you're not practicing anything by translating, so even if you say that you can't do it, once you've set your sights on a similar sentence you've seen before that is more natural yet does not quite convey the original sentence's nuances, translation proves to be an act that is quite addicting.

Asking a non-native French speaker to translate a document into French is like asking an accountant to build you a house.

Asking a non-native French speaker to translate a document into French is like asking an accountant to build you a house.

If you truly want to upgrade your language skills, then translation might not be the best way to do it, but you're really just playing around, so I believe that if you find it fun, then more power to you.

Hiring a non-native French speaker to translate the document into French is like hiring a carpenter to fix your leaky faucet.

Hiring a non-native French speaker to translate the document into French is like hiring a carpenter to fix your leaky faucet.

I wrote a sentence in Portuguese that I thought was interesting, and I wanted to translate it into other languages. But sadly, my knowledge of foreign languages is too limited.

I recommend contributing sentences in your own native language, since people will be able to trust that what you have contributed is likely to be good and natural-sounding.

Of course it's a good thing when someone learning a foreign language tries to use it without fear of making mistakes, but I don't think much of people without sufficient ability producing language learning material of poor quality.

Although most of the content and thought has not been dependent on any language, when focusing on Japanese, differences in syntactic structures or the fact that individual words are not written separately and distinctly then requires several points of consideration.

"I can count from 1 to 100 in French now." "Wow, that's great. How about counting backwards from 100 to 1?" "No, that's still impossible for me."

I've heard it said that English is for making money, French for making love, and Spanish for praying to God.

Though Japanese has borrowed heavily [a great deal] from Chinese and English, only a few Japanese words have entered other languages.

While I had knowledge from studying for the ancient scriptures exam, I wish I had read more about it. Even though I was discussing Japanese language with people, I never actually read the material properly.

It was about the year 2000 when I remember doing my first trip to Korea. Using my limited Korean, I had lots of trouble asking for basic things like where the train or bus were, and even what the way was to places. I remember lots of people responding to me in English, and while I was pretty relieved at that, I’ve gotta say: people in the country right next to us, speaking a language from peoples on the other side of the world! It’s only when you look at it in that objective state of mind that you realize how strange that is.

My English teacher in junior high school once said, "People outside Japan think that Japanese people have a poor sense of humor."

Very soon after I entered the foreign affiliated company where I used to work, I misunderstood the instructions of my foreign boss because I was not accustomed to communicating in English.

Though this may sound like special pleading, coming from someone who is himself an English teacher, I think the teaching of English will become more important in this country.

In the past, there were no oral English classes in high school. Now many schools have oral communication classes.

My Latin teacher used to look down sternly on me over the rim of her glasses, but now I know it only had to do with the fact that she was wearing reading glasses and that she will have found it a nuisance taking them off all the time, so what looked like contempt towards us students might well and truly have been kindness.

"I am sorry for my odd Japanese. But I cannot speak English." "Hey, can I ask you something? Are you Japanese?" "No. I am an alien." "Ah, I gotcha! I'm a fox, and I'm still trying to learn human languages, so I get what you're going through. English is so friggin' hard, isn't it?"

My parents thought that if I wanted to learn how to make French pastry, I should go to France and learn the right way to do it.

I am a native Japanese-speaking woman. But even though this is the case, I sometimes still make small mistakes when I am writing or speaking.

Many people easily understand the injustice of the current language situation in the world where English dominates. But they also see the collective advantages, as for example a relatively good and direct communication between intellectuals and leaders of different languages through the English language, and the personal advantages as their own knowledge of the English language. About a neutral language such as Esperanto, one does not know much and does not seek information.

It's very easy to sound natural in your own native language, and very easy to sound unnatural in your non-native language.

Japanese speakers of English often have difficulty in dealing with informal conversation, such as at parties or in small informal groups.

"Don't you think that people from English-speaking countries earn an unreasonable amount from the English language industry? Since I'm Japanese, I'd like to use materials exclusively made by Japanese people." "But you know, you can't really tell if the English is good or not unless it's been checked by a native speaker." "What do you mean by good English!? English used by native speakers? Are natives really that great, anyway?"

Don't be afraid to show yourself through speech and take every opportunity to speak to others in English and soon you will feel right at home in informal conversational situations.

I’m responsible for our English Web site and for making English pamphlets and maps.