To native English speaker studying japanese

[Jimmysan]

Hi Junkomi. I am trying to learn Japanese language and culture. I would love to talk with you. I have friends in Tokyo but speak Chinese. I am on skype with mic and cam that I speak with my friends in Tokyo. I will look forward to hearing from you. I am located in Ohio, U.S.A. konnichiwa o-genki desu ka? domo arigato

[junkomi]

I chose skype as the way of voice chat, since different people recommend me it.

Let's speak there!

[Jimmysan]

I am sorry but somehow I posted your message again. I sent you my message after that. I hope you received it. If you have skype, we can talk sometime. Thank you.

[Jimmysan]

You or I will need each other's skype name. Yes?

[Jimmysan]

I am on skype now but have to leave. I will be back in ten minutes if you want to talk.

[petrifiedexuberance]

Originally Posted by chachava

Really? I don't think I have EVER heard a native say the full "I am" - it's always contracted when spoken from my experiences...

We were discussing written English. In any case, I know many people who use "I am", and I've lived all over the U.S. and in Europe. It just depends on where you are, and who you're talking to.

[RamDragon]

Originally Posted by petrifiedexuberance

No problem. I'll just put my corrections in red.

I'm (generally you would use "I am" in proper English, but for forums etc... "I'm" is ok) studying English conversation in online English lessons ,searching for friends speaking English.
Lets have a voice chat and fun! I have msn, a webcam and a mic.
I have much free time in afternoon on Japan time because I'm a homemaker. I can communicate at night on US or Canada time.

Teach me English, make a correction if any mistake in English is spoken by me.
I will teach you japanese and japanese culture.

I'm not "otaku", but I like manga, watching TV drama.

Is there someone who wants to talk with me?

Your English is quite good. Since you were the one who caught the "communication" error, I just left it. A couple of things to remember: always space after a comma, and when using words such as I'm, haven't, won't etc..... place an apostrophe before the final "t" (an easy way to remember this is to think: "I am" = "I'm", "have not" = "haven't". Basically you are turning two words into one. You also use apostrophes when speaking of possesion. Example: That is Charlie's car.). If the apostrophe rules seems a little crazy don't worry about it, it took me forever to learn how to use apostrophes properly, in fact, I don't know of anyone that doesn't forget the rules to this occasionally.


I hope that helps. There is a link in my profile that will allow you to email me so that we can discuss this sort of thing in more depth if you wish. If I'm not being too noisy, what company/site are you taking your English lessons through?

Okay, since Grammar is the topic, I can't help it. This really triggered my 'Grammar-Police' button. You can't tell, but I'm spinning in my chair making siren noises. Since it's 3am here, that means my neighbors will be calling the police over here in fifteen minutes.

Anyway...

In "proper" English, no contractions are really right. Since no one really speaks "proper" English anymore, we can always let that slide. It's (contraction) not really even worth mentioning. However, you are right that all contractions have an apostrophe where the letters where omitted.

Originally Posted by petrifiedexuberance

...studying English conversation in online English lessons

Really that should read, "studying English conversation in an online English lesson." Since we are correcting grammar, we need to be clear how many lessons we are participating in.

"Im studying English conversation in online English lesson ,seaching for friends speaking English." should read as, "I'm studying conversational English in an online English lesson and searching for English speaking friends." The use of "and" instead of using a comma clarifies the statement, although most people are intelligent enough to understand regardless. Don't abuse the use of commas if you can help it. We have so few; they need to last a while.

The rest of junkomi's post is actually really good. A few typing errors with spaces, but we all d that.

Originally Posted by petrifiedexuberance

when using words such as I'm, haven't, won't etc..... place an apostrophe

An ellipsis is three periods, or dots, indicating an omission. The word, "etc." gets a precious comma in front. It should be "..., etc., place..." I used ellipses here to indicate the text I wasn't gonna type.

Technically you could use four dots at the end of a sentence, but that is really an ellipsis and a period. I digress, and by "digress" I mean "having a lot of fun."

Originally Posted by petrifiedexuberance

If the apostrophe rules seems a little crazy don't worry about it, it took me forever to learn how to use apostrophes properly, in fact, I don't know of anyone that doesn't forget the rules to this occasionally.

Oh, man. That's a lot of commas we're never getting back again. Try it this way:

"If the apostrophe rules seem [no "s". You already used a plural for "rules"] a little crazy, don't worry about it. It took me a long time [it clearly was not forever] to learn how to use apostrophes properly. In fact, I don't know of anyone that remembers the rules every time."

One last thing, then I will go away. Since we are learning English, and we are attempting to correct some grammar and punctuation, there is one more thing that needs to be addressed.

[quote=petrifiedexuberance] [A]lways space after a comma, and when using words such as I'm, haven't, won't etc..... place an apostrophe before the final "t" (an easy way to remember this is to think: "I am" = "I'm", "have not" = "haven't". Basically you are turning two words into one. You also use apostrophes when speaking of possesion. Example: That is Charlie's car.)[quote]

You also promised to make corrections in red, but you left this alone:

Originally Posted by junkomi

Lets have a voice chat

Contractions do not always end in a 't'. In fact, some end in other letters. It should be, "Let's" That word is a contraction of Let and Us. "Let us have a voice chat." becomes, "Let's have a voice chat." No one says, "Let us..." though.

In reality, the apostrophe in a contraction takes place of the missing letters when the words were combined. "It is" = "it's" (not to be confused with "its" which is a possessive word with no apostrophe) "I am" = "I'm", "we are" = "we're", "will not" = "won't" (but that is a strange exception because the spelling changes in the contraction), etcetera.

I'd also like to talk sometime, but I'm afraid I don't have a web cam or a voice messaging account. Though I've been attempting to teach myself Japanese for about a year with little success, so I don't think I could be much help with explanations. Besides, most of the things I've pointed out are only in text and have no bearing in speaking. Many spoken grammatical errors will be forgiven in conversation because very few English speakers even know the rules of the language. It's amazing we can communicate at all. (smiley-face)

[chachava]

Originally Posted by petrifiedexuberance

We were discussing written English. In any case, I know many people who use "I am", and I've lived all over the U.S. and in Europe. It just depends on where you are, and who you're talking to.

Original post says spoken English - assumed it was typed as he would say it

Honestly can't say I ever noticed a native use 'I am' but haven't really been paying attention which is maybe why lol - I certainly wouldn't use it in spoken English anyway

[petrifiedexuberance]

Ramdragon, I'm not even going to try to quote your post. :P
However, I did see all the things you saw, and more, I simply chose to start small. Inundating someone with every little rule to a specific language can be confusing. Just think about your own time in school, and how long it may have taken you to understand even the basic rules of English grammar. I, for one, couln't figure out prepositions until 5th grade.
In short, teaching is different from editing. Having done both, I specifically chose to ignore some errors in order to reinforce some basic rules. "I am" is a pet peeve of mine, which is why I chose to mention it, it would seem that we are both grammar obsessed. :P As far as that last "lets", I saw it after I had finished. I guess it's a bad idea to be doing this sort of thing when you're exhausted. XD
I hope that made sense.

[petrifiedexuberance]

Originally Posted by chachava

Original post says spoken English - assumed it was typed as he would say it

Honestly can't say I ever noticed a native use 'I am' but haven't really been paying attention which is maybe why lol - I certainly wouldn't use it in spoken English anyway

The original post says "proper English" actually. I am aware that "I'm" is more common when spoken, which would be why I specifically said that in places like this forum it is appropriate.