Okay, I am not trying to be an asshole here. I have a great deal of respect for anyone who can speak or write in a foreign language; after ten years of beating my head against French, Italian, and Russian, I have realized I have no such capacity for such. However, one should take steps to help someone along by pointing out and correcting their errors. Hopefully, I don’t seem patronizing in doing so, and I don’t make my own mistakes. Gaudere’s Law and all.
I have notice that
“I have noticed that”. Have indicates past tense, therefore, notice should be past tense as well.
- I would like to tell against them.*
“To tell” means to inform. You cannot tell against something- you may “speak out” against something; you may even “rail” against something should you be full of piss and vinegar.
I have live in France from since my birth
Against, have indicates past tense, therefore “live” should be “lived”. In addition, “from” and “since” mean the same thing, therefore one or the other should be used, not both.
(except for one term in Washington dc, your great capital city! ha ha!),
dc is always capitalized when referring to Washington. i.e., Washington DC. Some people use periods, as “DC” is an acronym for District of Columbia- ergo, Washington D.C. Your choice.
Second, your use of “term” is undefined. In America, a “term” tends to indicate that one has served in a political office for an election cycle- therefore, by stating you have spent one term in Washington DC, you indicate that at some point you were a Congressman. As this seems unlikely, perhaps you mean a year of school, which we in America refer to as a “school year”.
so perhaps I shall know best how splendid is my home country than the big USA.
“splendid” is not a comparative adjective. You could say “I shall know best how splendid is my home country.” Or you could say, “I shall know best how much more splendid my home country is than the big USA.”
Someone in an other section complained that french are dirty
“an other” is actually one word. Another.
because they do not bath every day
“bath” is a noun. One takes a bath. “bathe” is a verbe. One bathes every day.
- because in Paris there is dogs making toilet on the ground.*
there are dogs. You are referring to the dogs, which means a plural form of the verb, not Paris, which would be singular.
Second, “making toilet” is a bad idiom to use. Doing so makes you sound like a grandmother or a foreigner. Perhaps you actually are a grandmother; I don’t know. In any case, a better idiom would be “going to the bathroom”. A more vulgar idiom would be “shitting”.
I am not to disagree, but instead to say “why is this so bad?”
not going to disagree.
*picking up the dog’s toilet with our hands in bags like I have seen in the USA. *
Again, continuing a poor idiom. An American would say “picking up the dog’s waste” or, vulgarly, “dog shit”.
I am rather to have it in my shoes than my hands, to be honest.
on my shoes. In indicates being inside; your feet are in your shoes. On indicates being over or on top of; your roof is on your house. Unless you parade around in socks, get dog waste on your socks, and then put on your shoes, the waste is ON your shoes, not IN them.
When I play football I shower
Note to the wise- American football is called “football” here in America. European football is called “soccer”. Given that Americans dominate this board in numbers, to avoid confusion, you should refer to football as soccer. If you do not, you will get a great number of people asking you if you think the Ravens will repeat this year, and your preferences on the dime defense. If you refer to it as soccer, you will make yourself clear, although you’ll have to put up with Britons going on about Manchester Rules and sticky wickets and stuff like that.
*I will let them eat their MacDo and I will take our great french cuisine for a dinner. *
“for dinner” is the better way of stating it. In addition, I think most Americans would understand who you mean by “MacDo”; but the American idiom would be “McD’s”, “Mickey D’s”, or “that greasy place with the surly teenagers and the really scary clown.”
Now, as for the actual content- your penis is large, so is mine, big fucking deal.
[Fixed my following of Gaudere’s Law. -JMCJ]
[Edited by John Corrado on 08-29-2001 at 01:40 PM]