Hi everyone, I'm new..

[Jessika]

Hi! How are you?!!

First of all I want to say that it is a pleasure being in this forum!!! I've been reading you guys for some time and I cant stop reading and reading XD
That's why I have finally log in, i think it would be fun ;)

Another thing, english is not my mother language, so.. sorry for the mistakes .. !! XD

aaaand finally, I will ask you some of the expressions i dont understand as for example:
- lol (i know it has a similar meaning with 'XD' = laughing a lot, am i right?)

Well, i think that's all by the moment

:)

oh! wait!!! can I start posting a new thread? (i think it's not in the forum)
ok, so, the question is: why did you decide to log in here? what was the main reason? and has the reason changed since then?

[Miranda]

Hiya Jessika - I joined this forum for the same reason that you have - I started reading it awhile and then decided to join. I came across it after I put 'Literature' in 'search' and I am glad that I did! I am English and this is the only language that I know. I really think its great that people know so many languages on this site and I greatly admire their ability and their grasp of English which is very good. I stay here because it's a friendly site and as you say it's a lot of fun. But I also find its a good place to learn about literature - and all sorts of things. It's inspiring too, and maybe you find the same thing - that when you read some of the posts you want to rush out and get the books being commented on. I also love the poetry section. It's okay reading poems in books, but the poems on here are really good and are drawn from people's own experience in a way that you don't always find in published poetry. It sounds corny maybe but they are kind of 'living'..well this is the way I feel anyway though I can't seem to express what I really mean.

I think lol means 'laughing out loud,' and there's a similar one that means 'rolling on the floor laughing out loud'..but I dont know it! I don't use these expressions but lots of people do. This is probably why I don't know what XD means!!! I just remembered another one you might come across, 'IMHO' ( I think this is right, perhaps someone will correct me if I'm wrong.) It stands for 'In my humble opinion.'

Anyone can start a new thread - and in fact you have!

[Jessika]

Hi Miranda! :) thanks for answering!! :D

I found this web because of George Orwell (there was a link about 1984 in a web I visit daily) :) I'm glad I did click the link!!!

ok, 'XD' is like ':)' but with your eyes closed :P jeje (= that's a spanish laughing: jaja, jeje etc, i think, in english you say hehe?)

By the way, I also love languages!!! it would be great if we could make a list of expressions in all the languages that people speak in this forum :idea:

[Miranda]

Thanks for the explanation Jessika. I think its great idea to start a thread that has a list of expressions in different languages! Go for it!!!

Miranda

[den]

:D Hi Jessika! Glad you're enjoying this site. You're not the only one here with english as a secondary language, and I think you're doing just fine with it.

Yes there's lots of use of short form symbols and meanings for certain sayings, I don't use them much, I don't know a lot of them either. I think a lot of them have evolved from people chatting on instant messenger services so much which is something I don't do a lot of.

[Koa]

Hi...:)
The only abbreviation thing I use is LOL, I can't do it with all those ROTFL or whatever it is...(damn this is the first time in my life I write that down!!!). I had never seen XD, I guess it's very spanish, and yes in every chat/forum I recognise Spanish speakers by the use of 'jeje', which I realised is the same as 'hehe' (personally I'd read that 'j' as a 'i', or maybe a 'e' for English speakers...)
So Jessika, if you've been spying ;) us for a while, you already know us and what to expect from us... :) My reason for visiting the forum has changed a lot indeed... I registered just to ask if it was possible to find online a book I was looking for, and thought I'd never visit this forum again... Then I started coming here when I was very bored, like once every 2-3 weeks...then slowly addiction came, and 1400something posts are quite a lot for someone who planned not to ever come back here... :eek:

[ravana]

Hey Jessika! Welcome!

Though I'm not quite old one here, but already got opportunity to greet some new ones here who introdused theirselves with similiar threads like yours. I think from them Eva is still here. I wish you also stay here.

My native language is turkish. If you can't guess where's my country I can help: Southern Caucasus

[Jessika]

Thanks for the welcoming :wave: :p
I usually use these symbols a lot.. hope you don't matter very much (it's like giving entonation to your words, closer to a real talk, well, i think so :P )

Amm, Ravana: Turky! yeah, we are in the same continent :D

Now I feel like I belong to this forum.. yes.. I am willing to play those games posted!!! XD (=lol)
and of course, talk about books :)

[verybaddmom]

hi Jess,
welcome to the boards, hope you enjoy them as much as we do. i joined because i had a question about Oscar Wilde's work. it was the first forum i had ever registered for, and because of the responses i got and the great people, i stuck around. i love that there seems to be a bond between the people here, like you sort of know them and have an idea what to expect. there is almost always someone here to help you out if you are stuck with something too.
as far as short sayings there are tons of them (i use instant messaging ALOT)
some of the more common ones have been described to you already, but i also use:
LMAO = laughing my um..bum off
TIA = thanks in advance
TMI = too much information
and of course FYI = for your information
and a couple of others that arent pertinent to a forum, but more to chat.
as i said, enjoy the forum. :)

[evulik]

hi, welcome over here. thanks for explaining those symbols for me also. sometimes I am stuck also... ;)

[nome1486]

Hi Jessika! I would not have been able to tell that English is not your mother language; how long have you been able to speak it? I love Spanish and want to learn more; I was trying to translate your signature, don't laugh if I'm dead wrong: "The best...something...is discovered by chance" (?) I had to look up "casualidad" and I couldn't find "suele", but anyway...

I came here about a year ago in a roundabout way. I saw part of an old movie on TV that was based on a Guy de Maupassant story and was trying to find the story, which I ended up discovering here. Like everyone else, I started posting on the forums because of the friendly atmosphere and because there are so many interesting conversations :)

I stopped coming here during my senior year of high school because I was so busy, but I came back on recently and rediscovered how fun it was!...and now I'm starting to become addicted again. Anyway, welcome!

[Jessika]

Hi!

- Verybadmom: thanks for the explanation!! :) i hope i'll remember all the signs :) Thanks!

- nome1486

how long have you been able to speak it? I love Spanish and want to learn more; I was trying to translate your signature, don't laugh if I'm dead wrong: "The best...something...is discovered by chance" (?) I had to look up "casualidad" and I couldn't find "suele", but anyway...

Hi!! I started studying English when I was .. um.. 8, i think. It was funny because one day, my neighbours and I were playing the game of speaking in a secret language so that no one else could understand us. So! the chosen language was English(so to say :lol: )!!! we couldn't speak it, but we invented the words jajaja and we pretended we understood each other. (every time we said something, we made a 'break' to translate what we had already said :lol: .. childhood..)
Our parents looked at us in astonishment and decided to enroll us in an English Academy.. :lol: :D

My signature means (more or less) 'Best things are usually discovered by chance' (i wrote it in October 2003) and the situations that made me thought of it were two fantastic friends (from Madrid, I am from Barcelona, remember Barcelona'92? : ) ) whom i met in Dublin, Ireland (i spent two months there).

It also applies for other friends I met after that, in a course i did by chance and in the last moment!!
And of course, it also refers to this forum. Forum that i found by chance, again (that's why i chose it as my signature :) )

By the way, if you want to practise spanish, you can count on me, ok? I will practice my english also :cool: :P jeje

[nome1486]

Gracias :) (aunque puedo leer Espanol mejor (lo?) que puedo hablar)

[Jessika]

Yo también leo en inglés mejor de lo que lo hablo :P
As you, but referring to English, I can read it better than speaking it (not a translation)

I lack oral fluency :( a lot of it in fact!! :_(
and i also lack current used expressions in english, you know, the ones in the standard grammar books are not enough: language is something alive!! It does not disappear, but it changes!! (look at latin!! latin>french, spanish, catalan, gallego, italian of course..)

In general, good dictionaries do not contain the slang english (i think it is well said, slang english, language of the street? :lol: )
Anyway, i hope reading you guys give me more current expressions and help me express myself in english :) (moreover, i'm learning a lot! you make me want to read everythiiiiiiiiiiiiiing!!)

Saludos!!

[Isagel]

Hello and welcome!
Another useful abreviation IMHO- in my humble opinion.

I see that nobody gave you the now almost traditional banana welcome -
:banana:
The dancing banana greets you, stranger.

[Jessika]

:lol: thanks for the banana welcoming!!! :lol:

[amuse]

Hola, y bienvenidos to our humble, yet stupendifyingly stupendous forum!

[subterranean]

Hi, not an english speaking person also..and you already aware that we're not alone in this forum..

welcome on board ..post as many as you can..beat Emily's posts :D...
Have a good time

Cheers

[simon]

Nobody is crazy enough to take on emily in a posting match, it would inevitably result in that unfortunate persons loss of anything relevant to say, a mute tongue tied marvel.

I, for one, am giving a welcome that is grossly lacking in bananas, merely for my growing resentment of a yellow curved animated character who has the gall to dance into eternity, something I can never do, I suppose you could call it jealousy?
Welcome.

[subterranean]

Simon, you're a charming one

[emily655321]

Welcome, Jessika! :D :banana: (unlike Simon, I will gladly banana for you.)
I'll try to keep up my former posting-velocity, but my life is consumed with preparing for the move to college at the moment.

Funny, I never thought to evesdrop on the forum before I registered. :D Being the impulsive person that I am, I was IMing (talking on an instant messenger) with a friend, and he said he had never read A Clockwork Orange, so I went looking for an online copy for him. I couldn't find it here, so I looked around the rest of the site and found the forum and registered to request the book. I think I may have just started rambling on the forum that very night. :p

English is my first language, btw (btw=by the way). I took French from ages 12 to 16, but I can't speak it conversationally. I know a few words of Spanish, a few words of German, but not enough to even form a decent sentence. I really respect people who have learned second and third languages so well!

[Jessika]

I really respect people who have learned second and third languages so well!

Me too!! i would like to speak french and german and italian and japanese, and.. jeje.. you could teach me a little bit of french!! :lol: and i can help you with spanish :D
By the way, i can't speak english very fluently :(

Anyway, thanks for all the welcomings :) I really appreciate that :)