Thoughts about English

One of the things to remember when trying to speak and "think" in English, is that English does not necessarily follow the rules of logic that Czech and other languages do. Let’s review a brief example which often causes confusion for both Czechs trying to learn English, and for even native speakers of English who are trying to learn Czech.

In the Czech way of thinking, many things are always | foto: Profimedia.cz

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VŠECHNY LEKCE ZDE

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In the Czech way of thinking, many things are always "on" you or "on" something.

For example, in Czech, it is possible to say that you are "mad on someone." In English, this is not possible.

The reason is it not possible in English is because it isn’t really possible in the real world.

English is not considered to be a "fancy" or "rich" language like Czech is.

English is not as flexible as Czech is.

Instead, English tends to be more of a literal language - at least as far as its logic is concerned.

For example, in English you cannot be "mad on someone" - instead, you must be or can be "mad AT someone."

This is both figuratively and literally true. In the real world of physics, it is not possible to be "mad ON someone" because nature does not work this way.

While English lacks the creative flexibility that Czech does, it partially compensates for this limitation by having more than one definition for many words.

Because English depends on these vocabulary building blocks per se, and English also MUST make use of articles before words, what one can do with the English language is truly amazing.

Perhaps the best examples are found in England. With brilliant writers such as Shakespeare, Milton, Chaucer, Dickens, Marlowe and countless others, their writings are all truly great because of their rich vocabulary and the fine nuances of words they use.

                     Joke of the Day

      Why drug dealers are like software developers. :-)

1. They both refer to their customers as "users".

2. The first "hit" is always free. Their software trial versions are always free.

3. They have sophisticated South Asian connections and networks of people who know how to "move things around" -- they’re called distributors.

4. They use unusual vocabulary such as "stick" or "rock" or "ISDN" or "JAVA"

5. They fully understand that there’s tons of money and gold to be earned by getting the 14-25 year-old boys and men hooked on their products.

6. They convince the girlfriends of these same men to tolerate use of their stuff, and that such usage is "a normal guy thing."

           Key Article Words in English

partially compensate - částečně kompenzovat
depends on - záležet na
vocabulary building - slovní stavební kameny
countless - nesčetný
truly great - skutečně velký
fine nuances - jemné odlišnosti
first "hit" - první dávka
networks of people - sít lidí
"move things around" - pohnout věcmi
unusual vocabulary - neobvyklý slovník
tons of money - tuny peněz

Angličtina vychází od pondělí do pátku.

Najdete ji také v bezplatném deníku Metropolitní expres.

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