Nonnative English speakers share their gripes about speaking English

Re:Nonnative English speakers share their gripes about speak... by thaumasiotes on Thursday May 20, 2021 @05:20PM (#27227441)

My sister married a Brazilian guy, and one of the biggest things she noticed about his English was that he would agree with negative sentences ("I don't like sushi") by saying "Me too", which is impossible. (You have to agree with a negative sentence by saying "Me neither".)

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Re:Nonnative English speakers share their gripes about speak... by dormento on Friday May 21, 2021 @11:19AM (#27235178)

Its more like:

- "Eu não gosto de bolo" ("I don't like cake")

- "Eu também [não gosto de bolo]" ("Me too [I don't like cake]")

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Re:Nonnative English speakers share their gripes about speak... by thiagocsf on Friday May 21, 2021 @04:12PM (#27239283)

I’d have chosen “I also” to explain, even then it’s not what he uses but it makes a bit more sense in English:

- I also [don’t like cake]

After 15+ years speaking and writing English daily, I still trip over the use of “in, on, at”.

And every now and then I have my first time pronouncing a word that I’ve known for years, from reading book in my teens. When I first tried to pronounce “phlegm” I tried to sound every letter on it.

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Re:Nonnative English speakers share their gripes about speak... by thaumasiotes on Friday May 21, 2021 @04:16PM (#27239343)

> When I first tried to pronounce “phlegm” I tried to sound every letter on it.

The G is pronounced in the derived word "phlegmatic". It can't be pronounced in "phlegm"; English phonology doesn't allow for "gm" as a sound cluster.

(Whereas in "phlegmatic", you can put a syllable break between the G and the M, so it's at least possible to produce the sounds.)

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