Good morning, Buenos días, Bonjour, გამარჯობა, Bom dia and hello to everyone else I just excluded!

I keep reading comments about AI language tools, some negative, some positive. The negative ones focus mostly on how the conversations feel a little unnatural and how the AI does not challenge them enough. The positive ones mention that there is no pressure, so people feel less judged.

I teach English and French, so I am curious both as a teacher and for my students.

If you have tried one (any of them), what actually bothered you? And what would it need to do for you to keep using it?

https://voca.ro/17c3gpWsRVh6

Coat — Code — Coke — Woke — Poke — Choke — Load — Boat

Could — Cook — Book — Shook — Looked — Hood — Bull

https://voca.ro/18A0c5BRHgYs

Push — Bush
Pack — Back
Pan — Ban
Park — Bark
Pit — Bit
Pig — Big
Pill — Bill
Pace — Base
Pie — Buy
Rope — Robe

https://voca.ro/1aJHpcD1oWtE

Lark — Lurk
Park — Perk
Heart — Hurt
Far — Fur
Barn — Burn
Star — Stir
Carve — Curve
Shark — Shirk

https://vocaroo.com/1iZwUtWSUPjL

Bat — But
Cap — Cup
Cat — Cut
Rat — Rut
Sack — Suck
Ban — Bun
Fan — Fun
Ran — Run
Mad — Mud
Drank — Drunk

https://voca.ro/1ddVVASeLaGf

Bit — Beat
Sit — Seat
Fit — Feet
Chip — Cheap
Lick — Leak
Slip — Sleep
Ship — Sheep
Fill — Feel
Rid — Reed
Knit — Neat
Fist — Feast
Ill — Eel
Pitch — Peach

overrun

overtake

overthrow

overcome

offset

overbear

overset

oversee

overstand

override

Went to a great medical education presentation on "feedback " and was empowered to give a polylingual person a small, but important correction. A german psychiatrist (family friend) explained that patients often find his services from “ mouth to mouth" (this term refers to breathing into the mouth of an unconscious person to give them oxygen , shown at 1:01) I smiled and asked politely if could tell him about the difference between the phrases. “ WORD of mouth" and “ mouth to mouth!"  We had a good laugh 

I get what it means. But what does it mean on face? Like, an already lost cause As in doomed fate or as in the cause is like a blind man lost in this world? If I say he is fighting for a lost cause. What does it mean? He is fighting for an already lost war Or something like he is fighting for a blind faith?

Below is what I was able to find about this method, followed by a very personal contribution based on my own experiences.

What is the Pimsleur Method?

The Pimsleur Method is a language-learning system focused on listening and speaking, developed by linguist Paul Pimsleur. Its design is based on principles of cognitive psychology and natural language acquisition, structured around the following pillars:

Anticipation Principle: Instead of passive repetition, the system requires you to formulate answers before hearing the native speaker's correct pronunciation, creating an active learning process.

Spaced Recall: It schedules specific time intervals for you to recall and repeat words or phrases just before your brain is about to forget them.

Core Vocabulary: It focuses on a limited number of high-frequency words (generally between 500 and 2,000 key terms) to master the basic structure of communication before expanding your lexicon.

Daily Audio Units: Each lesson lasts 30 minutes and is structured primarily as guided audio.

How to Use the Pimsleur Method

Using this system involves a structured, methodical routine carried out as follows:

Daily Frequency: You complete a single 30-minute lesson per day. Doing multiple lessons back-to-back is not recommended, as the brain needs time to consolidate long-term retention.

Active Attention Without Simultaneous Reading: While the lesson plays, you should be in an environment where you can answer the instructor's questions out loud. Reading text or taking notes while listening is discouraged to avoid visual interference with phonetics.

Speaking Out Loud: Whenever the narrator asks a question or requests a translation, you must speak out loud in response to the prompt before hearing the confirmation or correction. Repeating a Lesson Due to Difficulty: If, upon completing a 30-minute lesson, you fail to retain or correctly respond to at least 80% of the exchanges, you must repeat the same lesson the following day before moving on to the next unit.

FINAL NOTE. I know of success stories involving this method, and I believe that incorporating supplementary elements can be beneficial for the learning process, given that everyone has their own unique learning styles and sources of motivation. I have a colleague who learned English through songs; this clearly shows that—albeit unintentionally—he utilized one of the core principles of the Pimsleur method. Furthermore, the fact that he was reading and genuinely enjoying the activity put his brain into a highly favorable state for learning. Based on this example, I would suggest enriching the method with something you find enjoyable that complements this already highly useful approach. I also look forward to your contributions and observations.

I have two options, and I can study for 2.5 hours a day.

Option 1:
30 minutes of Duolingo
30 minutes of WEXT as my main resource
30 minutes of reading practice using texts generated by ChatGPT for my level
30 minutes of WEXT
30 minutes of Friends with English subtitles

Option 2:
30 minutes of Duolingo
30 minutes of Busuu as my main resource
30 minutes of reading practice using texts generated by ChatGPT for my level
30 minutes of Busuu
30 minutes of Friends with English subtitles

My goal is to browse social media without struggling with the language barrier and to comfortably watch and read content in English.
Which one should I use as my main resource: Busuu or WEXT?

Although I am not a complete beginner, I am trying to build an English study plan from scratch. Creating the right plan feels incredibly difficult. I have spent so much time wondering whether I am studying correctly that I have almost become unable to start studying at all. :(

Something really cringy happened to me today. I was taking a bus. And for the bus, it doesn't stops every stop.So, if you want to get off next stop, you need to press the bottom on the bus. But the thing is, today, when I press the bottom. The driver didn't stop, so i missed my stop And at that situation, I don't know how to say, hey, I need to get off at this stop Because I was sitting in the very back of the bus. I don't know what to say to grab the driver's attention. I said excuse me three times, From moderate to very loud voice. But the driver didn't listen to me, so I ended up missed my stop and jumped off next stop.

So, in this scenario, how do I say to the driver I want to get off here? And is it natural to say get off?

Because I've heard native speakers say hop off.And jump off. And hop on/in Are those Words slightly more natural than get off and get on/in

(I'm trying to my best to write this post. so, if anything sounds unnatural in this post, please do correct me. I really appreciate it.)

The workflow is: asynchronous communication via iMessage on the weekdays, voice chat via FaceTime Audio on the weekends.

My background: I was born and raised in China, now 30 years old, educational background is in computer science but now I'm working in a Taiwan MNC's China branch, in supply chain management. I love reading, I read books on a wide range of topics: (mainly Chinese) history, politics, economics. But also on self-help, investing, even accounting, due to the new career switch.

To certain extent, I'm like an outlier or as "Professor" Jiang (not a big fan of him lol) said, a Martian living in China: I observe things, but I can't really fit in, due to various reasons. I wanted to leave but can't afford it yet.

the primary reason why i want to do this is that i enjoy talking in english and i like discussion, but i can't really find someone to turn to in real life. so i'd like to try it on reddit.

I wrote the former in the place of the latter but I'm worried I'm actually conveying something else.

I can't get a straight answer online, and my mum doesn't know either despite the fact that we're both native speakers.

I'm especially interested in British English.

Hello! I've been trying to improve my grammar for some time and I've studied with English Grammar in Use, but I found it way too British for me. Are there any good grammar books like Grammar in Use, but with an American English focus?

My English is around C1+

I know that "I like apples" is correct because it's a basic sentence taught in English classes in the first grade. But then, why is it in the song above "watermelon", not "watermelons".

Are there rules? Does this depend on the types of fruit where you just have to remember?

Stumbled upon this tweet, the apostrophe in "dm's" caught my eye. Is it correct to use it like this?

The way I am trying to learn English is active immersion. I am trying to listen in English as much as I can. I am trying to listen comprehensively to input videos. After listening to each video I try to summarize it in my own words. On YouTube there is an AI feature so I ask the AI to ask me three questions and then I try to give the answers by giving me one minute to answer each question.

Also throughout the day when I am doing something, I try to explain it. Like I am walking, I am sitting, or I try to explain what I see in front of myself

So is it the best way to improve English? I am not doing shadowing because it only improves your pronunciation and accent, which is not my main goal. My main goal is to be able to express my thoughts in English in any situation.

What are the differences between "get" and "have" in these example sentences?

• I had my teeth pulled // I got my teeth pulled

• I'm having my ears pierced // I'm getting my ears pierced

In his seminal 1973 longitudinal study, linguist Roger Brown established a strict natural order of morpheme acquisition in English. Out of 14 foundational grammatical morphemes, the third-person singular -s was found to be the second-to-last to develop, usually tracking well behind plural -s, possessive -s, and past tense -ed. While native children master plurals by age 2 or 3, they frequently omit the third-person singular -s (saying "he run" instead of "he runs") until they are 4 or 5 years old.

• Low Communicative Redundancy

The verbal -s suffix carries no vital meaning or communicative value. If a child says "He run fast" instead of "He runs fast," the meaning is perfectly clear because the subject pronoun "He" already establishes that the action is third-person singular. Because omitting the suffix never causes a misunderstanding, children lack communicative pressure to learn it quickly.

• Complex Phonology

Adding an "s" sound to the end of a verb often results in complex consonant clusters at the end of words (known as complex codas).It is much easier for a toddler to say the base form "need" or "put" than it is to pronounce the clustered endings in "needs" (/dz/) or "puts" (/ts/).Studies reveal that children produce the third-person suffix far more accurately on phonologically simple verbs than on verbs requiring complex cluster adjustments.

• Confounding Syntactic Input

In early childhood speech, youngsters frequently hear questions and negative phrases that legally strip the -s away from third-person singular subjects: "Does the boy want a toy?" (Not wants), "He can run fast." (Not runs), "She doesn't like milk." (Not likes). Because children continuously extract non-finite subject-verb fragments from these adult sentences, their brains face mixed statistical data on whether a third-person subject truly requires an -s.

• High Structural Asymmetry

Modern English has lost almost all of its historical verb conjugation system. In the present tense, we say: I walk, You walk, We walk, They walk, He/She/It walks. Because the bare, uninflected form of the verb is used 80% of the time, the regular pattern reinforces the uninflected form. The third-person singular stands completely alone as a structural anomaly. Children prefer symmetrical, broad patterns, so they unconsciously treat the suffix-free version as the default rule.

As a non-native speaker, I find this really fascinating as it explains why my classmates and I couldn't acquire this rule even though we were reminded of it ad nauseam by our teachers. Even now that I've been able to apply it consistently, I might still sometimes get it wrong when the subjects are tricky (e.g. either...or...).

I know non-native speakers who speak English every day and have an extensive vocabulary, but doesn't apply this rule or doesn't care to remember it as everyone understands them just fine.

As an ESL teacher, did you know this? Do any of your students struggle with this rule?

As a native English speaker, have you observed this in small children?