Hi

[Skids]

Do you agree that kjc0123 needs to learn English before attempting to read books written in English?

[joko]

I agree - the word 'apparently' is explained perfectly well in any english dictionary. In asking for an explanation in context, how many hours does he/she then have to spend analysing the answers received?

Perhaps they should be reading less complicated books until they have a better grasp

[THECORBYLOON]

If folk want to help kjc0123 with his or her questions why should it bother anyone else? His or her questions are always clear and correctly spelt (unlike some of the "natives" on this Board)

[Bangkok]

kjc0123, like a number of non-UK users, is trying to improve her (I think) English.  Some of the questions posted made me think, even as a native speaker.

Sorry, but your question is shows a complete lack of understanding, is narrow minded and reflects badly on you.

[Ouisch]

I admire kjc for attempting to read books that are not printed in her native tongue.  I applaud her desire to improve her English.  If you don't like her questions, then ignore them.

[smorodina]

Reading a definition and understanding a word in context are quite different, especially with written English. kjc0123 already has a good command of English, but needs some help in fine tuning her understanding of the details. Why is that a problem? And I wonder how many of us could actually read a novel in a foreign language with out similar problems.

[Dark Angel]

Skids - I think you are being harsh. Just because understanding English comes naturally to you, it doesn't mean that foreigners can pick it up just as easily.

[woofgang]

I think that people should get off people's backs. If a question is decent and legal (and not a blank expectation that someone else will do someone's homework :-) ) then either reply to it or don't and STOP WHINING

[woofgang]

Apologies to any repliers to this thread who thought that my previous post was aimed at them...It wasn't

[woofgang]

....except for joko!!

[jno]

The meaning of 'apparently' in kjc0123's recent question (which I answered) isn't at all clear - an English-speaking reader would probably skip right over it, but anyone taking the language a word at a time might well wonder why the author doesn't know what the character is thinking, and therefore suspect that she's misunderstood the word.

More broadly - smorodina and woofgang are dead right. Why these questions aimed at deriding individual posters? I'll answer kjc0123's questions if I feel like it. Skids doesn't have to if he/she doesn't. It's a freeish country.

[Peter Pedant]

I enjoy kay jay's questions which are clear and polite. I hope kay jay will not be put off by some of these rude and unfair remarks (as he or she has been in the past)

[bernardo]

It seems obvious to me that reading a book in a foreign langauge is an excellent way of learning that langauge.  Recently I read "Vivo de Zamenhof" ("Life of Zamenhof")in Esperanto (Zamenhof being the man who invented Esperanto).  When I started I was looking up in the dictionary about one or two words per line.  By the time I got to the end of the book, I was looking up one or two words per page.

[Hgrove]

No, because reading books in English is a way to learn English.

[ezapf]

No.

[woofgang]

Yay, the grinches are outnumbered, long live niceness!!!