Help your fluency in a nifty way

[Salmoneus]

Думаю, что нет. Ну, возмооооожно да...а это бы наверно было в Магнитогорске или Магадане или где-то, где я совсем не хочу жить. Я рассмотрел Казахстан, а предлоги работы не были так предстоящими, как я наделся.

I don't think so. Well--it might be possible, yes--but this would probably be in Magnitogorsk or Magadan or somewhere I really don't want to live. I considered Kazakhstan, but job offers weren't as forthcoming as I'd hoped.

Вверху (?) нашей описи (я буду учить с университетским другом) стоит Шиамен. Крутой город, говорят–тёплый, чистый, интересный. Также рассматрываем Ченгду, Гангжоу, Шензен, Хиан, Нанджинг, Вуган. Гарбин интересует меня, а по-мнению моего друга там слишком холодно...

At the top of our list (I'll be teaching with a friend from college) is Xiamen. Nice town, they say--warm, clean, interesting. We're also looking at Chengdu, Hangzhou, Shenzhen, Xi'an, Nanjing, Wuhan. I'm interested in Harbin, but my friend thinks it's too cold.

西安っていい感じかな。ある友達があそこに行っていた。好きだったと思う。廈門も有名なのね。でもさ、できたら、汚染が少ない所を探してみてください。すごっくやばいよ
Xian seems nice. I have a friend who went there. I think she liked it. Xiamen (Amoy?) is also famous though, yeah. But if you can, please try to find somewhere with little pollution. It's really quite bad there.

I've never been to China, but I've always thought Hangzhou seems like one of the most interesting places - ancient history, beautiful location, modern development, lots of money, huge city, near to Shanghai...

[linguoboy]

Wie lautet das chinesische Sprichwort? "Man soll in Suzhou geboren werden, in Hangzhou wohnen, und in Yangzhou sterben"?
How does the Chinese saying go? "Be born in Suzhou, live in Hangzhou, die in Yangzhou"?

[dhok]

Кажется, что я начню преподавать в Ченгду в январе! Как я счастливый

Looks like I'll start teaching in Chengdu come January! So excited

[Imralu]

First, thanks Imralu and hwhatting for the corrections. I shouldn't write anything in a foreign language (be it German or English) when tired, it seems .

Unaruhusiwa kuandika wakati popote unapotaka na jambo lolote unalotaka. Usiogope makosa!
You're allowed to write whenever you want and whatever you want. Don't be afraid of mistakes.

Nikiandika nikiwa nimechoka, sikuzote ninaandika mno.
When I write when I'm tired, I always write too much.

Hongera, Dhok!
Congratulations, Dhok!

[Frislander]

J'écrirai en français de plus en plus parce que pluseirs gens dans la faculté en Cambridge sont français et je veux parler couramment en français avec mes nouveaux amis.
I'll be writing in French more and more because several people in the faculty in Cambridge are French and I want to speak fluently in French with my new friends.

Corrigez mes fautes, s'il-vous-plaît.
Please correct my mistakes.

Looks like I'll start teaching in Chengdu come January! So excited

Génial!
Great!

[Ryusenshi]

Corrigez mes fautes, s'il-vous-plaît.
Please correct my mistakes.

Alegre si puedo ayudarte. Tu francés es muy bueno, aparte de dos errores, y una pequeña argucia.
Happy to oblige. Your French is actually very good, apart from two little mistakes and a minor quibble.

J'écrirai en français de plus en plus parce que plusieurs gens dans la faculté de/à Cambridge sont français et je veux parler couramment en français avec mes nouveaux amis.

en Cambridge no es correcto: decimos en con regiones y países, no lo decimos con ciudades. Si quieres decir «en la ciudad de Cambridge», deberías decir à Cambridge; si quieres decir «la Universidad de Cambridge», sería de Cambridge (es lo que decimos con muchas universidades, aunque no es el nombre real; por ejemplo université d'Orsay aunque el nombre propio es Université Paris-Sud).
en Cambridge is incorrect: we use en with regions or countries, not cities. It should be à Cambridge if you mean "in the city of Cambridge"; or de Cambridge if you mean "the University of Cambridge" (we tend to say something like that even if it's not the institution's official name, e.g. the university in Orsay is often called université d'Orsay even though its official name is Université Paris-Sud).

Minor quibble: J'écrirai en français de plus en plus sounds slightly off, for reasons I can't quite explain: de plus en plus tends to follow the verb directly, unless it has some sort of complement. I would've said either J'écrirai de plus en plus en français ou J'écrirai en français de plus en plus souvent.

(P.S.: wow, I really have forgotten most of my Spanish.)

[Frislander]

Alegre si puedo ayudarte. Tu francés es muy bueno, aparte de dos errores, y una pequeña argucia.
Happy to oblige. Your French is actually very good, apart from two little mistakes and a minor quibble.

Merci, j'était assez surpris moi-même quand j'ai commencé écrire de nouveau en français.
Thank you, I was quite surprised myself when I started writing in French again.

Minor quibble: J'écrirai en français de plus en plus sounds slightly off, for reasons I can't quite explain: de plus en plus tends to follow the verb directly, unless it has some sort of complement. I would've said either J'écrirai de plus en plus en français ou J'écrirai en français de plus en plus souvent.

D'accord. J'ai décourvri que je ne suis pas forte en adverbes.
Agreed. I have found out that I'm not so good with adverbs.

[hwhatting]

Думаю, что нет. Ну, возмооооожно да...а это бы наверно было в Магнитогорске или Магадане или где-нибудь, где я совсем не хочу жить. Я рассмотрел Казахстан, а не было столько предложений работы не были так предстоящими*1), как я надеялся.

I don't think so. Well--it might be possible, yes--but this would probably be in Magnitogorsk or Magadan or somewhere I really don't want to live. I considered Kazakhstan, but job offers weren't as forthcoming as I'd hoped.

В главе нашего списка (я буду учить вместе с университетским другом с университета) стоит Шиамен. Крутой город, говорят–тёплый, чистый, интересный. Также рассматрываем Ченгду, Гангжоу, Шензен, Хиан, Нанджинг, Вуган. Гарбин интересует меня, а по-мнению моего друга там слишком холодно...*2)

At the top of our list (I'll be teaching with a friend from college) is Xiamen. Nice town, they say--warm, clean, interesting. We're also looking at Chengdu, Hangzhou, Shenzhen, Xi'an, Nanjing, Wuhan. I'm interested in Harbin, but my friend thinks it's too cold.

*1) Sometimes English constructions just can't be translated literally and idiomatically at the same time.
*2) The Pole already remarked on the orthogrpahy of the Chinese cities.

Wie lautet das chinesische Sprichwort? "Man soll in Suzhou geboren werden, in Hangzhou wohnen*1), und in Yangzhou sterben"?
How does the Chinese saying go? "Be born in Suzhou, live in Hangzhou, die in Yangzhou"?

*1) Taking into account the logic of "geboren werden - X - sterben", I'd use leben in this case, although wohnen would normally be the more idiomatic translation for "live" when it signifies residence.

Кажется, что я начну преподавать в Ченгду в январе! Как я счастливый
Looks like I'll start teaching in Chengdu come January! So excited

Moje gratulacje!
Mes félicitations!
Tanti auguri!
¡Felicidades!
Hartelijk gefeliciteerd!
Lykønskninger!
Kutlarım!
Congratulations!

[Imralu]

Kutlarım!

Neno "tebrikler" ni la kawaida zaidi.
"Tebrikler" is more common.

[Ryusenshi]

Merci, j'était assez surpris moi-même quand j'ai commencé à écrire de nouveau en français.

It's always commencer à.

D'accord. J'ai découvert que je ne suis pas fort en adverbes.

- Découvrir is an irregular verb.
- forte is the feminine form.
Everything else is perfect.

[Vijay]

What about j'était, or does that not count?

[Imralu]

Nililala mchana kutwa. Niliota ndoto ya kwamba ningekuwa katika kundi la watu walio na uwezo wa ajabu, kama X-Men. Wengi wa watu hao walikuwa watu ninaojua kwa kweli, lakini kwa kawaida ndotoni, utambulisho wa watu na mahali ulibadilisha-badilisha. Vyovyote vile, uwezo wangu wa ajabu ulikuwa uwezo wa kuruka. Kulikuwa na mwanaume mwingine ambaye sijui ikiwa yeye pia aliweza kuruka mwenyewe, lakini nilikuwa nikiruka nikiwa nimemshika. Tulikuwa tukifanya video za kuruka ambazo tulifanya tukiruka taratibu sana kwa kusudi la kufanye ziwa haraka.

Halafu niliamshwa kwa simu ya mshikaji niliyejaribu kumdeti mwaka uliopita, pandikizi la Mwarabu. Tulizungumza pamoja kwa zaidi ya saa moja na huenda tutakutana karibuni.

I slept the whole day. I had a dream that I was part of a group of people who had super powers, like the X-Men. A lot of these people were people who I know in real life, but as usual in a dream, the identity of the people kept changing. In any case, my super power was the ability to fly. I was with another man who I don't know if he could fly on his own too, but I was flying while holding onto him. We were making videos of flying which we made while flying very slowly with the intention of making them fast.

Then I got woken up by a phone call from a guy who I tried to date last year, the Giant Arab. We talked with each other for more than an hour and we might meet up soon.

[Frislander]

What about j'était, or does that not count?

C'est une coquille.
That's a typo.

[hwhatting]

Dzisiaj niebo jest zachmurzone.
Šiandien dangus yra drumstas.
Aujourd'hui, le ciel est nuageux.
Oggi il cielo è nuvoloso.
Hoy el cielo está nublado.
Vadaag is de lucht bewolkt.
I dag himlen er overskyet.
امروز آسمان ابری است
Bugün gökyüzü bulutludur.
Бүгін аспан бұлтты.
Bugun osmon bulutli.
اليوم السماء غائمة
Hari ini langit mendung.
Today the sky is cloudy.

[jal]

Vandaag is de lucht bewolkt.

Hier scheint die Sonne. Heute nacht hat es ein bischen gefroren.
Here the sun is shining. Last night it froze a bit.


JAL

[hwhatting]

Vandaag is de lucht bewolkt.

Hier scheint die Sonne. Heute Nacht hat es ein bisschen gefroren.
Here the sun is shining. Last night it froze a bit.

W starej ortografii twoje błędy byłyby poprawne.
Dans l'ortographe ancienne, tes fautes auraient été correctes.
In de oude orthografie zouden jouw fouten correct geweest zijn.
In the old orthography your mistakes would have been correct.

[Ryusenshi]

Dans l'orthographe ancienne, tes fautes auraient été correctes.

Very slight nitpick: I would have written ancienne orthographe. The adjective ancien has different meanings before and after the noun.

• When it's after the noun, it means "old, ancient".
• When it's before the noun, it means "former" or "previous".

So une église ancienne means "an ancient church" (it's very old, but still a church) while une ancienne église means "a former church", that is, a building that used to be a church but is now something else (and it may not be very old). Also, l'ancienne église can mean "the old church", as opposed to la nouvelle église, the new church.

So, l'orthographe ancienne suggests that this orthography was used a long time ago; l'ancienne orthographe suggests that it was still in use until the latest reform. Admittedly, in this context, it doesn't make a big difference; but in other contexts, it could be important.

[hwhatting]

So, l'orthographe ancienne suggests that this orthography was used a long time ago; l'ancienne orthographe suggests that it was still in use until the latest reform. Admittedly, in this context, it doesn't make a big difference; but in other contexts, it could be important.

Thanks for pointing that out. I was actually aiming for the latter meaning, so I should have written "l'ancienne orthographe".

[hwhatting]

Dzisiaj pada deszcz.
Šiandien lyja.
Aujourd'hui il pleut.
Oggi piove.
Hoy está lloviendo.
Vandaag regent het.
I dag regner det.
.امروز باران است
Bugün yağmur yağıyor.
Бүгін жаңбыр жауады.
Bugun yomg'ir yog'moqda.
.اليوم تمطر
Hari ini hujan.
Today it is raining.

[jal]

Vandaag regent het.

Grammatically correct, but fronting "vandaag" makes it look like you're offsetting it to something else (e.g. "Gisteren was het droog, maar vandaag regent het"). If you mean it in a neutral way, just stating it's raining today, I would use "Het regent vandaag".

Hier nicht, glücklicherweise. Es ist grau, aber trocken.
Not here, luckily. It's grey but dry.


JAL

[Travis B.]

Heute ist es kalt, aber trocken hier.
Today it is cold but dry here.

[Frislander]

Aujord'hui il fait froid, mais il n'a pas plu.
Today it was cold, but it didn't rain.

Je m'ai reveillé à onze heures, donc je ne sais pas si il y a gel comme hier matin.
I got up at 11 so I don't know if there was frost like yesterday morning.

[hwhatting]

Vandaag regent het.

Grammatically correct, but fronting "vandaag" makes it look like you're offsetting it to something else (e.g. "Gisteren was het droog, maar vandaag regent het"). If you mean it in a neutral way, just stating it's raining today, I would use "Het regent vandaag".

No, offsetting was what I wanted to do, so all is good.

[Ryusenshi]

Aujourd'hui il fait froid, mais il n'a pas plu.

Je me suis réveillé à onze heures, donc je ne sais pas si il y a du gel comme hier matin.

Reflexive verbs always use être as their auxiliary.

[hwhatting]

Nie chcę znowu pisać o pogodzie.
Aš nenoriu vėl rašyti apie orą.
Je ne veux pas écrire sur le temps encore un fois.
No voglio scrivere sul tempo di nuovo.
No quiero escribir sobre el tiempo de nuevo.
Ik wil niet alweer over het weer schrijven.
Jeg vil ikke skrive om vejret igen.
.من نمی خواهم درباره آب و هوا دوباره بنویسم
Hava hakkında tekrar yazmak istemiyorum.
Мен қайтадан ауа райы туралы жазғым келмейді.
Men yana havo haqida yozmoqchi emasman.
.أنا لا أريد أن أكتب عن الطقس مرة أخرى
Saya tidak mau menulis tentang cuaca lagi.
I don't want to write about the weather again.