meaning

Rain   Wed Jun 07, 2006 8:45 am GMT
I would like to know the meaning of "Don't get me wrong."
Bonnie Zhang   Wed Jun 07, 2006 8:47 am GMT
Don't misunderstand me.
Don't interpret what I said as something other than what I meant to indicate.
Rain   Wed Jun 07, 2006 9:00 am GMT
Thank you for your reply.
I have another question.
Suppose I were having my breakfast in the dining room. Then I saw my friend and I would like to invite her to come to my table and have breakfast together.How can invite her?

I am weak in English. Please also point out the error in the above message.
Bonnie Zhang   Wed Jun 07, 2006 9:44 am GMT
"Would you like to have breakfast with me?"
"Would you like to sit with me?"
"May we have breakfast together?"

Hmm, these all seem rather formal, I think. I can't think of casual expressions off the top of my head right now. All in all, it's still quite unusual to invite someone to breakfast! Invitations to lunch or dinner are much more common, I think.

Now that I've got my brain working a bit, if you were having at breakfast at a university residence and you saw your friend, you could just tell her to come and forget about *asking* her.

"Snow, come sit with me!"
"Snow, let's sit together!"
(Snow = imaginary name of Rain's friend. Please substitute your friend's actual name.)

You write surprisingly good English even though you say that you are "weak in English". Most of my classmates write much worse English than you do.

Errors in your message, hmm...
"How can invite her?" --> "How can I invite her?" (I think this is just a careless mistake, though.)
Guest   Thu Jun 08, 2006 4:02 am GMT
Thank you for your kind reply.
Your help will be very useful for me. Now I can invite my friends if I meet them. I have not done in the past although I would like to because I don't know how to invite them.

I would like to ask you another question if you don't mind.
Suppose I were having dinner with my friends. I had finished first and I would like to go to other place.
Can I tell like that " I will go first. "
or is there any other casual expressions?

Please also point out the error in my message.
Instead of using "useful for me"
can I also use "useful to me" ?
Which one is correct?
Deborah   Thu Jun 08, 2006 5:45 am GMT
Rain, your English is very good. Just one correction:

<< Then I saw my friend and I would like to invite her to come to my table and have breakfast together.>>

I would say, "Then I saw my friend and wanted to invited her to come to my table and have breakfast with me.>>
Deborah   Thu Jun 08, 2006 5:50 am GMT
Oops. I didn't see your post immediately above. I meant there was just one correction I'd make in the post about inviting a friend to eat with you.
Bonnie Zhang   Thu Jun 08, 2006 5:19 pm GMT
You asked:
"Suppose I were having dinner with my friends. I had finished first and I would like to go to other place.
Can I tell like that 'I will go first.'
or is there any other casual expressions?"

Funnily, the first expression that comes to my mind is a Chinese one (wo xian zou le, man yong!), haha.

The first *English* expression that comes to my mind is the very formal and old-fashioned "May I be excused".

Casual expressions... maybe these would do:
"I think I'd better get going now."
"Sorry, I have to leave now!"

And after your friends reply ("bye" or something like that), you can say:
"See you later!"
Rain   Fri Jun 09, 2006 4:37 am GMT
To Deborah:
Thank you for your reply and pointing out my mistake.

To Bonnie Zhang:
Thank you for your reply to my every message.
You must be a Chinese if I am not mistaken. I can learn not only the English language but also the Chinese language from you. Now I have known one expression (wo xian zou le, man yong!).

You always teach me. But I have never taught you.
I feel it is my duty to teach you my native language.
Firstly I will teach you one expression.
( ayin twar nint mae!) that means (wo xian zou le, man yong!).

Hey! It is just a joke.
Let me know if there is any mistake in my message.
Bonnie Zhang   Sat Jun 10, 2006 11:01 am GMT
Haha, it's a joke, then? So what does it mean? Something funny (i.e. insulting)? I'm interested.

What is your native language, anyway?

As for the Chinese phrase,
"Wo xian zou le" = I'm going first. (Wo=I, xian=first/before, zou=go. "Le" generally implies present perfect or past perfect, but this generalisationdoes *not* apply in this case, an example of how grammatical rules don't always have equivalents in different languages.)

"Man yong!" = Take your time. (Literally, it means "use slowly", but again, words don't always match up in different languages.)

Since you asked me, I'll look for some grammatical errors in your message. Your written English is nearly perfect, you know? It's actually better than that of many native speakers. If I don't pay attention to what I'm writing, I'd probably be making more mistakes than you.

"Thank you for your reply to my every message" --> "Thank you for your replies to all my messages."

"My every message" is fine, though, and it even sounds quite literary!
Rain   Mon Jun 12, 2006 4:12 am GMT
Hi! Bonnie Zhang
Thank you for your reply. ( Shelt Shelt! )

Hey ! Do you really think my written English is nearly perfect?
I don't think so. You are just flattering me. Anyway, thank you.
( kyey zu tin bar the! ) that means (Shelt Shelt! ).

I have a very important question to ask you. When I was in a foreign country, many people( my new friends & ladies & gentle men ) said that I was very beautiful. I think it is a way of greeting. ( *but what they said is true. I am really beautiful, believe it or not. Oh! I am not showing you off. Don't get me wrong*)
Whenever they said me like that, I don't know how to respond to them. What is the best and polite expression to respond to such case?
Bonnie Zhang   Mon Jun 12, 2006 5:57 am GMT
Hello, Rain,

Your latest question is a bit puzzling. My personal response to "you're very beautiful" would be "no, I'm not", but that's the obvious truth for me.

If I were beautiful and people told me that... well, I think that you're somehow supposed to "not know how to respond"! I mean, that's the way with all compliments, is it not? Or perhaps I'm just not an outgoing person.

You still haven't told me: What is your native language?
light   Tue Jun 13, 2006 3:29 am GMT
Hello Bonnie Zhang,

I have already known rain's native language.
Rain   Tue Jun 13, 2006 3:38 am GMT
Do you really know my native language?
If so, tell me what it is.
Rain   Tue Jun 13, 2006 3:41 am GMT
Can I use the word "nowadays" in spoken English.