Native language
While you are rebuilding the site, I have a suggestion for an improvement. It would be great to see the poster's native language and country of birth added to the header of each post. This is very important information because language varies geographically. Therefore, replies from posters in the US, UK, and Australia, or in Spain, Colombia, and Argentina, for example, will be quickly identified as coming from those areas, and that information helps the original poster decide whether or not to use those replies.
11 Answers
im a new user and i am tring to figuer out what 2 do. bye my langeage is english
by the way, we were lucky not to lose all our posts like Quentin and Samdie, have you noticed?
Acabo de buscar a samdie, y la Señora Computadora me dice que él tiene 1147 mensajes, y los puedo revisar todos. ¿A qué te refieres?
That's about right if one considers only "real posts" (i.e. in/to the forum). What Quentin discovered (and, following in his footsteps, "exploited") was the fact that responses to "Submitted Lessons" were also counted as posts [not distinguished from those to the forum]). We were, I hope, contributing to the overall satisfaction/experience of the people completing the lessons (and there were far too many for it to have been reasonable to expect Paralee to handle, by herself).
Yes, that makes sense. But I think a person's native language is what is really important, because a native has an intuition about his language that a non-native can never have. In your case, you could indicate the "flavor" of your learned Spanish on your personal page, but I don't think it would be necessary to put that info in the header of every post. My own Spanish is influenced by my living in California and having lived for short periods in Mexico, but I'm still a gringo, so I think what is most important is that my posts indicate that I am a native speaker of American English from California.
Just one opinion...
Well... that's not exactly what I meant. For example, my native language is American English, from New York. So, anyone getting my advice should take into context that my recommendations are based on a New Yorkers point of view. But, when I give suggestions and help with Spanish, those suggestions come from my experiences with the language from when I lived in Argentina and my schooling. So, in English my language comes from New York, in Spanish, my language is from Argentina. I would not say that I am a native Spanish speaker, because I am not, but I am more than comfortable in speaking and understanding the Spanish language.
Does that make sense'
What about for those who learned a foriegn language in another country, but that it isn't their native language? For example, my native language is American English. But, I learned Spanish by living in Argentina coupled with a standard foriegn language education throughout school.
If you feel that Spanish and English are both your native languages, then you could indicate that. However, the vast majority of people have only one true native language, regardless of how fluent they are in other languages.
If you look at how this is handled at Word Reference, you'll see that people can type in various combinations (one person, for example, wrote "English at birth, Spanish soon after"), so there is room for a wide range of possibilities. But it is important to know where a person "is coming from." For example, Natasha and I have disagreed about English usage here, because I'm from California and she is from Missouri and Texas. That is important information at a language site like this.
What about for those who learned a foriegn language in another country, but that it isn't their native language? For example, my native language is American English. But, I learned Spanish by living in Argentina coupled with a standard foriegn language education throughout school.
I agree - essential. I am often cautious of posting because I don't want to give someone bad advice and then have them thinking that my word is "gospel".
Patch
I think James' suggestion is really good and it's easier for us, beginners to figure out what the common uses are from the posters.
Thank you,
Marco
by the way, we were lucky not to lose all our posts like Quentin and Samdie, have you noticed?
Acabo de buscar a samdie, y la Señora Computadora me dice que él tiene 1147 mensajes, y los puedo revisar todos. ¿A qué te refieres?
El señor quentin tenía cerca de 10000 (!!) posts y samdie unos 4000. Se han caído ....nadie sabe porqué 
by the way, we were lucky not to lose all our posts like Quentin and Samdie, have you noticed?
Acabo de buscar a samdie, y la Señora Computadora me dice que él tiene 1147 mensajes, y los puedo revisar todos. ¿A qué te refieres'
Hi James, as ususal a very good idea. 
I am all for that and to make that a must too. People can of course lie, but that would be silly I guess.
(by the way, we were lucky not to lose all our posts like Quentin and Samdie, have you noticed? 
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