----*=// aLL AbOut eNgLiSH

jueves, 3 de junio de 2010

Waving flag - (Official song South Africa world cup 2010)

Waving flag - (Official song South Africa world cup 2010)

When i get older, i will be stronger
They’ll call me freedom, just like a waving flag

When i get older, i will be stronger
They’ll call me freedom, just like a waving flag
And then it goes back, and then it goes back
And then it goes back

Born to a throne, stronger than rome
But violent prone, poor people zone
But it’s my home, all i have known
Where i got grown, streets we would roam
But out of the darkness, i came the farthest
Among the hardest survival
Learn from these streets, it can be bleak
Except no defeat, surrender retreat

So we struggling, fighting to eat and
We wondering when we’ll be free
So we patiently wait, for that fateful day
It’s not far away, so for now we say

When i get older, i will be stronger
They’ll call me freedom, just like a waving flag
And then it goes back, and then it goes back
And then it goes back

So many wars, settling scores
Bringing us promises, leaving us poor
I heard them say, love is the way
Love is the answer, that’s what they say,
But look how they treat us, make us believers
We fight their battles, then they deceive us
Try to control us, they couldn’t hold us
Cause we just move forward like buffalo soldiers

But we struggling, fighting to eat
And we wondering, when we’ll be free
So we patiently wait, for that faithful day
It’s not far away, but for now we say

When i get older, i will be stronger
They’ll call me freedom, just like a waving flag
And then it goes back, and then it goes back
And then it goes back

When i get older, i will be stronger
They’ll call me freedom, just like a waving flag
And then it goes back, and then it goes back
And then it goes back

(ohhhh ohhhh ohhhhh ohhhh)
And everybody will be singing it
(ohhhh ohhhh ohhhhh ohhhh)
And you and i will be singing it
(ohhhh ohhhh ohhhhh ohhhh)
And we all will be singing it
(ohhh ohh ohh ohh)

When i get older, i will be stronger
They’ll call me freedom, just like a waving flag
And then it goes back, and then it goes back
And then it goes back

When i get older, i will be stronger
They’ll call me freedom, just like a waving flag
And then it goes back, and then it goes back
And then it goes back

When i get older, when i get older
I will be stronger, just like a waving flag
Just like a waving flag, just like a waving flag
Flag, flag, just like a waving flag.

domingo, 30 de mayo de 2010

Can grammar rules be useful?

Yes, they can. For example, if you don't hear (or read) some word or grammar pattern frequently, it may be hard to acquire a natural, intuitive knowledge of it.

Stop asking people to tell you grammar rules

Many learners have a strange habit. When somebody (e.g. a teacher) tells them the correct way to say something in English ("We say big red car.") or corrects their mistake ("You can't say red big car"), they like to ask "why?".
However, the question "why?" has no real answer. When asking the question, learners want to hear a grammar rule (e.g. "We say big red car because adjectives of size come before adjectives of color"). But the rule is not the reason why we don't say "red big car". The rule is only a description of native speakers' habits. It was invented by some linguist who simply noticed that native speakers never say "red big car" or "white small house".
In other words, it is not true that native speakers say "big red car" because they know the rule and follow it. It's the other way around. The size-color rule exists because native speakers say "big red car". Native speakers are the ones who create the language. Grammar rules only follow native speakers' habits.
I believe that it doesn't make much sense to ask the question "why is that sentence correct, and not the other one?". The only good answer to that question would be "Because native speakers say that sentence, and not the other one.". Instead of wondering "why?", simply learn the correct way. You don't have to care that a linguist wrote a rule for it. Follow native speakers, not grammar rules.