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It was my wife who sponsored me to get a Green Card. Now she is helping her own mother obtain a longer stay by getting a Green Card. She is an American citizen, but she asks my advice on language of business or legal documents in English. Her English is good. She hopes to double-check [...]

Studying English is now a global phenomenon, but not all the people can study it well. However, some people can really learn this language. But how could they learn? Some people say if you want to learn this language, you need to read a lot, while others say if you want to learn this language [...]

These days, more parents want to introduce their child to a new language at an early age to give them an advantage later on in life. Spanish is a very popular and easy to learn language that most parents want to introduce to their children. If the one or both parents happen to be bilingual [...]

Learning a new language can be a daunting task. When that new language is as different from English as Japanese is, it can seem insurmountable. Unlike other European languages (such as Spanish, French German) there is very little overlap between Japanese vocabulary and English. The few words that are shared between the two languages are [...]

Why do people choose to learn English? The reason is very easy: people want to communicate with others more and make more money even sometimes. Thus flocks of them try to learn speaking and writing, for the two parts are really something that can give you knowledge and profits. However, if you hope to learn [...]

When we are learning a second language, one of the first things we must get used to is the syntax – that is, the rules that govern the sentence structure – of that language. As we think or speak in our own language, we put the words in a certain order, depending on the thought [...]

When learning a foreign language such as French, German or Spanish, you will sooner or later have to deal with the subjunctive mode, and its corresponding verb forms. No matter what your native language, this probably will be a difficult task, not only because of the number of different verb forms you will have to [...]

In my first article on the use of the subjunctive when learning a language, we saw how, in English, the past subjunctive form of “to be” – that uses “were” for all persons: if I were, if you were, if he were, if we/you/they were – has largely given way to the use of simple [...]

When we native-English speakers learn a foreign language, we can get confused when it comes to subjunctives. One of the reasons for this is that our past subjunctive forms – for example, the “were” in the if-clause “if I were you, I wouldn’t do that” – for all English verbs other than “to be” – [...]

One problem you face in your language learning endeavors is that of the use of the subjunctive in if-clauses. Not every foreign language has subjunctive forms, but those most learned here in America – Spanish, German and French – do indeed, so when learning a language, you would do well to get a good understanding [...]