[General] make your English smart

[Silverobama]

The following conversation took place between A and me. A is a beginner of learning English. We were talking in an online chat group of our English club.

A: I wanna join tonight but I am afraid to face my dumb English.
Silver: No worries. Gary can help you to make your English smart.

Gary is the host of our English club meetings. He's an Australian-Chinese. I tried to use "smart" as the opposite of "dumb" to make my reply sound funny.

Is it natural?

 

[tedmc]

How about "Gary can help you improve your English quickly"? "Make your English smart" doesn't work. "Face my dumb English" does not make sense.

 

[probus]

Silver, please don't use wanna or anything of that kind. I understand why you did it, but we teach standard English here, meaning that our students can confidently use everything they learn here in any context.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

The following conversation took place between A and me. A is a beginner [STRIKE]of[/STRIKE] learning English. We were talking in an online chat group of our English club.

A: I want to join tonight, but I am afraid to show/expose/reveal my bad English.

I know those are not your mistakes, but I thought you'd like to see the corrections. A's "face" does not make sense. He wouldn't have to face his bad English. The others would.

A could also have said, "but I am afraid of looking dumb."

Is the person's name really A? If not, then A is not natural. If you don't want to use the person's real name, then make one up, like Lisa or Jake or Chris.

Silver: No worries. Gary can help you to make your English smart.

Gary is the host of our English club meetings. He's an Australian-Chinese. I tried to use "smart" as the opposite of "dumb" to make my reply sound funny.

Aha! It's very clever, but I don't think many people would get it.

Is it natural?

It wasn't to me.

Let's see what others say.

(Cross-post.)

 

[Silverobama]

Silver, please don't use wanna or anything of that kind. I understand why you did it, but we teach standard English here, meaning that our students can confidently use everything they learn here in any context.

I didn't use "wanna"; it was A who used it. In order to provide complete context, I didn't change anything A said. I know it's wrong to use "wanna", but sometimes I met native English speakers who did tell me it's acceptable. I don't want to argue or disagree with you here and I listen to what you say, but, again, it was not me who said it.
I know this is a place where people learn idiomatic and standard English. However, is it possible for all the English teachers here to tolerate or understand people like me who don't live in an English-speaking environment but still struggling to make things better?

 

[Silverobama]

Let's see what others say.

(Cross-post.)

How about "Gary can help you improve your English quickly"? "Make your English smart" doesn't work. "Face my dumb English" does not make sense.

Much appreciated. I know the sentences in the OP are wrong and don't make much sense. I was trying to have a play on words.

I once watched a video, a native English speaker was interviewing a woman. The woman said "My English is poor" and then the inverviewer said "How can I make it rich?".

 

[probus]

I was trying to have a play on words.

I'd advise against trying to make jokes in a language that is not your mother tongue. Whenever I've tried to do so my jokes have fallen absolutely flat.

 

[Silverobama]

I'd advise against trying to make jokes in a language that is not your mother tongue. Whenever I've tried to do so my jokes have fallen absolutely flat.

I beg to disagree. If I didn't use the words or phrases I've memorized, I would learn nothing from them.

I think and believe "The only way to make progress is to make mistakes". If I had a teacher who could teach me English everyday, I wouldn't worry about that. Unfortunately, I didn't have one. And everyone has their methods of learning English, I have my own methods too.

I'm not saying that you're wrong, but I learn English by myself and from teachers here and there. I pay close attention to what you say but sometimes, this doesn't solve the problems I face.

 

[Silverobama]

Please also allow me to express by own opinions about this forum. It's a good place, I don't want to mention again and gain.

However, some members only like to say that "Silver, please don't do this or don't say that". I know it's not right, but they never provide me an alternative or a sentence. It's a shame that I always ask questions about sentence corrections because I want to improve my spoken English and writing skills. I have many links provided by you but those links are quite formal and the sources are websites, not daily conversations.

I appreciate your help but meanwhile I also hope to see and get the knowledge I need. Please don't get mad at me. I love this place. If you don't like my questions, please ignore me.

 

[GoesStation]

I didn't use "wanna"; it was A who used it. In order to provide complete context, I didn't change anything A said.

It was clear to me that you were quoting someone else. That's perfectly fine.

 

[Silverobama]

Here's the screen shot.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Here's the screen shot.

View attachment 4130

Thanks for posting that. Now that I can actually see what you wrote, I like it!

 

[tedmc]

I think Whatsapp messages are private informal messages which don't have to conform so closely to rules of grammar.