Newsgroup: it.cultura.linguistica.inglese
Titolo: FAQ English Version: Where to Find Them

it.cultura.linguistica.inglese
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
March 2001
Table of Contents
Part I: Welcome
1. Introduction
Part II: You'd better read this
2. The Newsgroup
2.1 Before posting
2.2 Acronyms/Abbreviations/Signatures/Taglines
2.3 Alternative news servers
3. Where can I find.?
Part III: Basic tools
4. The English Language
5. Dictionaries/Reference
6. Dictionaries/Reference - Print
7. Pronunciation
8. Phonetics
Part IV: Applying the Tools
9. Where can I find English movies?
10. Literature Online
11. Leisure Online
12. Translation: Information and Resources for Translators
Part V: Study, Teach and Work
13. EFL/ESL/TEFL/TOEFL
14. Study holidays abroad
15. Working overseas
Part VI: Have Language Will Travel
16. Where can I find a pen-pal to write to?
17. Chat programmes
Part VII: The Italians' Most Asked Questions
18. English Usage
Part VIII: What Else?
19. Miscellaneous
1. INTRODUCTION
Welcome to it.cultura.linguistica.inglese
These FAQ serve as an introduction to the newsgroup
it.cultura.linguistica.inglese and place, in one location, answers to the
most frequently asked questions which appear on the group. The compilation
of these FAQ has been undertaken on a voluntary basis with contributions
from many of the more regular participants of the newsgroup.
Every attempt has been made to ensure that the information and URL's given
here are up to date and the sites and references mentioned have been
checked for their validity. However, no responsibility for the accuracy of
the information contained herein is assumed. Should you come across any
dead-end links, find any out-of-date information, or should you wish to
make any suggestions or contributions for inclusion in these FAQ, please do
not hesitate to contact 
bam...@tin.it
These FAQ will be posted on a regular basis to the newsgroup it.faq.
Some items do not necessarily constitute Frequently Asked Questions as
such, but have been included in the belief that they may be of interest.
To all who enter in, Welcome.
2. THE NEWSGROUP
What is it.cultura.linguistica.inglese?
it.cultura.linguistica.inglese was founded in 1998 by Giovanni Trovato. The
newsgroup's charter as originally voted on, can be found at:
http://www.news.nic.it/news-it/manif/it.cultura.linguistica.inglese.txt
Since its founding, the group has become affectionately known as The
Illuminated Realm, and it is our belief that one of our most endearing
trademarks is the noticeable absence of arguments, flames, and general
ill-will. Which is not to say members do not sometimes hold dissenting
views on subjects, merely that we are able to maintain a pleasantly
agreeable level of tolerance and decorum when expressing such. We sincerely
hope your participation in the group will be in keeping with this spirit.
It is a newsgroup open to all who are interested in the English language; a
place to write about and discuss this interest, ask questions, seek
linguistic clarification and generally enjoy yourself. (Needless to say,
humour is never out of place).
The newsgroup's home page can be found at:
http://web.tiscalinet.it/peltio/TheRealm/index.html
Thanks for this permanent residence is owed to our most gallant Knight In
Shining Armour, Peltio. (Also on the group's homepage, you will find
photographs of some of the members of The Illuminated Realm who held their
first real-life gathering in October 1999, in Bologna).
Is The Illuminated Realm moderated?
No. Whilst there are no moderators for the Realm, there are four
democratically elected "Royal Highnesses". In alphabetical order they are:
HRH Arianna, HRH Bambi, HRH Isabella and HRH Mary. We are also fortunate in
having among us numerous Knights In Shining Armour (K.I.S.A.), an
assortment of Privy Counsellors, and other distinguished personages. (For a
more fully detailed history you are invited to visit our homepage).
What topics are discussed in The Realm?
More or less anything and everything is discussed within the group. To be
totally In Topic (IT), questions, comments, opinions etc. should in some
way have something to do with the English language.
Questions relating to grammar, explanations of English phrases/words,
discussions of English literature or indeed any matter having to do with
English  are welcome. Topics which could cause heated debates on matters
not related to English (i.e. politics), are not encouraged however.
What questions/requests are NOT appreciated?
An urgent plea for us to do your homework. Members are more than willing to
share their knowledge, render assistance, give opinions and point you in a
helpful direction, but requests - urgent or otherwise - for an
essay/précis/dissertation etc. which needs to be handed in to your
professor in a few hours time will receive little sympathy and incur the
wrath of many. We are not here to do your work for you or make up for your
laziness. You have been warned!
 2.1 Before Posting:
Basic Netiquette
Before posting to the newsgroup a few points of Netiquette are listed here
so that you might save yourself the embarrassment of committing what is
generally considered a faux pas so incurring the ire of Their Royal
Highnesses to the point of summoning the Royal Guards to see you off!
First Rule of Usenet: Read the FAQ for whatever groups you're trying to
start participating in. Since you're reading this, you're already ahead of
the game. Congratulations: not everyone does this. Understanding the
information contained herein will save you (and the denizens of the
newsgroup) some headaches.
Second Rule of Usenet: After you've read the FAQ, lurk. Read the group you
want to participate in without posting for a while. How long is "a while"?
Six months. If you can't wait six months, wait twelve. Seriously, this
piece of advice is group-specific, but the spirit is pretty useful to
remember - in all truthfulness, everything you're going to ask has probably
been asked before. Watching the patterns in the newsgroup will let you see
this for yourself. Moreover, reading the newsgroup for a period of time
without posting will help you get a feel for what the group is like as a
social entity.
Third Rule of Usenet: Lurk some more. When in doubt as to the reasons why,
see the Second Rule of Usenet above.
Fourth Rule of Usenet: Do not take the newsgroup, yourself, or anyone else
involved in a discussion too seriously. It's only Usenet after all. You're
going to need a thick skin if you're going to survive in the icky cesspool
that is Usenet, so get used to being flamed, and try not to take it
personally. This particular group however, constitutes an exception in the
vast Usenet landscape, for feuds and flames are conspicuous by their
absence. Things that will help keep you from getting flamed too badly:
- DON'T POST IN CAPS, NEITHER SUBJECT NOR BODY OF MESSAGE. This is basic
Netiquette. Using caps equals SHOUTING.
- Save, save, save: you don't own the place. Quote, attribute, and trim.
When replying to a post, include text from the previous post, include a
name, but don't include the entire post.  Trim your posts judiciously.
- Don't post binaries (graphic images) to non-binary newsgroups. (In case
you're wondering, that would be us).
- Don't post in HTML or with MIME-encoded attachments.
To borrow a phrase, "brevity is the soul of wit.'' This applies to both
frequency and content of posts.
Fifth Rule of Usenet: If you don't know very much about Usenet, ask. But
don't ask in it.cultura.linguistica.inglese, you'll be in the wrong place.
Try asking in news.newusers.questions, and read the articles in
news.announce.newusers. On the Web, you can read about  "How to make the
best use of Usenet news,'' conveniently located at:
 
http://home.netscape.com/menu/netet/news2.html
.
If you would prefer to talk to your Italian peers, then you can try it.faq
and it.news.aiuto.
Suggestions on how to use or 'tune' your favourite newsreader can be found
at it.comp.soft.newsreader. Don't forget to read the charters of these
newsgroups before posting your questions.
Sixth Rule of Usenet: Don't feed the trolls. Trolls are posts that are
deliberately inflammatory. If you read something that  ticks you off, and
it sounds pretty outlandish, don't bother replying. It's just not worth it.
Finding old messages/discussions
Should you wish to find a previously posted message, an archive of articles
posted on it.cultura.linguistica.inglese (and indeed any other newsgroup)
can be found at:
 
http://www.dejanews.com/
The site provides an option of searching either a "Current" or "Old"
database.
"Current" contains articles dating back a few weeks, whereas "Old" goes
back to the start of the archive in 1995.
2.2 Acronyms/Abbreviations/Signatures/Taglines
From time to time in various posts within the group, you will come across
the following 'in-house' acronyms and might wonder what they mean. Since
coming to grips with the English language is an arduous enough task in
itself, we thought to clarify at least this mystery for you here.
In-house acronyms/abbreviations
dtb (found at the end of Bambi's posts) = de-tribalised Brit - an English
person who has been away from England (the tribe) for a long period of time
ICLI = it.cultura.linguistica.italiano; a sister newsgroup to our own
focusing on the Italian language
ICLIng = it.cultura.linguistica.inglese a.k.a. The Illuminated Realm
K.I.S.A. = Knight in Shining Armour. There are many in the Realm.
Internet/Usenet Acronyms
Posters often make use of Internet acronyms and the following, more
commonly used ones are listed for your convenience.
HTH = Hope this Helps
IIRC = If I recall correctly
IMHO = In my humble opinion [Variation: IMNSHO = In my not so humble
opinion]
IT = In topic
LOL = Laughing out loud
OT = Off topic
RL = Real Life
ROTF[LOL] = Rolling on the floor [laughing out loud]
ROTFLMAO = Rolling on the floor laughing my ass off
TIA = Thanks in advance
URL= Universal Resource Locator - in other words, an address for a Web Site
For a more comprehensive list of Internet acronyms, please see:
 
http://www.utopiasw.demon.co.uk/acronyms.htm
Where does Mary Cassidy get her great taglines from?
Mary's taglines have rightly won renown within The Realm. Often the
question is asked "Where does Mary get her great taglines from?"
The answer to the question is a semi-trade secret. (Hint: Search Engines -
See below)
(When the tagline includes a gentleman by the name of Tom, please note that
these are known as 'Tom Swifties'. Also note that once Mary has finished
with the aforementioned gentleman, IsabellaZ and Bambi - in that order -
have requested the pleasure of the gentleman's company for  their own
delectations)
Where does IsabellaZ's signature come from?
Another Frequently Asked Question.
The signature which appears at the end of Isabella Z's posts is of unknown
origin. It was sent to her by a friend who also has not the vaguest notion
where it comes from. It is believed to be a verse from a song. If you are
able to give a creditable source for it, the group - not to mention HRH
Isabella - would be eternally grateful and would very much welcome hearing
from you.
2.3 Alternative news servers
In the event you experience problems accessing the group via your news
server, any of the following alternative servers should be of help:
news.tin.it
news.cu.mi.it
news.interbusiness.it
news.diesel.cu.mi.it
news.megasys.it
Additionally, the following news server from the University of Berlin,
which provides access to over 20,000 news groups, has proved a useful
alternative for a number of our posters:
 
News.cis.dfn.de
 You must register with them which can be done by sending an e-mail to:
News-r...@cis.dfn.de
The header/subject of your e-mail should be 'Registration'. And in the body
of the message simply state your name and your e-mail address. You will
receive confirmation from them of your username and password within 24
hours. The service is free.
3. WHERE CAN I FIND.?
Whilst members are more than willing to answer questions where they are
able, please note that many of the simpler questions can be answered by
conducting an elementary Internet search.  Please bear in mind that in all
probability your question has been asked and answered before and after a
while it can become slightly wearying to be answering the same question
again and again. Below is a list of the some of the more commonly used
search engines which will prove invaluable in helping you find what you are
looking for. You are strongly urged to make use of them.
English Search Engines:
www.altavista.com
www.askjeeves.com
www.yahoo.com
www.infind.com
www.northernlights.com
www.looksmart.com
www.google.com
www.dogpile.com
Italian Search Engines:
www.arianna.com
 
www.virgilio.com
 
www.google.com
 
www.metacrawler.com
4. THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE
For matters relating specifically to English and The English Language, we
include the following suggestions of useful sites and references. It bears
repeating that you are welcome to post your questions to the group, but if
your question is likely to have been asked before, you may first want to
check the following which might have the answer you want.
Looking for an additional forum where you can learn English?
misc.education.language.english is a newsgroup devoted to the teaching of
English (especially as a second language).
The meaning of an Acronym?
The following Web site has a searchable list of over 144,000  acronyms,
initilisms and abbreviations:
www.acronymfinder.com
This one, called Babel, contains a shorter list of computer related
acronyms all on one page that you can easily download for off-line
browsing:
http://www.ciw.uni-karlsruhe.de/kopien/babel.html
There is also The Network Dictionary of Acronyms:
http://www.ucc.ie/info/net/acronyms/acro.html
A list of False Friends?
A very useful list of false friends can be found at:
http://www.infotrad.demon.co.uk
Additionally, a list is also included on our home page. Just follow the
link.
English Grammar
An Elementary Grammar at the English Institute's Web site offers help for
beginners, intermediate and advanced students:
http://www.englishinstitute.co.uk:591/guest_book/default.htm
From the Digital Education Network, the rules, plus a clinic and practice
pages:
http://www.edunet.com/english/grammar/index.cfm
More grammar exercises, quizzes, lessons, chat rooms and links:
http://www.eslpartyland.com
Covering many forms of English grammar with an emphasis on Business
English:
http://www.better-english.com/grammar.htm
A grammar reference and exercise site. For entry levels of ESL classes.
http://www.clta.on.ca/grammar.htm
The basics, thoroughly explained.
http://vweb1.hiway.co.uk/ei/intro.html
San Francisco State University ESL site.
http://thecity.sfsu.edu/%7Efunweb/
Online English grammar.
http://www.edunet.com/english/grammat/index.cfm
The following site provides links on the web to help with English grammar.
http://www.geocities.com/Atehns/Parthenon/2962/grammar/
English Verbs
Verb charts:
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/Files/84.html
Everything you always wanted to know about verbs but were afraid to ask:
http://www.gsu.edu/?wwwesl/egw/jones-html
Online exercises using verbs:
http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/verbtenseintro.html
Complete verb tense reviews, designed for intermediate and advanced English
learners:  
http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/verbtenseintro.html
English verb tenses:
http://deil.lang.uiuc.edu/class.pages/Structure1/tenses
Complete description of non-continuous verbs and verb tense irregularities
in English:
http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/types.html
Irregular verb chart for students of English:
http://members.home.net/englishzone/study/verbchrt.html
More help with those irregular verbs:
http://www.gsu.edu/?wwwesl/egw/grlist.htm
.
Phrasal Verbs
 A list of the most common English phrasal verbs:
http://www.eflnet.com/pverbs.htm
The ESL Cafe offers a  wealth of information for English learners including
a list of phrasal verbs:
http://www.eslcafe.com/pv/
P.S. Words, words, words
For those who like exploring the subtleties and ironies of the English
language may we suggest a visit to the following sites:
Richard Lederer's home page. " Ours is the only language in which you drive
in a parkway and park in a driveway and night falls but never breaks and
day breaks but never falls." If you're interested in the peculiarities of
the English Language, this site is highly recommended.
www.pw1.netcom.com/?rlederer/index.htm
Common Errors in English. A site featuring many confusing words and pairs
such as affect/effect, adapt/adopt, advice/advise, altogether/all together,
etc.
 
http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/errors.html
Michael Quinion's World Wide Words looking at new words and the
reappearance of old ones.
http://www.quinion.demon.co.uk/words/
The Word Detective features a large archive in which Evan Morris answers
questions on origins of colourful words and phrases.
http://www.word-detective.com
Foreigners take their best shot at the English language. A site featuring
some interesting translations gone slightly awry.
http://hearsay.simplenet.com/translation/index.htm
5. DICTIONARIES/REFERENCE
Where can I find an online dictionary for.?
A general-purpose dictionary, the Merriam-Webster Collegiate:
http://www.m-w.com/netdict.htm
A versions of an unabridged dictionary published early in the twentieth
century by the company that is now Merriam-Webster has been issued by
Project Gutenberg. The version is in HTML format (45 Mb when unzipped). And
is available from:
ftp://uiarchive.cso.uiuc.edu/pub/etext/gutenberg/etext96
.
It can also be found on the Web at:
http://promo.net/pg/
The Macquarie dictionary is accessible online at:
http://www.dict.mq.edu.au/
Free, downloadable dictionaries:
http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/8180
Onelook - Another valuable source searches over 500 dictionaries at one
time:
http://www.onelook.com
English and foreign dictionaries can be found at:
http://www.yourdictionary.com/
Babylon
A downloadable dictionary that lies under every application and uses an
OCR system to capture the words to be translated.
http://www.babylon.com/
Once you have downloaded the main program (840 KB) you can access the
twelve language databases online or you can download the dictionaries (3-4
MB each) you prefer (English and Italian, for example).
http://www.babylon.com/download/index.html
Babylon is a one way dictionary: it can translate only from English to
other languages
British/American Dictionaries
To help you understand the differences between British English and American
English:
Brit-Speak:
http://pages.prodigy.com/NY/NYC/britspk/main.html
The American-British British-American Dictionary:
http://www.peak.org/~jeremy/dictionary
English (British)-American Dictionary:
http://www.libertynet.org/~bgmap/us-uk.html
English-Italian, Italian-English Dictionaries
The Internet Dictionary Project, featuring downloadable files:
http://www.june29.com/IDP/
A free, multilingual database is available from:
http://dictionaries.travlang.com/EnglishItalian/
From the Dutch Dictionary Project:
http://www.freedict.com/dictionary/index.html
 A large source of language dictionaries:
http://www.logos.it/index.html
Alternative Dictionaries:
Not for those who are easily offended, this site features 'alternative'
dictionaries in many languages:
http://www.notam.uio.no/~hcholm/altlang/
Specialised Dictionaries: (See also Section 10. Translation: Useful sites
for translators)
From Agriculture to Textiles a site featuring specialised, technical
dictionaries and much more:
http://www.yourdictionary.com/diction4.html
A very impressive site, the following offers 870 monolingual, bilingual and
multilingual resources in the form of either downloadable or online
dictionaries including detective slang, casing and packing industry terms,
flower names, a cat fanciers glossary, silicon valley slang, model
aeroplane jargon and much more besides. Definitely worth a visit.
 
http://www.jump.net/~fdietz/glossary.htm
The above mentioned Onelook site is also a valuable aid also for technical
translators, since it provides at a glance several occurrences of a
technical term in different contexts.
Slang: American Slang
American Slanguages. "Talk like the locals in cities in America. The hick
to hip translation guide".
http://www.slanguage.com
British Slang
A dictionary of English slang and colloquialisms currently used in the UK.
http://www.peevish.u-net.com/slang
Slang and colloquialisms currently used in Britain with a focus on
Manchester and the North of England. With a searchable database.
http://www.page27.co.uk/ted
A comprehensive list of Slang to English & English to Slang tables with
examples of correct usage.
http://www.accessv.com/~alderton/slang
Australian Slang
A collection of Australian slang, sayings and phrases, from the old,
disappearing traditional words, to the present day.
 
http://www.geocities.com/SouthBeach/Breakers/8092/ozslang.htm
A Collection of Australian slang with translations into American and
English.
http://people.enternet.com.au/?goeldner
Cockney Rhyming Slang Dictionary
Possibly the largest collection on the Web:
http://nrcbsa.bio.nrc.ca/~foote/cock_eng.html
Thesauruses
Roget's Thesaurus is available from:
http://web.cs.city.ac.uk/text/roget/thesaurus
Thesaurus Com, as the name implies, is another online source:
http://www.thesaurus.com/
Quotations
John Bartlett's classic "collection of passages, phrases, and proverbs
traced to their sources in ancient and modern literature. This ninth
edition contains over 9,000 quotations from Hesiod and Plutarch, through
Chaucer and Thomas à Kempis, up to the contemporary statesmen of the day"
http://www.columbia.edu/acis/bartleby/bartlett/
5.1 Dictionaries/References - Print
 English-Italian
- Dizionari completi su CD e in formato cartaceo
Dizionario Picchi Ed. Hoepli
Fernando Picchi
"Grande Dizionario, con CD-ROM"
Ulrico Hoepli Editore - 1999
Prima Edizione
3328 pp.
175 000 voci, 500 000 vocaboli composti e derivati
Flessioni di nomi, verbi, aggettivi e avverbi con inrregolarità
Attributi di numerabilità di tutti i sostantivi inglesi
Indicazione di sinonimi e contrari
Appendice:
- Numeri cardinali, Numeri ordinali, Segni matematici
- Conversione di unità di misura, Elementi chimici
CD-ROM contenente l'intero dizionario che non richiede installazione
Commenti: Il programma di consultazione è molto lento nel caricarsi. A ogni
ricerca bisogna chiudere le ultime finestre aperte, cosa che diventa
fastidiosa se si vogliono cercare più parole in sequenza. Non c'è una
funzione di completamento della parola o di proposta di parole simili.
Copertina bruttissima.
Dizionario Ragazzini - Ed. Zanichelli
Giuseppe Ragazzini
Dizionario Inglese Italiano Italiano Inglese
Terza edizione, 1998
2400 pp
disponibile in versione cartacea, in versione cartacea + CD-ROM e solo in
CD-ROM.
138 000 voci, 237 000 accezioni,
4 800 sigle, simboli e abbreviazioni, 3 000 nomi propri e toponimi
32 tavole illustrate in quadricromia con 198 illustrazioni e didascalie
bilingui relative a: Agricoltura, Anatomia umana, Architettura, Scienze
della Terra e energia, sistema solare, Sport, Trasporti.
- Minidizionari su CD con la pronuncia
Dizionario 'speakerato' (sic) Garzanti
È equivalente a un dizionario in formato ridotto.
- Dizionari solo su CD
DizioROM Microsoft
Include: il Dizionario Enciclopedico Rizzoli, il Dizionario dei sinonimi e
contrari, il Dizionario inglese-italiano/italiano-inglese, il Dizionario
delle sentenze latine e greche, l'Atlante geografico Encarta in versione
compatta e il Dizionario delle citazioni. All'interno è possibile trovare
clip multimediali, immagini e animazioni. Inoltre per il fatto di essere un
prodotto di mamma microsoft DizioRom (si dice) può essere richiamato da
qualsiasi applicazione.
Dalle informazioni a nostra disposizione comunque si tratta di una versione
non recente che non ha subito gli aggiornamenti degli altri prodotti
microsoft, come l'altlante e l'enciclopedia Encarta.
Dizionario Picchi
Lo si è trovato in edicola per un breve periodo (la prima settimana di
Marzo 2000) associato alla vendita del quotidiano La Repubblica. Con un
sovraprezzo di sole 18900. Forse lo si può trovare nei remainders centers
oppure facendo richiesta all'editore per una copia arretrata.
Dizionario Ragazzini
Può essere acquistato anche il solo CD-ROM.
- Dizionari solo cartacei
Dizionario Hazon - Ed. Garzanti
I Grandi Dizionari Garzanti: Hazon Inglese
2688 pagine
340 000 voci e accezioni
58 000 termini specialistici (scientifici, tecnici, economici, giuridici e
di informatica)
2200 Phrasal verbs
2000 citazioni d'autore
4300 termini e locuzioni americane
2600 sigle, abbreviazioni e acronimi
trascrizione fonetica e divisione sillabica.
informazioni di costume, storia, cultura
70 tavole a colori e in bianco e nero con 2500 vocaboli settoriali 11
appendici (verbi irregolari, nomi propri, cognomi, nomi geografici,
nomenclature scientifiche, unità di misura...)
glossario dei termini informatici e di internet con tavole illustrate
include un CD-ROM: un minidizionario visuale che non richiede
installazione.
Solo Inglese
American Heritage Dictionary - The Voice of America
La terza edizione, solo in CD-ROM si trova a un prezzo decisamente basso,
con sole trentamila lire vi potete portare a casa un dizionario di inglese
americano con la pronuncia di tutti i termini principali oltre a un
dizionario di sinonimi e contrari e un dizionario etimologico.
200 000 vocaboli
definizione completa, pronuncia, ortografia, fraseologia, categoria
grammaticale, divisione in sillabe, declinazione, espressioni idiomatiche,
uso, omografi, etimologia
Contiene inoltre:
The Roget's Thesaurus
Un dizionario ragionato di sinonimi e contrari con una base di oltre
1,500,000 parole
The dictionary of Cultural Literacy
Che contiene espressioni relative a: la bibbia, letteratura, medicina e
salute, filosofia e religione, storia del mondo, storia americana, affari
ed economia, scienze fisiche e matematiche.
Oltre 8000 schede biografiche e più di 13000 nomi geografici.
Commenti: L'interfaccia è particolarmente efficiente (a differenza di
quella di certi programmi italiani.) e permette il taglia e incolla (anche
questo a differenza di certi programmi italiani.). Gira anche sotto Windows
3.1
Non fatevelo scappare!
È un must.
Collins COBUILD
COllins Birmingham University InternationaL Database
Helping learners with real English.
1703 pp.
70000 references
90000 examples
- detailed treatment to the most frequent 2000 words in English
- every definition is explained with a sentence in order to show essential
grammar, and to avoid the codes, symbols and brackets that make other
dictionary difficult to use
- an extra column gives detailed grammatical information about how each
sense of each word can be used
- the last edition contains information on how frequently a word appears in
the English language
Available with CD-ROM
Collins Millennium
Collins English Dictionary
Millennium Edition, 1998
1824 pp.
180 000 lemmi, 196 000 accezioni,
16 000 lemmi nuovi o aggiornati
18 500 voci enciclopediche
Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary
A.S. Hornby
63000 references
65000 definitions
90000 examples
11600 idioms and phrasal verbs
Full coverage of American English and pronunciation and 16 colour pages
presenting information on cultural topics such as the American legal system
and constitution.
Available with CD-ROM
Webster
Webster's New World Dictionary of American English
third College edition
1574 pages
170.000 entries
11.000 American words and phrases
Dizionari tecnici
McGraw-Hill Zanichelli
Il McGraw-Hill Zanichelli - small size - con CD-ROM
Dizionario enciclopedico scientifico
inglese-italiano (italiano-inglese solo rimando al termine inglese)
seconda edizione Zanichelli, 1998
2240 pp.
105 000 lemmi ordinati alfabeticamente e tradotti in italiano nel
linguaggio della scienza e della tecnica
 129 000 traduzioni italiane
122 000 definizioni enciclopediche riprodotte dalla seconda edizione del
"McGraw-Hill Dictionary of Scientific and Technical Terms"
102 settori specialistici dell'astronomia, biologia, chimica, fisica,
geologia, ingegneria, matematica, medicina
3000 illustrazioni
Commento: Completo nella parte inglese, la parte italiana è solo un rimando
alle definizioni inglesi. Contiene solo termini in inglese US.
Marolli
Marolli
" "
tredicesima edizione
- , 1996
Disponibile in versione cartacea con CD-ROM o solo in CD-ROM
Il CD-ROM funziona su MS-DOS
1872 pp.
195.000 voci complessive
42 tavole fuori testo rappresentanti i vari settori della tecnica
Commenti: Rispetto al McGraw-Hill, il Marolli contiene più termini generici
ed è veramente un dizionario italiano-inglese, inglese-italiano (non di
tipo enciclopedico). L'originale orientamento alla meccanica lo rende meno
adatto per materie come elettronica, informatica e telecomunicazioni.
Non sempre spiega quali termini sono in inglese UK e quali sono US.
Gould-Chiampo
Dizionario enciclopedico di medicina Inglese-Italiano, Italiano-Inglese
a cura di Luigi Chiampo, tratto dal Blakiston's Gould Medical Dictionary
edito da McGraw-Hill (New York).
Zanichelli, 1988
2274 pp.
78 000 voci con 84 000 definizioni e 26 tavole anatomiche a colori.
Delfino Lanciotti Liguri Stefani
Giovanni Delfino, Eudes Lanciotti, Gianfranco Liguri, Massimo Stefani
"Medicina e Biologia. Medicine & Biology"
Dizionario enciclopedico di Scienze mediche e Biologiche e di Biotecnologie
Italiano Inglese Inglese Italiano
Zanichelli, 1997
2144 pp.
Sezione italiano inglese: 41 000 voci, 45 000 accezioni,
70 settorispecialistici, oltre 80 illustrazioni.
Sezione inglese italiano: 48 000 voci.
Appendici: sigle e simboli internazionali; grandezze, costanti e unità di
misura; dati chimico-fisici; dati fisiologici, biochimici e nutrizionali;
classificazioni biologiche.
Economics & Business
Fernando Picchi
"Il Nuovo Economics & Business"
Dizionario enciclopedico economico e commerciale Ing-Ita, Ita-Ing
seconda edizione
Zanichelli,1990
1600 pp.
52 000 voci.
Tavole bilingui di nomenclatura.
Dizionario di base in 5 lingue. Monete. Unità di misura.
Language & Business
Fernando Picchi
"Language & Business"
Dizionario Ing-Ita, Ita-Ing economico commerciale e di lingua moderna
Zanichelli, 1993
1792 pp.
sezione inglese-italiano 20 000 voci e 39 000 accezioni
sezione italiano-inglese 22 000 voci e 47 000 accezioni
Law and Commerce
"West's Law & Commercial Dictionary"
Dizionario giuridico e commerciale
Inglese-Italiano, Francese, Spagnolo, Tedesco, Italiano-Inglese.
1998, Zanichelli/West.
1856 pp.
Oltre 17 000 voci
Informatica
Otto Vollnhals
"Dizionario di Informatica"
terza edizione
1996 (?) Gruppo Editoriale Jackson
20.000 voci
4 lingue (EN-FR-IT-DE)
Altri dizionari e riferimenti
American Slang
Richard A. Spears
"AMERICAN SLANG Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions"
Zanichelli/National Textbook Company, 1989
544 pp
10 000 definizioni di 8500 voci e locuzioni gergali nell'inglese d'America
L'inglese in America
I. Ferrero - G. Anglesio
"L'inglese in America"
Dizionario di slang - eufemismi - espressioni colloquiali non ortodosse e
proibite
Inglese-Italiano, Italiano-Inglese
Mursia 1991
861 pp.
9000 vocaboli e 20.000 citazioni (d'autore, da enciclopedie, riviste,
giornali, film, dizionari)
American Idioms
Richard A. Spears
"AMERICAN IDIOMS Dictionary of everyday expressions of contemporary
American English"
Zanichelli/National Textbook Company, 1988
460 pp.
Oltre 8000 espressioni idiomatiche frequentemente usate nell'inglese
americano:
frasi gergali, convenzionali, proverbiali, formali e informali
con indicazioni che ne chiariscono il senso, commenti, indicazioni sull'uso
ed esempi
Odd Pairs & False Friends
Virginia Browne, Elena Mendes, Gabriele Natali
"Odd Pairs & False Friends"
Dizionario di false analogie e ambigue affinità tra inglese ed italiano
199x, Zanichelli
272 pp.
nella sezione inglese: 1000 coppie di voci inglesi e italiane suddivise per
accezione e ordinate alfabeticamente, norme d'uso e segnalazioni
linguistiche, spiegazioni e commenti, esempi tradotti.
nella sezione italiana: 1000 voci italiane con rimando alla corrispondente
voce inglese
More & More False friends, Bugs and Bugbears
Virginia Browne, Elena Mendes, Gabriele Natali
"More & More False Friends. Bugs & Bugbears"
Dizionario di ambigue affinità e tranelli nella traduzione fra Inglese e
Italiano
con Word Games
Zanichelli, 1995
432 pp.
Oltre 1300 coppie di voci inglesi e italiane
circa 180 Word Games
Dizionari Visuali
Dizionario Visuale Italiano-Inglese
a cura di Jean-Claude Corbeil e Ariane Archambault
Trad. di Studio Zelig, rivista da A. Suvero
Zanichelli, 1998
928 pp.
3500 immagini a colori, 50 000 nomi
Duden Inglese Italiano
Dizionario illustrato Inglese e Italiano.
Pictorial English & Italian Dictionary
a cura delle redazioni del Duden e della Oxford University Press
Zanichelli, 1995
872 pp.
384 tavole, 28 000 voci inglesi e altrettante italiane.
6. WHERE CAN I FIND ONLINE ENGLISH LANGUAGE COURSES?
A useful, free site for those who are just starting out learning English
is:
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/6403/
The English Page - Free Online English Lessons is good Internet resource
for intermediate and advanced learners of English as a foreign language.
http://www.englishpage.com
Multimedia online ESL course from PlanetEnglish.
http://www.planetenglish.com
The TESL/TEFL/TESOL/ESL/EFL/ESOL Links page also features links to other
sites offering courses
http://www.aitech.ac.jp/~iteslj/links/
Infotech, from the Cambridge University Press, is a comprehensive course
for intermediate level learners who need to be able to understand and use
the English of computing for study and work.
http://www.cup.cam.ac.uk/elt/infotech/index.htm
7. PRONUNCIATION
Where can I hear English pronunciation online?
The English Listening Lounge. Recordings (in Real Audio format) of English
speakers.
http://www.EnglishListening.com
There is a dictionary with pronunciation sound files at:
http://www.allwords.com/
How to pronounce 'ghoti' and why.
Remember Bernard Shaw's word ghoti with the gh from laugh, the o from women
and the ti from nation and pronounced 'fish'? R. Beard offers a full
explanation of this linguistic oddity which has appeared on the group a
number of times
http://www.yourdictionary.com/phono.html
8. PHONETICS
The standard way to represent pronunciation is the International Phonetic
Alphabet (IPA). Their  home page is:
http://www.arts.gla.ac.uk/IPA/ipa.html
A list of the ASCII version of the IPA symbols is available from one of The
Realm's own gallant hommes featuring all the symbols necessary for English
and Italian in both IPA and ASCII IPA, with examples.
http://www.powerup.com.au/~rmottare/ipa.htm
 9. WHERE CAN I FIND ENGLISH MOVIES?
At your newsagents'
The English Movie Collection
  Films including original script
Speak Up
 As well as the videotapes, you can also buy the magazine
On TV
Those of you who own a time machine, can travel back in time three or four
years and re-live the wonders of the programme which used to air on Sunday
nights on RaiTre "Movies: i film come non li avete mai sentiti". Failing
which, you could complain to the programme schedulers of the major
television networks who seem to think that a repeat of a television series
from the seventies is of greater value than showing a film in its original
language. But we digress.
The only solution for those wishing to view films in English is to purchase
a satellite kit. Sad but true.
At the cinema
Some cinemas make it a practice to show films in their original language on
a regular basis. Your local newspaper would be the best source for finding
out if you are fortunate enough to live in an area with a cinema under such
enlightened management.
At your local library
Some libraries are furnished with multi-media sectors complete with music
CD's, videotapes and DVD. Among these, some even have films in their
original language. Unfortunately not many are as enlightened, however it is
certainly worth asking to find out.
10. LITERATURE ONLINE
We are very often asked for help in suggesting 'interesting' literature or
for sources where certain works can be found online. The following
therefore, is longer than might perhaps be thought necessary, but it is
deliberately so, in the hopes that you might find what you need 'somewhere
out there'
Akamac
Among other things, Marx's Das Kapital is available in English and
English-German bilingual versions, in .pdf (Adobe Acrobat) file-format.
This site also includes an extensive, alphabetically-sorted directory of
online e-text resources of all sorts.
http://www.cpm.ll.ehime-u.ac.jp/AkamacHomePage/Akamac.html
Alex Catalogue of Electronic Texts
"The scope of documents in this collection include items from American
literature, English literature, and Western philosophy." This extensive
literature archive site is distinguished by the ability to generate
on-the-fly Portable Document Format or .PDF (Adobe Acrobat) files which can
be (to a limited extent) custom-formatted online and then downloaded for
later reading and printing.
http://sunsite.berkeley.edu/alex
Berkeley Digital Library SunSITE
"Builds digital collections and services while providing information and
support to digital library developers world-wide."
http://sunsite.berkeley.edu
Bibliotheca Universalis
A G-7 global information society pilot project whose main objective is to
make the major works of the world's scientific and cultural heritage
accessible to the public.
http://www.konbib.nl/gabriel/bibliotheca-universalis/index.htm
 Blackmask Online Ebooks
A very large selection of electronic online texts by a wide variety of
authors (including a biography on each author listed) from a wide range of
literature; many works can also be downloaded in .zip file-format.
http://www.blackmask.com/olbooks/main.htm
Books-Online
A searchable and browseable database-directory of online electronic texts
covering a broad range of interests, from established literary classics to
computer how-to manuals.
Be warned however that of their current database of 11,301 books, 575 only
have 'Sample Chapters', i.e. not the entire book.
http://www.books-on-line.com
Bookvalley
A library of classic novels,  literatures, and fictions online. Including
the Tarzan Series and the immortal Sherlock Holmes.
http://www.bookvalley.com
The British Library
Digital Library
http://portico.bl.uk/diglib/diglib_main.html
CARRIE: A Full-Text Electronic Library
An extensive link resource, listing texts archived at various locations all
across the Internet. Features a searchable database.
http://www.bookwebsites.com
Corpus of Middle English Prose and Verse Bibliography
An extensive archive of Middle-English electronic texts (none of which are
translated into modern English, however), including works by Chaucer and
the ubiquitous Anonymous.
http://www.hti.umich.edu/english/mideng/bibl.html
Cyberbooks.
A growing selection of downloadable, online books in both English and
Italian.
http://members.xoom.it/cyberbooks/
Grand Library
Portal for digital books available online, with thousands of books to read
for free.
http://grandlibrary.com
Internet Classics Archive
Repository of searchable works of classical literature. Mainly Greco-Roman
works (some Chinese and Persian), all in English translation.
http://classics.mit.edu
The Internet Public Library
Online public library for the Internet community. Includes directories of
online texts, newspapers, magazines, reference materials; plus special
sections for youth and teens.
 
http://www.ipl.org/reading/books
Online Books
Directory of over 11,000 books that can be freely read on the Internet.
http://digital.library.upenn.edu/books/
Perseus Project
An evolving digital library of ancient Greek and Latin texts, ancient art
and architecture, secondary sources, and links maintained by Tufts
University.
http://www.perseus.tufts.edu
Progetto Liber-Liber Il progetto Liber Liber  ha per scopo la realizzazione
della versione elettronica, e certificata, di centinaia di classici della
letteratura in lingua italiana, gratuitamente prelevabili via Internet.
http://www.liberliber.it/biblioteca/opere
Also available from the University of Milan via ftp:
ftp://manuzio.dsi.unimi.it/pub/Manuzio/
Project Gutenberg Index
"Project Gutenberg selects etexts targeted a bit on the "bang for the buck"
philosophy. we choose etexts we hope extremely large portions of the
audience will want and use frequently."
http://www.promo.net/pg/
Shakespeare Stack Project
Macintosh hyperCard editions of the works of William Shakespeare, with
annotations.
http://www.his.com/~z/shakespeare/
Twain Enterprises at Villa Gruntose
"Contains a collection of electronic texts including the entire Sherlock
Holmes canon." which is really why the link is here.
http://www.gruntose.com/Info/Books/Sherlock_Holmes/sherlock.html
Under the Sun
Contains classic literature in HTML format. Authors include Twain, Shelley
and Dickens. New authors are added monthly.
http://www.underthesun.cc/Classics
Vision of the Artists
1258 classical fiction and non-fiction e-books. 460 authors linked to 1258
author titles of classic literature.
 
http://www.selfknowledge.com
Washington University Library - Electronic Texts & Documents
Amazing depth of historical subjects available. An impressively large list
of what's available on the Internet.
http://www.lib.washington.edu/subject/Humanities/dr/eltxt.html
11 LEISURE ONLINE
Want to find your favourite song's lyrics? Ever wondered what Dr.
Frankesteeen said to Igor in "Young Frankenstein"? Here are a few links to
help you out.
Song Lyrics
Some places where you could find that the love song you like the most is
the last incoherent cry of a freaking psycho:
http://www.songfile.com/
http://www.lyrics.ch/index.htm
http://songfile.snap.com/
Movie Scripts
Three places where you will find the scripts of your favourite movies, or
even the original screenplays (check out Bladerunner, Young Frankenstein,
and Pulp Fiction)
http://www.script-o-rama.com/trans.shtml
http://www.lontano.org/FMA/index-frames.html
http://us.imdb.com/
 Movie Trailers and Interviews
Trailers, in English, of the latest releases to be shown at the cinema can
be found at the first of the following sites (updated every Friday), and
the second link offers many interviews with stars of the silver screen:
http://movies.eonline.com/?plusmovie
http://www.hollywood.com/movietalk/
Comics on line
The Realm has more than a few die-hard comic enthusiasts, so.Wanna read a
few stories featuring Donald Duck in its mother tongue? Go on and help
yourself:
http://www.fortunecity.com/westwood/blumarine/14/bongo01.htm
http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Lofts/5038/kites01.htm
http://www.mhk.lu.se/home/murry/Moc20/africaframe.html
http://marcobar.cce.unifi.it/comics/Censored/AtomBomb/Pagina1.html
http://www.fortunecity.com/westwood/blumarine/14/loot01.htm
http://www.hamlco.com/gladstone/boatmen/boatmen1.html
http://marcobar.cce.unifi.it/comics/censored/MarcoPolo/
http://www.fortunecity.com/westwood/blumarine/14/loot01.htm
Radio over the Internet
The choice of English radio stations available over the Internet is quite
staggering. In order to hear them however, you will first need to install a
plug-in (if you don't already have one, of course). Arguably the most
popular and available free of charge is Real Player:
www.realplayer.com
Once you have installed the correct plug-in you can go and look for the
radio broadcasting station in the city you most like
http://wmbr.mit.edu/stations/list.html
12. TRANSLATION: Information and Resources for Translators
Where can I find out about Translation, Fees, etc?
ASSOCIAZIONE ITALIANA TRADUTTORI INTERPRETI  provides a comprehensive fee
list for professional interpreters/translators in various fields.
http://www.mix.it/AITI/
Generally speaking however, agencies pay about L.22.000 a page where each
page is approximately 25 lines of 60 characters each. For private clients
it is possible to ask for L30,000 per page and up.
Where can I find translation software?
There is really no available software - free or otherwise - which can do  a
creditable job of translating text from English into Italian  or indeed
from any language into another. While experienced translators are finding
uses for those programmes that are available,  the inexperienced translator
should use them with care.
Altavista  provides an online translation service. Be warned the results
are far from satisfactory.
http://babelfish.altavista.digital.com/cgi-bin/translate
?
If you have something which needs translating, within a reasonable limit,
ask the newsgroup, you'll be sure to get all the help you need and it is
guaranteed to be more accurate than anything a software translation
programme will produce. Having said this, some links for translation
software can be found at:
 
http://italian.about.com/education/italian/msubtranslation.htm
If you are looking for what is known as translation memory (TM) programmes
which store your own translations of frequently used words and phrases such
as are used by professional translators, two of the most popular are:
Trados:
http://www.trados.com
DejaVu:
www.atril.com
The following Web site provides over 350 links to free, online machine
translation (MT) engines, translation dictionaries, translation word lists,
and foreign language processing resources:
http://11design.com/transguide/
What is Babelfish?
Altavista's online translation service which leaves much to be desired (See
Above)
Useful sites for Translators:
The newsgroup sci.language.translation is " a major meeting place for
translators and interpreters and for all those who are curious about
anything to do with these professions. The group provides a forum where for
those interested in the problems, issues, and concerns of translators and
interpreters." It is not the site where you should be posting or asking for
work. A specific work-related site for translators exists for this:
sci.language.translation.marketplace
The Translator's Home Companion, as it calls itself, offers many useful
links and their address is:
http://www.lai.com./lai/companion.html
Aquarius.net is a large marketplace for translation and interpreting jobs
on the Internet. It features many resources for translators in the form of
links, reference materials, libraries and more.
http://aquarius.net
EuroDicAutom - A terminology data base in nine languages  including 5
million terms in many official EC languages:
http://eurodic.ip.lu/cgi-bin/edicbin/EuroDicWWW.pl
A very impressive site offering 870 monolingual, bilingual and multilingual
resources in the form of either downloadable or online dictionaries
including detective slang, casing and packing industry terms, flower names,
a cat fanciers glossary, silicon valley slang, model aeroplane dictionary
and a lot more besides. Definitely worth a visit.
http://www.jump.net/~fdietz/glossary.htm
A Useful page for translators with links to newsgroups, mailing lists,
numerous specialist dictionaries and much more
http://ireland.iol.ie/~mazzoldi/lang/index.html
13. EFL/ESL/TEFL/TOEFL
Where can I find out about. EFL (English as a Foreign Language)?
The Internet TESL Journal maintains the following site which contains over
5,000 links for TESL/TEFL/TESOL/ESL/EFL/ESOL Students & Teachers of English
as a Second Language:
http://www.aitech.ac.jp/~iteslj/links/
Where can I learn more about ESL (English as a Second Language)?
Dave 's ESL Cafe Web site has rightly won great renown..possibly the
Internet's Top Site for ESL/EFL Students and Teachers from Around the World
http://www.eslcafe.com/
This English as a Second Language Web site, is a starting point for ESL
learners who want to learn English through the World Wide Web, listing
useful links which offer courses.
http://www.rong-chang.com/
Tower of English Online ESL Courses
A directory of available online ESL Courses.
 
http://members.tripod.com/~towerofenglish/onlinecourses.htm
BBC World Service - Home Page
Uses radio, magazines, and cassettes to teach English as a second language.
 
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/index.shtml
Where can I find out about TEFL course? (Teaching English as a Foreign
Language)?
Internet TESL Journal:
www.tefl.net
Where can I learn more about TOEFL (Teaching of English as a Foreign
Language)?
TOEFL OnLine
The official Web site for Teaching of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL)
includes online testing, tutorials, practice and sample questions and study
material as well as a library of material available for downloading
http://www.toefl.org
Knowledge 3000
TOEFL preparation via the Internet.
http://englishtutor.telecampus.com/descr.html
New York University: Toefl Preparation
Classroom TOEFL preparation course offered by New York University's
American Language Institute.
http://www.scps.nyu.edu/dyncon/easl/test.html
14. STUDY HOLIDAYS ABROAD
Where can I find out about a study holiday overseas?
General & Business English. Home-stay tuition in London.
http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~jes
(No personal knowledge of the following links are known, but they are
included for your information.)
English, Russian, Welsh and French by post or through intensive residential
crash courses in this 16th century Welsh farmhouse among the hills of
Meirionnydd in Wales.
http://www.meirionnydd.force9.co.uk
The English Institute offers English courses whilst staying with an English
family in England.
http://62.6.162.42/Italimm.html
The EnglishClub Language Holidays is a commercial site which will answer
questions and help you find a language holiday in many countries.
http://www.englishclub.net/language-holidays/index.shtml
Anglo-Continental England is based in the UK and is accredited by The
British Council.
http://www.anglo-continental.com/en/uk/index-uk.htm
15. WORKING OVERSEAS
Where can I find information about working overseas?
The following URL offers a wealth of information and advice to help you
find what you are looking for especially with regard to short-term
employment:
http://www.transitionsabroad.com/resources/work/shortterm/index.shtml
16. WHERE CAN I FIND A PEN-PAL TO WRITE TO?
We get many posts asking if people would be interested in exchanging
correspondence to help improve their English. We offer the following
suggestions where you could find a like-minded person.
The Student E-mail Exchange site should help you find someone looking for
similar friends:
www.eslpartyland.com/e-mail/stemailresults.htm
Online ESL Club!
For students and teachers of English. A wealth of information is provided
here where you'll also be able to find pen-pals to write to.
http://www.englishclub.net
If you can't find anyone from the above sites, you might want to try:
http://www.europa-pages.co.uk/penpal_form.html
Posting to the newsgroup "soc.penpals is also a good idea if you're looking
for someone with whom you can exchange e-mails
17. CHAT PROGRAMMES
How/where can I chat online to practice my English?
Another request which crops up on the group from time to time is how/where
to take part in 'chat'. Two of the most popular chat programs available on
the Internet are mIRC and ICQ. They are easy to download and a search
through the available channels should lead you to many happy hours of
chatting fun on just about any subject you can name.
The mIRC homepage:
www.mirc.com
mIRC is not yet available in Italian but this URL will allow you to
download the installation instructions in Italian:
http://www.mirc.co.uk/translations/italian.html
ICQ, another popular chat program, can be downloaded from:
http://web.icq.com
To use ICQ in your own language, follow the steps listed on the following
Web site which accesses LingoWare - a free downloadable programme to then
translate ICQ into Italian
http://www.lingocom.com/english/downloadicq.htm
AOL IM, the Instant Messenger by America On Line is one of the simplest
messengers around:
http://www.aol.com
version 4 is integrated in the latest Netscape release. You can use AOL IM
to chat with your buddies only or to join chat rooms that are listed at:
http://www.aol.com/community/chat/allchats.html
PowWow, is another interesting messaging software:
http://www.powwow.com
it has several features (such as the capability to share a screen to draw
on or the voice communication option), most notably the compatibility with
AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) and Microsoft Network Messenger Service (MSNMS)
Other messengers
Yahoo messenger
http://messenger.yahoo.com
Microsoft Network Messenger
http://messenger.msn.com
MSNM is important for NetMeeting, a part of the application that allows for
voice communication over the Internet. It is rumoured to be a trifle better
than the one offered by PowWow.
iCaster
http://www.icast.com/icaster
Chat without messenger
Eliminating the need to have to download a chat programme, the following
suggests many links which should be of help in locating others learning
English who wish to chat:
 
http://www.esl.about.com/education/esl/msub1.htm
.
18. ENGLISH USAGE:
"I don't have" vs "I haven't" - (UK usage vs US usage)
When speaking of possession, for example a book, the correct forms are:
    UK: I've got a car / I haven't got a car
    US: I have a car / I haven't got a car
In British English you can't omit the word 'got' when speaking of
possession; therefore you can't say for example: I have a book/ I haven't a
book.
In certain idiomatic phrases, the word 'got' is not used in England,
therefore the negative form must be 'don't have'.
   UK/US: I have breakfast every day/I don't have breakfast every day
The I have/I haven't form is used in England only when the verb ' to have
 is used as an auxillary (and the same for the US)
  UK/US: I have seen / I haven't seen
 In this case, it would be incorrect to use 'don't have '
"shall" vs "will", "should" vs "would"
The traditional rules for using these  are quite intricate, and require
some choices. If you're wanting to learn more,  you can access the relevant
section of  'The King's English' at:
http://www.bartleby.com/116/index.html
The rules as set down in the American Heritage Book of English Usage can be
located at:
http://www.bartleby.com/64/C001/056.html
"whom"
In informal English, one can probably get away with using "who" all the
time, except perhaps after a preposition.
The prescription for formal English is: use "who" as the subjective form
(like "he" / "she" / "they"), and "whom" as a direct or indirect object
(like "him" / "her" / "them"):
Very few English-speakers make these distinctions instinctively; most of
those who observe them learned them explicitly.
When to use "the"
This is often quite tricky for those learning English. The basic rules can
be found in the Purdue University Online Writing Lab's WWW page titled "The
Use and Non-Use of Articles":
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/Files/25.html
and in "An Overview of English Article Usage for Speakers of English as a
Second Language" by John R. Kohl of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute:
http://www.rpi.edu/web/writingcenter/esl.html
The article "the" before a noun generally indicates one specific instance
of the object named. For example, "I went to the school" refers to one
school. (The context should establish which school is meant.) Such examples
have the same meaning in all English-speaking countries.
19. MISCELLANEOUS
What will we call the next decade?
" 2001" will probably be called "two thousand and one", under the influence
of the movie "2001: A Space Odyssey"; but after that, people will probably
gradually switch to calling the years "twenty oh three", etc. What will we
call the decade 2000-2009 (comparable to "the eighties", "the nineties",
etc.), who knows?  Stay with us, and doubtless we'll all find out in good
time.
What are Telefonini called in English?
We have often been asked what is the English for this word.
In American English they are usually called cell (cellular) phones
In British English however they are called mobile phones
(In Germany, so we are reliably informed, they are known as handy ).
Regarding English Pronunciation: Two thoughts:
The following two pieces have appeared on the group a number of times. They
are included here in their entirety as they are amusing, helpful and
hopefully of interest.
An audio version of  "The Chaos" is available on our home page and our
thanks goes to yet another gallant Knight of The Realm, Martin J. Kenny for
recording it and making it available for (non-commercial) use.
"The Chaos" by Dr. Gerald Nolst Trenité
Trenité (1870 - 1946) wrote articles under the pen name CHARIVARIOUS and
this poem appeared in a little booklet entitled "Drop Your English Accent".
Dearest creature in creation,
Studying English pronunciation.
I will teach you in my verse
Sounds like corpse, corps, horse, and worse.
I will keep you, Suzy, busy,
Make your head with heat grow dizzy.
Tear in eye, your dress will tear.
So shall I! Oh hear my prayer.
Just compare heart, beard, and heard,
Dies and diet, lord and word,
Sword and sward, retain and Britain.
(Mind the latter, how it's written.)
Now I surely will not plague you
With such words as plaque and ague.
But be careful how you speak:
Say break and steak, but bleak and streak;
Cloven, oven, how and low,
Script, receipt, show, poem, and toe.
Hear me say, devoid of trickery,
Daughter, laughter, and Terpsichore,
Typhoid, measles, topsails, aisles,
Exiles, similes, and reviles;
Scholar, vicar, and cigar,
Solar, mica, war and far;
One, anemone, Balmoral,
Kitchen, lichen, laundry, laurel;
Gertrude, German, wind and mind,
Scene, Melpomen, mankind.
Billet does not rhyme with ballet,
Bouquet, wallet, mallet, chalet.
Blood and flood are not like food,
Nor is mound like should and would.
Viscous, viscount, load and broad,
Toward, to forward, to reward.
And your pronunciation's OK
When you correctly say croquet,
Rounded, wounded, grieve and sieve,
Friend and fiend, alive and live.
Ivy, privy, famous; clamor
And enamour rhyme with hammer.
River, rival, tomb, bomb, comb,
Doll and roll and some and home.
Stranger does not rhyme with anger,
Neither does devour with clangor.
Souls but foul, haunt but aunt,
Font, front, wont, want, grand, and grant,
Shoes, goes, does.
Now first say finger,
And then singer, ginger, linger.
Real, zeal, mauve, gauze, gouge and gauge,
Marriage, foliage, mirage, and age.
Query does not rhyme with very,
Nor does fury sound like bury.
Dost, lost, post and doth, cloth, loth.
Job, nob, bosom, transom, oath.
Though the differences seem little,
We actual but victual.
Refer does not rhyme with deafer.
Foeffer does, and zephyr, heifer.
Mint, pint, senate and sedate;
Dull, bull, and George ate late.
Scenic, Arabic, Pacific,
Science, conscience, scientific.
Liberty, library, heave and heaven,
Rachel, ache, moustache, eleven.
We say hallowed, but allowed,
People, leopard, towed, but vowed.
Mark the differences, moreover,
Between mover, cover, clover;
Leeches, breeches, wise, precise,
Chalice, but police and lice;
Camel, constable, unstable,
Principle, disciple, label.
Petal, panel, and canal,
Wait, surprise, plait, promise, pal.
Worm and storm, chaise, chaos, chair, Senate, spectator, mayor.
Tour, but our and succour, four.
Gas, alas, and Arkansas.
Sea, idea, Korea, area,
Psalm, Maria, but malaria.
Youth, south, southern, cleanse and clean.
Doctrine, turpentine, marine.
Compare alien with Italian,
Dandelion and battalion.
Sally with ally, yea, ye,
Eye, I, ay, aye, whey, and key.
Say aver, but ever, fever,
Neither, leisure, skein, deceiver.
Heron, granary, canary.
Crevice and device and aerie.
Face, but preface, not efface.
Phlegm, phlegmatic, ass, glass, bass.
Large, but target, gin, give, verging,
Ought, out, joust and scour, scourging.
Ear, but earn and wear and tear
Do not rhyme with here but ere.
Seven is right, but so is even,
Hyphen, roughen, nephew Stephen,
Monkey, donkey, Turk and jerk,
Ask, grasp, wasp, and cork and work.
Pronunciation - think of psyche!
Is a paling stout and spikey?
Won't it make you lose your wits,
Writing groats and saying grits?
It's a dark abyss or tunnel:
Strewn with stones, stowed, solace, gunwale,
Islington and Isle of Wight,
Housewife, verdict and indict.
Finally, which rhymes with enough --
Though, through, plough, or dough, or cough?
Hiccough has the same of cup.
My advice is to give up!!!
The European Commission.
The European Commission has just announced an agreement whereby English
will be the official language of the European Union rather than German,
which
was the other possibility.
In the first year, 's' will replace the soft 'c'. Sertainly, this will make
the sivil servants jump with joy.
The hard 'c' will be dropped in favor of the 'k'. This should klear up
konfusion and keyboards kan have one less letter.
There will be growing publik enthusiasm in the sekond year when the
troublesome 'ph' will be replased with the 'f'. This will make words like
'fotograf' 20% shorter!
In the 3rd year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be expected to
reach the stage where more komplikated changes are possible.
Governments will enkorage the removal of double leters which have always
ben a deterent to akurate speling.
Also, al wil agre that the horible mes of the silent 'e' in the languag is
disgrasful and it should go away.
By the 4th year, peopl wil be reseptiv to steps such as replasing 'th' with
'z' and 'w' wiz 'v'.
During ze fifz year ze unesesary 'o' kan be dropd from vords kontaining
'ou' and similar changes vud of kurs be aplid to ozer kombinations of
leters.
After ze fifz yer ve vil hav a rali sensibl ritn styl. Zer vil be no mor
trubl or difikultis and evriun vil find it ezi tu undrstand ech ozer.
Zen Z Drem Vil Finali Kum Tru!!

 [Press ENTER to retrieve this message.]
1639 lines? You must be kidding. Whatever happened to the standard 28
lines message?
O.,
-- 
Isa
Work like you don't need money,
Love like you've never been hurt,
And dance like no one's watching
http://web.tiscalinet.it/alfabeto_auschwitz/

 O.,
Oops?
Majesty
Am not sure. Will investigate and revert under separate cover
Apologies in the meantime,
--
I remain, as always,
Bambi
dtb

Apologies in the meantime,
No need for those, my newsreader won't download anything over 100
lines anyway, but I'm as curious as a monkey...
Good luck, 


 [...] but I'm as curious as a monkey... Good luck, 
 It is fortunate you chose to be as curious as a monkey, since
'curiosity killed the cat' . ;-)
Cheers,
Loki
Monkey see, monkey do (a curious saying that came to mind and is
appropos of niente.)
To suck the monkey: to drink rum out of a coconut.

 but I'm as curious as a monkey...
Dear Isabella,
It would appear to be no more than a cup and paste gone awry, whereby that
which was pasted was a previous message containing what appeared here, but
which had just been sent to it. faq. This coupled with my not paying
attention explains the mystery.
Again, my apologies to all.


 'curiosity killed the cat' . ;-)
Dear Loki,
We are not forgetting I trust (as has been stated here before, I am well
aware) that 'satisfaction brought it back?'


 well aware) that 'satisfaction brought it back?'
I do recall it, now that you mention it. I must have replaced a memory
bank with a colander by mistake.
cheers,
Loki
-- 

It would appear to be no more than a cup and paste gone awry,
Un cappuccino e una pasta andati a male...?
[snip]
Thanks a million,


 And dance like no one's watching
Dear Isa,
Where is it that I read it (I thought it was in the FAQ, but now I
can't find it there) that you would appreciate information regarding
the origin of your tag line "Work like..."?
Of course, I may just have dreamt it. I do have weird dreams
sometimes, but then there could be worse. At any rate, curious about
it, I searched and found
http://www.iit.edu/~mazalor/design/emailcol/dance.html
The song referred to there is still available on Napster, if you're
lucky and that particular computer is online. I downloaded it and in
the song, apparently with reference to a father telling his daughter,
a singer, it goes "Sing like..."
--
Xakero
 Happiness is a journey, not a destination.

The song referred to there is still available on Napster, ...
D'you know what. This is all most kind of you but somehow, I don't
really wish to listen to the actual song. It's just a gut feeling; as
soon as I come up with an at least semi-rational explanation, I'll be
sure to post it... and finally it must be said, to be really fair,
that Gennaro was the first one to actually scout for and trace the
song, only we haven't worked that piece of information into the FAQs
yet. I believe he is even the proud owner of a compact disc containing
the track.
Thanks a million,
-- 
Isa
Work like you don't need money,
Love like you've never been hurt,
And dance like no one's watching
http://web.tiscalinet.it/alfabeto_auschwitz/