|
Chatting in English
Josef Essberger
The verb "to chat" means to talk (to someone) in a friendly,
informal way.
Today there are many places on the Internet where you can chat.
You can
chat with people all over the world, in many languages and about
many
subjects or topics. These places are usually called "chatrooms"
and you
can find thousands of them by using the keywords "chat" or
"chatroom" in
any good search engine.
Sometimes you need to register to enter a chatroom. This means
that you
need to provide a username and password, and possibly your email
address.
Your username does not have to be your real name. It can be your
nickname
or any name you want (if it is not already in use). When you have
your
username, other people in the chatroom will call you by that name
and
nobody else can use it.
Chatting is a good way to practise your *informal* English.
Messages in a
chatroom, are usually short sentences. Sometimes they are not even
sentences, but just a few words that are not really correct
grammatically
but may be typical of the way we speak in a quick conversation
with
friends.
To save time, people often use abbreviations like TTYL (talk to
you later)
or IDK (I don't know). You can see a list of some of these
abbreviations
below.
So don't go to a chatroom to practise "perfect" English. Go to a
chatroom
to practise casual or informal English and find new friends. You
can even
use a chatroom to help improve your typing skills if you want.
There are usually two ways to chat in most chatrooms:
In public. (Everyone can see what you say.)
In private. (This is called "person-to-person" or "one-to-one" and
you
talk directly to one other person. No-one else can see what you
say.
This is useful to chat with a friend or relative in another
country, or
to have private lessons with a teacher.)
Here are some of the most common abbreviations people use:
121 One-to-one (Person-to-person) AFK Away from keyboard
AKA Also known as
ASAP As soon as possible
ASL Age/sex/location?
B4 Before
BBL Be back later
BRB Be right back
BTW By the way
CUZ Because
FAQ Frequently asked questions FYI For your information
IDK I don't know
J/K Just kidding
K OK
L8R Later
LOL Laugh out loud
M/F Male or female
MSG Message
OIC Oh, I see
P2P Person-to-person
PLZ Please
PM Private message
SYL See you later
TGIF Thank goodness it's Friday THX Thanks
TTYL Talk to you later
ESL Books - Games - Software - E-books
© 1997-2003 ENGLISHCLUB.COM
Voltar para a
Lista de Glossários
|
