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I guess using "actually" can make you sound like a know-it-all if you use it too much.

I tend to only use it when dispelling a commonly held belief, or something.

Like,

Someone else: "Oh man, I feel nauseous..."
Me: "Actually, you feel nauseated. Nauseous means you make other people sick."

You'll just sound like a d**k if you use it in other situations, though, like the one Kokoroki just gave ("That's actually not a bad idea" -- makes it sound like you expected it to be a bad idea).

Hmm ... I don't know how often I use "actually". I usually use something else that can easily be replaced by that word.

To steal WellzY's example, I would likely say:

"I'm going out tonight. Wait no, I'm going out tomorrow night."

xp

I see what you mean. But the way you say it would have more of an impact than the word merely being used:

Guy1: The capital of Canada is Toronto.
Guy2: Actually, it's Ottawa.
Guy1: evil

As opposed to:

Guy1: Chameleons have short tongues.
Guy2: Actually their tongues are longer than their bodies. eek
Guy1: ORLY?

*the second statement was the brainchild of my sister, since I couldn't think up another example myself*

Thanks you guys. 3nodding I agree with you, Fritzi, English isn't the most difficult language to learn--but it's definitely not the easiest.

I'm a native english speaker. For english as a second (or third or 4th or 238th) language some parts will be easy and other parts hard. Probably being able to communicate somewhat shouldn't be too hard for most. But becoming fluent would take a looooong time.

I heard that the average native American high school graduate knows about 80,000 words. Yet for about HALF of everything said in english (according to my AP Psychology textbook last year) is done with about 150 words. I don't know if they are counting conjugations (am, are, was etc) or not though. Like I said before, I don't think it would take tooo much time learning to communicate very basic things in english. Although that time varies between native languages and individuals.

However, there are so many words that only vary slightly in their meaning. Scrawny and slim both generally mean 'skinny' but carry very different tones. I saw that the word actually was brought up here- the meaning slightly changes based on the situation- and that can be VERY frustrating at times. Also, english pronunciation is annoying.
Eve makes one sound... but if you add an 'r' both of the e's change the way they sound >_<

Best of luck to those just learning english and getting thrown off by the crazy pronunciation (and in some cases, different writing system) and to those encountering strange little nuances in the language ^^

From what I know of Japanese, it doesn't seem that hard. The most difficult part seems to me the difference in vocabulary and lack of cognates.