Scheduling Your Chats

To enhance your NYA chatting experience try the following:
# Select a certain day, time to meet your NYA friends each week.
# Host your own chat events. Play a game of scramble or share jokes or etc.

Don't Worry

Don't be embarrassed because you type slowly [hunt 'n peck] or can't spell very good. Everyone here only cares about you and will welcome your thoughts and messages no matter what they look like! Together you will figure them out!

Improving Chat Skills

Chat rooms offer lively and entertaining exchanges for everyone who participates. Like anything else, chatting requires a little time and practice to fully enjoy the experience.

Introduce Yourself

To create a comfortable environment and enhance your chatting experience, familiarize yourself with chat guidelines, etiquette, or tips.

Before you begin to chat, take a moment to view the conversations and get a feel for the atmosphere in the room.

You'll be able to see the names of others in the room. Introduce yourself and greet everyone in the room. A simple "Hello Everyone" or just "Hi NYA" is a great way to start. Before you know it, you'll be chatting!

Chit-Chatting

Sometimes, people speak what they don't think, speak what they don't mean and it can be a fun time, a way to pass time on the net! So it happens with Chit chatting; it's more messaging and human communication if it's not used with a purpose. So have fun!

Etiquette

Chat room etiquettes requires you to be open and frank sometimes. So, chat right and do not hesitate to use the "ignore" feature there is someone in the chatroom you don't want to talk with.
If you have any concerns about messages appearing in this chat room, please report them to NYA Adult Advisor Jean Miller.

Safety

For safety purposes, never reveal your real name, location, or telephone number. There are two types of chat s- group and private. Group chats are virtual rooms filled with a whole bunch of people having various discussions at the same time. Private chats rooms are for those who wish to have their chats in a less busy setting. And although the NYA Chat is not listed in any chatroom directory, both are public forums.

User Names

When you sign on you can choose your username or anonymous handle. Use anonymity to your benefit and select a name that reflects your personality.

A Few Things You Should Know About "Chatting"

The Beginning

Chatting in real-time enhances the chat experience by creating a conversational atmosphere. You must have Internet access to chat.

But, before embarking on your chat adventure, you should familiarize yourself with the concept of chat. Chat is quite different from email; it takes place in real-time. Once you type a message, everyone in the chat session views your words almost instantly.

Once you become comfortable with chatting, you can create lasting friendships. Together, you will forge a community of individuals based on your shared interests and life experience in living with Huntington's Disease.

A Few Things You Should Know About "Chatting"

The Beginning

Chatting in real-time enhances the chat experience by creating a conversational atmosphere. You must have Internet access to chat.

But, before embarking on your chat adventure, you should familiarize yourself with the concept of chat. Chat is quite different from email; it takes place in real-time. Once you type a message, everyone in the chat session views your words almost instantly.

Once you become comfortable with chatting, you can create lasting friendships. Together, you will forge a community of individuals based on your shared interests and life experience in living with Huntington's Disease.

Yahoo Messenger

Yahoo! Messenger is an advertisement-supported instant messaging client and associated protocol provided by Yahoo!. Yahoo! Messenger is provided free of charge and can be downloaded and used with a generic "Yahoo! ID" which also allows access to other Yahoo! services, such as Yahoo! Mail, where users can be automatically notified when they receive new email. Yahoo! also offers PC-PC, PC-Phone and Phone-to-PC service, file transfers, webcam hosting, text messaging service, and chat rooms in various categories.

Yahoo! Messenger was originally launched under the name Yahoo! Pager on March 9, 1998.[1]

In addition to instant messaging features similar to those offered by ICQ, it also offers (on Microsoft Windows) features such as: IMVironments (customizing the look of Instant Message windows, some of which include authorized themes of famous cartoons such as Garfield or Dilbert), address-book integration and Custom Status Messages.[2] It was also the first major IM client to feature BUZZing and music-status. Another recently added feature is customized avatars.

chatting in english

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:

1. In public. (Everyone can see what you say.)
2. 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

To chat in English with other English Club visitors, try EnglishClub.com ESL Chat. It's easy to enter - just type in a user name and press "connect". If you want, you can choose a password, but it's not essential.