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That was not clear for me, I thought he was correcting me (and I was happy about it), and I wanted
to understand the wrongness (which i guess is a wrong word) there.
Thanks again, I shall check those links I am not a native English speaker and the English which
is taught here is not up to the marks
And much of the English here at LQ is not up to the marks either, meaning that a lot of it is very informal and slangy. I notice that the LQ regulars are pretty good at pointing out when posts are so informal as to be unintelligible.
I have read that linguists generally agree that English is the most difficult western language to learn for a non-native English speaker, even for speakers of other western languages.
The spelling doesn't match the pronounciation (though, thou, enough, through, for example--there is actually a historical reason for that called the Great Vowel Shift). Some verbs are inflected and some are not. And on and on.
Those of us who grew up with it don't notice how strange a linguistic beast English actually is.
It's a language of word order, but the word order is extremely flexible, as with "as I did" and "as did I" just for a small but relevant example.
Having read many of your posts, I must say that you do very well.
And much of the English here at LQ is not up to the marks either, meaning that a lot of it is very informal and slangy. I notice that the LQ regulars are pretty good at pointing out when posts are so informal as to be unintelligible.
Most of them are the non-native English speakers who don't know that this is an
international fora. I can read the usernames and I am ashamed to admit that many
of them are from India. Really ashamed!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by frankbell
I have read that linguists generally agree that English is the most difficult western language to learn for a non-native English speaker, even for speakers of other western languages.
That is because there is no standard English, but here in India British English is considered
standard. After joining this forum I came to know that "colour" can also be spelt as "color"
and "practice" and "practise" are two different words!
Quote:
Originally Posted by frankbell
Having read many of your posts, I must say that you do very well.
Thanks for the compliments, I can't "speak" English well but.
and please delete or report for deletion that post no. 20 of yours. (Its a dupe)
Last edited by Aquarius_Girl; 03-06-2011 at 10:46 PM.
Most of them are the non-native English speakers who don't know that this is an international fora. I can read the usernames and I am ashamed to admit that many of them are from India. Really ashamed!!
I must disagree. You have no reason to feel shame for your fellow country persons.
Native English speakers can usually tell when posters are struggling with the language and most of us are quite willing to cut them some slack.
Americans in particular are spectacularly ignorant of foreign languages (in extenuation, most of us don't need them--in the States, travel for five hours and you are in the next state; in Europe, travel for five hours and you're two or three countries away).
Your compatriots are trying and I think most of us honor their attempt, though sometimes we must ask for clarification.
I tell my training classes, "There is nothing wrong with ignorance. Ignorance can be cured. Without ignorance, you would not need a trainer."
Stupid, though, is a whole nother thing.
I blush for my fellow country persons who post in text speak. They aren't trying even to make themselves intelligible to other Americans.
As for the duplicate, I think the LQ server was having a bad evening. It stalled on me several times tonight.
I must disagree. You have no reason to feel shame for your fellow country persons.
Native English speakers can usually tell when posters is struggling with the language and most of us are quite willing to cut them some slack.
Your compatriots are trying and I think most of us honor their attempt, thought sometimes we must ask for clarification.
You got me wrong, I think, I was not ashamed because of their poor English, I was ashamed because of the SMS language they post thinking they are on facebook or orkut where anything
goes! and what's their fault, education system is India is ***!! Huh! and most of the people
don;t get the exposure as they don't get the chance to study in Private Schools (they are too
expensive)!!
Distribution: Debian Wheezy, Jessie, Sid/Experimental, playing with LFS.
Posts: 2,900
Rep:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Anisha Kaul
You got me wrong, I think, I was not ashamed because of their poor English, I was ashamed because of the SMS language they post thinking they are on facebook or orkut where anything
goes! and what's their fault, education system is India is ***!! Huh! and most of the people
don;t get the exposure as they don't get the chance to study in Private Schools (they are too
expensive)!!
If I may pipe in a little here.
Anisha your English is quite good, and I am sure you are aware of this. I agree to a certain extent with what you are saying, now that you clarified it that is because I was thinking the same as Frank was.
Now I am the first to admit when I am not in an educational setting (I gained my degree in teaching and spent 10 years teaching teenagers about other cultures from ancient through to modern times) I am a lazy writer. I actually find it is rude to correct, or more correctly try to belittle, someone because of the way they communicate. Not everyone has the opportunity to gain an education. I had to work damn hard for mine, and while I am quite careful within an educational setting I appreciate being able to relax when I am away from work/study. My point is it takes patience on both sides.
As for txt language, I can take it or leave it, it doesn't phase me either way. I do wonder how people can use it in forums like this or others that I frequent but they do seem to. Anyway a moderator usually reminds them of the rules they agreed to when they joined that often state "No txt language" although I haven't seen that here in LQ. So if it isn't frowned upon by the mods then regular users really just have to grin and bear it.
If you are interested in some good links to ESL resources I can get you some, they are on my other computer though.
Guys, I think this thread has gone massively off-topic. Can I suggest continuing the language discussion in the thread about English in the General forum please. Ta muchly.
Guys, I think this thread has gone massively off-topic. Can I suggest continuing the language discussion in the thread about English in the General forum please. Ta muchly.
See if you can cutoff from post: 7 and attach the trail in that English thread.
No, I meant start cutting including "#7" since that was the starting point, if he clubs with #8 onwards,
people there would not be able to guess what's going on!
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