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Broken English, is it offensive to you? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| Spinchäeb Ape Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 4471 days ago 146 posts - 180 votes  Speaks: English*, German | Message 73 of 83 30 March 2013 at 7:37pm | IP Logged | ||
My view on this topic is very simple: It's not worth getting upset over. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| kaptengröt Tetraglot Groupie Sweden Joined 4339 days ago 92 posts - 163 votes Speaks: English*, Swedish, Faroese, Icelandic Studies: Japanese | Message 74 of 83 05 April 2013 at 6:29pm | IP Logged | ||
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I used to get annoyed at it, but only by people who were actually very good - it's like having worked hard enough to be "almost" fluent but then never caring to work a little harder to being completely fluent. It's the same feeling for me when English speakers make a to or too mistake though, it's like "you could just look this up and learn it and seem a lot better". I would get really annoyed at people who claimed to be fluent then made mistakes that no native speaker would make, but I wouldn't get annoyed at a learner. I have tended to think that terrible English is funny/cute when it's from a learner but painful when it's from a native speaker.
I also used to correct people on their English all the time to help them, since everyone wants to improve and usually ask for corrections straight-out (and sometimes just because it annoyed me). Well, after three years of living abroad you get so used to it and so tired of correcting the same mistakes over and over that you quit doing it except for on special occasions, and it stops annoying you. In my case, your own English even gets worse since all you hear is bad English. Also the downside of "everyone wanting to learn English" is that no one wants to speak the language you're learning with you, to you. That happens sometimes as well. Sometimes I wish I were so "lucky" that I had to learn English, but most of the time I thank my luck that it's my native language and the wishing is more about "I wish my schools had made me learn other languages and I wish other languages were more widely available in my home country to practise with". Edited by kaptengröt on 05 April 2013 at 6:31pm 5 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| officialfish Diglot Newbie CanadaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4247 days ago 3 posts - 4 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: Greek, Italian | Message 75 of 83 11 April 2013 at 8:18pm | IP Logged | ||
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To the original post;
When people who speak English as a second language make mistakes, but are trying to learn, it doesn't offend me in the least. Even those who are at an "I can get by" level and don't try to improve are only slightly annoying. We have to keep in mind that English is a bit different than other languages (at least for the moment) because it is the lingua franca. Some who have no inclination or real affinity towards language learning feel obligated to learn it and so they do what they can. What grinds my gears are the people who are speaking the same second language that I am and don't put effort into it! I mean, it's both of our second language, you don't really have to learn it, so if you want to, be commited! 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| vilas Pentaglot Senior Member Italy Joined 6961 days ago 531 posts - 722 votes Speaks: Spanish, Italian*, English, French, Portuguese | Message 76 of 83 11 April 2013 at 9:22pm | IP Logged | ||
Sir, yes, sir! Yes Sergeant OfficialFish ! My name is Private Vilas! 030012 Infantry - Language Department I am committed till death to learn A.B.E. (Absolute Perfect English) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Victor Berrjod Diglot Groupie Norway no.vvb.no/ Joined 5110 days ago 62 posts - 110 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English Studies: Japanese, Korean, Ancient Greek, Biblical Hebrew, Mandarin, Cantonese | Message 77 of 83 13 April 2013 at 1:24pm | IP Logged | ||
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I don't get offended, but if it impedes understanding, then it can be annoying. I know many people who almost always use the present tense in English, so when the choice of tense is important for the meaning, I can never be sure if they used the present tense on purpose or just defaulted to it.
When it's understandable English, just in a foreign accent, I quite like it. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Duke100782 Bilingual Diglot Senior Member Philippines https://talktagalog.Registered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4489 days ago 172 posts - 240 votes Speaks: English*, Tagalog* Studies: Spanish, Mandarin | Message 78 of 83 08 October 2013 at 2:20pm | IP Logged | ||
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I wonder if anyone finds my broken Mandarin offensive here in Mainland China.
2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| beano Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4623 days ago 1049 posts - 2152 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Russian, Serbian, Hungarian | Message 79 of 83 10 October 2013 at 3:21pm | IP Logged | ||
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I don't find it offensive if someone speaks broken English. I don't fully understand why someone would move
to new country and deliberately choose to ignore the local language.....I can't see how they woud be completely happy in that situation, but I'm fully aware that my fellow UK citizens are among the worst offenders. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| stifa Triglot Senior Member Norway lang-8.com/448715 Joined 4874 days ago 629 posts - 813 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, EnglishC2, German Studies: Japanese, Spanish | Message 80 of 83 10 October 2013 at 11:04pm | IP Logged | ||
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When I try to strike up a conversation with fellow students here, they seem to be
extremely impatient and look at their smartphones etc. and answer in a really dismissing way... so apparently they do find it offensive... However, when I attended a German course in Berlin this summer, the Americans, Brits, etc. seemed much more friendly and I never had to repeat myself or anything to be understood, which I often have to do here. I asked one of my housemates about it, and he said that this uni is very middle-class, so the people here aren't used to hearing any distinct accents. --- Personally, I only find it offensive when for instance a lecturer speaks English really poorly, makes basic grammar mistakes and have an accent that really impedes understanding. I would assume that a solid command of the English language would be essential for a professor, who have to lecture students, present his or her research results and so on. 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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