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Broken English, is it offensive to you? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| Romanist Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5283 days ago 261 posts - 366 votes  Studies: Italian | Message 25 of 83 24 July 2010 at 11:52pm | IP Logged | ||
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If non-natives want to speak or write really good correct English, that's great and we should help or encourage them to do so. But if they don't want to do so, then it's not really our problem, is it? I can't imagine why anyone would find this seriously annoying.
The only time that I would have any issue with 'broken' English is in those cases where English native speakers overseas get people responding to adequate efforts in the local language with poor English. I have an issue with that because there is a kind of implied insult - i.e. your French is SO BAD that even my broken English is better, etc.. (However this has been discussed quite a lot on other threads.) Edited by Romanist on 25 July 2010 at 12:03am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| mrhenrik Triglot Moderator Norway Joined 6080 days ago 482 posts - 658 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, French Personal Language Map | Message 26 of 83 24 July 2010 at 11:54pm | IP Logged | ||
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With that part I was more referring to the treatment your mother got in France. Anyhow, I
can understand how it must be a bit frustrating for you to see your language being "butchered" in some areas of the world - but at least that particular butchering won't have much effect in the states I guess. ;p I just hope we can be patient with people who use the language as their only option for communication/business when they don't speak it well - but that's more directed towards the threadstarter. :) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| ruskivyetr Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5482 days ago 769 posts - 962 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Spanish, Russian, Polish, Modern Hebrew | Message 27 of 83 25 July 2010 at 12:03am | IP Logged | ||
And in my rants I NEVER wanted to give the impression that I get annoyed by learners speaking incorrectly. I was talking exclusively about professional settings. I think that the fact that learners take a risk and try to speak is very brave and admirable, regardless of the mistakes they may make. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| tractor Tetraglot Senior Member Norway Joined 5454 days ago 1349 posts - 2292 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, Catalan Studies: French, German, Latin | Message 28 of 83 25 July 2010 at 12:59am | IP Logged | ||
In Europe (and probably in Asia) there's quite a lot of cross-border trade and cooperation being conducted in broken English. I think it's better that this is done in a butchered lingua franca than not done at all. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| anamsc Triglot Senior Member Andorra Joined 6204 days ago 296 posts - 382 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Catalan Studies: Arabic (Levantine), Arabic (Written), French | Message 29 of 83 25 July 2010 at 7:50am | IP Logged | ||
Okay but that's a different dialect of English. It's not non-native speakers butchering the language! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| ericspinelli Diglot Senior Member Japan Joined 5784 days ago 249 posts - 493 votes Speaks: English*, Japanese Studies: Korean, Italian | Message 31 of 83 25 July 2010 at 8:25am | IP Logged | ||
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I can imagine a number of situations where feeling annoyed or frustrated by another's
inability in the chosen language is warranted, but anger seems misplaced. If there is a cause for anger, it should not be the language ability, but the attitude behind it. For those talking about communication problems in the business world, I think whatever annoyance is felt should take a back seat to more pressing concerns. Why did the parties involved not provide interpreters? For most companies working international deals, the money spent on interpreters (and translators) is insignificant. Is this kind of nickel-and-dime cost cutting at the expense of quality going to effect the product? Did they not hire interpreters because they overestimated their own ability? Is this lack of self-awareness endemic among executives and other company representatives? If so, what other areas, such as product features, performance, etc., have also been built up beyond reality? I understand there are also reasons for speaking directly even with language barriers, but whatever the case may be, I think the reasons should be thoroughly examined. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
 newyorkeric Diglot Moderator Singapore Joined 6380 days ago 1598 posts - 2174 votes Speaks: English*, Italian Studies: Mandarin, Malay Personal Language Map | Message 32 of 83 25 July 2010 at 9:30am | IP Logged | ||
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Guys and gals, please keep it civil and polite or the thread will be closed.
Eric 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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