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American flag or British flag for English

 Language Learning Forum : General discussion Post Reply
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tarvos
Super Polyglot
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China
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Speaks: Dutch*, English, Swedish, French, Russian, German, Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Afrikaans
Studies: Greek, Modern Hebrew, Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Korean, Esperanto, Finnish

 
 Message 9 of 66
16 June 2012 at 8:01pm | IP Logged 
Exactly, that's why New Zealand accents should be mandatory! Obviously the Americans are
too embroiled in a bitter power struggle for accent and dialect dominance, so it can't be
them, and the English are either too posh or too rural! New Zealand English is therefore
the best standard!'

REWRITE ALL THE TEXTBOOKS TO INCLUDE KIWI English AS DOMINANT LANGUAGE DIALECT

Edited by tarvos on 16 June 2012 at 8:04pm
13 persons have voted this message useful



simonov
Senior Member
Portugal
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 Message 10 of 66
16 June 2012 at 8:10pm | IP Logged 
I second what tommus wrote. What has this got to do with learning languages? Do you really have nothing better to do language-wise than to start fatuous threads? 220 posts and, as far as I know, not a single one about your actual language learning. I know, I know, I don't have to read your threads, and I don't as a rule, but constantly seeing COF all over "active topics" asking people's opinion about this, that, or the other does get a little tedious. Why not use your time learning a language instead?

Edited by simonov on 16 June 2012 at 8:11pm
15 persons have voted this message useful



Medulin
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 Message 11 of 66
16 June 2012 at 8:29pm | IP Logged 
COF wrote:
I find that Americans in general are quite arrogant about their own version of English, "American English" and regard it as superior to British English and other forms of English.

If you look at Amazon reviews for the Teach Yourself courses, one of the most common complaints from Americans is the use of British English over American English. If they don't want to hear British English, perhaps they shouldn't buy a British made course?

In fact, many Americans actually suggest other courses that use American English, because for what ever reason it seems most Americans can't bear to listen to any other accent other than an American one.
That's why Oxford makes American versions of many dictionaries, for example NOAD (New Oxford American Dictionary). American users praise the Oxford Spanish Dictionary because the American English is not neglected. Collins Spanish dictionary is notorious for being UK English - Peninsular Spanish dictionary (with limited coverage of American English and Latin American Spanish),.
1 person has voted this message useful





emk
Diglot
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United States
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Studies: Spanish, Ancient Egyptian
Personal Language Map

 
 Message 12 of 66
16 June 2012 at 8:49pm | IP Logged 
COF wrote:
I find that Americans in general are quite arrogant about their own version
of English, "American English" and regard it as superior to British English and other
forms of English.


We have one of these threads every couple of weeks, and somehow or another, we usually
avoid having it turn into an outright flame war.

But there's definitely some incendiary potential here. Let me quote a few recent
examples:

* Materials for Quebec French non-existent. Would you say the lack of resources for
Quebec French is just another symptom of the bullying, arrogant, snobby attitude that
the French have to other dialects of French that are not Parisian?

* American or British accent more popular? Also, I think there is a general attitude
that the American accent sounds cool, laid-back and relaxed, while the British accent
sounds stuffy, unfriendly and up tight.

* Languages with unhelpful natives? Why would you say many Chinese people believe
that learning to speak Chinese proficiently is beyond the capaity of most Westerners?
Is it a sort of subtle racism? Do they regard their language as being intellectually
beyond the mind if the white Westerner?

In my experience, the most people everywhere are open-minded about foreign languages,
they wish they could speak one, and they're willing to have one of those crazy
A2+pantomime conversations with a friendly tourist if you ask nicely. Most people don't
get worked up about flags. Usually all you need is a smile and a positive attitude.
Even Paris—where the customer service in tourist areas is only slightly better than
lower Manhattan—is full of amazing people. If you have a positive attitude, 95% of
people will be nice to you.

I would love it if we could keep this thread positive, and somehow related to learning
foreign languages.

Edited by emk on 16 June 2012 at 8:50pm
20 persons have voted this message useful



ElBrujo
Newbie
United States
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Speaks: English*
Studies: Spanish

 
 Message 13 of 66
16 June 2012 at 9:33pm | IP Logged 
If you ignore him/her, he/she will go away.
8 persons have voted this message useful



dbag
Senior Member
United Kingdom
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605 posts - 1046 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Spanish

 
 Message 14 of 66
17 June 2012 at 1:25am | IP Logged 
I do find the amount of comments the OP seems to make based on race / class /
Nationality etc. to be out of keeping with the general ethos of the site.
I actually like reading the slightly inflammatory threads on this board and I do
appreciate the odd troll.

However, I like these discussions to be about learning languages. Discussions
about race, ethnicity, politics etc. Have no place here. If you want to start
discussions / arguments about these topics there are plenty of other places on the
Internet. This is a Site about learning languages.
8 persons have voted this message useful



Serpent
Octoglot
Senior Member
Russian Federation
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Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese
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 Message 15 of 66
17 June 2012 at 3:40am | IP Logged 
COF wrote:
I find that Americans in general are quite arrogant about their own version of English, "American English" and regard it as superior to British English and other forms of English.

If you look at Amazon reviews for the Teach Yourself courses, one of the most common complaints from Americans is the use of British English over American English. If they don't want to hear British English, perhaps they shouldn't buy a British made course?

In fact, many Americans actually suggest other courses that use American English, because for what ever reason it seems most Americans can't bear to listen to any other accent other than an American one.
I don't think there's anything horrible about it. When you've not had much exposure to a dialect/variant of even your native language, it can be difficult. Besides, the USA is a melting pot. Perhaps some of the people leaving those comments are non-native speakers who spoke no English before coming to America, and now they find British English more difficult to understand, but it would not be practical for them to look for resources in their native language.

And btw this doesn't sound like a complaint to me, more like a warning, something you wish you'd known before buying. Likely to be posted shortly after purchasing the course, when you hear it for the first time and you're like "ZOMG WEIRD ACCENT!". Did anyone mention quitting the course because of it? I bet most people just get used to it.

Edited by Serpent on 17 June 2012 at 3:41am
2 persons have voted this message useful



Kyrie
Senior Member
United States
clandestein.deviantaRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 5729 days ago
207 posts - 231 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Portuguese

 
 Message 16 of 66
17 June 2012 at 5:02am | IP Logged 
COF wrote:
I find that Americans in general are quite arrogant about their own version
of English, "American English" and regard it as superior to British English and other forms
of English.

If you look at Amazon reviews for the Teach Yourself courses, one of the most common
complaints from Americans is the use of British English over American English. If they don't
want to hear British English, perhaps they shouldn't buy a British made course?

In fact, many Americans actually suggest other courses that use American English, because for
what ever reason it seems most Americans can't bear to listen to any other accent other than
an American one.


You are free to express your negative feelings towards Americans, however, I advise against
it on this forum, for most of us are intelligent enough to know better than to make such
stiff and feeble-minded generalizations about cultures.


6 persons have voted this message useful



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