feanarosurion Senior Member Canada Joined 5282 days ago 217 posts - 316 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Finnish, Norwegian
| Message 137 of 162 14 July 2010 at 7:46pm | IP Logged |
It's hostile because Volte is a native English speaker as well, and it's relatively rude to tell him that he needs to pick up a grammar in his own language. There are many ways to formulate questions in this language because there are so many variants. There is no need to lash out at him because you don't like his opinion. And I realize you included the word "politely" in that particular remark, but that doesn't lessen the intensity of the implications of the remark as a whole. Volte is a helpful, informative member of this community and it's really quite a stretch to imply he doesn't know his own native language just because of a simply disagreement in grammar. There's no reason to be offended; this is supposed to be a frank discussion of language in order to improve the effectiveness of this community project. Personally, I would like to see all of us get past our differences and work on improving and expanding this project, as opposed to focusing on minor details. And I would just like to say that I don't intend for this message to be hostile at all. In fact, I'm trying to diffuse any hostility in this thread (if any) and get everyone back to the project. Either way, I apologize in advance if this message is considered offensive in any way.
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sei Diglot Senior Member Portugal Joined 5942 days ago 178 posts - 191 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, English Studies: German, Japanese
| Message 138 of 162 14 July 2010 at 8:10pm | IP Logged |
I actually completely agree with chirel, as I had been thinking of contributing to the project as well, but felt completely ill at ease when this discussion seemed to turn so hostile.
feanarosurion I also agree with you, and I applaud the effort. :)
If anyone thinks it's worth it to have a Portuguese (from Portugal) page on this project, please say so and I'll try my best to do it.
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Romanist Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5283 days ago 261 posts - 366 votes Studies: Italian
| Message 139 of 162 14 July 2010 at 8:14pm | IP Logged |
feanarosurion wrote:
It's hostile because Volte is a native English speaker as well, and it's relatively rude to tell him that he needs to pick up a grammar in his own language. There are many ways to formulate questions in this language because there are so many variants. There is no need to lash out at him because you don't like his opinion. And I realize you included the word "politely" in that particular remark, but that doesn't lessen the intensity of the implications of the remark as a whole. Volte is a helpful, informative member of this community and it's really quite a stretch to imply he doesn't know his own native language just because of a simply disagreement in grammar. There's no reason to be offended; this is supposed to be a frank discussion of language in order to improve the effectiveness of this community project. Personally, I would like to see all of us get past our differences and work on improving and expanding this project, as opposed to focusing on minor details. And I would just like to say that I don't intend for this message to be hostile at all. In fact, I'm trying to diffuse any hostility in this thread (if any) and get everyone back to the project. Either way, I apologize in advance if this message is considered offensive in any way. |
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Feanarosurion, I agree with you that there is nothing wrong with frank or robust exchanges of opinion - which is why I was (and remain) rather perplexed by the idea that anyone here has been "hostile".
Now I would like to ask you a favour: please don't put words into my mouth, okay? I did not tell Volte "that he needs to pick up a grammar". These are your words, they are not mine.
(The point I was making to Volte, is that there is a broad international standard to modern English which transcends regional differences in the colloquial language.)
Edited by Romanist on 15 July 2010 at 1:31pm
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senor_smile Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6387 days ago 110 posts - 115 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Latin, Russian
| Message 140 of 162 14 July 2010 at 8:43pm | IP Logged |
Whoa! Quite the heated discussion.
I haven't had time recently to look at the learnlangs.com site. Is there material that
needed to be updated from this forums there? I should have lots of time starting this
evening to update any information.
And, I am interested in EVERY language being on there. (Okay, I understand that's not
feasible, but I will take the time to convert anyone's contributions to the wiki). So,
feel free to contribute, especially if you are a native speaker.
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feanarosurion Senior Member Canada Joined 5282 days ago 217 posts - 316 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Finnish, Norwegian
| Message 141 of 162 14 July 2010 at 9:14pm | IP Logged |
Romanist, you said, and I quote:
Romanist wrote:
If you are genuinely unclear about the correct way to formulate questions in English, I would politely suggest that you buy yourself a good English grammar. You can do so in either Britain or America - on this point it will make no difference. |
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Therefore, "pick up a grammar" was a valid paraphrase. I'm not putting words in your mouth, just summarizing what you said for clarity and to save space. However, I recognize the point you were trying to make, but unfortunately, that's not how it came across.
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Romanist Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5283 days ago 261 posts - 366 votes Studies: Italian
| Message 142 of 162 14 July 2010 at 9:35pm | IP Logged |
feanarosurion wrote:
Romanist, you said, and I quote:
Romanist wrote:
If you are genuinely unclear about the correct way to formulate questions in English, I would politely suggest that you buy yourself a good English grammar. You can do so in either Britain or America - on this point it will make no difference. |
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Therefore, "pick up a grammar" was a valid paraphrase. I'm not putting words in your mouth, just summarizing what you said for clarity and to save space. However, I recognize the point you were trying to make, but unfortunately, that's not how it came across. |
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I was being sarcastic! (Which is itself slightly rude, I suppose.)
However, I absolutely was not telling Volte that he - literally - needs a grammar book!! I would have thought that this would be clear, but I'm sorry if it came across another way.
Edited by Romanist on 14 July 2010 at 9:37pm
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feanarosurion Senior Member Canada Joined 5282 days ago 217 posts - 316 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Finnish, Norwegian
| Message 143 of 162 14 July 2010 at 9:55pm | IP Logged |
Alright, I understand that. Sarcasm doesn't really go very well through text though, just for future reference. However, hopefully this issue is settled and this thread can go back to its original intention. I also hope that some other people decide to give this project a try, because this has massive potential and should be expanded. Oh, and just to reiterate, I didn't mean any offense, Romanist. I just want this issue to be solved.
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patuco Diglot Moderator Gibraltar Joined 7016 days ago 3795 posts - 4268 votes Speaks: Spanish, English* Personal Language Map
| Message 144 of 162 14 July 2010 at 11:15pm | IP Logged |
Guys, time to put the handbags away and concentrate on the topic at hand. It would be a shame to have to close this thread. Let's keep it civil.
P.S. As far as I know, Volte is a "she" not a "he".
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