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Meanings of charge | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| beano Diglot Senior Member United KingdomRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4626 days ago 1049 posts - 2152 votes  Speaks: English*, German Studies: Russian, Serbian, Hungarian | Message 1 of 3 07 February 2014 at 11:50pm | IP Logged |
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There are certain words in English which have multiple meanings. I'm sure this is the same in other
languages. A good example is the word "charge" My question is, will native speakers always outperform non-natives in identifying the myriad meanings, including idiomatic usage? 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Jeffers Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 4913 days ago 2151 posts - 3960 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Hindi, Ancient Greek, French, Sanskrit, German | Message 2 of 3 08 February 2014 at 4:45pm | IP Logged |
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Of course not. For example, there was a recent discussion about the phrase, "taking the piss". Americans would not generally understand this idiomatic use of the word "piss", but a non-native might well have learned both.
In fact, the way an educated foreigner sometimes gives themselves away is by their greater breadth of vocabulary knowledge. There are some things only international people understand. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| shk00design Triglot Senior Member Canada Joined 4448 days ago 747 posts - 1123 votes Speaks: Cantonese*, English, Mandarin Studies: French | Message 3 of 3 08 February 2014 at 5:03pm | IP Logged |
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Native or not depends on your level of education. There is an English professor in Hong Kong: Professor Hugh
Baker, who is Emeritus Professor of Chinese at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London who wrote books on Chinese language & culture. Most local Chinese in Hong Kong would not be aware of certain words & phrases as he would be going into word origins and history of word usage. Edited by shk00design on 08 February 2014 at 5:04pm 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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