|
 |
Broken English, is it offensive to you? | ||
Share with:
| ||
 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| apatch3 Diglot Groupie United Kingdom Joined 6185 days ago 80 posts - 99 votes  Speaks: Pashto, English* Studies: Japanese, FrenchA2 | Message 33 of 83 25 July 2010 at 10:53am | IP Logged | ||
|
Yes there are times when bad English ticks me off, although how offended I get or whether I'm offended at all depends largely on the situation. Usually when I'm in a foreign country I don't expect everybody to magically speak fluent English (in the same way that they don't expect me to magically speak language X). Although If the person in question is in a position of relative influence ie. a high ranking politician or the CEO of a multinational and I hear bad English, my opinion of them is instantly lowered. Also if I happen to come across somebody who's been born and raised in an English speaking country and still can't speak fluently/without an accent, I'll inevitably end up looking down on them too. I'm aware what I'm saying might seem harsh so I apologize if I've offended anybody, I'm just not a fan of sugar-coating what I say.
2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| William Camden Hexaglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 6272 days ago 1936 posts - 2333 votes Speaks: English*, German, Spanish, Russian, Turkish, French | Message 34 of 83 25 July 2010 at 2:41pm | IP Logged | ||
Globalisation and its discontents. The firms are being run by people looking at the bottom line and seeking as much profit as possible, with customer satisfaction a poor second. So do they pay a decent wage to Americans who speak decent English, or do they pay peanuts to Indians with English that is mediocre or worse? 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| skeeterses Senior Member United States angelfire.com/games5Registered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6618 days ago 302 posts - 356 votes 1 sounds Speaks: English* Studies: Korean, Spanish | Message 35 of 83 25 July 2010 at 3:13pm | IP Logged | ||
|
I think the point ruskivy is trying to make is that there are times when we should hold the natives of other languages to the same standard of English that they hold us when we learn their language.
When I was in Korea learning Korean, there were Koreans who simply didn't want me learning Korean and would either deliberately speak over my head or automatically switch to English. Not that I let that discourage me or anything because I did have people to practice Korean with. And I do help beginners out on their English from time to time. Again, I'm willing to be patient with those who have broken English, up to a certain extent. Like I mentioned in one response, the arrogance of not tolerating broken Spanish/broken Korean/broken French/etc. when the speaker has broken English him/herself is bothersome. Another case of broken English that bothers me is when professors and teaching assistants at big name Universities speak broken English or with thick accents that are hard to understand. Albert Einstein is a smart man but for all his brilliance, I honestly don't don't see how an American high school student can learn physics from that man in a classroom. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| tractor Tetraglot Senior Member Norway Joined 5453 days ago 1349 posts - 2292 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, Spanish, Catalan Studies: French, German, Latin | Message 36 of 83 25 July 2010 at 4:05pm | IP Logged | ||
You're absolutely right. I fail to see how hard it would be if I could travel around the world and speak my native language. I fail to see how hard it would be if business deals with other countries were done in my native language. I fail to see how hard it would be for me if my native language were used in a professional setting in other countries. I fail to see how hard it would be if foreign academics and scholars would come to my country and give lectures in my native language instead of in another language. I fail to see how hard it would be if politicians from other countries spoke my native language. I fail to see how hard it would be for me if people in other countries had to learn my native language to get an education or a job. I would probably just start complaining about how bad they spoke my native language. 11 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| johntm93 Senior Member United States Joined 5327 days ago 587 posts - 746 votes 2 sounds Speaks: English* Studies: German, Spanish | Message 37 of 83 26 July 2010 at 3:02am | IP Logged | ||
|
In informal situations? Not at all, my friends put up with my Spanish :P
At a business and professional level? Hell yes, if you're going to use a language in business/international affairs/other very important matters you could at least wait until you learn the damn thing to use it. I know learning a language is hard, especially English, and little mistakes are no big deal as long as it's easily understandable. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
 Iversen Super Polyglot Moderator Denmark berejst.dk Joined 6703 days ago 9078 posts - 16473 votes Speaks: Danish*, French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Esperanto, Romanian, Catalan Studies: Afrikaans, Greek, Norwegian, Russian, Serbian, Icelandic, Latin, Irish, Lowland Scots, Indonesian, Polish, Croatian Personal Language Map | Message 38 of 83 26 July 2010 at 4:40am | IP Logged | ||
|
'Chinglish' and other kinds of English are here to stay, and it is just a part of a natural diversification process. But in contrast to earlier times there is now so much worldwide communication in English that everybody everywhere can hear each other's English, and I'm fairly sure that American film etc. will have a moderating effect on the desintegration of English. This is not like the fall of the Roman empire.
2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Slovak_anglo Diglot Groupie United States facebook.com/deliver Joined 5345 days ago 87 posts - 100 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Italian, Slovak | Message 39 of 83 26 July 2010 at 4:47am | IP Logged | ||
|
Sometimes it annoys me.
The thing that bugs me is that every language we are learning is MUCH more complex than our language. (hence why we get annoyed when people are messing up a much easier language) Edited by Slovak_anglo on 26 July 2010 at 4:47am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| mrhenrik Triglot Moderator Norway Joined 6079 days ago 482 posts - 658 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English, French Personal Language Map | Message 40 of 83 26 July 2010 at 4:54am | IP Logged | ||
|
Wait, so English is the easiest language? I'm sure you'll have a large number of people
disagreeing with you on that. ;p 4 persons have voted this message useful |
|  | 
Printable version
|
| Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization. |
