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[English] Is "You’d be better off" rude? | ||
Tags: Meaning of words | English | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Questions About Your Target Languages |  | |
| Takato Tetraglot Senior Member HungaryRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5049 days ago 249 posts - 276 votes  Speaks: Hungarian*, EnglishB2, GermanB2, Japanese | Message 1 of 7 16 June 2012 at 11:52pm | IP Logged | ||
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I would like to know if it sounds rude or not in the English language? I wouldn't like to be rude, so if it is rude indeed then please suggest me some alternatives. Edited by Takato on 16 June 2012 at 11:53pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Globe-trotter Triglot Newbie Netherlands Joined 4598 days ago 29 posts - 44 votes Speaks: Dutch*, English, German Studies: Thai | Message 2 of 7 16 June 2012 at 11:57pm | IP Logged | ||
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In which context?
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| Takato Tetraglot Senior Member HungaryRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5049 days ago 249 posts - 276 votes Speaks: Hungarian*, EnglishB2, GermanB2, Japanese | Message 3 of 7 16 June 2012 at 11:58pm | IP Logged | ||
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In the context of "You'd be better off not preoccupying yourself with the tones of the Chinese language since it doesn't really matter if you get them wrong or not."
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| sillygoose1 Tetraglot Senior Member United States Joined 4637 days ago 566 posts - 814 votes Speaks: English*, Italian, Spanish, French Studies: German, Latin | Message 4 of 7 17 June 2012 at 12:17am | IP Logged | ||
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That would be fine if you said it in a normal tone of voice.
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| stelingo Hexaglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5833 days ago 722 posts - 1076 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Italian Studies: Russian, Czech, Polish, Greek, Mandarin | Message 5 of 7 17 June 2012 at 2:07am | IP Logged | ||
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'You'd be better off' is an expression used for giving advice and isn't rude at all. However your sentence doesn't sound very natural, as 'you'd be better off' is a fairly informal register and 'preoccupy' is more formal. I would say:
You'd be better off not worrying about the tones in Chinese as it doesn't really matter if you get them right or not. (Have to say I don't agree with the opinion expressed in this sentence, but that's another thread :)) Edited by stelingo on 17 June 2012 at 2:08am 5 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| ajackso3 Newbie United States Joined 4554 days ago 29 posts - 52 votes Speaks: Spanish | Message 6 of 7 17 June 2012 at 5:52am | IP Logged | ||
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Echoing sillygoose, I would stress the importance of your tone in voice when using this phrase. At least in the US,
the phrase can also be used to sound condescending or better-than whoever you are talking to. This is based more on the speaker's tone than any direct meaning of the phrase. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Chung Diglot Senior Member Joined 7157 days ago 4228 posts - 8259 votes 20 sounds Speaks: English*, French Studies: Polish, Slovak, Uzbek, Turkish, Korean, Finnish | Message 7 of 7 17 June 2012 at 6:33am | IP Logged | ||
A few (grammatically/stylistically neutral valid) options could be: "If I were you, I wouldn't worry that much about the tones in Chinese since it doesn't really matter if you get the wrong or not." "I recommend that you don't worry that much about..." "In my opinion, it's not worthwhile to worry that much about..." Like stelingo, I too would disagree vehemently with whomever is saying such a thing about tones in Sinitic languages being that irrelevant, but I won't go into it further in this thread. 3 persons have voted this message useful |
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