chenshujian Diglot Senior Member ChinaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5455 days ago 122 posts - 139 votes Speaks: Mandarin*, English Studies: French
| Message 1 of 14 07 February 2012 at 2:31am | IP Logged |
Is "exchange opinions on sth" a correct and natural expression?
What about "exchange ideas on sth"?
Or is there any other better phrases for such meaning?
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이희선 Groupie Australia Joined 4974 days ago 56 posts - 97 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Russian
| Message 2 of 14 13 February 2012 at 2:20pm | IP Logged |
I think they are both fine and natural sounding in English.
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geoffw Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 4693 days ago 1134 posts - 1865 votes Speaks: English*, German, Yiddish Studies: Modern Hebrew, French, Dutch, Italian, Russian
| Message 3 of 14 13 February 2012 at 2:52pm | IP Logged |
Agreed. I can't immediately remember hearing the phrase "exchange opinions on sth" before, but I probably have and I wouldn't bat an eye if I heard it. Sounds like something a native would say. N.b. - I'm American and can't speak for the Brits.
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eggcluck Senior Member China Joined 4706 days ago 168 posts - 278 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Mandarin, Japanese
| Message 4 of 14 13 February 2012 at 4:47pm | IP Logged |
I have never heard "exchange opinions on something" back home ( UK) If I did hear it, t'would be quite strange for my ears. The other one is almost an everyday expresions though "swap ideas" is much more common.
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geoffw Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 4693 days ago 1134 posts - 1865 votes Speaks: English*, German, Yiddish Studies: Modern Hebrew, French, Dutch, Italian, Russian
| Message 5 of 14 13 February 2012 at 4:57pm | IP Logged |
eggcluck wrote:
I have never heard "exchange opinions on something" back home ( UK) If I did hear it, t'would be quite strange for my ears. The other one is almost an everyday expresions though "swap ideas" is much more common. |
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I suppose it would all depend on context. The phrases both evoke, to my ears, an international conference or the like. I also agree that the latter of the two is going to be more common, and perhaps we Yanks are more open to brutal neologismization.
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PillowRock Groupie United States Joined 4739 days ago 87 posts - 151 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish
| Message 6 of 14 13 February 2012 at 5:03pm | IP Logged |
What may or may not be obvious to the original poster is the difference in connotation between "opinions" and "ideas". "Opinion" carries more of a note of making a judgment. If you're soliciting "ideas", it's perfectly reasonable to a get few different things from one person, which may be mutually exclusive. "Opinions" are closer to being the "conclusions" that each person has reached.
The original phrasings sound fine to me, but there are also other versions. You are also likely to hear "about" substituted for "on" in those sample phrases. If the subject of the "opinions" is a person or group of people, then using "of" instead of "on" or "about" becomes common. At least, that is true in the American dialect that I am used to.
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이희선 Groupie Australia Joined 4974 days ago 56 posts - 97 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Russian
| Message 7 of 14 14 February 2012 at 12:21am | IP Logged |
eggcluck wrote:
I have never heard "exchange opinions on something" back home ( UK) If I did hear it, t'would
be quite strange for my ears. The other one is almost an everyday expresions though "swap ideas" is much more
common. |
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PillowRock wrote:
At least, that is true in the American dialect that I am used to. |
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Oops, I should have added that I'm also talking about general American English usage only. Can't speak for
the Brits or any other English-speaking areas. :)
Edited by 이희선 on 14 February 2012 at 12:22am
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dbag Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5027 days ago 605 posts - 1046 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish
| Message 8 of 14 14 February 2012 at 12:33am | IP Logged |
Im from the UK and I would say that both uses are fine. I have heard "exchange opinions on.." thousands and thousands of times.
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