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When is it considered polyglottery? | ||
Tags: Polyglottery | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Lessons in Polyglottery | ( Topic Closed) |  |
| JonB Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 6266 days ago 209 posts - 220 votes  Speaks: English*, German Studies: Italian, Dutch, Greek | Message 33 of 43 21 June 2008 at 5:05am | IP Logged | ||||||||
Dear Emilia Rosa, I respect your opinion, but I do wonder whether you have you read the rules for posting in this part of the forum? Sincerity is all very well, but making vulgar and abusive accusations against other forum members is surely another thing entirely? As it happens, I place very considerable value on my personal integrity. Therefore I take great objection to being publicly insulted by 'Senmurw' as a 'liar'. --Jon Burgess 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Cainntear Pentaglot Senior Member Scotland linguafrankly.blogsp Joined 6012 days ago 4399 posts - 7687 votes Speaks: Lowland Scots, English*, French, Spanish, Scottish Gaelic Studies: Catalan, Italian, German, Irish, Welsh | Message 34 of 43 21 June 2008 at 5:13am | IP Logged | ||||||||
And it is certainly not 'critical' (although according to many traditions it is 'academic') to misquote someone. Senmurw used the word "like". She merely commented on appearances, not on any underlying cause or fact. I would point you to the words of Scotland's great bard: O wad some Power the giftie gie us To see oursels as ithers see us! It is certainly useful at times to see what we appear like to others outwith the group. Had I been one of the individuals Senmurw was referring to, I hope I would have stopped and considered the reasons behind the post rather than dismissing it as ignorant provocation. Besides, we must remember that any non-native speakers of English will have a poorer command of the language than we native speakers do. Senmurw's choice of words is a result of the language she has been exposed to. If "spooky cult" is the only term she is familiar with, it may simply be that she is not fully aware of the negative connotations -- the French "culte" is certainly not as strong a word as the English "cult".
"Polite" is a subjective notion, reliant on social norms. Please do not make the mistake, as is made by many teachers, of confusing "formal" with "polite". To most English speakers, a "high" register is considered distant and snobbish -- speaking in a high register is rarely considered the height of politesse. Your post was very dismissive, which is frankly one of the least polite behaviours possible. One of the most objectionable things I find about the "higher classes" in English-speaking society is the tendency to be exceptionally rude using formal language, to goad the "lesser" people into reacting and then declare that it is the other party that is being rude. We have defined a game that only we can win to create a self-perpetuating cycle of proof that we are superior.
This is the thing I really hate with this forum. Despite all the apparent interest in multiculturalism and plurilingualism, there's a stratum of linguistic snobbery running right through it. The language of this forum is "educated English" and woe betide anyone who speaks proper English, or doesn't speak English well. If anyone's insulted, it's not the educated English-speaker's fault, because we're the ones who are talking correctly. Is this a forum for linguists, or a forum for private-school educated English speakers? Edited by Cainntear on 21 June 2008 at 5:17am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Budz Octoglot Senior Member Australia languagepump.com Joined 6374 days ago 118 posts - 171 votes Speaks: German*, English, Russian, Esperanto, Ukrainian, Mandarin, Cantonese, French Studies: Italian, Spanish, Korean, Portuguese, Bulgarian, Persian, Hungarian, Kazakh, Swahili, Vietnamese, Polish | Message 36 of 43 21 June 2008 at 5:24am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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I totally agree... and the reaction is what one would expect from members of a cult.
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| JonB Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 6266 days ago 209 posts - 220 votes Speaks: English*, German Studies: Italian, Dutch, Greek | Message 37 of 43 21 June 2008 at 5:57am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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Dear Cainntear,
I take several of your points. You should not, however, assume that everyone south of the border is some kind of snobbish public-school educated 'toff'! (I can assure you, it is highly unlikely that any reasonable person who knows me would ever describe me thus!) I find it patronizing, frankly, to suggest that the unpleasant comments which have been made against the other forum members somehow arose just because the person making them speaks English as a second language; I think it is clear that this poster has an excellent functional command of English. I also find it strangely disingenuous to suggest that I am guilty of misquotation! You can perhaps argue over the minutiae, but you cannot - I think - honestly assert that the comments in question were moderate or polite in tone? As I have stated in another post, I have a real problem with being called 'a liar' - I find it to be a vicious and very hurtful accusation. I am afraid that it is simply not good enough to twist things around and suggest that I have somehow goaded this reaction! You can say that I am wrong. You can say that what I am saying is complete and utter rubbish. Better still, you can explain WHY you think this and put forward a better argument. But vulgar name-calling is surely unacceptable? --Jon Burgess 1 person has voted this message useful | |||||||||
| Budz Octoglot Senior Member Australia languagepump.com Joined 6374 days ago 118 posts - 171 votes Speaks: German*, English, Russian, Esperanto, Ukrainian, Mandarin, Cantonese, French Studies: Italian, Spanish, Korean, Portuguese, Bulgarian, Persian, Hungarian, Kazakh, Swahili, Vietnamese, Polish | Message 38 of 43 21 June 2008 at 6:27am | IP Logged | ||||||||
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This is getting ridiculous. The accusation of 'liar' was in the context of the poster thinking it strange that you said you were being respectful when she considered you to be not so. It was probably a bad choice of words.
Let's either drop this thread or get back on track - i.e. back to the question of whether the 'prof' needs to be idolised. As far as I can see, at the moment there's not much language learning or mutual help going on on this forum... which is a pity. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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