English language review (Collaborative writing) Language Learning Forum

English language review
Tags: English
Language Learning Forum : Collaborative writing

murgatroyd
Newbie
Hungary
Joined 5684 days ago
1 posts - 1 votes

Message 1 of 1

27 September 2008 at 2:58am | IP Logged

Hi,

First of all, thanks for the excellent site. The reference is truly amazing. I only speak 3 languages other than my native, but I want to learn many.

I'm Hungarian, my favourite languages are English and Spanish. I was browsing through the review of the English language on the site (at http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/e/languages/english.htm l ) and it struck me as being a bit US-centric. Perhaps it could be made more neutral in the future?

There are just a few small changes I would make.
1. "Excellent movies, pitiful TV, a lots of excellent literature, both contemporary and older, and the best thing-books you can find."
I've lived in America, and I can agree with the pitiful TV bit. But I've also lived in England among many countries, and the BBC produces the best television the world over, bar none. You may as well put both down as "excellent" as most all of British, American and Australian cultural output is in English.

2. "My personal reference for prose is The Economist, a conservative British weekly with main circulation in the USA."
I don't mind the Economist, the style is certainly good. They like to describe themselves as "liberal" rather than "conservative".

3. "The reference accent seems to be that of the American TV and movies, for the better or worse."
As someone who learned English in the 80s, this was not true then. Perhaps it is today. Are you sure? Most foreign speakers of English I've met use an RP accent. A simple way to tell is whether they are rhotic or non-rhotic.

Again, thank you for the fantastic resource!
-murgatroyd

1 person has voted this message useful

If you wish to post a reply to this topic you must first login. If you are not already registered you must first register

Printable version

You cannot post new topics in this forum - You cannot reply to topics in this forum - You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum - You cannot create polls in this forum - You cannot vote in polls in this forum

This page was generated in 0.1094 seconds.