When foreigners can speak better english...
Discussion
I don't know what you're referring to??
Maybe it's because foreigners learn 'proper' English rather than spoken/slang English? (I'm probably giving too much credit to the person/people you're talking about though but I do remember learning French as a kid and having this issue when I went to France).
But it f
king pisses me off when you can't understand what the fk a foreigner is saying.
I was at the supermarket the other day. Maybe it was because I had been up for something like 22 hours. Maybe it was because I was bored of Tesco. Whatever. I couldn't understand what the Indian chap behind the counter was saying. It took like 5 attempts and I eventually just nodded and agreed still not certain what I agreed to.
I don't think these people have bad intentions or lazy (in general), maybe it's just their accent??
Cheers
The Moose
Maybe it's because foreigners learn 'proper' English rather than spoken/slang English? (I'm probably giving too much credit to the person/people you're talking about though but I do remember learning French as a kid and having this issue when I went to France).
But it f
king pisses me off when you can't understand what the fk a foreigner is saying.I was at the supermarket the other day. Maybe it was because I had been up for something like 22 hours. Maybe it was because I was bored of Tesco. Whatever. I couldn't understand what the Indian chap behind the counter was saying. It took like 5 attempts and I eventually just nodded and agreed still not certain what I agreed to.
I don't think these people have bad intentions or lazy (in general), maybe it's just their accent??
Cheers
The Moose
Well the story goes like this. (Will help if you're familiar with a 'Hull Accent')
Chap who I work with has recently been to Germany. He was talking to a contact over there who learnt English as a second language when he was at school, so is rather fluent. The English chap in question was talking about the amount of noise that the birds make on a morning (coming from an inner city lifestyle he had not encountered such things before).
The German chap listened to Greg wittering on about this and replied with: "Tell me Greg, what is 'Beerrrrrds'?"
But I've seen worse, too.
Chap who I work with has recently been to Germany. He was talking to a contact over there who learnt English as a second language when he was at school, so is rather fluent. The English chap in question was talking about the amount of noise that the birds make on a morning (coming from an inner city lifestyle he had not encountered such things before).
The German chap listened to Greg wittering on about this and replied with: "Tell me Greg, what is 'Beerrrrrds'?"
But I've seen worse, too.
Edited by whitevanman88 on Sunday 4th October 09:41
eldar said:
If you want to speak English properly, go to Holland listen to proper pronunciation and grammar.....
Off on a tangent, but the only time I went to Holland I tried to order some food. I spend 5 minutes with my phrase book preparing myself and stumbled it out to the waitress who proceeded to reply with "Yer wot, mate?".WHY CAN'T THE ENGLISH TEACH THEIR CHILDREN HOW TO SPEAK
Henry Look at her, a prisoner of the gutter,
Condemned by every syllable she ever uttered.
By law she should be taken out and hung,
For the cold-blooded murder of the English tongue.
Heaven's! What a noise!
This is what the British population,
Calls an elementary education.
Hear them down in Soho square,
Dropping "h's" everywhere.
Speaking English anyway they like.
You sir, did you go to school?
Man Wadaya tike me for, a fool?
Henry, No one taught him 'take' instead of 'toike!
Why can't the English teach their children how to speak?
This verbal class distinction, by now,
Should be antique. If you spoke as she does, sir,
Instead of the way you do,
Why, you might be selling flowers, too!
Hear a Yorkshireman, or worse,
Hear a Cornishman converse,
I'd rather hear a choir singing flat.
Chickens cackling in a barn Just like this one!
Eliza Garn!(Go on)
Henry I ask you, sir, what sort of word is that?
It's "Aoooow" and "Garn" that keep her in her place.
Not her wretched clothes and dirty face.
An Englishman's way of speaking absolutely classifies him,
The moment he talks he makes some other
Englishman despise him.
One common language I'm afraid we'll never get.
Oh, why can't the English learn to set
A good example to people whose
English is painful to your ears?
The Scotch and the Irish leave you close to tears.
There even are places where English completely
disappears.
In America, they haven't used it for years!
Why can't the English teach their children how to speak?
Norwegians learn Norwegian; the Greeks have taught their
Greek.
In France every Frenchman knows
his language fro "A" to "Zed"
The French never care what they do, actually,
as long as they pronounce in properly.
Arabians learn Arabian with the speed of summer lightning.
And Hebrews learn it backwards,
which is absolutely frightening.
But use proper English you're regarded as a freak.
Why can't the English,
Why can't the English learn to speak?
Nothin new , I'm afraid.
Henry Look at her, a prisoner of the gutter,
Condemned by every syllable she ever uttered.
By law she should be taken out and hung,
For the cold-blooded murder of the English tongue.
Heaven's! What a noise!
This is what the British population,
Calls an elementary education.
Hear them down in Soho square,
Dropping "h's" everywhere.
Speaking English anyway they like.
You sir, did you go to school?
Man Wadaya tike me for, a fool?
Henry, No one taught him 'take' instead of 'toike!
Why can't the English teach their children how to speak?
This verbal class distinction, by now,
Should be antique. If you spoke as she does, sir,
Instead of the way you do,
Why, you might be selling flowers, too!
Hear a Yorkshireman, or worse,
Hear a Cornishman converse,
I'd rather hear a choir singing flat.
Chickens cackling in a barn Just like this one!
Eliza Garn!(Go on)
Henry I ask you, sir, what sort of word is that?
It's "Aoooow" and "Garn" that keep her in her place.
Not her wretched clothes and dirty face.
An Englishman's way of speaking absolutely classifies him,
The moment he talks he makes some other
Englishman despise him.
One common language I'm afraid we'll never get.
Oh, why can't the English learn to set
A good example to people whose
English is painful to your ears?
The Scotch and the Irish leave you close to tears.
There even are places where English completely
disappears.
In America, they haven't used it for years!
Why can't the English teach their children how to speak?
Norwegians learn Norwegian; the Greeks have taught their
Greek.
In France every Frenchman knows
his language fro "A" to "Zed"
The French never care what they do, actually,
as long as they pronounce in properly.
Arabians learn Arabian with the speed of summer lightning.
And Hebrews learn it backwards,
which is absolutely frightening.
But use proper English you're regarded as a freak.
Why can't the English,
Why can't the English learn to speak?
Nothin new , I'm afraid.
One of my pet hates is when they can not speak English at all, spent a time working in an inner city hospital. Was amazed by the amount of foreigners sitting in the waiting room that where unable to speak English, many of these people had there translators with them. In fact the vast majority of "patients" fell into the foreign category.
Shirley one of the prerequisites for free NHS health care should be the ability to at least speak English.
Shirley one of the prerequisites for free NHS health care should be the ability to at least speak English.
chimera40 said:
One of my pet hates is when they can not speak English at all, spent a time working in an inner city hospital. Was amazed by the amount of foreigners sitting in the waiting room that where unable to speak English, many of these people had there translators with them. In fact the vast majority of "patients" fell into the foreign category.
Shirley one of the prerequisites for free NHS health care should be the ability to at least speak English.
Looking forward to paying for your healthcare then? Shirley one of the prerequisites for free NHS health care should be the ability to at least speak English.
Dogsey said:
chimera40 said:
One of my pet hates is when they can not speak English at all, spent a time working in an inner city hospital. Was amazed by the amount of foreigners sitting in the waiting room that where unable to speak English, many of these people had there translators with them. In fact the vast majority of "patients" fell into the foreign category.
Shirley one of the prerequisites for free NHS health care should be the ability to at least speak English.
Looking forward to paying for your healthcare then? Shirley one of the prerequisites for free NHS health care should be the ability to at least speak English.
shirley you must get the shirley surely one by now though. I hold my hands up to getting my "there" and "theirs" crossed again (always do this for some reason) . Eric Mc said:
Heaven's! What a noise!
Heaven's what?!However the premise is comparing two different sectors of each society. Foreigners who come here and speak English are probably smarter/better educated than average, whilst the comparison is with Joe Average Chav. A similar example is the Americans I've met over here, who have been extremely well informed and aware (in stark contrast to the British media brush-tarring).
Doubtless the intellectual Brits who venture to France or Germany to soak up the culture would find the same thing in reverse. I agree with the general sentiment but the example is poor.
My wife (Indian) speaks far better technical English - the only problem is, it can sometimes sound a bit odd as it isn't colloquial.
I was once at a corporate bash for HNW NRIs (High Net Worth Non-Resident Indians) and they had some Bollywood lovely hosting and I remember that she welcomed on stage some bloke - we'd expect someone to say, "...and would you please put your hands together for XXXXX". She said, "Please do not be miserly in your appreciation for XXXX" - now, correct but so wrong at the same time.
Edited for atrocious language use
I was once at a corporate bash for HNW NRIs (High Net Worth Non-Resident Indians) and they had some Bollywood lovely hosting and I remember that she welcomed on stage some bloke - we'd expect someone to say, "...and would you please put your hands together for XXXXX". She said, "Please do not be miserly in your appreciation for XXXX" - now, correct but so wrong at the same time.
Edited for atrocious language use
Edited by Asterix on Sunday 4th October 11:30
Simpo Two said:
Eric Mc said:
Heaven's! What a noise!
Heaven's what?!However the premise is comparing two different sectors of each society. Foreigners who come here and speak English are probably smarter/better educated than average, whilst the comparison is with Joe Average Chav. A similar example is the Americans I've met over here, who have been extremely well informed and aware (in stark contrast to the British media brush-tarring).
Doubtless the intellectual Brits who venture to France or Germany to soak up the culture would find the same thing in reverse. I agree with the general sentiment but the example is poor.
Simpo Two said:
Eric Mc said:
Heaven's! What a noise!
Heaven's what?!However the premise is comparing two different sectors of each society. Foreigners who come here and speak English are probably smarter/better educated than average, whilst the comparison is with Joe Average Chav. A similar example is the Americans I've met over here, who have been extremely well informed and aware (in stark contrast to the British media brush-tarring).
Doubtless the intellectual Brits who venture to France or Germany to soak up the culture would find the same thing in reverse. I agree with the general sentiment but the example is poor.
The foreign players are often far easier to understand than their local team mates.
The examples that are most notable to me are players like Brian Laudrup, Arthur Numan and the De Boer twins when they were at Rangers. Henrik Larrson during his time at Celtic, Klinsmann at Tottenham and any number of Arsenal's French contingent.
Asterix said:
My wife (Indian) speaks far better technical English - the only problem is, it can sometimes sound a bit odd as it isn't colloquial.
I was once at a corporate bash for HNW NRIs (High Net Worth Non-Resident Indians) and they had some Bollywood lovely hosting and I remember that she welcomed on stage some bloke - we'd expect someone to say, "...and would you please put your hands together for XXXXX". She said, "Please do not be miserly in your appreciation for XXXX" - now, correct but so wrong at the same time.
Edited for atrocious language use
I actually quite like the way educated Indians use English in such a precise and "proper" manner.I was once at a corporate bash for HNW NRIs (High Net Worth Non-Resident Indians) and they had some Bollywood lovely hosting and I remember that she welcomed on stage some bloke - we'd expect someone to say, "...and would you please put your hands together for XXXXX". She said, "Please do not be miserly in your appreciation for XXXX" - now, correct but so wrong at the same time.
Edited for atrocious language use
Edited by Asterix on Sunday 4th October 11:30
It comes across as much more polite than our more common forms.
Eric Mc said:
Asterix said:
My wife (Indian) speaks far better technical English - the only problem is, it can sometimes sound a bit odd as it isn't colloquial.
I was once at a corporate bash for HNW NRIs (High Net Worth Non-Resident Indians) and they had some Bollywood lovely hosting and I remember that she welcomed on stage some bloke - we'd expect someone to say, "...and would you please put your hands together for XXXXX". She said, "Please do not be miserly in your appreciation for XXXX" - now, correct but so wrong at the same time.
Edited for atrocious language use
I actually quite like the way educated Indians use English in such a precise and "proper" manner.I was once at a corporate bash for HNW NRIs (High Net Worth Non-Resident Indians) and they had some Bollywood lovely hosting and I remember that she welcomed on stage some bloke - we'd expect someone to say, "...and would you please put your hands together for XXXXX". She said, "Please do not be miserly in your appreciation for XXXX" - now, correct but so wrong at the same time.
Edited for atrocious language use
Edited by Asterix on Sunday 4th October 11:30
It comes across as much more polite than our more common forms.
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