American English Vs English

[Robin]

After thoroughly enjoying the debate on English, I thought that we, the great uneducated masses could vote.

[didgeridoo blower]

fair go mate! since when was it your bloody language anyway? you sent all the true english speakers to oz years ago yah bunch of bludgers!

[peterf]

looks like we'er getting invaded lads and lasses,wheres mr potato head when you need him

[didgeridoo blower]

guess your up for moderator then. no sense of humour

[peterf]

didgi,great sense of humour ive got,but because im still on licence by the locall health authority i have to tread carefully you know,old habits die hard.i dont want to undermine all the hard work put in by staff of the allensford unit shotley bridge in my speedy recovery,god bless them all.peterf

[Johnboy]

Digerido Blower,
I somehow think you've got it wrong 'cos it's the 'Bunch of Bladgers' that we sent to that inhospitible place you call home. A few words coined by you Bladgers regretably have crept into and defiled 'Our English'which is most regretable.
If you do not like the way we speak there's a very easy remedy. Piss of home!!

[Guest]

I read an article last week which reported that students/employees who have english as a first language are now offically at a disadvantage in the global market place when compared to people from developing counties where english is taught as a matter of course being a very strong second language. The article quoted China, India etc, The point being up untill now the advantage was with the English speakers. Basically they have at least 2 (many were found to have at least 3or4) languages as the norm.

[Chantal]

I'm in my third year at college learning Italian and I find it very hard to learn as I was never taught English grammar at school. A bit of a joke really as I went to a grammar school! We were told we didn't need to know grammar as we'd pick it up as we went along. That's a great bloody help when you're being told to conjugate Italian verbs using the pluperfect, the imperfect, the past perfect etc and you don't even know what it means in English! It's not just me, it's most of the class and our Italian teacher has to teach us English grammar first.

I also have friends from Lithuania (he speaks 6 languages), Poland (she speaks 3), Italy (she speaks 4), Mexico (he speaks 3 ), Estonia (she speaks 3) all of whom know English grammar better than I do.

It's shameful

This is slightly compensated by an American who struggles to speak anything comprehensible!

[Vivien]

Knowing another language (or more than 1) is incredibly good for boosting confidence when you're in that country. It is, though, very easy to forget a language when you don't use it regularly and being able to quote a few standard phrases is far less demanding than being able to sustain a conversation. I often find that when attempting to use a local language, the very kind waiters/staff who suffer my attempts are more than keen to practice their English, so my skills don't improve as much as I would like. I agree with Chantal on the grammar point, though, as I learnt all my grammar through foreign language O level, not English!

[richard p]

i went to grammar school, the first we knew of verbs and nouns was in the french lesson. but does grammar really matter for most of us? in recent years we have holidayed in spanish speaking countries, i know nothing of "proper" spanish but can get by with odd words and phrases and sign language. last year we stayed three days with a spanish couple , their english was as "good" as our spanish but we managed to communicate. for example they now know that cider is beer made from apples, and somerset cider is bueno and hereford stuff is mal.

[peterf]

nice one johnboy,bit of sound advice there

[Chantal]

Tell my college that I don't really need to know the grammar! I'm lucky that my OH is fluent in Italian so once I can speak it at least we can converse regularly. In the meantime, he can't even help me with my homework (or rather he can correct stuff but can't tell me why, which is really important to me) as he has no clue about the grammar; he learnt Italian whilst living there for 14 years. I agree I could get by in Italian by now but I don't want a "holiday" language, I want a second language and as such, grammar is essential.

[lizzie]

What really annoys me is when the kids start to come out with American phrases that they hear on the tv. I tell my kids that we're in the Uk, not America. I just want them to be able to communicate and make themselves understood. I would like them to be eloquant, which is the same in any country or language, I suppose.

I noticed this more when I was watching the snowboarding on the olympics. I didn't have a clue what they were talking about! Maybe it was me, I don't know.

English is a rich and varied language and should be celebrated. Regional accents and sayings should be celebrated too. It's what makes us unique and regional saying and expressions defines us as people.

That's my slant on the discussion anyway.

[LakeView]

I am sure that there is more than one American who can speak comprehensibly, just as there are more than enough Britains who are incomprehensible.

And quite a few Americans who speak multiple languages. They just choose either not to live in Britain or spend their holidays here for you to encounter them.

If you speak in generalities, I can too.

My British husband can't understand most Geordies either.

[peterf]

theres a few of us geordies, that cant even understand each other