|
|
 Sat Mar 29, 2008 19:41 pm What mistakes do people in your country think are correct? |
|
|
Oh oh. Looks like we'll be needing several more new course books then, doesn't it.  |
|
Yankee
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 16 Apr 2006
Posts: 8265
Location: USA
|
|
| Sat Mar 29, 2008 20:29 pm What mistakes do people in your country think are correct? |
|
|
| Molly wrote: | | Apparently, it's already happening in China: The Chinese, in their wisdom, see a future where they will do a lot of business with India, and maybe less with the USA or Britain for example. Indian-English teachers are being hired to teach ESL students who will then go on to studying in India and then on to carrying out such business with Indians. |
Where did you get this information from? Do you happen to have any numbers as to how many Indians are teaching "Indian English" in China? Are you sure that they were hired because the Chinese think they might do more business with India than with the USA in a few hundred years? In this case, wouldn't it make much more sense for the Chinese to learn Hindu in addition to proper English? Maybe those Indians were hired by the Chinese because they couldn't afford any native speakers of English?
As for your Wikipedia list of English dialects, this is how Wikipedia defines your "Nigerian English":
Nigerian Pidgin is an English-based pidgin or creole language spoken as a kind of lingua franca across Nigeria that is referred to simply as "Pidgin", "Broken English" or "Brokan".
In other words, if you teach "Nigerian English" you don't actually teach English but an English-based pidgin which is also known as "Broken English". I can't see why a person in their right mind would want to speak "broken English". I also doubt that an educated Nigerian speaks broken English. There are probably much more Nigerians wanting to study American English in the US than there are foreigners wanting to study Nigerian pidgin in Nigeria.
Although you claimed to be from Nigeria you don't seem to have written one single sentence in Nigerian pidgin English on the forum yet. Why exactly is that? Are you afraid that we won't understand Nigerian English?
_________________
Test Of English for International Communication
TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary |
|
Torsten
Site Admin
Joined: 25 Sep 2003
Posts: 8044
Location: EU
|
 |
| Sat Mar 29, 2008 20:51 pm What mistakes do people in your country think are correct? |
|
|
There is a serious problem in China -- as in Europe, by the way -- of not being able to get enough qualified native English speaking teachers to meet the demand. The farther away you get from Western salary levels, the worse the problem gets.
In the Czech Republic, it used to be almost impossible to get native German speakers to teach their own language for the salary that the schools could afford (about $2,000 a year for a full-time teacher around 1991). This meant that they had to hire Russians, Poles or other people to teach German there, or use their own people. That doesn't mean that Czechs wanted to learn Russian German or Polish German for the purpose of doing business with those countries. It was just the best they could get with the money they had. I also worked with Russians who taught French. Did that mean the Russians had developed their own variety of French -- perhaps in czarist times -- and that the Czechs wanted to learn Russian French in order to communicate with Russians?
An American college where I work employs a couple of Germans and a Hungarian to teach ESL. Does that mean that they've recognized the wisdom of teaching students the Central European variety of English? |
|
Jamie (K)
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 24 Feb 2006
Posts: 4454
Location: Detroit, Michigan, USA
|
|
| Sat Mar 29, 2008 21:28 pm What mistakes do people in your country think are correct? |
|
|
| Quote: | | Do you happen to have any numbers as to how many Indians are teaching "Indian English" in China? |
Why are numbers important to you, Torsten. It's a new thing, so I imagine not many. Same as when American English began to be in demand, not many teachers employed for such.
| Quote: | | In this case, wouldn't it make much more sense for the Chinese to learn Hindu in addition to proper English? |
You really have no idea just where Hindu is spoken and accepted in India, do you? And please, please tell us what "proper English" means.
| Quote: | | There are probably much more Nigerians wanting to study American English in the US than there are foreigners wanting to study Nigerian pidgin in Nigeria. |
There you go with your "probably" again.
| Quote: | | Although you claimed to be from Nigeria you don't seem to have written one single sentence in Nigerian pidgin English on the forum yet. |
Well, be comforted that you have written many sentences in a German-style English, and we understand and even tolerate them.  |
|
Molly
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 12 Feb 2008
Posts: 4017
|
|
| Sat Mar 29, 2008 21:37 pm What mistakes do people in your country think are correct? |
|
|
| Quote: | | The farther away you get from Western salary levels, the worse the problem gets. |
We have Western salary levels here in Spain and still a lack of natives. The problem here is that demand outstrips supply. Simple as that. And "the best they can get" here often is better than most of the teaching native-speakers can give. |
|
Molly
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 12 Feb 2008
Posts: 4017
|
|
| Sat Mar 29, 2008 21:45 pm What mistakes do people in your country think are correct? |
|
|
| Molly wrote: | | Quote: | | The farther away you get from Western salary levels, the worse the problem gets. |
We have Western salary levels here in Spain and still a lack of natives. The problem here is that demand outstrips supply. Simple as that. And "the best they can get" here often is better than most of the teaching native-speakers can give. |
You really don't read people's posts carefully before you start blathering, do you? It's obvious from the way you ignore what they write and jump to conclusions that are not grounded in what they said.
Also, please have consideration for the other participants and stop turning every thread into a discussion of the same personal obsession obsession of yours. |
|
Jamie (K)
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 24 Feb 2006
Posts: 4454
Location: Detroit, Michigan, USA
|
|
| Sat Mar 29, 2008 21:47 pm What mistakes do people in your country think are correct? |
|
|
| Quote: | | You really don't read people's posts carefully before you start blathering, do you? |
You're trolling again, Jamie.
| Quote: | | the same personal obsession obsession of yours. |
BTW, is an obsession fighting for something you believe in? |
|
Molly
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 12 Feb 2008
Posts: 4017
|
|
| Sat Mar 29, 2008 21:52 pm What mistakes do people in your country think are correct? |
|
|
| Molly wrote: | | Well, be comforted that you have written many sentences in a German-style English, and we understand and even tolerate them. |
But this doesn't mean that we would understand Nigerian English which you claimed to be a native speaker of. If Nigerian English is that great, why are you not using it here on the forum? What are you afraid of?
_________________
Test Of English for International Communication
TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary |
|
Torsten
Site Admin
Joined: 25 Sep 2003
Posts: 8044
Location: EU
|
|
| Sun Mar 30, 2008 0:35 am What mistakes do people in your country think are correct? |
|
|
| Jamie (K) wrote: | You really don't read people's posts carefully before you start blathering, do you? It's obvious from the way you ignore what they write and jump to conclusions that are not grounded in what they said.
Also, please have consideration for the other participants and stop turning every thread into a discussion of the same personal obsession obsession of yours. |
I'd like to join Jamie's band wagon. It's getting boring.
_________________
Test of English as a Foreign Language
TOEFL Preparation & TOEFL Vocabulary
Learn more: How to Become an English Teacher |
|
Ralf
Language Coach
Joined: 20 Apr 2006
Posts: 1485
Location: EU (Ireland and Germany)
|
|
| Sun Mar 30, 2008 8:32 am What mistakes do people in your country think are correct? |
|
|
By the way, have you guys read John Cleese's Letter to America? (google it)
I found it real funny. But then, I ain't no American 
_________________
Non-native speaker of English
=================================
I intend to live forever - so far, so good. |
|
Daemon99
I'm here quite often ;-)
Joined: 21 Feb 2008
Posts: 368
|
|
| Sun Mar 30, 2008 12:13 pm What mistakes do people in your country think are correct? |
|
|
Hi, Daemon99
I read though the letter and there's one thing that I think is worth our attention:
| Quote: | Generally, you will be expected to raise your vocabulary to acceptable levels (look up "vocabulary"). Using the same twenty-seven words interspersed with filler noises such as "like" and "you know" is an unacceptable and inefficient form of communication.
|
It's about time many people broadened their vocabulary |
|
Lost_Soul
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 15 Sep 2006
Posts: 1861
Location: South Park, Colorado, USA
|
|
| Sun Mar 30, 2008 12:43 pm What mistakes do people in your country think are correct? |
|
|
| daemon99 wrote: | By the way, have you guys read John Cleese's Letter to America? (google it)
I found it real funny. But then, I ain't no American |
I found the letter in the "Urban Legends" section of About.com. Evidently, John Cleese didn't write it.
It's basically just a list of stupid European prejudices against Americans. A cry of pain. It's not funny, because we've heard it all hundreds of times from people who are serious about it (as the anonymous author of it undoubtedly is, despite it all being framed as a joke). If Americans circulated a stupid list of stereotypes like that about the British, we'd quickly be called bigots, but Americans just take it. |
|
Jamie (K)
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 24 Feb 2006
Posts: 4454
Location: Detroit, Michigan, USA
|
|
| Sun Mar 30, 2008 12:47 pm What mistakes do people in your country think are correct? |
|
|
| Quote: | | I'd like to join Jamie's band wagon. It's getting boring. |
Plenty of other threads for you to play in, right? |
|
Molly
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 12 Feb 2008
Posts: 4017
|
|
| Sun Mar 30, 2008 13:03 pm What mistakes do people in your country think are correct? |
|
|
| Molly wrote: | | BTW, is an obsession fighting for something you believe in? |
If, for example, a guy is a Marxist very committed to fighting for "the liberation of the working people", and he talks about it a lot, there's nothing odd about this (other than the fact that he's stupid enough to be a Marxist).
However, if the guy immediately launches into a Marxist rant about "exploitation of the working people" every time someone asks him what he wants for breakfast, or when he smells flowers, or when he's watching a football game, or when a baby's diaper needs changing, then that guy is obsessed. You fit into this category. No matter what the original subject of a thread is, you redirect it to your favorite obsession.
For those coming in late, here's the synopsis: Molly (also known as EnglishUser) is upset because he, she or it can't make as high a salary teaching English as a native speaker of English can. This economic concern has made him/her/it obsessed with "proving" that native speakers should not be used as the standard for English usage. He/she/it has so far turned every forum thread he/she/it visits into a discussion of this obsession and gets more strident the less people accept his/her/its premise. |
|
Jamie (K)
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 24 Feb 2006
Posts: 4454
Location: Detroit, Michigan, USA
|
|
|
| Do you enjoy watching NBA? | Are you using Internet forums in your native language? |
