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 Mon May 28, 2007 7:54 am What mistake bugs you the most in your language? |
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Hi Jamie,
| Quote: | | Is there any mistake that foreigners make in your native language that really annoys you? What is it? |
Is there any mistake that native speakers of your language often make that annoys you? What is it?
| Quote: | | Using very local, hard-to-understand British terms (such as "O level") and expecting the whole world to understand them. |
Not knowing such terms is a weakness on your part, in my opinion. Why not learn something about British culture and British terminology instead of faulting people for speaking correctly?
All the best
EU |
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Englishuser
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| Mon May 28, 2007 8:10 am What mistake bugs you the most in your language? |
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Hi, Jamie
There is a mistake that really infuriates me when I come across it (even my so called fellow citizens make it from time to time and it makes me even more angrier - I want to literally punch them in their faces for it !!! - so angry am I !!!)
here it is : the wrong usage of the soft sign as in "Они приберуться в комнате когда закончат играть".
Who on earth taught them to use that damn sign at the end of the verb ?????????
I look forward to see you
What if I look forward in order to see you.
i.e. Does look forward mean that I look forward and not backward. Does it make sense?
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lost_soul
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| Mon May 28, 2007 9:12 am What mistake bugs you the most in your language? |
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Hi,
I'm curious about your comment:
| Quote: | | 4. Using very local, hard-to-understand British terms (such as "O level") and expecting the whole world to understand them. (If the British terms are easy to understand, I don't care if people use them.) |
Why would any foreigner be using these hard-to-understand British terms in the first place?
Alan
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Alan
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| Mon May 28, 2007 10:36 am What mistake bugs you the most in your language? |
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| Alan wrote: | | Why would any foreigner be using these hard-to-understand British terms in the first place? |
That, in my opinion, is one of the best questions (or rather, answers) in the history of this site. I can't wait for Jamie's answer! |
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Conchita
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| Mon May 28, 2007 12:35 pm What mistake bugs you the most in your language? |
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| Jamie (K) wrote: | | Is there anything that people do in your language that gets on your nerves? |
Mistakes in a foreign language never annoy me. Rather the opposite, actually – I find them interesting and even cute. ‘Native’ English speakers, for example, tend to get mixed up with genders in some languages. Well, it’s absolutely charming, if you ask me, and makes for many a funny situation. Of course, some things eventually wear off, yet I’m very patient with students making the same mistakes over and over again (it’s classroom behaviour I’m less phlegmatic about!).
Curiously enough, I once kicked up a fuss when Spanish TV news presenters couldn’t (or didn't bother to) pronounce the famous Swiss resort name 'Gstaad' properly and kept on saying a totally different word instead. Can you imagine quiet and shy me calling TVE (Televisi?n Espa?ola) about such a trifle – that’s youth and impetuosity for you (not sure if that explains it, though). |
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Conchita
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| Mon May 28, 2007 12:41 pm What mistake bugs you the most in your language? |
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Hi Conchita,
I'm sure the Swiss appreciated it. By the way I just can't imagine you 'kicking up a fuss'. You are so often the voice of reason on this site.
Alan
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| Mon May 28, 2007 12:49 pm What mistake bugs you the most in your language? |
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| Alan wrote: | | Why would any foreigner be using these hard-to-understand British terms in the first place? |
I would suggest it's a result of having learned only British English and never being told that certain words/expressions are not used/understood in American English. I suppose there are also words and expression used in American English that wouldn't be used or understood in Britain.
By the way, my most current information is that a Briton would also be categorized as a foreigner in the US.  |
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Yankee
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| Mon May 28, 2007 13:06 pm What mistake bugs you the most in your language? |
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Hi Amy,
| Quote: | | I would suggest it's a result of having learned only British English and never being told that certain words/expressions are not used/understood in American English. |
Such words/expressions are most extremely rare.
| Quote: | | my most current information is that a Briton would also be categorized as a foreigner in the US. |
Good point! Alan is certainly not a native of the US!
All the best
EU |
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Englishuser
I'm here quite often ;-)
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| Mon May 28, 2007 13:17 pm What mistake bugs you the most in your language? |
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| Yankee wrote: | | I would suggest it's a result of having learned only British English and never being told that certain words/expressions are not used/understood in American English. |
Hi Amy,
How significant do you think is the difference between British English and American English? How can a person learn "only" British English in an era of TV and Internet? How many expressions are there in British English that are not understood by Americans? How many expressions used by British or American teenagers are not understood by their parents?
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Torsten
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| Mon May 28, 2007 13:29 pm What mistake bugs you the most in your language? |
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| Englishuser wrote: | | Quote: | | Using very local, hard-to-understand British terms (such as "O level") and expecting the whole world to understand them. |
Not knowing such terms is a weakness on your part, in my opinion. Why not learn something about British culture and British terminology instead of faulting people for speaking correctly? |
If someone is talking about an academic exam taken in a country that does not adhere to the UK system of education, then it is incorrect to talk about "A levels" and "O levels", partly because the terms are inaccurate for the situation, and partly because no one can determine from the expression "A level" alone what the hell it's supposed to mean. People in Eastern Europe, for example, do not take "A levels", but they take some kind of graduation exam, or school leaving exam. They are not in the British educational system and shouldn't be using its specific terms, if those terms are opaque to people outside the UK.
In Michigan we get our driver's license from the Secretary of State's office. In Virginia they get it from the Department of Motor Vehicles. If I go to Virginia and talk about the department that issues driver's licenses, I'd be an idiot to use the term Secretary of State, because Virginians won't know what I'm talking about, and they won't be able to figure it out from the words in the expression. I would be a double idiot if I indignantly told them it's their problem for not knowing about Michigan culture, as you have just done to me regarding the UK.
People wanting to speak good international English have to keep in mind that most native English speakers do not live in the UK -- in fact, only a minority lives there -- and that they shouldn't be using local UK terms or local UK slang when talking to other people, unless it's easy to figure out the meaning directly from the words in the expression. |
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Jamie (K)
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Location: Detroit, Michigan, USA
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| Mon May 28, 2007 13:37 pm What mistake bugs you the most in your language? |
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| Alan wrote: | I'm curious about your comment:
| Quote: | | 4. Using very local, hard-to-understand British terms (such as "O level") and expecting the whole world to understand them. (If the British terms are easy to understand, I don't care if people use them.) |
Why would any foreigner be using these hard-to-understand British terms in the first place? |
It's because their schools use textbooks that teach only those terms and don't include any semantically transparent equivalent. Basically, they've never been taught any clear way to say these things. This was the case with the Cambridge textbooks I had to use overseas. (They were the best books available in that country at that time, and they were excellent, but they had that one quirk.) I used to provide alternative terms that would be intelligible outside the UK but not specific to one country, but not all instructors do that, or are able to do it.
Anyway, if someone comes to the US or Canada and says he passed his "A levels", he might as well say it in German or Chinese, because people just won't understand him. In fact, more people would probably understand the Spanish term than the British term. |
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Jamie (K)
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 24 Feb 2006
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Location: Detroit, Michigan, USA
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| Mon May 28, 2007 13:50 pm What mistake bugs you the most in your language? |
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| lost_soul wrote: | | Who on earth taught them to use that damn sign at the end of the verb ????????? |
I think that, since the soft sign is used on the end of verbs that don't have the reflexive pronoun, they just use it at the end of all of them. I think you can hear "softness" at that point anyway, because the [ya] vowel softens the /t/.
I apologize for not using Cyrillic characters. I can type them, but the site won't let me post them. There's no Microsoft browser available for my computer, and I think the site requires you to be using Microsoft everything in order to post Unicode characters.
Anyway, what do you think about people saying "odin kofe", and do you know the joke about it?
| lost_soul wrote: | I look forward to see you
What if I look forward in order to see you.
i.e. Does look forward mean that I look forward and not backward. Does it make sense? |
Well, here's the problem: Because "look forward to" usually means "happily anticipate", we have to use other expressions to express the meaning you're describing. We usually say, "I look ahead to see you," if we physically look in front of us to see someone. |
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Jamie (K)
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 24 Feb 2006
Posts: 3992
Location: Detroit, Michigan, USA
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| Mon May 28, 2007 13:52 pm What mistake bugs you the most in your language? |
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Hi Jamie,
| Quote: | | If someone is talking about an academic exam taken in a country that does not adhere to the UK system of education, then it is incorrect to talk about "A levels" and "O levels", partly because the terms are inaccurate for the situation |
I agree with you here. Of course, you shouldn't be referring to 'A levels' unless you were talking about real British A-levels. I was thinking about "foreigners" who went to school in Britain using those terms.
| Quote: | | I would be a double idiot if I indignantly told them it's their problem for not knowing about Michigan culture, as you have just done to me regarding the UK. |
Note that many UK terms are common in other Commonwealth nations as well. Seriously, you don't think there are as many Michigan residents as there are Commonwealth residents?
| Quote: | | It's because their schools use textbooks that teach only those terms and don't include any semantically transparent equivalent. |
Contrary to what you say I think most students of English as a Foreign Language today learn "International English". Textbooks tend to include some British and American terms, but that's mostly to teach the students about British and American culture. EFL learners are seldom expected to produce such terms in their own writing in the EFL classroom.
All the best
EU |
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Englishuser
I'm here quite often ;-)
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| Mon May 28, 2007 13:59 pm What mistake bugs you the most in your language? |
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| Jamie (K) wrote: | | It's because their schools use textbooks that teach only those terms and don't include any semantically transparent equivalent. Basically, they've never been taught any clear way to say these things. This was the case with the Cambridge textbooks I had to use overseas. |
Jamie,
You are talking about people who don't have access to the Internet, don't watch movies and are not capable of communicating with other people in English. Now, why would want to learn English that way? I mean, how can you expect to learn any language by using textbooks? Even more so when we are talking about a non-phonetic language like English.
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