Verbs used for objects and people

[Rosko1234]

I see the point about interaction. I understand the concept.

There is a cultural aspect of the language that I do not understand. In Bulgarian we do not use words that can be used for objects for people.
For example my students are baffled if I tell them what some text is "talking about". I picked that up in the USA and am comfortable using it.
In general however I do not feel very comfortable when using terms that are used about people for objects. Somehow this tells us(Bulgarians) that people are commodified, that is, turned into objects.
Could you tell me your are your thoughts about this? I would be very interested.

[Torsten]

Well,

What springs to mind right away is the use of the verb use in this context:

We (a language school) could use more teachers for your classes. Or: Please, tell me if you know any good teachers I could use in the near future.

I think you can use the services, knowledge, experiences and expertise of people but not people themselves. However, I have heard such sentences often from American business people.

On more positive note I think the use of the verb read in this context is quite handy and it illustrates how flexible the English language can be:

The sentence reads...
So, read can be transitive as well as intransitive which is not the case in many other languages.

Or: Our products sell very well. Same principle here: Sell can be used with our without an object which is not possible in many other European languages.

TOEFL listening discussions: Why are these young men in conversation?