Standard spoken English: What is it?

[NinaZara]

Actually Haihao, 'lah' is a Malay exclamation. It's very similar to 'yo' in Japanese. My guess is, this kind of language is created because the Chinese wanted to assimilate with the Malays when they speak to us. It also happened to the standard Malay language which is the official language of Malaysia. All full sentences are simplified and spoken with the Chinese intonation/accent. I think some expressions are very hard to understand unless you have the chance to listen to Malaysians speak them. We Malays understand it fine and we use it when we speak English with Malaysian Chinese. Among Malays we speak our own dialects but it pretty much depends on the family background. If the parents were educated overseas (English spoken country, usually England or Australia), it is most likely the children converse in English in their everyday lives. It also depends on the schools they attend.

[Haihao]

I see. Thank you, Nina. BTW, what does your Nagano life look like, lah? :D

[NinaZara]

[Haihao]

Good-orr! BTW, maybe 'yasashii nikoniko Papa ha mo~tto suki!' or 'nikoniko shiteiru yasashii Papa ha mo~tto suki!' would be better. :)

[NinaZara]

Why do you prefer 'nikoniko' as a verb and not an adverb in that sentence?　I can't see the difference. :oops:

[Haihao]

I don't know myself, Nina. :) It just tingles on me that 'nikoniko papa' is more kawaii a papa and I am not sure myself if nikoniko could act as an adverb here.

[NinaZara]

[MrPedantic]

[Ralf]

I share your views, MrP. I always ask myself how students who are part of a 1 year university exchange programme in Ireland get away with a more or less unclouded use of English. They are mostly aware of the tasty morsels of Irish English, but communicate in a way that would be universally understood.

Is there a type of 'language holiday' you'd recommend to eager learners suffering from time famine?
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[MrPedantic]

[Molly]

[Molly]

[MrPedantic]

[Molly]

[Molly]

I'm not sure the distinction is useful.

It is to those who don't wish to obscure things and who wish, when speaking, not to be bombarded with prescriptive grammar rules that are based on the standard written form. If you want to base your spoken English on the standard written form, feel free, but please don't tell us that it is "standard spoken English". It isn't.