Text: The dentist is using a filling that has the same color of the real tooth...

[Jctgf]

The dentist is using a filling that has the same color of the real tooth. It makes the repair unnoticeable and the appearance looks more natural. Actually, nobody can notice that the tooth has been treated. I think that's the kind of filling that all those Hollywood's celebrities use in their teeth.

Is this text fine, please?
Thanks.

[Haihao]

Yes, I think it's alright.

[Jamie (K)]

It's got some problems:

[Haihao]

Well, strictly speaking, yes. And much better than the original. But I think it's hearable in everyday's spoken English.

[Jamie (K)]

No, Haihao, we wouldn't say "the same color of". It's foreigner English. And "Hollywood's" is definitely wrong in the original.

[Haihao]

I see.

[Haihao]

But I am still very puzzled with so many a way my American friends speak their English, both US-born and non-US-born, so, sometimes even if I know the usage is wrong textbookly, I still wonder if there should be a freer latitude for oral English especially in US, a huge immigrant country. If not, we would be quite difficult in determining how "native" it is unless we are left no choice but holding desperately on the textbook standard. Maybe all my friends are not well-educated. :)

[Jamie (K)]

If your American friends are younger, say under 30, there's a very good chance that they were taught no grammar in school at all, and so they don't know how to correct themselves or to speak or write well when they have to. They also probably have very small vocabularies compared to older people of a similar educational level when they were the same age.

There's also another thing you have to consider: When a native English speaker lives for a long time overseas, he can get so used to hearing foreigners' mistakes that the errors sound correct to him. They also may alter their English and speak a sort of Japlish or Chinglish to accommodate their listeners, and it can become an ingrained habit. That happened to me abroad.

Should I suggest that there should be freer latitude in Chinese because of the restaurant manager who tells her employee that I want to drink "bei woda"?

[Haihao]

I couldn't agree with you more, Jamie, and am fully convinced of everything you put up here this time. Some American friends (younger, not infrequently) just speak "wild English", though I don't hate it! :)

BTW, "bei woda" is really beyond me. What' is that?

[Jamie (K)]

[Haihao]

I see. So 'bei' = yibei = a glass (cup) of and "woda" = water? O my goodness!