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 #17 (permalink) Mon Mar 16, 2009 12:23 pm Could you understand every word in this video? |
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Raufjfdp said:
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| Hey man. I am not native speaker and I am here maybe 3 months. If you couldn't understand (get -p.s. usually they very seldom use word understand, they prefer to use word get) - you better improve your English. Believe me its very (pretty) simple. Try to pay more attention to your comprehension. |
Wow; talk about failing to understand! Just because you think you're an expert, (and judging from your posts, you're not), does not give you the right to criticize anyone else. As I mentioned above, I'm a native speaker of over four decades, and it still took me many passes to be able to capture every single sound in my transcription; there are many, many subtleties in extemporaneous speech. Others here have far less experience, and they are here precisely because they want to learn through a variety of experiences. Let them do so, or leave.
-- David Beroff
FREE English Videos, Private Lessons, and more at http://EnglishWithDavid.com !! |
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English With David
You can meet me at english-test.net
Joined: 09 Mar 2009
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Location: Bethlehem, PA, USA
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| #18 (permalink) Mon Mar 16, 2009 13:04 pm Could you understand every word in this video? |
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| English With David wrote: |
Wow; talk about failing to understand! Just because you think you're an expert, (and judging from your posts, you're not), does not give you the right to criticize anyone else. As I mentioned above, I'm a native speaker of over four decades, and it still took me many passes to be able to capture every single sound in my transcription; there are many, many subtleties in extemporaneous speech. Others here have far less experience, and they are here precisely because they want to learn through a variety of experiences. Let them do so, or leave.
-- David Beroff
FREE English Videos, Private Lessons, and more at http://EnglishWithDavid.com !! |
Dear David,
There's no doubt that you are a native speaker of AmE. And according to reliable sources that you have been speaking the language for at least four decades. :wink: I don't have a problem with being criticized if there's something right in other's words. Making mistakes and being corrected are very important to me. That can prevent me from making the same mistake over and over again. :) Just out of curiosity, is it real that Americans rarely use the word 'understand' and prefer to use 'get' instead?(I got/get it/copy it/copy that?) 8)
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 Infin1ty
I'm here quite often ;-)
Joined: 13 Jan 2009
Posts: 598
Location: Beijing, China
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| #19 (permalink) Mon Mar 16, 2009 16:46 pm You criticize me because my criticism |
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| Before coming here I heard more lie from teachers like you that my English is quite good. Here in US I understood how bad my English is. If you are proud you cant learn English even for four decades – it’s your business. But I said a truth that it’s very easy to understand cause I have difficulties understanding English. I met here many accents, many differences in speech. Informal English is absolutely different from formal British English. You criticize me because my criticism. Its very funny. |
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Raufjfdp
New Member
Joined: 16 Mar 2009
Posts: 9
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| #20 (permalink) Mon Mar 16, 2009 16:57 pm gotcha |
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| Yes I don’t know exactly about others states of US. In Mississippi state people to say I understood you they use "gothca" a lot. It means - I got you, got you, etc.. Especially students and Afro-Americans. |
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Raufjfdp
New Member
Joined: 16 Mar 2009
Posts: 9
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| #21 (permalink) Mon Mar 16, 2009 17:05 pm Could you understand every word in this video? |
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"Get" is used in slang and colloquial language to mean "understand". It really means to get the point of something. I don't think this is limited to North America.
We most often use this when talking about whether somebody understood or appreciated a joke. We often say we get or don't get a joke. In that case, getting the joke is not the same thing as understanding it. Someone might not laugh at a joke, and they'll say, "I understood it, but I don't get it." It means he doesn't see the humor in the joke. |
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Jamie (K)
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 24 Feb 2006
Posts: 6552
Location: Detroit, Michigan, USA
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| #22 (permalink) Mon Mar 16, 2009 17:11 pm You criticize me because my criticism |
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| Raufjfdp wrote: |
| Before coming here I heard more lie from teachers like you that my English is quite good. Here in US I understood how bad my English is. If you are proud you cant learn English even for four decades – it’s your business. But I said a truth that it’s very easy to understand cause I have difficulties understanding English. I met here many accents, many differences in speech. Informal English is absolutely different from formal British English. You criticize me because my criticism. Its very funny. |
Your English is so weak that you didn't even understand what David was saying. He is a native speaker of English, so of course he understands English as perfectly as any other native speaker. The problem is that people don't always speak comprehensibly, and it can be hard to transcribe what they say.
My educated guess is that if you went to England and heard natural British English at normal speed -- even formal speech -- you would also have trouble understanding that. The differences are not big enough to confuse native speakers very often.
Based on your writing and comprehension, I would say your English is at about the high beginning or low intermediate level. |
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Jamie (K)
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 24 Feb 2006
Posts: 6552
Location: Detroit, Michigan, USA
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| #23 (permalink) Mon Mar 16, 2009 17:17 pm open_dictionary_or_come_by_and_vizit_my_city_Starkville_MS_US |
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| Dear friend I appreciate your persistence. Please find A.S. Hornby's "Oxford. Advanced Learner's dictionary", 2002, edited by Sally Wehmeier, page#538. Its says, get -"to understand sb/sth (informal)". If you live in US you can come by, just let me know in advance I'll give you exact address. Did you get me my friend ? |
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Raufjfdp
New Member
Joined: 16 Mar 2009
Posts: 9
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| #24 (permalink) Mon Mar 16, 2009 17:33 pm open_dictionary_or_come_by_and_vizit_my_city_Starkville_MS_US |
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| Raufjfdp wrote: |
| Dear friend I appreciate your persistence. Please find A.S. Hornby's "Oxford. Advanced Learner's dictionary", 2002, edited by Sally Wehmeier, page#538. Its says, get -"to understand sb/sth (informal)". If you live in US you can come by, just let me know in advance I'll give you exact address. Did you get me my friend ? |
Dear friend. Thank you for your messages, but I don't think you get exactly what Jamie meant by: "Get" is used in slang and colloquial language to mean "understand". :)
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Infin1ty
I'm here quite often ;-)
Joined: 13 Jan 2009
Posts: 598
Location: Beijing, China
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| #25 (permalink) Mon Mar 16, 2009 17:47 pm open_dictionary_or_come_by_and_vizit_my_city_Starkville_MS_US |
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| Thank you for your quotation Infinity. If you want to study English you should know slang and colloquial language also cause nobody in US needs your formal English. Thats why you couldn't "understand" the interview. |
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Raufjfdp
New Member
Joined: 16 Mar 2009
Posts: 9
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| #26 (permalink) Mon Mar 16, 2009 17:55 pm open_dictionary_or_come_by_and_vizit_my_city_Starkville_MS_US |
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Raufjfdp, the whole point of this Forum is to learn, and not to be argumentative.
Please do not persist, for in doing so, you lower the friendliness of the Forum.
You would do well to be more polite to David, as he is a native English speaker, and would, I'm sure, be more than willing to help if you were to ask .
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Kitosdad
Language Coach
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| #27 (permalink) Mon Mar 16, 2009 18:05 pm Could you understand every word in this video? |
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Jamie, as I understand it, Madoff never actually met any of his victims face to face. This was the point of his having a " front-man ".
It is still my opinion that GREED is the driving force that makes people put everything they can into these scams.
ie; Just how much of your wealth would you put into any scheme, if you were totally CONVINCED that it COULDN'T fail ?.
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Kitosdad
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| #28 (permalink) Mon Mar 16, 2009 18:10 pm open_dictionary_or_come_by_and_vizit_my_city_Starkville_MS_US |
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| Raufjfdp wrote: |
| Thank you for your quotation Infinity. If you want to study English you should know slang and colloquial language also cause nobody in US needs your formal English. Thats why you couldn't "understand" the interview. |
Sorry, but few of those people were speaking in slang, or in particularly colloquial language. People of that social class generally speak proper English when confronted by an interviewer. |
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Jamie (K)
I'm a Communicator ;-)
Joined: 24 Feb 2006
Posts: 6552
Location: Detroit, Michigan, USA
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| #29 (permalink) Wed Mar 18, 2009 12:54 pm Could you understand every word in this video? |
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| Infin1ty wrote: |
| I don't have a problem with being criticized if there's something right in other's words. |
Sure. The issue here is in how he did so. He was rude, boisterous, and illogical. Essentially, he said, "You should learn faster; it's very easy.", and this is very unhelpful. It takes many years to learn a language, and it just causes bad feelings for others to hear his claim that it's trivial to learn quickly. When he says things like that, and, "nobody in US needs your formal English", he makes it clear that he just doesn't understand the concept of basic respect.
| Infin1ty wrote: |
| Just out of curiosity, is it real that Americans rarely use the word 'understand' and prefer to use 'get' instead?(I got/get it/copy it/copy that?) 8) |
In informal speech, yes, "get" is used more often, but I still do hear "understand" at all levels. (Jamie (K)'s post about jokes is a great example.) "Copy" and "10-4" are typically used in very specialized cases, such as in private radio networks, e.g., emergency responders, transportation workers, etc.
-- David Beroff
FREE English Videos, Private Lessons, and more at http://EnglishWithDavid.com !! |
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English With David
You can meet me at english-test.net
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| #30 (permalink) Wed Mar 18, 2009 13:13 pm open_dictionary_or_come_by_and_vizit_my_city_Starkville_MS_US |
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| Jamie (K) wrote: |
| Raufjfdp wrote: |
| Thank you for your quotation Infinity. If you want to study English you should know slang and colloquial language also cause nobody in US needs your formal English. Thats why you couldn't "understand" the interview. |
Sorry, but few of those people were speaking in slang, or in particularly colloquial language. People of that social class generally speak proper English when confronted by an interviewer. |
Exactly. (Remember, all of these people were millionaires until recently, or at least that's what they had thought.) That's why I was initially surprised, but I later figured that it was the level of stress that caused the (slight) lapses.
For example, in the very last sentence of the last interview, one would naturally hear the exact same sentiment that was intended by the speaker, "He's just an awful man." But the actual utterances were closer to, "It's just awful man." The speaker's and the listener's brains both automatically make the correction, so that the two mistakes are rarely even detected. But when one is still learning the language, one pays closer attention to the specific, actual sounds first, and that's one big reason why comprehension can be more difficult here.
Also, as long as I'm there: "It's just awful man.", is different than, "It's just awful, man." (with a comma). The first sentence, though ungrammatical, concerns a specific man, and how awful he is. The second sentence discusses "it", (which would've been introduced earlier), and the "man" is a colloquialism (popularized in the 1960's), that more refers to the listener, no matter their actual gender.
You dig what I'm saying, man? :D
-- David Beroff
FREE English Videos, Private Lessons, and more at http://EnglishWithDavid.com !! |
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English With David
You can meet me at english-test.net
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| Thinking and speaking | What do these people have in common? |
