Tuesday, August 23, 2011

SOME DISTINCTIONS 'LINGUISTS' MAKE

It has come to my attention that many in the US are concerned over ENGLISH and how the rest of the world uses it for communiations, and writing and speaking orally....so that there is a distinction made between 'LEARNERS' & 'USERS' meaning that most persons, according to this notion are 'learners' and not 'SPEAKERS' OF ENGLISH...THEREFORE THEY TEND TO DISMISS THE FACT THAT PEOPLE IN INDIA & CHINA(HONGKONG ESPECIALLY) are not 'ENGLISH SPEAKERS OR USERS! They dismiss the fact that ENGLISH in many countries is an OFFICIAL LANGUAGE for government communications and taught as a second language in those places, plus a lot of other detail that I hope to eventually discuss... It based on their finding out that quite often accents and special meanings attached to words used by 'speakers of English' who are not 'native speakers' of the language upset them and they simply can't understand these speakers and feel that they need to 'improve'...I like to challenges these persons on their assumptions because present-day US and other speakers of English, such as, the English, may bwell be rather deficient in other languages, but especially so in the US and will therefore fall into the category of 'slow learners'of whatever lingo they try to speak,usually out of guide books and travel manuals..

Saturday, November 7, 2009

SPEAKING IN TONGUES

In recent comments made on FACEBOOK by friends in discussion on languages and learning of languages, I have decided to give my 'opinion's',experiences, and notions about language(s) amd related aspects of such. This is a most important area and one that has occupied people since people appeared on the earth. Most ordinary people have some fantastic and erroneous notions about languages, one of which assumes that their primary, 'native', and everyday speech is the last word, the most important, as well as the more superior form of any language. I hope to dispell su;ch notions.