Better English. Americans or Swedes? (yard, place, Chinese)
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Right.... Great logic you got going on.... So according to you, a bunch of ESL people whose language is not even English, speak better English than actual Native English speakers.
GREAT LOGIC
A well-educated Scandinavian speaks and writes better English than the average American, yes. Probably even better than some Brits and Australians.
Right.... Great logic you got going on.... So according to you, a bunch of ESL people whose language is not even English, speak better English than actual Native English speakers.
GREAT LOGIC
Being a native speaker alone doesn't make a person skilled at the language. Proficiency varies depending on multiple factors. There are definitely ESL people who are better than native speakers.
When we were reinventing ourselves, my husband and I listened to the taped speech of the Windsors, and also that of William F. Buckley (who wasn't even a WASP).
So, we learned the English of devious impostors. It worked, and was a critical element in our upward mobility.
However, I wish we'd studied, instead, the English of Upper Class Swedish people.
So, when you were reinventing yourselves you inadvertently learned the English of devious imposters and apparently it worked and according to you it was a critical element in your upward mobility.
So, with all due respect GG, what's the problem? Are you concerned that you and your husband are perceived as devious imposters?
Concerning your regret that you and your husband hadn't studied "the English of Upper Class Swedish people" why not reinvent yourselves yet again and begin studying what you view as the appropriate and much better English of the UCS?
Being a native speaker alone doesn't make a person skilled at the language. Proficiency varies depending on multiple factors. There are definitely ESL people who are better than native speakers.
So now we're going to extrapolate exceptional ESL people and apply their language skills to all ESLers. At the same time, let's take a couple of regional accents in the US and apply those accents to the entire country. At that point, we can declare that Swedes speak better English than Americans.
Most Americans speak better English than they do in the North of England, never mind Sweden.
You can climb down from your high horse now.
The fact that in the North of England they are English and the language IS English it means that whatever they say and however they say it it is 'proper', 'pure' English.
The fact that in the North of England they are English and the language IS English it means that whatever they say and however they say it it is 'proper', 'pure' English.
Open a the Oxford Dictionary. Look at the pronunciation and compare that to what comes out of their mouths.
The cool thing about being American is that Europeans assume that I'm just some dumb hick and disarming them is very easy just by me playing into that preconceived notion. A couple "y'alls" and "by-gollies" and I'm dumb as a stump in their eyes. Selling to them is like feeding grain to pigeons. But hey, some of them speak great English!
Lol I think I'll probably fall for that strategy. That's a good one.
PS. Got to love the 2 Ronnies!
Last edited by Pueblofuerte; 02-16-2017 at 07:07 AM..
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