A Thank You to our Non-Native English Speakers

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brian maddox

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Jan 13, 2011
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I just wanted to take a second to tell our non-native english speakers how much i appreciate their efforts in conversing in my native tongue. Many of you apologize in your posts for your poor english, but i want to assure you that we who speak only ONE language certainly are not judging you on your proficiency at your SECOND [or third or fourth] language.

Personally, i've tried on several occasions to become at least passable in another language [i've traveled abroad quite a bit] and i have failed miserably every time. You who grapple with our ridiculously complicated and logically incongruous language are to be commended. And yes, i know i just used several words that my target audience will probably have to look up. :)

Seriously, thanks for your efforts. Now, no more apologizing.... :)
 
Re: A Thank You to our Non-Native English Speakers

I've travelled some, and I can drink in several languages...

JR

[edit- Australian and British were two of the easiest... /edit]
 
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Re: A Thank You to our Non-Native English Speakers

Completely agree Brian. It's a big pet peeve of mine when those that speak only English, feel the need to deride the English skills of folks for whom English is not the primary language.
 
Re: A Thank You to our Non-Native English Speakers

Thank you!

brian maddox said:
...You who grapple with our ridiculously complicated and logically incongruous language are to be commended. ...
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Oh, that is funny because it seemed like a good description of the German language. You would just have to add that German is basically unpronouncable for anyone outside of Germany and that we really like to construct incredibly long nouns (Donaudampfschifffahrtkapitänswitwe)... ;-)
 
Re: A Thank You to our Non-Native English Speakers

Marcus Baeumler said:
Thank you!



Oh, that is funny because it seemed like a good description of the German language. You would just have to add that German is basically unpronouncable for anyone outside of Germany and that we really like to construct incredibly long nouns (Donaudampfschifffahrtkapitänswitwe)... ;-)
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Yes, but with German you can figure out what the long nouns mean from the assorted small nouns assembled to make them up. In English we confuse matters with almost identical words having completely different meaning in different context. Written english is sufficiently imprecise that people are often offended by emails and posts due to this lack of clarity.

JR

PS: I can drink in German, plenty of practice at the messe.
 
Re: A Thank You to our Non-Native English Speakers

Marcus Baeumler said:
Oh, that is funny because it seemed like a good description of the german language. You would just have to add that german is basically unpronouncable for anyone outside of Germany and that we really like to construct incredibly long nouns (Donaudampfschifffahrtkapitänswitwe)... ;-)
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While german sometimes might be difficult to pronounce, even for those of us that speak closely related languages, the pronounciation of words are generally easy to figure out because of the consistent rules. In english, there seems to be no rules, just exeptions. In Scotland, there is a place called Hawick that is pronounced Hoyk, now if someone told you verbally to find Hoyk on the map, you'd have a hard time. Speakers of the english language even like to name their children with impossible to pronounce names, assuring they will be continously offended as foreigners mispronounce their names :razz:

Incidentally, if I understand the rules right, it should be Donaudampfschifffahrtkapitänwitwe without the s between Kapitän and Witwe, tempting me to conclude that you have compounded "der Donaudampfschifffahrtkapitäns Witwe" ;)~;-)~:wink:
 
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Re: A Thank You to our Non-Native English Speakers

"In Scotland, there is a place called Hawick that is pronounced Hoyk, now if someone told you verbally to find Hoyk on the map, you'd have a hard time"

Per try this one Milngavie is how it's spelt, Milguy is how it's said. I'm sure there are many others, Dutch and Flemish are usually good for some amazing spelling/pronuciation mis-matches G
 
Re: A Thank You to our Non-Native English Speakers

gordon mcgregor said:
Per try this one Milngavie is how it's spelt, Milguy is how it's said. I'm sure there are many others,
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Good one, I was trying to remember some myself (without cheating and resorting to gaelic place names, that'd just be too easy ;)).
Best one I've come up with so far is Kirkcudbright (pronounced Kirkoobry for those playing along in the rest of the world).
 
Re: A Thank You to our Non-Native English Speakers

gordon mcgregor said:
Per try this one Milngavie is how it's spelt, Milguy is how it's said. I'm sure there are many others, Dutch and Flemish are usually good for some amazing spelling/pronuciation mis-matches G
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Yeah, there are a few famous ones in Scotland, and for some reason, when Scots start talking about this, Milngavie is invariably the first one mentioned.
But of course England has the most famous one of all, Worcestershire. One shouldn't really teach English anywhere without teaching people to pronounce Worcestershire Sauce :razz:

Edit: Incidentally, when I mentioned the theme to my Glaswegian wife an hour ago, Kirkudbright was the second one she mentioned, so you Scots seem to be a fairly consistent lot.
 
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Re: A Thank You to our Non-Native English Speakers

gordon mcgregor said:
"In Scotland, there is a place called Hawick that is pronounced Hoyk, now if someone told you verbally to find Hoyk on the map, you'd have a hard time"

Per try this one Milngavie is how it's spelt, Milguy is how it's said. I'm sure there are many others, Dutch and Flemish are usually good for some amazing spelling/pronuciation mis-matches G
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Gaelic, in any of the seven Gaelic nations. Talk about not sounding like it's spelled...

John
 
Re: A Thank You to our Non-Native English Speakers

John Halliburton said:
Gaelic, in any of the seven Gaelic nations. Talk about not sounding like it's spelled...

John
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I don't know Gaelic of course, so I can't comment on what is going on with that language. However, in general, some languages have great consistency in how words are pronounced and some are much less consistent. It is obviously quite hard for most of us to pronounce a polish or czech name or word correctly without either knowing the rules or being told how it is pronounced. Once you know the rules and have trained your voice to produce the sounds, some languages are fairly easy because they are consistent.
Some languages, like english, exist in cultures where names and words come from a great variety of "ancient" languages and dialects and has developed over a vast geographical area, while other languages have a much more limited heritage and location, thus ensuring consistency.
Finally of course, there is the pronounciation of imported words, where spelling and pronounciation have been governed by the political and social conditions at the time of introduction, like french words imported at a time when speaking french was the in thing among English aristocracy will have a very french sounding pronounciation while other words will be more colloquialized in either spelling or pronounciation or both, ensuring that correct spelling and pronounciation is hard to guess if you don't actually know it. Is for instance the flower/weed named dentdelion, dandelion or dandylion and how is it pronounced exactly?
Some countries have decided not to import words at all, instead making up new words consistent with the language, Iceland being a prime example. Good maybe for language consistency, but a real pita in any other way.
 
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