British English: Why Left-Tennant?
Sep 18th, 2007, 10:09 AM
#41
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We all seem to be getting overwrought over a few minor differences.
The language is basically the same -with very few grammatical differences. And although there are different names for some items, that's also true just in the US (try asking people for soda, pop, cola etc - lots of regional differences). (In the example the clerk in the hotel knew he should say elevator, since it's his job to assist the guests - he was just being difficult.)
Also within the US lots of regional differences in the pronunciation of some words. People not from the north east say:
Greenwich as Green-witch instead of Grennich
Houston as Huze - ton instead of House - ton
Worcester as War cest er - instead of Wooster
As long as we can understand each other why fuss about small details?
The language is basically the same -with very few grammatical differences. And although there are different names for some items, that's also true just in the US (try asking people for soda, pop, cola etc - lots of regional differences). (In the example the clerk in the hotel knew he should say elevator, since it's his job to assist the guests - he was just being difficult.)
Also within the US lots of regional differences in the pronunciation of some words. People not from the north east say:
Greenwich as Green-witch instead of Grennich
Houston as Huze - ton instead of House - ton
Worcester as War cest er - instead of Wooster
As long as we can understand each other why fuss about small details?
Sep 18th, 2007, 10:43 AM
#43
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According to the British linguist David Crystal (mentioned earlier in this thread), English is not widely spoken because the populations of the US, UK, Canada, Australia, etc. total such a great number of people. English has two or three speakers as a second language for every one native speaker.
According to Crystal (English as a Global Language) the popularity of English is due to the global influence of the US.
Unlike Canada or Australia, where English was imported, or India or Malayasia, where English was forced down throats, people around the world now learn English because they want to do business with the US, attend a US university, publish in American scientific journals, etc.
Sep 18th, 2007, 10:58 AM
#44
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"people around the world now learn English because they want to do business with the US, attend a US university, publish in American scientific journals, etc."
I think many non-native speakers also learn English to communicate with each other, as it's become something of a lingua franca. Plenty of people where I work use English to communicate simply because they don't speak each other's native languages.
I think many non-native speakers also learn English to communicate with each other, as it's become something of a lingua franca. Plenty of people where I work use English to communicate simply because they don't speak each other's native languages.
Sep 18th, 2007, 11:10 AM
#45
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I would say it was far more global than the US.
Apparently during WW2 the Japanese and the Germans communicated in English. Clearly nothing to do with wanting to work in the US there.....
English has become the new Latin, the Lingua Franca of the world.
A Ghanhaian would use English to communicate with Nigerian, Indian or Chinese or indeed English business partner, again clearly nothing to do with wanting to work in the US there.
Apparently during WW2 the Japanese and the Germans communicated in English. Clearly nothing to do with wanting to work in the US there.....
English has become the new Latin, the Lingua Franca of the world.
A Ghanhaian would use English to communicate with Nigerian, Indian or Chinese or indeed English business partner, again clearly nothing to do with wanting to work in the US there.
Sep 18th, 2007, 11:16 AM
#46
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Even in Switzerland i've often seen that Swiss, German and Italian (and even Romanisch i suppose) speaking Swiss often speak to each other in English as it seems at least with the German and French Swiss many don't speak the other's language and English is the medium of communication.
I guess even at places like Air Bus operations like at Toulouse even French speak English to be understood.
I guess even at places like Air Bus operations like at Toulouse even French speak English to be understood.
Sep 18th, 2007, 11:18 AM
#47
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It's also the language of international aviation.....all international flights, I do believe, communicate in English with ATC so a Lufthansa flight to Beijing would be required to communicate with the Chinese ATC in English...also signs in 99% of international airports to the best of my limited knowledge are in naitive languages and almost always also in English.
Sep 18th, 2007, 11:20 AM
#48
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Sep 18th, 2007, 11:26 AM
#49
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Webster again....Troublemaker!
Again I've heard French Canadians and French Caribbeans communicating in English....Hilarious!
I would seriously argue that the US influence on the global use of English has far less of an impact than 300-400 years of global colonisation.
Again I've heard French Canadians and French Caribbeans communicating in English....Hilarious!
I would seriously argue that the US influence on the global use of English has far less of an impact than 300-400 years of global colonisation.
Sep 18th, 2007, 11:29 AM
#50
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I suspect the real reason English took off in the past several decades has to do with the fact that
yes many English colonies spoke English
but really the explosion of cross-border communications - before mass media, internets, etc. it was telegraph or written and a local translator was all that was needed
But with the surge in multi-nationalism, computers, ease of verbal communications changed all that
and that is why English IMO took over - U.S. and U.K. and English speaking economic powers like Down Under and Canada - collectively were the economic powers and thus English took over.
Who knows in a century Mandarin could be the international language?
yes many English colonies spoke English
but really the explosion of cross-border communications - before mass media, internets, etc. it was telegraph or written and a local translator was all that was needed
But with the surge in multi-nationalism, computers, ease of verbal communications changed all that
and that is why English IMO took over - U.S. and U.K. and English speaking economic powers like Down Under and Canada - collectively were the economic powers and thus English took over.
Who knows in a century Mandarin could be the international language?
Sep 18th, 2007, 11:32 AM
#51
My best example is from Sapa, Vietnam, a mountain town on the Chinese border. The locals are mostly Hmong tribespeople and speak their own language. They have always resisted efforts by the Vietnamese government to Vietnamize their schools. People from all over the world visit Sapa, including a lot of Vietnamese tourists, mostly from Hanoi. I saw that the tourists from Hanoi found themselves obliged to communicate with the people of Sapa in English.
There is one country in the world whose official language is English but where French is slowly stamping it out. Can anybody here name the country?
There is one country in the world whose official language is English but where French is slowly stamping it out. Can anybody here name the country?
Sep 18th, 2007, 11:42 AM
#54
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Found this about aluminum: The metal originally obtained its name from the Latin word for alum, alumen. The name alumina was proposed by L. B. G. de Moreveau, in 1761 for the base in alum, which was positively shown in 1787 to be the oxide of a yet to be discovered metal. Finally, in 1807, Sir Humphrey Davy proposed that this still unknown metal be referred to as aluminum. This was then altered further to that of aluminium so to agree with the "ium" spelling that ended most of the elements. This is the spelling that is generally used throughout the world. That is, until the American Chemical Society in 1925 officially reverted the spelling back to aluminum, which is how it is normally spelled in the United States.
Sep 18th, 2007, 11:54 AM
#55
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St Barthelemy, Collectivité D'Outre Mer. Closer to France than Curaçao is to the Netherlands (they don't even have the Euro) and I believe the closest European territory to the US.
an ka palé kréol
Actually thinking about it, the locals also speak a 17th century patois, the "H" in "haut" etc is pronounced as is the "M" in "nom" etc and the suppressed "s" usually indicated by an a "ê": Forêt=forest.
AND, since we are talking linguistics, they place the accent on the penultimate syllable of a phrase, like Italian, not on the last, like in modern French.
Then you get a Quebecois who comes up with something like:
"Il me faut un char avec une valise afin que je puisse magasiner"
No chance!
an ka palé kréol
Actually thinking about it, the locals also speak a 17th century patois, the "H" in "haut" etc is pronounced as is the "M" in "nom" etc and the suppressed "s" usually indicated by an a "ê": Forêt=forest.
AND, since we are talking linguistics, they place the accent on the penultimate syllable of a phrase, like Italian, not on the last, like in modern French.
Then you get a Quebecois who comes up with something like:
"Il me faut un char avec une valise afin que je puisse magasiner"
No chance!
