Poster: A snowHead
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uktrailmonster wrote: |
emwmarine wrote: |
The numbers of Brits who can speak passable French compared to the numbers of continentals who can speak passable English is pretty laughable. |
LOL, the number of Brits who can speak and write passable English is pretty laughable too. So what chance have they got with a foreign language?! |
Sad, but true.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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In the last week I've been working with a recent graduate who got an "A" at A-level English & a 1st class degree. She can't punctuate even a simple sentence correctly and this isn't carelessness, it's lack of knowledge.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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I know someone with a degree in English and yet she still says "like" at least 10 times per sentence and seems to be totally unaware of the silly teenage habit.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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@uktrailmonster, I know some people who include the 'like' filler when writing...like.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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So, like some people just use "like" when speaking as a form of verbal tic or punctuation. I try to not assign any assessment of intelligence to it, right? I'm personally guilty of using "right" excessively recently when it seems it's largely rhetorical. I've no idea how I've acquired this idiom but it's hard to shake, right?
On other matters someone has just described a small differential to me as a "slither" which I think is either rather cute or autospellcorrect.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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From wiki-linguistics
In linguistics, a filler is a sound or word that is spoken in conversation by one participant to signal to others a pause to think without giving the impression of having finished speaking.[1] These are not to be confused with placeholder names, such as thingamajig, whatsamacallit, whosawhatsa and whats'isface, which refer to objects or people whose names are temporarily forgotten, irrelevant, or unknown. Different languages have different characteristic filler sounds; in English, the most common filler sounds are uh /ʌ/, er /ɜː/, and um /ʌm/.[2] Among youths, the fillers "like",[3] "y'know", "I mean", "so", "actually", "basically", and "right" are among the more prevalent. Ronald Reagan was famous for beginning his answers to questions with "Well..."[citation needed], and President Barack Obama is known often beginning statements with "Look...".[citation needed] Fillers fall into the category of formulaic language.
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dogwatch wrote: |
It's not laughable, it's rational. English is the language of international business. English is the language of IT. Learn English and the world is your oyster. Learn French and you can speak to the French. The level of reward for the effort is entirely different. The downside for Anglophones is that it turns out being bilingual makes you smarter at other things too. |
Quite true. Unfortunately, our current fashion of education being nothing more than a pragmatic tools for immediate "status advancement", be it getting into uni or a better job, lead to the focus of the first part of the above and neglect of the second part.
uktrailmonster wrote: |
emwmarine wrote: |
The numbers of Brits who can speak passable French compared to the numbers of continentals who can speak passable English is pretty laughable. |
LOL, the number of Brits who can speak and write passable English is pretty laughable too. So what chance have they got with a foreign language?! |
This is related to dogwatch's point above. Learning another language helps in further the learning of one's own native language.
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Some people are simply not interested in learning foreign languages. It just doesn't interest me at all.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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My son's GF who is bilingual in French and English says lots of educated French people are poor spellers.
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uktrailmonster wrote: |
Some people are simply not interested in learning |
Clearly.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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emwmarine wrote: |
uktrailmonster wrote: |
Some people are simply not interested in learning |
Clearly. |
So in your eyes anyone not interested in learning foreign languages equates to not wanting to learn anything at all? I suppose you have degrees in every subject too from English lit. right through to quantum physics.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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uktrailmonster wrote: |
emwmarine wrote: |
uktrailmonster wrote: |
Some people are simply not interested in learning |
Clearly. |
So in your eyes anyone not interested in learning foreign languages equates to not wanting to learn anything at all? I suppose you have degrees in every subject too from English lit. right through to quantum physics. |
What if someone is "not interested" in learning math? Or English?
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abc wrote: |
What if someone is "not interested" in learning math? Or English? |
Then they are quite likely to get scammed.
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