Rescuing British English
- Thread starter Boru62
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The last time I had a conversation with a chap from Glasgow, we both needed an interpreter.
What, you speak and hear strangely Steve ? Obviously couldn't have been the other chap's melliflous tones.
JohnnyO. o/
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I believe his tones were more dulcet than mellifluous, but that may have just been my Texan aural interpretation.
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Ketchup is a Malay word isn't it ?
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- #134
Now reverse the American with a Brit in this statement and multiply that by infinity, then you'll appreciate what's happening here.There is absolutely nothing worse than an American affecting an English idiom. It is neither use nor ornament.
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Anyone with a proper English accent (ala David Niven) can say whatever they like and they will be held in the highest esteem.
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- #136
99.9% of English people don't speak with what you perceive to be a "proper" English accent.
This is the point of view and the experience of a foreigner.
One or two years ago I took some English tests in order to obtain British English language certifications (the most common is the CAE, Cambridge Advanced English, and the highest is the CPE, Cambridge Proficiency English) for non native speaker.
Britons only recognise their own certifications (essentially because teaching English, the international vehicular language, is very likely a huge business...) My teachers (from college) did not even know about American English certifications (TOEIC for instance, Test of English for International Communication, which is certainly the most taken test of English in the world and is compulsory in Asia and Europe). American English dominance starts somehow here.
Broadly speaking, the English taught and tested all around the world is mainly American (beside the British Commonwealth), in addition to the widely spread American softpower (cinema, music, TV shows, literature, etc.) My text books, when a pupil, had both the Union Jack and the Star-Spangled Banner on the cover. So for people not living in the UK, British and American English are foggy notions (read "the same").
As for CAE/CPE writing tests, both American and British English are accepted, but they cannot be mixed; either British or American spelling must be used but not both of them. On the other hand, there is some kind of tolerance with the collocations/expressions/vocabulary, which may be American and/or British. That might sound contradictory in fact.
Furthermore, in the listening test, all sorts of accents are/can be used from Scottish to Aussie (occasionally I have heard American). So in the end, if you speak only American (or even a mix of American and British English), you will get a (presumably British) English certification.
We have had the same kind of fight/crusade in French about the abusive use of English words for decades, then came the text messages and it became worse for both English and French, and spelling in general...
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Some studies have shown that speaking RP English (the BBC or the Queen's English) sounds smarter (but unfriendly... Rather pedantic sometimes)
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- #139
This is the culprit over here.
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When you win the next war then you can dictate protocol. Until then........es tut mir leid.
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- #141
Don't know about Grid Iron, but in football if a player comes on during the game and scores a goal, it's the whole team that wins not just the latecomer.When you win the next war then you can dictate protocol. Until then........es tut mir leid.
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Interesting thread!
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You turned up late to the last two big ones, when all the hard work had been done.When you win the next war then you can dictate protocol. Until then........es tut mir leid.
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Talking about rescuing British English; is "upping your game" really proper English? I hope not!
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