Would It Be Helpful to Non-Native English Speakers if.....
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@Brett-at-ioSafe said:
I always considered it somewhat pretentious - it was often used by the same people who'd use ""Very truly yours" or similar as a valediction.
Yes, very much pretentious. But worse than just formal, "putting on airs" style formal where words are just used without knowing what they mean. That Oxford lists it as "formal" for a very "technical" word is a tip off there.
It's management speak - like cloud. A word that people hear other people use and not understanding it they try to copy them by repeating the sounds without any idea that they are saying something specific and very different from their intention. Revert is a management buzzword, just one from a region rather than a technology group.
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@Dashrender said:
I always wondered why they seemed so much in a hurry to get an answer, yet later in those threads you'd see where they weren't in a hurry after all.
Yes, I think it is a mistaken formality - just a guess. I would assume that in one or more of the primary languages there is a need for that kind of formality and it is expected. And when translated by word, rather than by intent, it comes through to English or other western languages as a very odd and unnecessary written pattern. It's so strong that even when reading languages I do not speak well it stands out as odd.
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I don't think that we ever got any responses from anyone that wasn't a native English speaker, except for @joy, as to whether this would be helpful or not.
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@scottalanmiller said:
.... we compiled a guide to things that are never said by Western English speakers that immediately tip people off that English is not your first language? There are many of these "tells" that make it very obvious where someone is from based on their written language. In most cases they do not cause communications problems, but they do "give away" more than I think most people want given away by their written communications.
I don't want to do this if people do not feel it would be valuable, I don't want the spirit of it to be taken the wrong way. But I just spoke with someone in Spanish and instantly knew that Spanish was not their first language and knew where they were from just from the phrases they were uses and how they wrote.
I feel that knowing some simple basics to avoid could be extremely helpful in allowing those from outside the big English native countries (UK, Canada, USA, Belize, Australia, New Zealand, etc.) to be less obvious. I am guessing that bad speech patterns are taught in some regions of the world and that people learning English there have no idea that they are being taught very identifiable and non-standard English. Generally it is not wrong but does not conform to western speech.
Thoughts?
Guys who had started learning English in former Soviet Union (35+ years old) were usually taught by people who had never in their lives actually talk to anybody talking native English speaking people. You can guess results
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@KOOLER said:
Guys who had started learning English in former Soviet Union (35+ years old) were usually taught by people who had never in their lives actually talk to anybody talking native English speaking people. You can guess results
That is common almost everywhere. When I travel people are always excited to practice their English with me. There are English language schools everywhere here in Granada and I always wonder if they have English speakers running them or just people that can fool the locals into thinking that they can speak English.
I saw one last night: "Learn English, Secure Your Future." Meanwhile I met English speaking locals out on the street who are begging because, apparently, speaking English only, at best, makes you a top candidate for seasonal restaurant work.
