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Shifu

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Q: Why do the Chinese think American and British English are two different languages?

Turned down for a job because they wanted an American to write American English. Yet would an American turn down a British person for a job because they might write gray as grey or spell center as centre. Tried telling them they got this idea of different languages wrong but to no avail. Bit ridiculous no? 

 

 

8 years 45 weeks ago in  General  - China

 
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This is God's honest truth.

 

I have met people here (2 I think) , speaking in English, who were amazed that English people spoke English. Straight up. They thought only Americans spoke English.

 

Don't even go there regarding what language they think Scottish people talk.

 

Oh wait.... they might have a point with that one wink

icnif77:

My Scottish buddy in Florida always spoke different English with me, than with his bro. No fluent/Native English speaker could understand their Glasgow's draft. Not even visitors from London.

8 years 45 weeks ago
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ScotsAlan:

Ha ha Icnif.

 

I lived in North London for 5 years, and in my first year I might as well have been living in Tibet. Londoners could not understand me at all.

 

Strange really, because even at that time, London was by far the most diverse place in the world when it came to the cultural melting pot. It still is. The diversity sets London apart. Fantastic place.

 

But yeah, I had trouble being understood by the Londoners.

8 years 45 weeks ago
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dokken:

I was watching Godzilla (absolute turd of a movie) a girl I was with said "Can you understand this?". I said "eh, can you understand this?". She said "Yes but I thought you would not be able to"

 

I told her the no-talent director was British and so was the main character. She said "oh maybe that why it was such a bad movie. The other actors and director did not understand each other

 

 

8 years 45 weeks ago
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icnif77:

Before I met Scotts, I thought whole UK was just English. Irish were a bit off, but any other part of UK was just UK with different parts/provinces, similar to China.

Scott bros. were a bit offended, when I didn't know, Scotland is that different. 

''We're much diff. than Prots. We're Scottish."

All Celtic's fans, and Ranger's fans are 'different' too. Same city.

8 years 45 weeks ago
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ScotsAlan:

Ha ha Dokken.

 

Honestly, you could not make it up.

 

There is a Youtube channel where a presenter asks Americans basic questions on geography. It's a killer. I often spit my noodles out with laughter while watching it at work during lunchtime.

8 years 45 weeks ago
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laowaigentleman:

@scots, did you ever see Jay Walking hosted by Jay Leno? 

There was a youtube video I once watched where a guy went to UC Berkeley and asked students which political party Lincoln belonged to, which president launched the new deal, what the emancipation proclamation was, etc etc etc. Many of the respondents were law majors... When the guy ballsed up the answer, a graphic would appear on the screen stating his major and the annual cost of his tuition. You may be able to find it by searching for the keywords "Stephen Crowder UC Berkeley" into Youtube.

 

I wasn't educated in the UK, but people have criticized the education system in your land (though not Scotland specifically - I do know your own government have autonomy over education rather than westminster) quite harshly over in Aus and NZ. It doesn't stop the Chinese amongst other substance oblivious cultures from thinking the Americans are the best at English because of five Ivy League schools filled with people mostly in there because of who their fathers are or how freakish their ethnic and socio-economic background.

 

They can even gain special admission and become a first lady with a fog horn but they'll still think of themselves as oppressed victims.

 

Sounds like a complete racket to me.

8 years 45 weeks ago
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ScotsAlan:

The Scottish Education system is seperate from the rest of the UK.

 

No University fees, for example. Education is free.

 

In England you need to pay for university.

 

Scotland has it's own law system. A system adopted by the international court of warcrimes in the Hague., because of it's fairness and seperation from state.

 

But yeah... we talk funny wink

8 years 45 weeks ago
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BHGAL:

the only English I know is Canadian

Brits are not bad at it

East Indians are bad at it

Aussies and Kiwis are pretty good  ..not bad

Irish are good

Scots are half incomprehensible  ... take that ScotsAlan,  Màn man de shuō,

Filipinos speak good English

Americans are good..  I especially like the southern drawl.

South Africa, OK+

Nigeria, scary, but often understood.

you should here a real Newfie speak, hilarious guys....Newfoundland, Canada...

8 years 45 weeks ago
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laowaigentleman:

@scots

 

Can you go to all Scottish universities for free?

 

My maternal grandfather was a scot and my paternal grandfather was English.

 

Lots of kiwis go to Scotland, but I assumed there wouldn't be anything for me there, so I went to Asia.

8 years 45 weeks ago
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royceH:

@BGHAL;  There are some Nova Scotians in my city and they speak with a very strange accent.  Scottishesque.

@Scots; I had a cpl of Scottish mates in Brisbane and they were a little (very) difficult to understand until they'd had a few snorts.  After that they were completely impossible to understand.  Not English at all.  Good blokes, however.  Bad golfers.

8 years 45 weeks ago
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8 years 45 weeks ago
 
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Sometimes I'll be in a restaurant or taxi or wherever with other foreigners and someone will ask where we're all from. When they hear Australia, England, U.S.A, Canada, South Africa, Nigeria etc... depending who is there, the next question is often can you understand each other?

 

What I've seen here is that if someone is from a another part of the country the instant assumption is often that people won't understand them because they're from 'not here', even though they speak Mandarin, albeit with a different accent. At least until they start talking to each other.

 

I think it's just the way people here are conditioned to think - we can't understand people from away- (even though they seem to have no real trouble usually) because if I can understand them with my questionable Chinese a native speaker shouldn't have a problem.

 

I suppose the fact that there are local dialects, and Cantonese / Mandarin -  not sure if you class those as dialects or languages - makes things more complicated.

 

So, when they hear there is U.S English and English English, the assumption seems to be that they're completely different and there's no way they're mutually understandable, because in China it's like this so therefore the rest of the world is the same.

 

 

Eorthisio:

Yeah, they assume that people "not from here" can't understand, I will tell you why, that's because the vast majority (maybe 85%) of the Chinese definitely can't speak proper standard Mandarin (Putonghua) but a gibberish mix between it and their no name local dialect.

 

Let's take the most basic word here, "What?" in Mandarin 什么, it is normally pronounced Shénme, but in many provinces it becomes "Shènme" or even worse aberrations depending on where you are "Shéma", "Shènma", Shānme" or "Shéme". And these are not accents but mispronunciations.

 

Real speakers of standard Mandarin like to say that to be understood in most provinces you can stuff something in your mouth (like a fruit) and speak just as usual, they will get what you are saying.

8 years 45 weeks ago
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diverdude1:

Guangdong:   shema   (I don't know how to make those little accent marks)  I always thought it was the right way,,, but,,, haha,,, I always thought all speech in Guangdong is right.  because I hate BJ's putonghua~  

8 years 45 weeks ago
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8 years 45 weeks ago
 
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This is God's honest truth.

 

I have met people here (2 I think) , speaking in English, who were amazed that English people spoke English. Straight up. They thought only Americans spoke English.

 

Don't even go there regarding what language they think Scottish people talk.

 

Oh wait.... they might have a point with that one wink

icnif77:

My Scottish buddy in Florida always spoke different English with me, than with his bro. No fluent/Native English speaker could understand their Glasgow's draft. Not even visitors from London.

8 years 45 weeks ago
Report Abuse

ScotsAlan:

Ha ha Icnif.

 

I lived in North London for 5 years, and in my first year I might as well have been living in Tibet. Londoners could not understand me at all.

 

Strange really, because even at that time, London was by far the most diverse place in the world when it came to the cultural melting pot. It still is. The diversity sets London apart. Fantastic place.

 

But yeah, I had trouble being understood by the Londoners.

8 years 45 weeks ago
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dokken:

I was watching Godzilla (absolute turd of a movie) a girl I was with said "Can you understand this?". I said "eh, can you understand this?". She said "Yes but I thought you would not be able to"

 

I told her the no-talent director was British and so was the main character. She said "oh maybe that why it was such a bad movie. The other actors and director did not understand each other

 

 

8 years 45 weeks ago
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icnif77:

Before I met Scotts, I thought whole UK was just English. Irish were a bit off, but any other part of UK was just UK with different parts/provinces, similar to China.

Scott bros. were a bit offended, when I didn't know, Scotland is that different. 

''We're much diff. than Prots. We're Scottish."

All Celtic's fans, and Ranger's fans are 'different' too. Same city.

8 years 45 weeks ago
Report Abuse

ScotsAlan:

Ha ha Dokken.

 

Honestly, you could not make it up.

 

There is a Youtube channel where a presenter asks Americans basic questions on geography. It's a killer. I often spit my noodles out with laughter while watching it at work during lunchtime.

8 years 45 weeks ago
Report Abuse

laowaigentleman:

@scots, did you ever see Jay Walking hosted by Jay Leno? 

There was a youtube video I once watched where a guy went to UC Berkeley and asked students which political party Lincoln belonged to, which president launched the new deal, what the emancipation proclamation was, etc etc etc. Many of the respondents were law majors... When the guy ballsed up the answer, a graphic would appear on the screen stating his major and the annual cost of his tuition. You may be able to find it by searching for the keywords "Stephen Crowder UC Berkeley" into Youtube.

 

I wasn't educated in the UK, but people have criticized the education system in your land (though not Scotland specifically - I do know your own government have autonomy over education rather than westminster) quite harshly over in Aus and NZ. It doesn't stop the Chinese amongst other substance oblivious cultures from thinking the Americans are the best at English because of five Ivy League schools filled with people mostly in there because of who their fathers are or how freakish their ethnic and socio-economic background.

 

They can even gain special admission and become a first lady with a fog horn but they'll still think of themselves as oppressed victims.

 

Sounds like a complete racket to me.

8 years 45 weeks ago
Report Abuse

ScotsAlan:

The Scottish Education system is seperate from the rest of the UK.

 

No University fees, for example. Education is free.

 

In England you need to pay for university.

 

Scotland has it's own law system. A system adopted by the international court of warcrimes in the Hague., because of it's fairness and seperation from state.

 

But yeah... we talk funny wink

8 years 45 weeks ago
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BHGAL:

the only English I know is Canadian

Brits are not bad at it

East Indians are bad at it

Aussies and Kiwis are pretty good  ..not bad

Irish are good

Scots are half incomprehensible  ... take that ScotsAlan,  Màn man de shuō,

Filipinos speak good English

Americans are good..  I especially like the southern drawl.

South Africa, OK+

Nigeria, scary, but often understood.

you should here a real Newfie speak, hilarious guys....Newfoundland, Canada...

8 years 45 weeks ago
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laowaigentleman:

@scots

 

Can you go to all Scottish universities for free?

 

My maternal grandfather was a scot and my paternal grandfather was English.

 

Lots of kiwis go to Scotland, but I assumed there wouldn't be anything for me there, so I went to Asia.

8 years 45 weeks ago
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royceH:

@BGHAL;  There are some Nova Scotians in my city and they speak with a very strange accent.  Scottishesque.

@Scots; I had a cpl of Scottish mates in Brisbane and they were a little (very) difficult to understand until they'd had a few snorts.  After that they were completely impossible to understand.  Not English at all.  Good blokes, however.  Bad golfers.

8 years 45 weeks ago
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8 years 45 weeks ago
 
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One nation one culture one language. The language, culture and government are centered around the capital. That's their understanding.

It's why many students focus on the London pronunciation, the one that is promoted by dictionaries.

To be truthful, British and American English are different enough to be of significance. On a freelance website I did an English level test for proofreading jobs: I passed the London English test with a good score, but failed the Chicago Standard (sic?) test.

But if you've been in China long enough, you know that people like to categorize things black & white. Reality is rarely such an easy dichotomy.

"Can you speak Chinese?" Yes or No?? A little, just like most expats. "If you can't speak Chinese, then you can't possibly understand anything I say!"
"You are British, then you can't teach American English." At Middle School level I probably could flawlessly, but I'd make mistakes at university level.

sorrel:

"cor blimey guvna' "

"fancy a shoe shine?"

"pip pip"

"cheerio"

 

courtesy of the Dick Van Dyke school of 'London English'


wink

8 years 45 weeks ago
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I think we should settle on One English.
my vote:

 Germanglish

 

coineineagh:

Pirate English!

8 years 45 weeks ago
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I was recently informed that American academic English is quite different to British (and therefore, most other commonwealth nations) academic English. This is in regards to the 'tone' that is adopted. British academic English is far more formal than American, and language that is used in America would never be allowed to get a higher degree in commonwealth nations.

laowaigentleman:

I'm from NZ and I can switch between them without any problem. I think it's easier for a Brit English speaker to switch to American than vice versa.

 

This is because of all the American TV. Also, as an English lit. major, I read a fair amount of 19th and 20th century American literature. It was after reading Mencken and Hazlitt in my leisure time that I felt like I'd gotten the American version fully. I don't think many other people would bother, and it certainly hasn't added any financial benefits to my life.

 

It feels weird saying "a couple times" "a couple guys" though.

 

I call a flat an apartment, a chemist is now a pharmacy and a chemist is a scientist who works with chemicals but a lift is still a lift and I prefer to spell organisation with an 's' instead of a 'z'. In NZ English, you are allowed to interchange 'z's and 's's, but almost all of the British conventions are kept. "colour", "neighbour"

 

This is the first I've heard about formal styles, and I have only studied in NZ and Australia but it sounds pretty plausible.

 

I've met Americans who say they can't read the British English version of Harry Potter because it just sounds wrong to them.

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Americans speak Rhotic English, the Brits did too until about 300 years go. So who speaks properly? I love when a Chinese person tells me that I dont speak proper English because I'm not British. Brits have different words also, and I don't believe that cars have bonnets and boots.

royceH:

My car has both of those features.

 

8 years 45 weeks ago
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TedDBayer:

My Acura has every option known but no boot or bonnet. And I thought I had top of the line.

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I don't see that there's too much difference.  I do tend to notice, though, the simplified (lazy?) form of English that appears in their newspapers.

Doesn't bother me.

 

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All this time I never knew I have not been speaking English, I guess everyone was just polite to me all those years and just pretended to understand the words out of my mouth.

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Shifu

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the brits speak proper english no one understands americans speak real englidh everyone understands

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Shifu

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When I was on holiday in Hawaii, I met two female Londeners. After a few days, it became obvious that I could understand one much better than the other. We talked about it, and figured out that the one I couldnt understand  well was the one who wouldnt pronounce her "t" in words, thus bottle sounded like "boh-ul", and water sounded like "wah-er". She asked me to "get her a boh-ul of wah-er", and I didnt know what she wanted. They came from different parts of Londen, hence their different accents. And the list goes on with all the different accents, dialects, etc...

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I guess all is the same, just pay attention....

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Used to tell my students they could use either...as long as they made an effort and were understood, job done.

But I did say they British English will make you sound like a gentleman and only farmers spoke American English.....

 

color...colour. Look!...it has a U and is much better for it!

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Answer of the DayMORE >>
A:  "... through ..."?  Only "through" comes to mind is "S
A: "... through ..."?  Only "through" comes to mind is "Shenzhen agent can connect you with an employer, who's authorized to hire waigouren ... and can sponsor Z visa." It's not like every 10th person you meet in Shenzhen's hood can sponsor work visa ...  The only way to change from student to labourer visa is just a regular way by: 1. Finding an employer, who'll apply for an Invitation letter; 2. Exit China and apply for Z visa in your home country's Chinese embassy; 3. Enter China in 30-days after Z visa was stamped into your travelling instrument ...As I am aware, you won't be able to switch to Working permit by remaining in China....,so make ready for a return to your home .... -- icnif77