Job Discussion Forums

[eclectic]

Noone in america speaks it, and slang is the norm even at presidential addresses to the nation. NYC english is perhaps the most difficult for anyone to learn due to its vast array of slang and pronunciations. If I were Korean wanting to do business in america, I would want some slime from NY or NJ to teach me how to jockey around verbally with other slime. A street person can out-talk and out-manipulate anyone who is so focused on speaking correctly that they dont see the forest for the trees. I would NOT want to learn to speak like a pompous poet, NO, but if I go to China I want to learn the street Chinese to get real.

REALITY, people, the language of the REAL life, is what one should learn, unless they are wanting to do a PhD.

[JosephP]

I don't know if there is a deli big enought to contain all the baloney you're
peddling.

Thanks for stopping by.

[Guy Courchesne]

[eclectic]

I just may....nahhhhh, on 2nd thought, Im so New Jerseyed-out with my spontaneous outbursts I would wind up inadvertently offending yet another well-mannered and upright citizen, as I have often done over the years.

[ls650]

If I were studying a subject, be it a language or anything else, I would be more concerned about whether or not the instructor had a reputation as a good teacher.

For example, if I were in the US studying Spanish, and I had to choose between a good teacher for whom Spanish was a second language, or a native speaker from a Latin country who was a poor teacher, clearly the first is the wiser choice.

No one will give a damn about your accent if you have bad rapport.

[thelmadatter]

eclectic.. you speak like someone who's never been outside of the NYC area.

Im from NJ, too. Grew up there but left when I was 22, living in various states and 2 other countries since then. Found out the world is NOT like NYC/NJ no matter what we saw on TV. There is a lot of reality outside of our own. I dont agree with teaching "street" English to non-native speakers because there are so many kinds of "street" English. If your hypothetical Korean learns standard English well (be in SAE or the Queen's English), s/he can adapt to another dialect if s/he needs to. But generally, I really doubt most non-native speakers need to.

I learned "book" Spanish in school, and learned what I know of Mexican Spanish here. Granted I dont speak like the natives, but I doubt anyone expects me to. Ive found that using a mexicanismo from time to time is more than enough to establish rapport. More than that and Im pretending to be someone Im not.

[Aabra]

[Samantha]

I have a teacher friend from London who moved to Mexico to teach and married locally. She learned Spanish from him (not text book Spanish ) learning all the slangs and expressions, but of course completely unaware how it might sound coming out of her mouth. My husband couldn't contain his amusement the first time he met her. Says he, some expressions just don't sound proper coming from gringa's mouths. She's working on that even after several years.

[eclectic]

Actually I've lived in Italy for 2 years, and Germany for 1 and a half, and probably spent 2 months each in Tunisia, Greece, and France. I also went to Armenia and Syria in 2003 for 4 weeks. So NO I am not a New Yorker/New Joyzian who never left the place and NO I do not think everywhere is like here. (wow, yeah, I think some of you may have read a little much into the original topic I posted!)

I wrote it (and here is yet again a Joyzian having to explain himself in order to clarify things....how boring, all the time, this...) to make people laugh, and to point out that in the real world, slang is often used as the offical language even in highly-professional settings, and we dont really get the slang of a language unless we talk to one who knows some of it.

[thelmadatter]

eclectic... let me guess, those times overseas were when you were military right? If so, let me tell you that kind of experience will not really prepare you for EFL life in Mexico. I was in Germany 4 years with my then military-husband. I thought it would help me here. It didnt. There I was part of an American community ... here there is no "American community" What's the dif? When you are with a lot of your own kind in a foreign land, you can still have that comfort of doing things your way, at least part of the time. It's the reason why immigrants the world over form ethnic enclaves ... to keep some sense of familiarity. But there arent enough of us here to do that... unless you want to go to Cuernvaca or south of Guadalajara.

Next, drop your 'tude that everyone else needs to understand Joizy thinking. Im from NJ too and youre having to "explain" it to me. We aint all alike (non-standard grammar being used for effect, in case it isnt obvious). If you dont, you are going to have a VERY hard time in Mexico or just about any foreign country I would imagine. Heck, you dont even have to leave the US to have problems... go live in Ohio or Arizona and see how much credibility your "street" English gets you.

[jillford64]

My students do not want to learn street English. They want to sound like the intelligent, educated people that they are. I totally don't get the point of your post, except to stir up an argument.

[sickbag]

I always thought it was the Queen`s English. But maybe I`m biased.

[Samantha]

I was waiting for a Brit to address that little error.

[eclectic]

Hey THELMA, wrong again! I wouldnt join the military if you paid me a million bucks. I was on a year exchange program while doing my Masters degree in international marketing, then worked with Colgate Palmolive in Hamburg as a sales forecaster for another 12 months. Lose your presumptuous nature, it behooves you.

I have no 'tude, sorry it appears that way to you. Let ME guess now, oh omniscient one, you must be from WAY WAY WAY out west if you;re from Joizy, meaning along the Pennsyl-tucky border or perhaps WAY down south in hick-ville???

You haven't even ASKED if I'd yet been in Mexico, either. Tut-tut, THELMA, I have certainly been thrice: twice in Guaymas and once in Tampico, and got along quite fine with the locals.

How about you and I getting along quite fine, then? Just joking, of course!

[eclectic]

Oh yeah, P.S., I lived 2 years in Arizona, too, where I finished my masters at Thunderbird.