Job Discussion Forums

[norwalkesl]

[Master Shake]

[scot47]

After all these years teaching in an international context I am still surprised when I come across one of the (many) US teachers who does not understand my lexis.

"Lorry ? What's that ?"

[Justin Trullinger]

Some people have trouble with context guessing. It's hard to come up with a context for the word "lorry" that doesn't make the meaning self-evident.

I like the fact that the organisation I work for has a commitment to internationalism and includes this in our language outlook. We've employed folks from the US, Canada, the UK, Australia, South Africa, other parts of Africa where English is spoken, and southern Asia.

Obviously, with this all mixed up together, you sometime have to embrace the diversity of English. For me, having lived in a good handful of places, married to a native English speaker whose English is very different than my own, this seems natural.

I get tired, though, when I see young new teachers trying to argue out what's "right."


Best,
Justin

[JZer]

Justin Trullinger,

I am sure that they would not listen to you but you should tell them that there is no body that regulates the correct and incorrect use of English. Thus there really is no right and wrong. Just certain grammar and vocabulary is more academic or high brow than others.

[bluecatbabe]

I seem to recall from many years ago that the British Council's charter meant it was supposed to only employ British passport holders (apart from local hires) - however, that was not widely adhered to, and I've known Irish, Australian, Canadian and South African passport holders who worked at BC schools, mostly in Asia.

On the lexical issue, I make students aware that there are variants (lorry/truck, rubber/eraser) and tell them that I accept either spelling system, so long as they are consistent. I want students to be aware that there are these differences.

But I don't teach (for instance) "robot" as a variant on traffic light (South African English) because as far as I know nobody else says that, and should they ever go to SA I daresay they will be able to pick it up.

Grammatical variants are more of an issue: there is a strong influence of Indian English here and a lot of my students have picked up the extended use of the continuous ("I am not understanding you") from that, which adds to their existing grammatical hodge-podge...

[Justin Trullinger]

You're right of course, Jzer. No way will anybody listen to me on that until they get enough international experience that it's self-evident.

It's so contrary to a layperson's experience of languages and learning them, to present the idea that use is as good a measure of correct as happens to exist....


But they tend to gradually get there.


Best,
Justin

[JZer]

Except I do believe that France for sure and I am pretty sure have regulating bodies set up by the governments of their respective countries.

[JZer]

It is even more interesting when Asia countries base entrance exams on multiply choice English questions. Sometimes they inadvertently have two correct answer due to their lack of understand of all versions of English.

[johnslat]

Dear JZer,

Well, I'd say there can be "wrongs" when those convey the wrong meaning to many/most/all listeners/readers.

Misplacing "only" is a common culprit (but not the ONLY one.)


Only I know the correct answer.

I only know the correct answer.

I know the only correct answer.

Misplaced modifiers can be another source of confusion.

"Sam found a letter in the mailbox that doesn't belong to her.

What the writer thinks it says: Sam found a letter that doesn't belong to her.

What the sentence really says: The mailbox doesn't belong to Sam."

Even improperly placed commas can cause confusion:

"What's the price of bad grammar? In October 2006, a contract dispute between Canadian cable company Rogers Communications and telephone company Bell Aliant revealed that a misplaced comma can be worth $2 million.

The contract said:

"This agreement shall be effective from the date it is made and shall continue in force for a period of five (5) years from the date it is made, and thereafter for successive five (5) year terms, unless and until terminated by one year prior notice in writing by either party."
Rogers Communications believed the placement of the second comma stated the contract was good for at least five years, while Bell Aliant said the comma indicated the deal could be terminated before if one year's notice was given.

In the end, Canada's telecommunications commission sided with Bell Aliant. They stated the comma should have been omitted if the contract was intended to last five years in its shortest possible term. As a result, Bell Alliant was able to save over $2 million by ending the deal early."

And, of course, the wrong tense can convey the wrong meaning.

Bill never saw snow in his life. (Bill had better be dead.)

when this is what was really meant:

Bill's never seen snow in his life.

Regards,
John

[Justin Trullinger]

Very true John. Few years ago I was involved in investigating the role of language in aviation incidents and accidents.

Modifiers are frequently a culprit in SERIOUS and dangerous micommunication.

I was never told to do that.
I was told never to do that.

Not the same at all, and can be really serious depending on what is being discussed.

And JZER is quite right that a lot of languages do have governing bodies- the Academia Real theoretically is the authority on Spanish.

I say "theoretically," because I, and I think a large number of linguists, would disagree that the rules decreed by these bodies have any particular validity.

Best,

Justin

[Stephen Jones]

[Stephen Jones]

[johnslat]

Dear Stephen,

"What the sentence really says is what the writer thinks it says, because that's how all readers will interpret it."

Huh? Sorry I don't understand what you mean.

Regards,
John

[JZer]