Job Discussion Forums

[Lanza-Armonia]

Ok guys, the title was just for attention seeking purposes only. The real reason I dragged your mouses here is because I want to find out, for certain, what to teach in the god damn classroom. Note that the plural mouse when refering to a computer pointer ordinator (and yes that is its real title) is mouses, and not the cute lickle buggers we like to have as pets.

My arguement stands as this.

I believe that if one wants to learn a language they should learn the standard dialect (although I do know that isn't the correct term). I am a firm believer in Teaching the Queen's English as the poor old batty little bird has a way with words, bless her little rich ass cotton socks.

On the other hand, North American English is spoken by more people than any other English in the world. Please don't quote me on this but I think it's a logical suggestion.

Also we have an Indian lass in our shall-remain-nameles school and her English has a VERY sexy Indian accent to it, but most Chinese bi-linguals find it hard to understand the darling.

Number four of the English world, we have Australiasian English (Kiwi's and Ozzies). A beautiful accent but not that many speak it in comparisson to number five or two. Which brings me to...

5, South African English. Offically, SA is an English speaking country but from what I have been told/read/listened into, a lot of Africaaner Language has worked its way into the English there.

Personally, English wasn't my first language. Welsh, then Spanish and after all that, English. So please correct me if wrong, but I haven't got a CLUE as to what to teach inside the classroom.

What are your opinions and please guys, don't get into bitchy fights over this one. I want specific, humorous and positive answers. This should be good, let round one commence...

LA

[Will.]

One, There is no standard dialect except regionally within countries. Not much use to teach that when you are in the depths of China. Shame on you lad that's a fine Welsh accent that you have why would you want to inflict a bunch of speakers of Queen's English upon the world.
N.Am English?.......... Nah.... It is bad enough having to watch the films they produce and endure the language there. Why teach this to one who has no intention of going there and will not be speaking to users of this variety.
Also...Agreed. Sri Lankan English also has the same effect upon me.
So, My previous point might be relegated to the bin by students who want a sexy N. Am accent.
Afrikaans is not as well represented in English as other languages are, probably only a minor regional thing, we can live with that. Let's consider this an improvement until otherwise proven.
Teach your own English with accent and regional variety and variation of lexical input. Do you know a version you can teach better than the one you know?

[gerard]

Will---I see what you say about North American English ...but...

The reason Asians prefer NA English is because they want to learn what they see on TV and in movies. (And it is beyond dispute that is what they want for better or worse.) Really we should call it Hollywood English. It is what they see on TV and that makes it REAL.

But students can learn from anyone so really it;s a non-issue.
LA???---What do you mean about what to do in the classroom?? (The GD classroom as you put it.) Can we teach anything other than the English we speak??? I suppose I could take a stab at the Queens English. I could put on my best Lock Stock and 2 Smoking Barrels accent and teach "Whuts E on about EH??" as opposed to "What did he say." I can do that...A MATCH is a better name for a sporting event than a GAME. "I;m off to the pub" is much better than "I am going to a bar."

I will stop there---have a nice day...

[Will.]

Thanks, but TV is not real life neither is the language exactly what they would encounter downtown. I accept your point. maybe LA could teach them about real life as opposed to the TV version.

[Lanza-Armonia]

Will, is that LA me or LA Los Angeles?

[Will.]

Let's start with the smaller audience first eh?

[Lanza-Armonia]

Gotcha, but I have no witty comments to throw your way right now. Wait a coupla hours and in three beers, two bailey's and a hookers' time, I'll be able to whiplash ya.....<have no idea where this is going>

LA

[gugelhupf]

Hmm, As a very inexperienced newcomer I wouldn't like to suggest a definitive answer to this continuing "standard English" debate - however, I would like to pose a question.

Do you not agree that a speaker of elementary level English sounds comic if s/he tries to speak anything other than mainstream Brit or US language? On British TV there was a character called Stavros who was a Greek kebab shop owner with an hilarious pidgin cockney vocabulary "Hallo peeps, innit?"

My mother's family are German and I learned German passively as a young kid from my grandma who had a very coarse regional dialect. I have subsequently spent a great deal of time and money learning to speak standard "Hochdeutsch" in order to be taken seriously! I still find myself saying "nee" instead of "nein" and "een" oder "zwo" for the numbers "eins" and "zwei".

[gugelhupf]

...and why when I write c/ockney does the damn system change it into a "beep"!!!??

[johnslat]

Dear gugelhupf,
Censorship's the reason. The first syllable of c*ckney is a banned word, Old Rooster. Which is why, should the occasions arise, you'll also have to post about drinking martinis rather than c*cktails and about the pilot's cabin rather than the c*ckpit. And you'd better write about "chicken bosoms", too, as br*asts is/are also banned.
Regards,
J*hn

[Atlas]

I am thinking of the axiom K.I.S.S. -- Keep It Simple Stupid


CNN English (I like this term better than "Hollywood"--do we really want our students emulating Arnold "I'll be Bach" Swarzennegger?)

&
BBC English

Some Chinese students and teachers I know often watch these broadcasts and use them as models, and for what it's worth I think it's a good idea. Although I am culturally biased, these strike me as clear-sounding, with a more neutral, enunciated (intuitive) pronunciation of letters.

The students will have their own opinion about linguistic purity or economic breadth of the accent they want to study--once they realize there are differences in the world; if I can I like to
let them hear differences between accents and also vocabulary
(i.e., "lift" vs "elevator") But of particular importance, for those students
who wish to go abroad, is how to ask for the facilities (rest room, W.C., Toilet, Ladies' / Men's Room, ad nauseum) BEFORE they arrive in a new city! Trust me, they'll love you for it!

P.S. Movies--we should give them a lot of credit for global cultural diffusion of English in the first place. Perhaps the most credit?

[been_there]

[Lanza-Armonia]

Wow, you guys really took this thing seriously and there have been some great answers. I'd like to modify the question to 'Is there such a thing as Standard English'?

I do this because a friend PM'd me and told me the definition of 'Standard'. It can be interpreted as the most common usage or the original. Both are good arguements...


Anyone care for round two?...

LA

[Glenski]

There is already a discussion/debate on "standard English" going. Here's my viewpoint on the OP here.

[arioch36]