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Korean Job Discussion Forums "The Internet's Meeting Place for ESL/EFL Teachers from Around the World!"
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rusty1983
Joined: 30 Jan 2007
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Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2008 4:54 pm Post subject: |
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| head-in-the-clouds wrote: |
| rusty1983 wrote: |
Considering the history of the English Language, claiming a 'purest form' is silly. It is the least pure language ever. It was developed by heathens and since then people have just taken it and ran with it. When English began to come together we were being ruled by the French.
The mad variety of accents in Britain keep things interesting, they are a great thing about living here. That's the best thing about English, the way it gets mangled and twisted to evolve into something new.
I am completely hooked on the way the black folks from Baltimore in The Wire talk. For a while I could barely understand it at all but it is really funky once you get used to it.
I guess you could argue that the 'Queen's English' is where we started the world spread and therefore should be considered as the first reference point of English, but *beep* the Queen and the posh cunts that run this country. Selfish stuck-up fuckers all of them. It pisses me off when I meet someone here who gets on their high horse about 'proper English' and I often wonder who the hell they think they are. I hate the way posh people sound.
Ive taught people from alot of different countries recently and they confirm what we all knew anyway, that British people are much nicer to listen to. The girls do love it, much more than American accents. This is because it is much softer and easier on the ear. My Korean friends here told me they go gooey over a nice English accent.
Although bare in mind it does need to be neutral, not regional or 'Queen's' English.
I didnt need to ask my students this though I knew it from my American friends, they love our accent too.
However, if youre talking pleasant to the opposite sex then British English gets absolutely trounced by Italian and French, but thats not the point here is it?
Australians sound like morons to me, but I think that is because Ive spent too much time in London where I believe the most cretinous faction of Aussies live. |
The 'posh cunts' built the uk and created decency and civility. I much prefer old money to the new money asswipes that run the country now. you have no class. |
No the people who run the country now are posh cunts too, but worse. When I think of ruling English I think of Margaret Thatcher or Boris Johnson and I want to vomit.
We did a fair job of bringing capitalism and christianity to the world, how civilised all of that is is up to your own discretion.
I like your class comment, very apt |
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PeteJB
Joined: 06 Jul 2007
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Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2008 6:44 pm Post subject: |
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| Starla wrote: |
Yes, I will have to do some investigating...which hot accent do you have?  |
Hard to say exactly. When I'm with close friends or family I use a faster, rougher way of speaking - but with everyone else I try to talk slower. I have been told that I don't sound all that British though, and instead sound like a Scandinavian speaking good English, so you might be out of luck.  |
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ernie
Joined: 05 Aug 2006 Location: asdfghjk
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Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2008 7:27 pm Post subject: |
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| do chicks dig guys with FAKE british accents? i have one of those. 'blahee 'ell, ya no't i mean?' i can also work 'cunt' into every other sentence, if need be. |
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DaveMcK
Joined: 22 Oct 2008
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Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2008 7:45 pm Post subject: |
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| Privateer wrote: |
| DaveMcK wrote: |
| Actually, I find it hard to understand people from Ireland but their first language is mostly Gaelic. |
No it isn't. Only a tiny minority speak Gaelic although I believe it's taught in schools. |
As I said earlier: I know quite a few Irish people and they would argue the opposite. Of course they mostly speak English officially but in the home it's predominantly Irish Gaelic.
After checking out wiki I find: 39% of the population claimed competence in Gaelic at the last census (2006).
| Privateer wrote: |
| DaveMcK wrote: |
| Mind you, my first language is Scots but in this day and age it's hard to draw the line between Scots and English. Languages are constantly morphing. |
Does the real Scots language still exist? I thought it was just a matter of accent and regional words and expressions these days. Even Burns' Scots was still a dialect of English rather than a separate language. |
Nah, Scots is no direct descendent or dialect of Modern English. It is a separate language; Wiki says that it descended from Middle English but I've read elsewhere that it descended from Old English (annoyingly, I can't find it). Wiki also points out that there is some debate amongst historical linguists about this. |
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DaveMcK
Joined: 22 Oct 2008
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Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2008 7:50 pm Post subject: |
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| ernie wrote: |
| do chicks dig guys with FAKE british accents? i have one of those. 'blahee 'ell, ya no't i mean?' i can also work 'cunt' into every other sentence, if need be. |
Well some in Scotland can't help but work 'fuckin cunt' into every other sentence.  |
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Justin Hale

Joined: 24 Nov 2007 Location: the Straight Talk Express
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Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2008 8:10 pm Post subject: |
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| hugekebab wrote: |
| mortundo wrote: |
The ar*eh*le Hale wrote,
"I'm a Brit - and quite nationalistic - but I wouldn't use British spellings even under torture. It's color, neighbor and emphasize.....all the way! British spellings are a massive source of embarrassment to God's Hallow'd Isle."
You're a bloody disgrace, shut up you pompous D*ck! |
Total sellout; clearly not a true nationalist. |
That's exactly the kind of petty and miserably immature nationalism I associate with British spellings and hence my natural instinct when I observe colour, neighbour and emphasise is bug-eyed bluff and bluster.
I'm very much reminded of Koreans and their East Sea and Dokdo.
My faculty of discerning what is aesthetically-excellent is particularly advanced, hence the US spellings.....and I'm as British as steak & kidney pudding and nationalistic in ways that would embarrass fascists! 
Last edited by Justin Hale on Thu Oct 30, 2008 8:47 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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hugekebab

Joined: 05 Jan 2008
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Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2008 8:14 pm Post subject: |
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| Justin Hale wrote: |
| hugekebab wrote: |
| mortundo wrote: |
The ar*eh*le Hale wrote,
"I'm a Brit - and quite nationalistic - but I wouldn't use British spellings even under torture. It's color, neighbor and emphasize.....all the way! British spellings are a massive source of embarrassment to God's Hallow'd Isle."
You're a bloody disgrace, shut up you pompous D*ck! |
Total sellout; clearly not a true nationalist. |
That's exactly the kind of petty and miserably immature nationalism I associate with British spellings and hence my natural instinct when I observe colour, neighbour and emphasise is bug-eyed bluff and bluster.
I'm very much reminded of Koreans and their East Sea and Dokdo.
My faculty of discerning what is aesthetically-excellent is particularly advanced, hence the US spellings.....and I'm as British steak & kidney pudding and nationalistic in ways that would embarrass fascists!  |
I wasn't really being all that serious. |
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hugekebab

Joined: 05 Jan 2008
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Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2008 8:17 pm Post subject: |
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| head-in-the-clouds wrote: |
The title of this thread needs to be changed to English english speakers.
The scottish and Welsh do not speak well. |
But we're 'arder than you (and you secretly know it). |
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Privateer
Joined: 31 Aug 2005 Location: Easy Street.
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Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2008 8:26 pm Post subject: |
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| ernie wrote: |
so should i correct them when they say 'handphone' or not? in canada, the US or britain, it would invoke blank stares: aren't ALL telephones 'hand' phones? are you contrasting your phone with the hands-free version?
most of england speaks with a non-rhotic accent, i.e. they don't pronounce the 'R' in 'car'. some american accents are non-rhotic as well!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhotic_and_non-rhotic_accents |
Hey, I answered that already!
Don't 'correct' them: just say it's Konglish and native speakers say 'cellphone' or 'mobile phone' instead. |
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Privateer
Joined: 31 Aug 2005 Location: Easy Street.
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Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2008 8:31 pm Post subject: |
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| DaveMcK wrote: |
| Privateer wrote: |
| DaveMcK wrote: |
| Actually, I find it hard to understand people from Ireland but their first language is mostly Gaelic. |
No it isn't. Only a tiny minority speak Gaelic although I believe it's taught in schools. |
As I said earlier: I know quite a few Irish people and they would argue the opposite. Of course they mostly speak English officially but in the home it's predominantly Irish Gaelic.
After checking out wiki I find: 39% of the population claimed competence in Gaelic at the last census (2006).
| Privateer wrote: |
| DaveMcK wrote: |
| Mind you, my first language is Scots but in this day and age it's hard to draw the line between Scots and English. Languages are constantly morphing. |
Does the real Scots language still exist? I thought it was just a matter of accent and regional words and expressions these days. Even Burns' Scots was still a dialect of English rather than a separate language. |
Nah, Scots is no direct descendent or dialect of Modern English. It is a separate language; Wiki says that it descended from Middle English but I've read elsewhere that it descended from Old English (annoyingly, I can't find it). Wiki also points out that there is some debate amongst historical linguists about this. |
Yes, it descended from Middle or perhaps Old English - goes way back - but that still meets the definition of a dialect, doesn't it? And no relation to Celtic, despite the fact that everyone thinks of Scots as Celts (obviously that's not to say there's no Celtic in the mix tho').
And like everyone else I'm surprised by these Irish you've been meeting. The 'competence' stat is probably due to the revival in schools, rather than learning Gaelic at home, because a couple of decades ago the Gaelic was in danger of vanishing completely. |
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jkelly80

Joined: 13 Jun 2007 Location: you boys like mexico?
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Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2008 8:35 pm Post subject: |
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| Gaelic is the de jure official language but not the de facto. |
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bigverne

Joined: 12 May 2004
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Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2008 8:42 pm Post subject: |
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| Quote: |
| but in the home it's predominantly Irish Gaelic. |
Not it's not. You Sir, are talking out of your arse. The vast majority of Irish speak English at home. The main place where Irish is predominantly spoken at home is in some remote communities on the West coast.
Welsh is a different story, and is spoken by a large percentage of Welsh people at home and in the community. |
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DaveMcK
Joined: 22 Oct 2008
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Posted: Thu Oct 30, 2008 11:41 pm Post subject: |
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| bigverne wrote: |
| Quote: |
| but in the home it's predominantly Irish Gaelic. |
Not it's not. You Sir, are talking out of your arse. The vast majority of Irish speak English at home. The main place where Irish is predominantly spoken at home is in some remote communities on the West coast.
Welsh is a different story, and is spoken by a large percentage of Welsh people at home and in the community. |
After further reading, I would tend to agree there however I was going on what I've been informed by Irish people and I think it's a lot more than what you say.
That being said, there's no need to be a fud about it.
| Privateer wrote: |
Yes, it descended from Middle or perhaps Old English - goes way back - but that still meets the definition of a dialect, doesn't it? And no relation to Celtic, despite the fact that everyone thinks of Scots as Celts (obviously that's not to say there's no Celtic in the mix tho').
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It is now recognised as a language in its own right and was historically its own language too.
There's debate about it though but my own opinion would be that the argument against it being a distinct language comes from the fact that the elite, who were pro union, made it their mission to learn English and rid themselves of their 'Scottishness', subsequently creating the myth that Scots was simply poor English. That's why nowadays it's mostly a language of the working classes and never used in any education establishments (and has no official written form - there are regional dialects of Scots itself).
There are a number of words in English and Scots that have come from Celtic languages (like peat) and there's quite a lot of debate about how much influence the Celtic languages have had on English. |
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Starla

Joined: 06 Jun 2008 Location: Seoul
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Posted: Fri Oct 31, 2008 1:15 am Post subject: |
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| PeteJB wrote: |
| Starla wrote: |
Yes, I will have to do some investigating...which hot accent do you have?  |
Hard to say exactly. When I'm with close friends or family I use a faster, rougher way of speaking - but with everyone else I try to talk slower. I have been told that I don't sound all that British though, and instead sound like a Scandinavian speaking good English, so you might be out of luck.  |
Use the faster and rougher way...of speaking that is. The sloppier, the better. I can handle it. |
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Billos
Joined: 14 Oct 2008 Location: Korea
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Posted: Fri Oct 31, 2008 4:18 am Post subject: My 2 pence (or should it be cents) |
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I'm half irish and have visited Galway county (on the west coast of Ireland) and even there almost everyone speaks English at home, in the (many) pubs and in church, although it wasn't on the actual coast.
Anyway English is English, as long as I teach my students enough to be understood by/understand someone else who speaks english no matter what type of English I teach I think I've done alrite. |
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