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Big_Bird
Joined: 31 Jan 2003
Location: Sometimes here sometimes there...
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 Posted: Fri Apr 03, 2009 8:14 pm Post subject: |
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| nateium wrote: |
I'd say a native speaker is someone who grows up in a family where everyone speaks English at home nearly 100% of the time.
I doubt this applies to the vast majority of Indians (that's not to say many Indians don't speak English very well). |
Then how would you consider the English spoken by a Navaho Indian, or an Australia aborigine?
At home many of the aborigines of Australia and the US are speaking their traditional language, but out in the street, in school, at work, in the pub, they speak English every bit as good as you and I. Would you deny them native speaker status, when they speak it as well as their fellow white 'native speaker' countrymen?
English is not just a language learnt by a few Indians for kicks in their spare time. There are millions and millions of them using it every day, at work, at university, in their dealings with Indians from other regions. They have made English their own language, much of their media is in the meduim of the English language, and to many linguists English practically has 'native' status in India. |
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Kuros
Joined: 27 Apr 2004
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| Posted: Fri Apr 03, 2009 11:45 pm Post subject: |
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| Big_Bird wrote: |
| nateium wrote: |
I'd say a native speaker is someone who grows up in a family where everyone speaks English at home nearly 100% of the time.
I doubt this applies to the vast majority of Indians (that's not to say many Indians don't speak English very well). |
Then how would you consider the English spoken by a Navaho Indian, or an Australia aborigine? |
Navajo!!
When will you people learn how to spell? |
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Big_Bird
Joined: 31 Jan 2003
Location: Sometimes here sometimes there...
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| Posted: Sat Apr 04, 2009 12:27 am Post subject: |
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| Kuros wrote: |
| Big_Bird wrote: |
| nateium wrote: |
I'd say a native speaker is someone who grows up in a family where everyone speaks English at home nearly 100% of the time.
I doubt this applies to the vast majority of Indians (that's not to say many Indians don't speak English very well). |
Then how would you consider the English spoken by a Navaho Indian, or an Australia aborigine? |
Navajo!!
When will you people learn how to spell? |
That's the spirit! 
But you missed the absent n from Australian.  |
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endo
Joined: 14 Mar 2004
Location: Seoul...my home
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| Posted: Sat Apr 04, 2009 12:41 am Post subject: |
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The irony in this thread is fantastic!
The OP is concerned with the amount of American-centric threads posted on this board and she goes on to make yet another one 
I love it! |
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Big_Bird
Joined: 31 Jan 2003
Location: Sometimes here sometimes there...
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| Posted: Sat Apr 04, 2009 1:03 am Post subject: |
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| endo wrote: |
The irony in this thread is fantastic!
The OP is concerned with the amount of American-centric threads posted on this board and she goes on to make yet another one
I love it! |
The real irony is that you've proved yourself, yet again, to be an utter ignoramus. Most other posters here, like Kuros and Gopher for example, spotted right away that it was a 'play' thread with an OP that was taking the piss out of the What's up with the jews? thread. |
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endo
Joined: 14 Mar 2004
Location: Seoul...my home
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| Posted: Sat Apr 04, 2009 1:16 am Post subject: |
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I know it was a play thread hence all the emoticons.
Who's the "utter ignoramus" now sweetheart? |
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Big_Bird
Joined: 31 Jan 2003
Location: Sometimes here sometimes there...
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| Posted: Sat Apr 04, 2009 1:19 am Post subject: |
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| endo wrote: |
I know it was a play thread hence all the emoticons.
Who's the "utter ignoramus" now sweetheart? |
Then why address my 'concern' as thought it were in fact the case? Bell end. |
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nateium
Joined: 21 Aug 2006
Location: Seoul
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| Posted: Sat Apr 04, 2009 7:57 pm Post subject: |
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Then how would you consider the English spoken by a Navaho Indian, or an Australia aborigine?
At home many of the aborigines of Australia and the US are speaking their traditional language, but out in the street, in school, at work, in the pub, they speak English every bit as good as you and I. |
I think most Navaho and Aboriginal people do speak English at home these days. They can certainly be considered "native speakers."
Anyone who hasn't grown up speaking English can't really be considered a native speaker by definition. It's an assumption to say they speak English "every bit as good as you and I." If they haven't grown up speaking it, they probably don't (Unless they've studied and practiced it very actively).
Non-native speakers like the ones you mentioned may appear on the surface to speak well, but will most likely have a much narrower rage and exposure to different forms of slang, idiomatic expressions, arcane language, vocabulary, literature and other cultural references. People in this category also often have some sort of non-anglo accent and some syntax errors resulting from the structure of their native language.
Of course it's possible for some native speakers may be quite ignorant and limited in there own native tongue, but the general trend is that someone who has grown up speaking English with have a greater natural sense of fluency and familiarity with the language. |
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Tiger Beer
Joined: 07 Feb 2003
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| Posted: Sat Apr 04, 2009 9:09 pm Post subject: Re: What's up with the yanks? |
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| Big_Bird wrote: |
Why is every second thread in the CE about the yanks? Why are the yanks featured in every second programme on tv?
Forgive me, I am not from NA, had a quick look on wiki and they only make up about 4.5% of the population of the world. So whats up? What's with the obsession with yanks?
Coming from New Sheepland I know almost nothing about this type of thing. Why does the media talk so much about them? why are there so many conspiracies?
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Yeah Gopher, I know, I know, it's yank with a capital Y |
SO TRUE!!!!
As a 'Yank', it gets REAL tiring to have nearly everything focused on US, and NOTHING focused on anyone else.
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P.S. 'Yanks' are actually people from the northeastern or upper midwest of the U.S. - I actually qualify as one. But there are Americans who aren't 'yanks', and would probably be confused to be called one.
Granted, I realize in the commonwealth, they have no differentiation of the internal meaning, and use it all-inclusively. |
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mole
Joined: 06 Feb 2003
Location: Act III
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| Posted: Sat Apr 04, 2009 11:38 pm Post subject: |
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| Tiger Beer wrote: |
P.S. 'Yanks' are actually people from the northeastern or upper midwest of the U.S. - I actually qualify as one. But there are Americans who aren't 'yanks', and would probably be confused to be called one.
Granted, I realize in the commonwealth, they have no differentiation of the internal meaning, and use it all-inclusively. |
Thank you for explaining it well. That's it! Confusion, disbelief, wonderment.
Pity, the poor sot doesn't know any better. |
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