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mithridates
Joined: 03 Mar 2003
Location: President's office, Korean Space Agency
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 Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2003 2:53 am Post subject: "English is understood everywhere in the world" |
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I remember seeing a guy in Paris who was somewhat angry with a few Korean people who thought he could speak English and kept on trying to get him to understand what they were saying.
Then there was also the Japanese girl I knew who was studying English really hard for her upcoming trip to Italy  .
I was thinking about that expression people use, that they study English because they can use it anywhere in the world. I agree that it can be used in most hotels and relatively well-off districts in a large number of countries, but that line that gives the impression that English is a ticket to hassle-free travel anywhere around the globe sounds like something a hagwon used to increase student numbers and just eventually happened to catch on.
I'm sure you've got a lot of stories like the two I've written above. |
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Saxiif
Joined: 15 May 2003
Location: Seongnam
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| Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2003 4:12 am Post subject: |
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| Also being understood by waygooks who are really used to dealing with Konglish =! being understood by people for whom english is a second language and have no idea what "pishi" etc. is... |
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peppermint
Joined: 13 May 2003
Location: traversing the minefields of caddishness.
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| Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2003 5:55 am Post subject: |
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| On my first trip here, I sat next to a guy who had spent six months studying English in Quebec City. |
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Tiger Beer
Joined: 07 Feb 2003
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| Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2003 8:56 am Post subject: Re: "English is understood everywhere in the world" |
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| mithridates wrote: |
| Then there was also the Japanese girl I knew who was studying English really hard for her upcoming trip to Italy |
This is extremely common. When I was in South America I met alot of Israelis, and a French guy from Paris (who became my best friend during those times).. who routinely mentioned how much better their English kept getting despite their purpose to be in South America to study Spanish (which they did too).
I also recall spending time with a German guy who brought all his English studying books to southeast Asia to study and get around on his trip.
I routinetely tell my adult students in Korea as well that the best way to practice English is not to go to the expensive North America and study English.. but its far better to hang around hostels in Southeast Asia and travel around. |
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Bulsajo
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2003 10:27 am Post subject: |
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I studied in Europe for a year; there one of my classmates was Francois.
Francois was from Paris so while he was fluent in English he had a definite Parisien accent. Francois was built like a brick S__t-house, and one of his parents was from japan. He also happened to be Jewish.
So if you go to Brussels and happen to see a very large Sumo wrestler wearing a yarmulke and speaking French with a Parisien accent, don't stare, just say "Hey Francois, how's it going?" |
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Son Deureo!
Joined: 30 Apr 2003
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| Posted: Tue Nov 04, 2003 4:36 pm Post subject: Re: "English is understood everywhere in the world" |
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| Tiger Beer wrote: |
| I routinetely tell my adult students in Korea as well that the best way to practice English is not to go to the expensive North America and study English.. but its far better to hang around hostels in Southeast Asia and travel around. |
Good point, my girlfriend couldn't afford to study in an English speaking country because of IMF, so she worked on a kibbutz in Israel instead. It worked just fine and her English is now excellent, and it still helped her land a job where she speaks English every day. |
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jajdude
Joined: 18 Jan 2003
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| Posted: Wed Nov 05, 2003 4:16 am Post subject: |
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| Well it sure isn't very well understood in Korea, China, Japan, Taiwan...... |
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Zyzyfer
Joined: 29 Jan 2003
Location: who, what, where, when, why, how?
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| Posted: Wed Nov 05, 2003 5:30 pm Post subject: Re: "English is understood everywhere in the world" |
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| Tiger Beer wrote: |
| I routinetely tell my adult students in Korea as well that the best way to practice English is not to go to the expensive North America and study English.. but its far better to hang around hostels in Southeast Asia and travel around. |
Good point, for the most part. It was when I went to Thailand with the Chica that I noticed her English had improved a lot since we first met.
However, when you take out the money figure, it's still better to go to a country where English is the first language, and isolate yourself from having too many connections with your native language. |
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khyber
Joined: 16 Jan 2003
Location: Compunction Junction
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| Posted: Fri Nov 07, 2003 4:59 am Post subject: |
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for what it's worth..and that probably won't be much but...
every member of my extended family is in the netherlands and EVERYONE speaks fine English.
When dutch kids go to school they learn 4to 5 languages!!!! So maybe their English isn't spectacular but their German, Italian and French are brilliant. IT's a crap shoot really |
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