Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

mini_1 · Joined: 12 Jan 2006 Posts: 7

hi everyone,
which is correct when iam going to ask anyone?
can/could we talk in english?
hope u explain
mini

bud · Joined: 09 Mar 2003 Posts: 2111 Location: New Jersey, US

Both are fine. Using "could" is more polite, and so is more likely used with someone you don't know well. Using "can" is polite enough, but would be more natural with a friend. (Even so, if you used "can" with someone you don't know well, the person would not feel insulted that you didn't use the more polite form.)

mini_1 · Joined: 12 Jan 2006 Posts: 7

thank u bud for ur help.
mini

advoca · Joined: 09 Oct 2003 Posts: 422 Location: Beijing

Mini:

May I make a suggestion. You are a student, so please write English properly with the words in full. It is a bad habit to abreviate your words as you do and to ignore the basic conventions. Also, please use capital letters where they are appropriate.

I hope you don't mind the suggestion from me as a teacher but if you write business letters in the way you write to this forum people will think you are ignorant of the correct way to write English.

fatcat · Joined: 13 Sep 2005 Posts: 12 Location: Athens, GA, USA

As a native English speaker, I think the fact that mini_1 uses abbreviations like these shows that her/his English is advanced. I do think, however, that for non-English speakers it may be harder to read and understand right off what is being said. I also seriously doubt that mini would use this type of language in a professional setting. On Dave's forums, I think it's fine.