I'm not a native speaker of American English language, but I'd like to know a teacher's opinion about what language barries and broken English mean and limitation of those.
I was told by my supervisor a few weeks ago that the people who interviewed me when I got my job didn't want to hire me because of the "language barriers", but she (my supervisor) was the one who challenged them to hire me.
Now, I don't believe my English is bad and I got many compliments over the years and I believe taht there were just 2 people who ever said to me that they couldn't understand me.
My question is: how do you Americans see this language barriers or what exactly does it means ?
I read an article about Arlold Scwazeneger's broken English, but I don't believe is that "broken". It's amazing how Americans believe that when non-native speakers make a few mistakes (I mean not basic grammar mistakes kind) in their conversation that is bad or broken English.
I worked in a few hi-tech companies and even a library and I was among just Americans who didn't know how to spell (they were making basic spelling errors such as tomorow instead of tomorrow etc.) or they weren't able to write a
meanful sentence. I also know that there are not many Americans who speak a second language. Once I talked with a yong lady, about 25 yo , and she said that she speaks French very well, after 5 years of studying. All she knew was: numbers 1 to 20, a few sentences such as: what's your name, how much is it etc and she called this "good French".
I don't know if this has something to do with that fact that many Americans are now against foreigners or simple they are not able to understand somebody who has an accent. I personally don't have any problems undestanding other people with an accent, but I remember now how a friend of mine couldn't be understood when he pronounced the word "Parma". He proounced it with a short not rounded "a" instead a rounded "a" and the lady couldn't understood him. In my opinion there no much difference between these 2 sounds.
Or maybe it's just because Americans expect others to be perfect , even if this doesn't exist, but they consider themselves very good even if in the reality is not like that.
I also know that sometimes Americans don't undestand each other, perhaps of the speed of speaking, but this seems to be normal, I mean nobody talks about this or complains about it, but all over the internet we can see articles about broken English or language barriers.
Of course I know that myself and perhaps other foreigners will still make mistakes in English language even after many years of speaking it or studying it, but are these mistakes so bad or obvious that our English is considered broken? What about all these native speakers who make mistakes too, but nobody seems to care about it... Is this just because of teh difference between being born in the USA and someplace else?
I hope I didn't offend any American with my writing, it wasn't my intention.
Thank you for any answer in advance.
I need a teacher's opinion on...
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charmedboi82
- Posts: 10
- Joined: Thu Dec 16, 2004 1:53 am
Wow, Arnold doesn't have broken English. Maybe he can't say everything he wishes to say, but his English isn't broken. I only consider it broken when the people speaking must stop to think of how to complete the sentence.... not to think of how they want to say it.
Yes, we're quick to criticize the language of non-native English speakers, but we're also quick to praise our own language prowess even though we know very little of other languages (most of us). Haha, some people consider themselves fluent without even knowing any kind of conditional tenses in other languages. I do believe a lot of it has to do with living here, so much more isolated than other countries in the world. Also, English dominates in a lot of places so we have the attitude that we don't have to learn another language and we have no desire to learn one.
I also believe that a good deal of this attitude comes from being from other countries (even though it's probably generations back). Most of us eventually conformed to English instead of the other languages that were dominating for a while (like German). Because we "had to" conform, it's now so deep in our being that we must conform to the social norm, which is English for the time being.
Your English is good. There were very few mistakes in what you wrote, but, hey, everyone can make a mistake or two! I'm sure you're a great worker and really dedicated,
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Kevin
Yes, we're quick to criticize the language of non-native English speakers, but we're also quick to praise our own language prowess even though we know very little of other languages (most of us). Haha, some people consider themselves fluent without even knowing any kind of conditional tenses in other languages. I do believe a lot of it has to do with living here, so much more isolated than other countries in the world. Also, English dominates in a lot of places so we have the attitude that we don't have to learn another language and we have no desire to learn one.
I also believe that a good deal of this attitude comes from being from other countries (even though it's probably generations back). Most of us eventually conformed to English instead of the other languages that were dominating for a while (like German). Because we "had to" conform, it's now so deep in our being that we must conform to the social norm, which is English for the time being.
Your English is good. There were very few mistakes in what you wrote, but, hey, everyone can make a mistake or two! I'm sure you're a great worker and really dedicated,
.Kevin
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Senorita Daniels
- Posts: 202
- Joined: Wed Dec 22, 2004 6:11 pm
I agree that stopping to think of a word or forgetting some basic words (the, a/n, is, you, are, etc.) is broken English.
I work in an elementary school, and I see how hard spelling can be for some kids. We have silent vowels, more than one spelling for different sounds, or consonant groups (like ch, church, chaise, Christmas) can make more than one sound. While practicing a spelling list, I gave a student the word "write". He spelled it Wright. I had to tell him that it wasn't the last name Wright, it was the "write it down" write.
I can see why some Americans don't see the need to say more than a few words in another language. When I studied in Russia for a summer, every other song on the radio was in English, and most of the souvineer venders were telling us to buy hats, postcards, pins, in English. Why should we learn another way to say anything? I translate Spanish at the school, so no one would dare say they know Spanish after they hear me talk to the parents. I've said that people "accuse me" of fluent in Spanish and Russian, my majors in college, but I know I'm not. Maybe the ones who really know the language well are just smart enough to know they aren't fluent.
I work in an elementary school, and I see how hard spelling can be for some kids. We have silent vowels, more than one spelling for different sounds, or consonant groups (like ch, church, chaise, Christmas) can make more than one sound. While practicing a spelling list, I gave a student the word "write". He spelled it Wright. I had to tell him that it wasn't the last name Wright, it was the "write it down" write.
I can see why some Americans don't see the need to say more than a few words in another language. When I studied in Russia for a summer, every other song on the radio was in English, and most of the souvineer venders were telling us to buy hats, postcards, pins, in English. Why should we learn another way to say anything? I translate Spanish at the school, so no one would dare say they know Spanish after they hear me talk to the parents. I've said that people "accuse me" of fluent in Spanish and Russian, my majors in college, but I know I'm not. Maybe the ones who really know the language well are just smart enough to know they aren't fluent.