| "English" In China | |
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| Feb 27, 2006 01:40 | #11   |
 | We are exposed to 3 major native english speaking countries. Of all three, we understand the Americans better. Nobody watches James Bond movie for the dialogue. Thats because the British actors speak through their noses. You can't understand a word they say. That is why Mr. Bean (Ronan Atkinson) was not given any words to say. He's British, in case you don't know. Crocodile Dundee, the Australian actor speaks like all Australians. They speak with a laid-back attitude and tend to drag their words. If you hear the Indians speak english, I won't blame you if you think they are speaking a foreign language. They roll their tongue and shake their heads when speaking. The words get roll and shake too and come out garbled. |
| Feb 27, 2006 02:07 | #12 |
| And how do we Singaporeans speak English, Dracula ? |
| Feb 27, 2006 21:02 | #13 |
| Commissioned by the British Council, it says monolingual English graduates 'face a bleak economic future' as multilingual competitors flood the workforce from all over the world. A massive increase in the number of people learning English is under way and likely to peak at around two billion in the next decade, according to the report entitled English Next. More than half of all primary school children in China now learn English, and the number of English speakers in India and China - 500 million - now exceeds the total number of mother-tongue English speakers elsewhere in the world. These new polyglots, and the companies that employ them, have significant competitive advantages over their monoglot rivals, including a vital understanding of different cultures. 'The competitive advantage of speaking English is ebbing away,' said the report's author, linguistic consultant David Graddol. 'Once everyone speaks English, advantage can only be maintained by having something else - other skills, such as speaking several languages. 'At a corporate level, the UK and US economies have been enjoying a huge benefit from having so many English speakers elsewhere in the world,' he said. 'They can outsource overseas to India, for example, allowing them to cut costs and boost growth.' But Mr Graddol said there were mounting disadvantages for US and British companies if they stayed monolingual. Companies from other countries could use exactly the same methods to cut costs. And those foreign competitors could trade and take orders in other languages. 'We know from trade associations that small and medium-sized British firms are losing a lot of business because they cannot even answer calls from abroad on the switchboard,' he said. 'Calls do not get to the right people because the telephone operators do not have the languages needed.' Around 30 per cent of the British population spoke a language other than English, but about half of these people had that other language as a mother tongue, Mr Graddol said. In the US, 22 per cent of the population spoke a language other than English, mainly Spanish, and many of these people had Spanish as their first language, figures from the US Modern Language Association showed. British higher education may already be suffering from being monolingual, Mr Graddol said. The number of foreign, particularly Chinese, students entering British universities was falling as colleges in other parts of the world offered courses in English at lower cost, he said. English-language teaching now earns Britain up to £1.3 billion pounds (S$3.7 billion) directly, and other education-related exports bring in a further £10 billion a year, the report said. -- REUTERS |
| Feb 28, 2006 16:33 | #14 |
| PINETREE Wow !!!! what a BIG,BIG, BIG mistake. Cannot in English is more Caant Cunt is the the slang for vagina, a big no no in most free speaking parts. As for Wocca saying England only accounts for 3% of English speaking, what planet is he on. Lets face it, who in the USA speaks English? They might think they do, some might even claim they invented it !! Don |
| Feb 28, 2006 17:24 | #15 |
| Looks like a nice picture of Queen Elizabeth. What is she doing in this Forum. She got something to say? God save our gracious Queen Long live our noble Queen God save the Queen |
| Feb 28, 2006 19:44 | #16 |
| Author: DONHFRASER | -General- | 2006-02-28 16:33:18 GMT-6 Reply this discussion Reply Back to Discussion list Back PINETREE Wow !!!! what a BIG,BIG, BIG mistake. Cannot in English is more Caant Cunt is the the slang for vagina, a big no no in most free speaking parts. UNQUOTE O, am so sorry. Thks for pointing out Don. Another mistake on my part. No wonder the USAmericans wanna change its pronounciation for this word - it does sound obscene alright. But wonder which word was coined 1st - BRitish's "caant" or USAMerican's "cunt" ?!! |
| Mar 1, 2006 17:42 | #17 |
| Its got to be the English as the USA are always following in our wake, and claiming it as theirs! As in who first broke the Enigma Code in World War 2 ... sorry to digress Keep posting interesting thoughts |
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