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English (The Language)


Snake-Pit

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My mother tongue.

I can understand pretty much any English going; from The Queens English where we put a U in colour and neighbour to American English where they use a faucet instead of a tap; broken English too like Patois. - Brethren turns into breaderin and 'what's wrong' turns into wagwan meaning hey or how are you?

They say English is hard to learn for non English speakers... English is also a poetic language in the sense that it has a class system in place, for example, in German, there is only one word for toilet, in English we can have
Toilet, Lavatory (posh), Loo/Bog/John (common) - German don't have that.

In German they add words together, in English, we break them up.

Example: Can't is Can not smushed together to make can't.

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Guest Len B'stard
broken English too like Patois. - Brethren turns into breaderin and 'what's wrong' turns into wagwan meaning hey or how are you?

Wah gwan is Jamaican Patois for 'whats going on?', used as a greeting like w'sup or whats happening, not whats wrong you fuckin' berk :lol:

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wassup is what's up meaning what is up meaning how are you.

ANYWAY.

English evolves,

Recent words added to the English language include; 'Srsly' 'selfie' &' 'emoji'.

You can call sagged balls evolved. Srsly.

Edited by Rovim
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English is one of the easiest languages to learn imho. I spoke English before I left primary school.
I also had to learn French, German, Spanish and Greek. Languages that, I thought, were harder to master than English.

What's funny to me is that it's easier to speak American English than British English.

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Guest Len B'stard

wassup is what's up meaning what is up meaning how are you.

ANYWAY.

You're really not very bright are you? Just cuz you overheard a few conversations in Thornton Heath and made up the rest don't mean you can speak patois, don't embarrass yourself :lol:

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I think English is a very hard language to learn even for Americans.

So many local sayings all around the country and here in Texas most seniors got very low grades on their English finals.

It's very sad because some of our words aren't spelled like they sound and people get confused.

I know I suck at spelling, so I keep a dictionary near my pc now.

I do admire people all over the world that learn English and know their own country's language. I think being on the computer has helped many people learn English.

Anyway, I think most of the world knows English now. I love seeing news from Russia or China and hearing them speak English. I think that's a very good achievement for them.

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English is simple. It's a shame we have so many native speakers that can't differentiate between there/their/they're, where/were, you're/your and the slightly more difficult (and less often used) I/me and who/whom.

Edit: Forgot it's/its and won't/wont.

Edited by Aaron_H
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I actually find English, totally lacking in logic. In Japanese there is no confusion in the sounds as, every section of the script (be that, Kana; Kanji) is linked to a specific sound. By contrast, you have this 'their, theres' stupidity in English which confuses native speakers (and I have to confess, I still make the occasional mistake as a typo). Latin also has a greater logic. In English, there seems to be no reason why some 'g's are pronounced hard ('give') or soft (gem). It is a similar thing with 'c'. In Latin, all cs are hard and all gs are hard. English is bonkers.

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English is a language

Dead as dead can be...

Nevermind, that's Latin.

I have an English B.A., and I still have trouble with who/whom. I usually just give up trying to figure it out and reword the whole sentence to avoid using either one, unless it's very obvious.

I also used to be a great speller, and then I took Spanish classes throughout high school and college (or uni, if you prefer) and completely lost my ability to spell in English somewhere along the way.

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American English where they use a faucet instead of a tap

Yeah I always belly up to the bar and order Budweiser on faucet. ;)

BTW - English is one of the hardest to learn, what other language has words that are spelled the same but have two entirely different meanings depending on context.

Those are called homophones.

Homophone examples;

Their/There/They're/Dare

(might make a whole thread of them).

A faucet and a spigot and a beer tap are all taps to me, no matter where you put it or what comes out of it. - Though I forgot about beer when I put that. :)

I actually find English, totally lacking in logic. In Japanese there is no confusion in the sounds as, every section of the script (be that, Kana; Kanji) is linked to a specific sound. By contrast, you have this 'their, theres' stupidity in English which confuses native speakers (and I have to confess, I still make the occasional mistake as a typo). Latin also has a greater logic. In English, there seems to be no reason why some 'g's are pronounced hard ('give') or soft (gem). It is a similar thing with 'c'. In Latin, all cs are hard and all gs are hard. English is bonkers.

L and R are like a married couple in Japanese/romaji because R loses it's sound and L loses it's name.

An; An goes before a noun if that noun begins with a vowel, otherwise it's A.

Edited by Snake-Pit
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American English where they use a faucet instead of a tap

Yeah I always belly up to the bar and order Budweiser on faucet. ;)

BTW - English is one of the hardest to learn, what other language has words that are spelled the same but have two entirely different meanings depending on context.

Those are called homophones.

Homophone examples;

Their/There/They're/Dare

(might make a whole thread of them).

Umm ... those aren't spelled the same. :)

I meant words like "bark" which can mean either a) the sound a dog makes or b) the outside layer of a tree

Oh, those... You just blew my mind.

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