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Do you know English?

DanielT

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I saw a TV show about language where the presenter said:
We (Swedes) both underestimate and overestimate our ability to speak (and write) English.

Underestimates:
We can have a fluent conversation with Englishmen without even reflecting on the fact that we speak English.

Overestimates:
If we think we can speak English as well as a person who has it as a mother tongue, go to the kitchen and open the drawers. Do you know the English names of all kitchen accessories?

I tested the latter. Hell how hard it was. He he.:D

If you do not have English as a mother tongue, try it.
 

storing

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Personally I'm very well aware of this: fluent conversation, no problem. But looking at vocabulary (also grammar, but to a lesser extent) I realise I use only a fraction of available words. Let's say 100 or maybe 200 max. This becomes obvious when reading books in English: for some of them I have to lookup the meaning words every single page. That being said: even in their mother tongue, people tend to use only a fraction of commonly availabe words. I do have the impression people who read more (me) use a richer vocabulary though (I sometimes get remarks like 'wow it's been a while I heard that word).
 
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DanielT

DanielT

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Here are some classics.:p
You from Spain do not take it badly. It could just as easily have been someone from another country in Manuel's place:


 

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ZolaIII

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Language is a live, living thing, and you can't exactly say that you learned it and how that's a end of the story. Generally you had a root and meaning following it etymological to the modern time's (philosophically and otherwise) at least.
So I don't know English language and I especially suck writing. Vocabulary needs more work so does semantic and won't even mention narratives and slang.
 

shal

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As ASR is a english forum but with international people , this subject is interesting.
Myself I have bad in english : I can read and understand 90-95% of subject here . But sometime I loose some subtilities.
And If I try to write a post, simple sentence are OK(can be understand by other) but sometime I have tried to exprim some thoughts and the sentence is not well understand and even my sentence can be juged "rude" (without intention)
 

ZolaIII

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Slangs? If you would take them into account no german would know german.
You have traditional narratives to root them to some extent at least but you will never know all of them and it's always hardest thing to pick up entirely (any single one of them on any language).
 

dasdoing

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Many times I write something in a forum and know it is not 100% correct, but I would have to look it up to make it correct. like the "correct" which is probably wrong lol. I would waste a lot of time looking up things only to make sentences more right but at the end contribuite almost nothing to the ability to understand them
 

Jim Matthews

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It gets worse.

As I slide into senescence my ability to recall vocabulary *while speaking* has drastically declined. Imagine trying to recall schoolboy [insert secondary language here] outside of a restaurant, library or train station.

I live in an area with a large Portuguese only enclave. The translate feature on my phone has been handy - but those exchanges were transactions, not conversations.

Context makes a *huge* difference when a non-native speaker is engaged; both parties know what they're talking about.
 

KellenVancouver

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As ASR is a english forum but with international people , this subject is interesting.
Myself I have bad in english : I can read and understand 90-95% of subject here . But sometime I loose some subtilities.
And If I try to write a post, simple sentence are OK(can be understand by other) but sometime I have tried to exprim some thoughts and the sentence is not well understand and even my sentence can be juged "rude" (without intention)
More often than not, it is the ignorant person who can speak but one language who will rudely judge another striving to speak a second (or third, fourth, etc.). Having struggled greatly in the past since I have no innate gift at learning "foreign" languages, I have nothing but utmost respect for people who can communicate in English as their non-native language, regardless how "rude" or rudimentary their skill level.
 

killdozzer

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If we think we can speak English as well as a person who has it as a mother tongue, go to the kitchen and open the drawers.
Yes. This sentence alone.^ I'm guilty of such constructions as well. A clear telltale that you're not native.

However, I don't think a ladle should make the case. ;)
 

SIY

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If we think we can speak English as well as a person who has it as a mother tongue, go to the kitchen and open the drawers. Do you know the English names of all kitchen accessories?
I constantly have issues with stuff like that. I know the French words for common kitchen stuff and winemaking processes and equipment but falter on the English. I wanted to cool down a fermentation and no-one understood me when I asked for a drapeau. No idea what the English word was- I eventually found it, and they all looked at me like I was an idiot; "That's a heat exchanger."

Ditto many common household items, where I know the Yiddish word but not English. Like the doodad you fill with hot water for soaking your feet- it's a shissel, but no idea how to say it in English.
 

sergeauckland

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I was brought up speaking Italian and English, and later in life I spoke Spanish (more Galician than Castilian) and learnt French by spending time in France and Switzerland. However, as I've aged and my parents have died, my Italian is now rusty, my Spanish non-existant, and my French is becoming rough. Languages like muscles, need constant exercising. You may think you can still do what you did in your youth, but when it comes to it, i.e. finding yourself in-country, you find just how stiff you've become.

S
 
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DanielT

DanielT

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Yes. This sentence alone.^ I'm guilty of such constructions as well. A clear telltale that you're not native.

However, I don't think a ladle should make the case. ;)
As long as we can make ourselves understood on a forum such as ASR, there are no problems. I think it works well on ASR.:)

What can thus happen here, as in other forums, is..What is it called, I think there is a name for the femomen. That is, when something is written with irony but is perceived as not ironic and on the contrary written without irony is perceived as irony?
Therefore, it is not so stupid to think that it can happen. Best to then add some smily. :D
 

Matias

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I am guilty of editing my posts. Many times I write and it seems fine at the time, I forget about it, and when I revisit it days or even months later, I see a spelling mistake or weird phrasing. Edit comes to rescue.

I also remember business trips abroad. In the morning fresh and rested my conversation would be a lot more fluent. As a long working day went by, at dinner at night, specially after some alcohol, words would be harder to remember, and the fluency stumbling... I knew it was happening but nothing I could do until sleeping a full night got me back to speed. So there is also that to consider.
 
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