Me S.African speaking for English not goodly.

[nahtan]

A few days after I had arrived in the U.S.A. , I accompanied my wife to a nearby garage to have the radiator in her car repaired. I tried to start a conversation with an electrical technician He directed this question to my wife , "Does this guy know English? I can't understand a word he says. Anyway, who is he?"

My wife retorted, " He is friend from S.Africa. He is trying to learn English."

After my wife had left me in a waiting room to explain the problem to the chief mechanic, the
technician came up to me and said, "Hey bud, if you want to be in the U.S. you must learn English. I can't understand how you can find a job without knowing any English. Your friend
talks good English. Why don't you learn from her?"

I responded, " I don't liking it for learning Ingleech. It too hard."

With some irritation he said, " How are you going to live here not knowing English. You didn't even try learning English. Why is it difficult?

My wife at this time returned. I said to the technician, "English is one of the most difficult langauges to learn. In grammar there are rules and exceptions. Quite often I leave my modifiers dangling and I tend to overuse the gerunds, participles and infinitives.I find Shakespeare difficult because of my lack of understanding of his symbolism and irony.
As for Marlowe's works, I would not even touch it with a barge pole. His works are highly metaphysical."

He looked at me with a grin. I then asked him what did he think of Shakespeare.

With some enthusiasm he said, " The English guy?"

I replied, "Yes, the British literally figure."

With some consternation he shot back, "We learned that Shakespeare was English! "

[liza81]

Originally Posted by nahtan

With some enthusiasm he said, " The English guy?"

I replied, "Yes, the British literally figure."

Literary figure, perchance?

Did this really happen to you? If so, where in the US were you? I used to run into people who had a hard time understanding my accent, but nobody ever thought I was speaking a different language!

[Theja]

Besides my own language, I understand five national languages --- American, British, Australian, New Zealand, Canada. I guess I understand a bit of South African too, right?

Nahtan, I think the mechanic may have difficulty understanding your accent, but you're trying to pull his leg with technical grammar.

[nahtan]

Originally Posted by liza81

Literary figure, perchance?

Did this really happen to you? If so, where in the US were you? I used to run into people who had a hard time understanding my accent, but nobody ever thought I was speaking a different language!

I have had numerous experiences as a result of my accent. Some of them were hilarious;others, made me homesick.

I wish to thank my dear Lady for the spelling correction (literary).Have I been living too long in the U.S.A.?

While I am on the issue of American English, allow me to relate an incident that occurred in 1998. (I hear a resounding "Yes,yes. Please do.")

I was being interviewed to fill a vacant position in English at a nearby high school.Before the interview had started,the principal of the school decided to show me the new theatre.Having noticed scribblings on the wall, I brought this to his attention. He remarked ,"Sometimes,
I get really aggravated with these kids." It is quite common in the U.S.A. to misuse "aggravated" to mean "annoyed". This same principal would sit as one of the members of the interview team.

After the interview had ended, I was asked by the assistant superintendent to hand copies of my references to " Mr. Schlieve or I " within a week.

If I were to write a book on errors made in the use of English by Americans, it would be an onerous task. The following are few of the long list of errors:

"impact" used as verb
"conference" used as a verb.
past tense of hang(executed) becomes "hung"
"him" used as a subject.
"Everyone" regarded as plural.
"center around "
"me" used as a subject.
"same difference" instead of "no difference"


The errors mentioned above were those made by teachers ,administrators,journalists and
television personnel. Why do American students find it difficult to write ? Need I respond?

[nahtan]

Originally Posted by Theja

Besides my own language, I understand five national languages --- American, British, Australian, New Zealand, Canada. I guess I understand a bit of South African too, right?

Nahtan, I think the mechanic may have difficulty understanding your accent, but you're trying to pull his leg with technical grammar.

Theja

You state that you understand five national languages, and one of them is British.

I must congratulate you. I tried learning the first and second languages of Britain and failed.
How did you manage learning Pakistani and Indian?

[ches]

Originally Posted by nahtan

How did you manage learning Pakistani and Indian?

There is no such language as "Pakistani" or "Indian". Try Urdu, Fasi, Tamil, Hindi, Malayalam, Singhilese, etc.

To all who seem to be Theja bashing, please can we leave her alone and welcome her to the task of moderating the Religion forum. Nobody else dared and she is more knowledgeable on the subject than most of us here.

[nahtan]

Originally Posted by ches

There is no such language as "Pakistani" or "Indian". Try Urdu, Fasi, Tamil, Hindi, Malayalam, Singhilese, etc.

To all who seem to be Theja bashing, please can we leave her alone and welcome her to the task of moderating the Religion forum. Nobody else dared and she is more knowledgeable on the subject than most of us here.

Ches

My intentions were not to bash Theja. Being a S.African of Indian descent, and having travelled extensively in India, I am cognizant of the fact that there is no Pakistani or Indian language. The piece submitted by me was a mere joke. There is a belief that Britain would become so swamped with immigrants from Pakistan and India that the country would soon
have English replaced by languages of Pakistan and India.Furthermore, Pakistanis and Indians have acquired businesses at such an "alarming rate" that businesses held by British
would constitute an insignificant percentage.

Theja, if you perceive this as an insult to you,kindly accept my apologies.