[Gllug] Monthly GLLUG grammar report (Seriously OT now!)

[formi at blueyonder.co.uk]

On Fri, 29 Nov 2002, Ivan Virgili wrote:

> At 28/11/02 17:10 +0000, Simon Stewart wrote:
> >>Me too, but if I was going to sue the people who "taught" me
> grammar
> >>would be quite a way down on my lists of complaints.
>
> Hello there...
> Just a quick presentation... My name is Ivan and I am Italian
> (from Rome).
> I have been living in London for 2 years and I am married to a
> fantastic
> British girl !!!
> I am a real Linux newbie (2 weeks - I had installed it 4 years
> ago, but I
> had to give up for many reasons).
> I have a very good esperience with hardware and software and
> with all
> Bill's OS (from DOS to XP)..
>
> Unfortunately in UK, generally speaking, grammar is not
> thought properly.
> In Italy, or France for ex., grammar is thought during your
> entire school
> carreer.
> This makes much easier for us to learn foreign languages,
> because we know
> what an adjective, a adverb, etc. is.
> If British people don't know their own grammar, then it
> becomes even more
> difficult for them to learn a foreign language like
> French/Italian, where
> the grammar is much more difficult than the English one.


 Well, personally I wouldn't swear by that, where I come from
 we get many years of grammar, in my case in three different
 languages. I have managed to pass through many exams, and
 believe me my grammar in any of those languages is bad.

>
> At the same time, English is used improperly by loads of
> foreigners (myself
> included), who makes things even worse (I am sure I made loads
> of mistakes
> writing this email). We mispell, change the order of the words
> while
> speaking/writing (just translating from our languages), ect.

 Add me in, even though I don't just translate.

 I must admit that my grammar has degraded a lot since I moved to
 this country, probably the food and the polution have also
 something to do with it.


> English is the language of the world and this is good and bad
> at the same time.

Sadly, in some occasions...

> Good because it allows many people from different countries to
> communicate;

That would apply to any other language.

> bad because one day it will probably not be English anymore
> (correct/standard English).

 And bad because many only English speaking people go around
 the world complaining "Why can't you speak English?".

 I have in the past, when my understanding of English wasn't
 good, ended up many times saying: "If you can't speak the local
 language or speak in yours slowly and clearly, you can *** off
 to were you came from".

 Nowadays, I usually end up saying "If you want a translator, pay
 me."

 I must admit, that I have enjoyed myself many times, talking to
 people who were understanding. But that was exception, not the
 rule.


>
> Ciao... Ivan
>
>
>
>

-- 

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