Foreign People

[dreadhead7]

Hmmm, that term, foreigner, is interesting. I wonder how long one remains a foreigner? Does the "foreign-ness" fade away after a while? My father came to this country 54 years ago. He became a naturalized American citizen before I was born. He worked hard and got his piece of the American pie, yet he is still regarded as a foreigner. Though he speaks flawless English, he still has a noticeable accent, and this may be part of the "problem".
Speaking of accents and languages and all, I think that there isn't much emphasis here in the U.S. on students learning other languages. Personally, I think it's a shame, but that's only my humble opinion. I speak English and Spanish, and a smattering of French, German, and Arabic.
As for the use or the meaning of the word in this particular thread, my thought is, "What difference does it make"?

No sarcasm is intended here at all, just a foreigner's daughter thinking out loud.

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"Shake the world beneath your feet up"
--Johnny Clegg

 

[goodbye_mr_bond]

Sadly it seems to me that many of the non-native speakers of English around here have a better grasp of English grammar and spelling than many of us 'natives'. Canadians and Americans seem particularly prone to basic mistakes that make me cringe sometimes.

I realize that in this mode of communication--writing electronically--a certain leeway may be made for typos and so on, as well as for a more casual relaxed style, but you don't have to go far in these forums to find people mixing up "there" and "their" or "to" and "too". These mistakes are, not to put a fine point on it, embarrassing

.

No offense meant, Vlad, but before asking Shadowdale if he can pronounce "quintessential", you should make sure you can spell it <IMG SRC="http://forums.civfanatics.com/ubb/wink.gif" border=0>.

(Edit: no, it wasn't because of a spelling mistake!

)

[This message has been edited by goodbye_mr_bond (edited June 19, 2001).]

 

[DBSD13]

I'm a pure-blood Chinese.. well.. Canadian?

I'm a foreigner I suppose. (Citizenship of Canada, United Kingdom, Hong Kong SAR and People's Republic of China)

Now.. What is my nationality?


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Actually if you pronounce certain words in British -accents, there is very little need of those extra Es and stuffs. I've just studied a play based on Phonetic stuffs ... damn boring. The American ones are actually right when compared to the British.

Look at the word COLOUR. Its written as COLOUR but it is pronounced as COLOR.

 

[Magnus]

"foreigner" is the ultimate relative term. We are ALL foreigners to somebody, just as they are to us.

 

[SlowwHand]

From topic title right on through, put this thread down as contender for "Most Goofey Award".

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It's In The Way That You Use It
Tuatha De Danann Tribe
ICQ 51553293

 

[Simon Darkshade]

It is indeed a matter of relativity.
It reminds me of a comment/joke attributed to a Swedish skinhead:
"If they keep letting foreigners into the country, then I'm gonna move somewhere where they do no allow immigrants."
Tsk. Some people have that wondrous contortionist ability to put their foot in their mouth at will.

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Whether you like it or not, history is on our side. We will bury you.
- N.S.Khrushchev

 

[Loaf Warden]

Originally posted by goodbye_mr_bond:
Sadly it seems to me that many of the non-native speakers of English around here have a better grasp of English grammar and spelling than many of us 'natives'. Canadians and Americans seem particularly prone to basic mistakes that make me cringe sometimes.

I blame that on the educational system.

Actually, I don't know whether this is the case in Canada, but growing up in America I know I was never taught English in school. Our "English" classes were seldom more than just reading a bunch of stories and occasionally writing something. They never taught us grammar. It seems like from 5th grade all the way to 10th, the only piece of 'grammar' they taught us was the difference between a simile and a metaphor. They pounded this into our heads for five years, but never actually taught us how to speak.

The non-native speakers know English grammar because they are taught it as they learn English. Most native speakers don't know because they don't teach us. I learned more about English grammar in one year of high school German than I ever learned in all the English classes I've had. Today I know what things like 'participles', 'gerunds', and 'antecedents' are, but that's because of my own individual studies buying books on the subject; you can bet I never learned any of that in a classroom.