The Use Of English On Fpn

[Charles Skinner]

Have you noticed that huge numbers of people from "around the world" use this site AND seem to be very good "writers" ---- in the English language! ----- Proves that in the fountain pen world, at least, English seem to be the "universal language!"

 

C. S.

[Moonshae]

I suspect it's a self-selecting sample. It's unlikely that people lacking a solid grasp of written English would participate in an English-language forum rather than one in their native language.

[Sasha Royale]

There are online translation apps. A large number of people learn to speak, read, and write English, for good reasons.

 

Whatever your reason, I am grateful.

[mhguda]

I like the flexibility of mind that being able to speak and write more than one language brings me. I do hope this far-flung use of English throughout the web does not mean that we may all end up speaking just it... but given that some languages with very few native speakers still persist today, the day that we speak only one language is likely to be far in the future...

[Moonshae]

There are online translation apps. A large number of people learn to speak, read, and write English, for good reasons.

 

Whatever your reason, I am grateful.

 

That's true, but they rarely offer the quality seen in fluent writers except for the simplest of sentences. Try translating something, then translate it back. Ideally, it should spit out what you put in exactly. In practice, it is sorely lacking.

 

I agree, regardless of how people get here, different perspectives and experiences make the community richer.

[Moonshae]

I like the flexibility of mind that being able to speak and write more than one language brings me. I do hope this far-flung use of English throughout the web does not mean that we may all end up speaking just it... but given that some languages with very few native speakers still persist today, the day that we speak only one language is likely to be far in the future...

I've often wanted to take up a second language. I could hold a reasonable conversation in Spanish when I was in college many years ago, but I have no realistic opportunities to keep in practice with any other language, so I haven't really attempted anything since. I do learn some basic phrases when traveling; I've found even making that small effort is appreciated.

[ac12]

When I visited the home office of the company I used to work for in Germany, I discovered that MANY of the Germans spoke better English than I did.

[Runnin_Ute]

When I visited the home office of the company I used to work for in Germany, I discovered that MANY of the Germans spoke better English than I did.

I suspect that this is common in large corporations that have operations in many countries, whether the primary language is English, Spanish, Japanese, German, or something else. Especially in certain roles. At one company I worked for, just in my department (accounting) we had a guy from mainland China, a gal from Taiwan where English was their second (or more) language and others who English was first but may have been fluent in other languages. Me? A tiny bit of spanish I learned in 8th grade. Essentially English only.

[Moonshae]

When people learn any language as a second language, they don't learn slang or improper grammar that native speakers pick up naturally. No course is going to teach "ain't" but any native English speaker will be familiar. I'd guess this applies to native/non-native speakers of any language.

[mhguda]

When people learn any language as a second language, they don't learn slang or improper grammar that native speakers pick up naturally. No course is going to teach "ain't" but any native English speaker will be familiar. I'd guess this applies to native/non-native speakers of any language.

Not quite - television and especially the internet and social media have made it so much easier for non-native speakers to pick up idiom and slang.

You should hear my high school students speak English among themselves - while their native language is NOT English...

I think it depends to a certain extent also on how and when you learn, but mostly on how much chance you have to practice speech in a non-judgmental environment...

[Moonshae]

That's interesting. I hadn't considered the effect of the internet and social media, which seems obvious now that you point it out.

 

I totally agree that practicing any activity in a non-judgmental environment is conducive to learning.

[tinto]

It is interesting to reflect on how much time will take to main websites in Occident to use Spanish as default, given the figures on the number of actual speakers (many countries that have English as official countries have a minority speaking it).

 

But it is clear that English is THE language to connect people from everywhere. I find its strong points are flexibility (every word can be a verb!) and simplicity in the use of nouns.

[inkstainedruth]

Recently I got into a conversation with some friends about languages. One couple has been taking conversational French in anticipation of an upcoming trip to France (I think they're going a bunch of places, not just to Paris). Another friend is originally from Ontario, and learned both English and French growing up (even though she isn't from Quebec) but of course her pronunciation is Quebequois (sp?). She teaches French and Spanish (I think at the middle school or high school level), and was saying that what she found is that young people in France tend to speak very quickly so that it sounds like one long run-on word. Also, she tries to teach her students the French word for "Well..." instead of an equivalent for "Um..." because she feels that "Well... " is slightly better grammar and usage.

English -- especially American English -- is certainly a less formal language than some. We've long since dropped things like "second person plural" (except as regional slang, such as "Y'all" in the South, and "yinz" here in the Pittsburgh area) and we don't have different words for addressing people in formal vs. informal settings. When I took Adult Ed Conversational French, the instructor was from Belgium originally, and had actually studied to become a translator; she said that even as an adult she can't bring herself to use the informal form instead of the formal form when speaking to her parents' friends -- it just seems rude to her.

At this point in history, English seems to be the language for diplomacy (where once it was French) and it is also the language for stuff like flight control for airlines.

Ruth Morrisson aka inkstainedruth

[Sasha Royale]

Have you noticed that huge numbers of people from "around the world" use this site AND seem to be very good "writers" ---- in the English language! ----- Proves that in the fountain pen world, at least, English seem to be the "universal language!"

 

C. S.

 

. . . . . . or that people who join FPN, regardless of national origin, are highly intelligent, and can learn any language.

[Charles Skinner]

This is a little off of the subject, but I can not resist telling it. Many years ago, I happened to be driving a very large vehicle in Eastern Canada, in a area where many people speak French. The motel parking lot was full, so I ask the man at the desk where I could park, and he answered in French, or if it was English, the accent was so strong I could not understand what he said. I ask him to repeat, please. Then he said ------ very slowly ---- "I SAID PARK IT ACROSS THE STREET AT THE SCHOOL PARKING LOT! YOU KNOW WHAT A SCHOOL IS DON'T YOU, ------- WHERE THEY TEACH LANGUAGES?"

 

He was being rude. Perhaps he was having a hard day! C. S.

[Astronymus]

As the lot was full you might not have been the first one. Imagine him doing this all day long. He thinking: "There comes another one... mèrde". Completely in french, of course.

[birchtine]

My question may be a bit off topic. Is it alright to start and continue conversations in other languages or English is the only one official and allowed?

[virgilio]

Y un tres bon site sur les stylos, le voici:

 

<A www.stylo-plume.org>

 

Ciao

[virgilio]

Je veux dire, en français, evidemment.

[dapprman]

Having played online MMOs for many years, most the time in European guilds, I've generally found the Scandinavians, Germans, Austrian and Dutch speak far better and far clearer English than the English (and I don't want to get in trouble with our many US members, so I shan't go there ).

 

Funniest thing for me was a Dane trying to teach a German how to swear in English, while being part corrected by a Norwegian.