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- Native English speakers and their diale...
"Language is the dress of thought", Samuel Johnson
1LikeOf all the languages I know, I find English to be the strangest! Consider: while 'jail' and 'prison' are synonyms, 'jailer' and 'prisoner' are antonyms! But that's part of the fun, isn't it? To try to figure out what on earth is being said/meant!
It's silly to believe one group of English speakers to be superior to another. If English is our first language, that makes us native speakers - whether we're from Alaska or South Africa. An English person from England is not more English than a person from Australia. Our different settings and contexts make for some really cool language phenomenons. Unfortunately, these settings and contexts also create barriers - even among native speakers!
I mean, as a South African I refer to traffic lights as 'robots' (which they are...) and roundabouts as 'circles' (which again... they are...). This has caused some confusion among the Scottish people here in Scotland where I currently live. Do not get me started on 'pants' - which by the way is how we refer to 'trousers' in South Africa.
So you see, while I am a native speaker of English, I am not British or Scottish for that matter. But this doesn't make my English sub-standard. If anything it makes my English exotic, wouldn't you agree? My accent (which I am told has a 'twang'), my perculiar dialect and vocabulary, these are all fun!
I firmly believe that it is necessary for us all to embrace other Englishes. It is important. I want to know different dialects and accents and expressions. I want to know these, because I want to keep travelling. I have an advantage because I am accepting of differences.
So join me, why don't you? Check out my profile, contact me. Let's arrange an English session (or 20!). We've got this!