rlv567 Loc: Baguio City, Philippines

You're right! - but it is somewhat similar to Spanish, and I had thought I should be able to at least understand it - when I needed to be calling doctors' offices in Brazil.

Loren - in beautiful Baguio City

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I knew a woman from Germany who always thought Americans were ignorant because so few of us know other languages. I studied French in high school and in college. Did I ever have a chance it use it? Twice - to give directions - hardly essential. Spanish might come in handy, but it hasn't yet.

One major problem is foreign air traffic controllers not knowing English well enough. That has caused at least one crash.

therwol Loc: USA

It's a dialect of Portuguese. We had a Brasilian exchange student once who said that people from Brasil and people from Portugal may have some difficulty in understanding one another. I don't know if that's really true, but that's what he said.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

I believe it. People from northern USA have trouble understanding people from southern USA, and vice versa. It's the same with people in different parts of England.

I knew a woman who was a Spanish teacher, and she gave us a demo of the differences between different Spanish speakers. Amusing.

fhayes Loc: Madison, Tennessee

I hear it as 'uh apple'. I view it as redneck ignorance and/or sheer laziness.

fhayes Loc: Madison, Tennessee

'I could care less', yes I could, there are a few rungs of caring to drop down to. 'I couldn't care less' I am at the bottom of the caring ladder!

fhayes Loc: Madison, Tennessee

Isn't being fluent in English a requirement to be an air traffic controller? I thought it was universal.

fhayes Loc: Madison, Tennessee

I have a book titled 'Interpreting the American vernacular for the benefit of the foreign-born who may have learned English correct' by Everett O. Tauher, copyright 1993. It covers all the basics One section has A- American versus C-correct. A. I gave it to she and he, C. I gave it to her and him as one example. The book, written by a teacher that taught English in Vietnam saw the importance of this because American military English was destroying what we call language. Slurring has a section- 'twenty eight years' translates to 'tweny a cheers' which as I know it, is San Francisco dialect proper. There is the 'vulgar section', it's how 'a' and 'f' bombs fit and how they are defined.

Having been raised in San Francisco by a British father and a Mexican mother, enunciation was important to both of them. Today they would be referred to as 'grammar nazis'.

The street where I grew up, I called United Nations Plaza because there were so many immigrant families, the parents were learning English but insisted on speaking the language of their homeland because the kids 'had to know their home language'. The kids assimilated easily, the parents, not so much. Did the parents seem to care? Not really. If they had an issue with definitions, the kids could explain in (place country of origin here) or shop in a store where the owner was that language friendly.

The book is not for sale on line or anywhere else, It was given to me by a relative of Mr. Tauher because we had a fascinating conversation and thought the book would be an entertaining read. That it is out of print is unfortunate, it would make for a terrific reference book mostly for the laughs.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

In summers of '74 and '75, I worked for a company that made textile machinery. Four of us college students had been assigned to repair/refurbish some British-built open-end spinning frames with new (better) parts. We worked with two Brits, one from Accrington, and one from Oldham, near where a couple of our plants were located. I worked out of the Easley, SC, plant. Another of our mechanics was from Pakistan.

The mill we were working in was in Enoree, SC. Enoree is about 8 miles Southeast of Woodruff, which is essentially 8-miles South of nowhere. The folks in that little town had been there for about six generations, many decended from Irish potato farmers who came over during the great potato famine of the mid-1850s. Others were African American descendants of plantation slaves.

We all spoke English, but... The native SC folks spoke what is commonly known in SC as "Cracker Irish", an accent unique to upstate SC where those Irish folks settled. The Pakistani sounded half-British, half-Indian, as he had learned English in India at a British school. The Brits, of course, spoke with working class Northern England accents (quite removed from anything heard in London or anywhere else).

SOMEHOW, I could understand all of them, so they had me play translator. Mostly it was word usage and accent translation. "Ah owent lak thot. 'An me that spannih" meant, "Hand me the wrench so I can fix this." Or, it meant, "Dang! Ghee mee dat dare wree-unch."

I learned a LOT about patience and tolerance and the true meaning of communication that summer! Also, I learned I needed to study harder so I wouldn't have to work in a mill again. Our summer jobs paid more than what some of the mill workers made, and they had been there 30 to 40 years! Somehow, though, they could afford fifty cent PBR or "Bud water" at the local dirt floor tavern.

I WISH I could have taken my camera on the job site there. The photos would have been amazing.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Travel will introduce one to many different dialects, accents, and colloquialisms. It is difficult not to marvel at the richness of culture we have here, and how it has affected our lives. It is very easy to miss what is said, because of the wide variety of English spoken. There is NO shame in asking for repetition and clarification. If anything, "half the room" has the same issue understanding someone with the different accent or regional heritage.

therwol Loc: USA

I have encountered people in England, Ireland and Scotland whose versions of English were very difficult to understand. They have more pronounced differences in regional English than in our country. I can usually figure out what people are saying, and the people over there seem to understand American English without much difficulty, but it doesn't always work the other way with me. I was in Ireland once trying to buy a DART train ticket, asking the person in the booth questions, and I couldn't understand a word he was saying, even after he repeated himself. I just finally said the name of the station I wanted to go to, put down some money and went on my way. I was in Newcastle in Northern England in a restaurant, and communication with the server was so difficult that she had to get someone else. I could mention some other incidents, but I don't want to go overboard.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

It can take some time to pick up all the vowel sounds, inflections, and word usages of a regional dialect. Watching a lot of British plays, films, and TV series has helped me over the years. I still use subtitles on some series, though. Watching James Corden in the Welsh series, Gavin and Stacey was an education in itself. It is set in South Wales, in various areas around Barry and Cardiff.

drucker Loc: Oregon

When I first read the title of this thread, the "Thee" jumped out at me. In reading I quickly realized that Jerry was using the spelling to clarify pronunciation.
"Thee" to me is a pronoun of long heritage. The religious movement in England led by George Fox in the 1600s was known as the Society of Friends but often referred to as Quakers. At the time the pronouns thee and thou were used when referring to the "common" folk and you and your were used when referring to those of elite status.
One of the Society's tenets was that all people were equal in the eyes of God and therefore, the Quakers used the common forms of thee and thou for everyone. Another practice in the same vein was the refusal of men to remove their hat when before or to bow to those in power. At the time, failure to remove your hat when before a judge was considered an affront and Quakers were ordered to jail for the offense. The term was at the judge's pleasure so it could easily be a death sentence. Jails often did not provide any services, so the prisoner was dependent on others to bring them food and other needs.

My ancestors came through Pennsylvania and settled in northern Indiana, then migrated again to a farming community in south central Kansas in the 1880s. My paternal and maternal grandmother's families homesteaded on adjoining properties. A small Quaker church was built and the families multiplied. By the 1950s the plain language had mostly fallen into disuse, especially by the younger generation but was still commonly heard at church and by the older community members -- especially when family members from Indiana came to visit. And there was no doubt I was in trouble when I heard, "Dennis, will THEE . . . ."

I have vivid memories of trips back to Indiana where we'd sleep in feather beds and I'd get a glare from Grandma if I didn't remember to use the plain language when speaking to the adults. In the 50s the church tradition of the men sitting on one side of the aisle and the women on the other was still practiced and several of the older men wore the traditional flat-brimmed hats and the women pleated bonnets, with the men removing their hats only when praying. Traditions changed, and by the 70s, families were sitting together and the hats and bonnets were no longer seen.

I still find myself unconsciously using thee and thou when I'm conversing with an older person . . . but those are getting fewer as the years go by.

Horseart Loc: Alabama

I think it must have started when people started saying "ditten" instead of "didn't". Funny, when they type it, they still type "didn't"

therwol Loc: USA

You think that's bad. I was in a restaurant in England where the person behind the counter asked if I wanted some "booha" (Butter.) By the way, I grew up in Alabama. I know what you mean.