The Language Barrier

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leelee

Senior Member
Sep 5, 2011
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#1
I haven't really thought about it before but although we are all typing in English there IS a language barrier. I have just been told I was rude when I typed something completely normal over here.

Have you noticed such happenings?



P.S This also happens with my Grandparents and text language, my Granny thought lol meant lots of love. :)
 

leelee

Senior Member
Sep 5, 2011
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#2
I remember overhearing my pastor saying she wished she had worn her thongs (she is an aussie). My face must have said a lot but she meant flip flops!
 
I

iTOREtheSKY

Guest
#3
My ex-wife was from the UK & she got a lot of slack from people here because she'd use words from over there,that meant something completely different here...plus other way around too,we'd use words that didn't mean what she was raised knowing them to mean. It drove her nuts. I felt bad for her. For instance,she pronounced the word "water" correctly,just as it's spelled,as I do. But over here in the states many people are too lazy to say it correctly & pronounce it "wadah" Which I find absolutely retarded. Now of course not everyone in America speaks like that,but she had the bad luck of living here in Maine,where most are as uneducated as you can get. She'd actually have people ask her at work..."What are you Australian?" and she'd say "No,I'm English...from England."..I kid you not...many times they'd respond,"Same thing." LOL Wanna see a Brit freak out...? Compare them with Aussies or the Welsh.
 
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Powemm

Guest
#5
I worked with a britt speaking gal , she got so much grief for her speech as well ..., I loved the way she talked..,
 

leelee

Senior Member
Sep 5, 2011
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#6
Wales is a part of Britain too! I think you mean "want to see an English person freak out?"

I have the same problem here where I live, I am from Shetland and speak with a Shetland Dialect but I currently live in Glasgow. If I am not speaking in dialect I speak very correctly which makes people think I am "posh".
 
J

Jullianna

Guest
#8
I have this language barrier with some men. I speak humanoid. They speak weirdo.
 
I

iTOREtheSKY

Guest
#9
Wales is a part of Britain too! I think you mean "want to see an English person freak out?"

I have the same problem here where I live, I am from Shetland and speak with a Shetland Dialect but I currently live in Glasgow. If I am not speaking in dialect I speak very correctly which makes people think I am "posh".
Yes leelee that is what I meant..ty.;)
 
S

SeatBelt

Guest
#10
This is not a problem unique to "English" either.
I grew up in Texas, therefore most of my Spanish is Chicano Spanish, which has different meanings & pronunciations and is a more than just a Spanish-ized version of Spanglish. Puerto Rican Spanish, Dominican Spanish, Cuban Spanish, Mexican Spanish, and Border Spanish... just to name a few... all differ from Castilian and each other.

I'm supposing that the point when it shifts from being a dialect to a separate language is when communication breaks down instead of simply becoming awkward.
 

rachelsedge

Senior Member
Oct 15, 2012
3,659
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#11
I remember overhearing my pastor saying she wished she had worn her thongs (she is an aussie). My face must have said a lot but she meant flip flops!
When I was in 10th grade, my band teacher told us not to wear thongs the next day because we were going to practice marching. She meant flip-flops, obviously, but needless to say there was some giggles in the class. :rolleyes:

If God asked me for anything that I wanted, like he did with Solomon, out of all the things I feel I could say that are tempting, I would say that I would want the ability to be able to speak, understand, and read/write every language ever. I could go anywhere and talk to anyone. It'd be amazing. :)
 
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SeatBelt

Guest
#12
When I was in 10th grade, my band teacher told us not to wear thongs the next day because we were going to practice marching. She meant flip-flops, obviously, but needless to say there was some giggles in the class. :rolleyes:

If God asked me for anything that I wanted, like he did with Solomon, out of all the things I feel I could say that are tempting, I would say that I would want the ability to be able to speak, understand, and read/write every language ever. I could go anywhere and talk to anyone. It'd be amazing. :)
It seems that would come with the burden of spreading the gospel to the tiniest corners of the earth...
oh wait, we've already got that burden, don't we. Hmm. Meaningless post, my bad.
 

leelee

Senior Member
Sep 5, 2011
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#13
It is a wonderful thing, I remember being in a mall in NJ while I was visiting my auntie and uncle and I was in the bathroom with my mam, I shouted something to her and this girl noticed my accent...
"Are you from England?"
"No I am from Shetland"
"Shetland? Where is that?"
"Scotland."
"Oh wow! I love you accent, I sure wish I had one."

This all came from the broadest NJ accent I have ever heard! It was great.
 
M

MissCris

Guest
#14
I'm from Colorado, where people have no accent. I haven't got one, unless I'm really on a roll with talking...I lived in Minnesota for a while when I was really little, learning to talk, so occasionally my O's sound kinda funky.

There's a pretty big language barrier between men and women...
Man- "Hey, that's a nice color on you."
Woman- "Are you calling me fat?!"

 

leelee

Senior Member
Sep 5, 2011
1,258
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#15
Yeh the man woman one is bad. I am not certain it will ever be resolved.
 
H

Hellooo

Guest
#16
Everyone has an accent.
 
R

Robbinette

Guest
#17
The only thing I can think of as far as a language barrier goes is whenever I'm trying to pay a bill or have questions over the phone and I get someone that can barely speak English. Their accent is usually so thick that we cannot communicate with each other well I can usually its "What?, Huh? Can I talk to someone else please?". How can you help me pay my bill if you do not speak my language homie? :cool:
 
M

MissCris

Guest
#18
Everyone has an accent.
I know! Coloradans always say they don't though (I was making fun of us) and then people from other parts of the country that we say that to are just like..."Um, yes. Yes you do."
 

rachelsedge

Senior Member
Oct 15, 2012
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#19
I know! Coloradans always say they don't though (I was making fun of us) and then people from other parts of the country that we say that to are just like..."Um, yes. Yes you do."
That's funny, because I grew up in southeast Missouri and live in northern Illinois now and I've had people here tell me I have an accent. No, I don't have an accent! They are the ones with the accent! I'm starting to pick up the northern accent, and I strongly dislike it. I want to keep MY accent, so I have to consciously think of what I am saying and how I am saying it.

Also, I have only been to Colorado once, to Denver, but you do have a slight accent. :D
 
I

iTOREtheSKY

Guest
#20
The only accents I have a real problem understanding are peeps from the deep south...but not all parts of the deep south,I dunno...I think I have deep seeded issues or something.lol