Why some speak well and others not?

Bruno   Fri Aug 31, 2007 9:16 am GMT
Hello.

I was having a muse another day and I was thinking how it is so that some countries speak English language very well and others seems not able to do so very well, almost to such point that people cannot understand. But is this deliberate I am wondering to myself?

I think Scandanavian countries are very, very good at speaking the English language (I don't know about writing but I'm also imagining that this must surely be very good also) but the French seem at the other end of the weighing. Why do they seem not to pronounce simple words in the right way? I think this is a hilarity in a sense because if you speak French to them in a wrong way they take as an insult to themselves. Maybe this is just what I have seen and is not a trend to be set. Germans I see sometime in between the French and Scandanavians, also adding Spanish to the cart.

Will I be the only one to notice this naughtiness? I doubt it very much.
Guest   Fri Aug 31, 2007 9:38 am GMT
idiot thread
Bruno   Fri Aug 31, 2007 9:39 am GMT
Please don't be calling me idiot
Lukaas   Fri Aug 31, 2007 9:55 am GMT
Thank you Bruno for this compliment. I would certainly agree with your assertion that the Scandinavians are more skilled in the English language than most other countries. Indeed, it seems that we are the only people who come close to the native speakers. In fact, I might even go so far as to say that many of us speak English better than the British whose regional dialects and thick argot can be very difficult to understand. Of course I wouldn't profess to being a master of the English language which can only ever be truly mastered by the British and perhaps, on occasion, by particularly gifted Americans and Austrailians.
Skippy   Fri Aug 31, 2007 2:28 pm GMT
Scandinavians, Icelanders, the Dutch... Most people that speak a smaller Germanic language are extremely good at speaking English (while Germans do speak English fairly well, there are more people who study German or try to learn it, so the Germans don't have to worry as much as the other nations about nobody being able to speak their language).

My experience with the French is that they speak English (in general, of course) a little better than the Germans... Just so they can be snooty and whatnot lol
Guest   Fri Aug 31, 2007 2:36 pm GMT
I think the Dutch and Scandinavians only speak it so well because they have a lot of English language programmes with subtitles, whereas the Germans tend to dub into German. In particular if you are exposed to English-speaking TV as a child, you are likely to become very good at the language.

I don't know about the Icelandics, maybe they are just language geniuses...
Liz   Fri Aug 31, 2007 2:52 pm GMT
<<Of course I wouldn't profess to being a master of the English language which can only ever be truly mastered by the British and perhaps, on occasion, by particularly gifted Americans and Austrailians.>>

Lukaas, with respect, it's rubbish. You seem to be implying that Americans and Austrialians are not native speakers of the English language or that British people inherently speak "better" English than Americans or Australians, which cannot be further from the truth, of course.
Travus   Fri Aug 31, 2007 3:35 pm GMT
>>Lukaas, with respect, it's rubbish. You seem to be implying that Americans and Austrialians are not native speakers of the English language or that British people inherently speak "better" English than Americans or Australians, which cannot be further from the truth, of course.<<

I was going to say the same myself.
Travis   Fri Aug 31, 2007 3:36 pm GMT
That should have been "Travis" not "Travus" above.
Victoria Andersson   Fri Aug 31, 2007 3:59 pm GMT
I agree with Lukaas.

When I listen to SOME Americans talk they sound like they have a potato in their mouths.
Guest   Fri Aug 31, 2007 4:06 pm GMT
SOME British people also sound like they have something in their mouths. In fact, a lot of them do.
Thordaak   Fri Aug 31, 2007 4:11 pm GMT
Yes they sound like they have plums in their mouths which must be considered to be far superior to any lowly potato.

Thord
Guest   Fri Aug 31, 2007 4:22 pm GMT
Thank you Bruno for this compliment. I would certainly agree with your assertion that the Scandinavians are more skilled in the English language than most other countries.

I don't understand what is the compliment
Lukaas   Fri Aug 31, 2007 4:24 pm GMT
Couldn't you guess by simply looking at my name?
Guest   Fri Aug 31, 2007 10:23 pm GMT
>>Of course I wouldn't profess to being a master of the English language which can only ever be truly mastered by the British and perhaps, on occasion, by particularly gifted Americans and Austrailians<<

I think you must be confusing 'British' with 'English' here. Only the English can ever truly master English, their own language. The Welsh, Scots and Irish have their own languages and as such are practically non-native speakers. As such their level of English is below that of even the Americans and the Australians.