English to be the offical US Language...

clarsct

Illuminator
C
Joined
Mar 14, 2005
Messages
4,867
...but why not teach people here in the USA to USE the language they speak?

Go talk to someone who teaches English at a Uni or college about the writing skills of the freshmen. Have some tea ready to help calm their nerves when they get done shuddering, perhaps with a healthy splash of brandy.


Classes for immigrants? Sure. But why not have some type of standard for those of us here at home, as well? I have recieved some emails that I could barely decipher, and from supposedly educated people.

Not that I am perfect in grammar and spelling, but I think I do average, at the very least!

What do you think? Have I slipped my clutches?
 
Correct me if I'm wrong, but... isn't that what English classes in school are for now?
 
Zep said:
Correct me if I'm wrong, but... isn't that what English classes in school are for now?
Click to expand...

Supposedly, however it appears that many are graduating without even the rudiments of the language. For instance, the difference between a noun and a verb, and why sentences should have at least one of each.
 
If I wasn't off to graduation in just a few minutes, I'd explain part of the reason for this, because there is a disconnect in the classroom, but it will have to wait until this evening.

Wheee! ;)
 
I must admit, that i don't know what a noun or a verb is. I've tried, a lot.

For 3 years i went, of my own valititon, to extra classes to learn it, i never did.
No, i didn't block myself by saying "i can't learn this", i really thought i could.

After the third year though, i've blocked myself, and i must admit, i no longer care.
 
RANT!
I am teaching students at a university (engineers, biologists and physicists). It is absolutely the same.
But.... And this really makes one wonder.... In my case the problem is German. I get the impression that schools do not teach German anymore. So, maybe we see a wider trend. I encountered the same problems when I lived in the UK and in France. It seems that (at least in the developed countries) written language becomes extinct. I thought that computers and ready available light entertainment would have some impact, but in the meantime it gets too much.
 
clarsct said:
...but why not teach people here in the USA to USE the language they speak?

Go talk to someone who teaches English at a Uni or college about the writing skills of the freshmen. Have some tea ready to help calm their nerves when they get done shuddering, perhaps with a healthy splash of brandy.
Click to expand...
We have the same problem here in the UK. A frend of mine went to uni as a mature student (he's about 50) a couple of years ago. In the tutorial after they handed in their first piece of written work, the tutor said something along the lines of "well, the big problem here is that [indicating my friend] apart from you, none of you has the faintest idea how to write English. It's not your fault, it's just that nobody has taught you to do it."

When I was at school no formal grammar was taught in English lessons (not quite true, actually: the class I was in was given one or two one hour lessons covering English grammar when we were about 15. We were the top class in the year and it was thought that we were the only class in our year capable of handling it. This would have been somewhere around 1978/9).

I suspect this also leads to problems in teaching foreign languages: because pupils don't know how English works, teachers of other languages have to start from scratch and explain basic grammar before they can start actually teaching the language.
 
It doesn't matter whether they teach proper English or not. The only way people will learn it and retain it is by reading a lot. (Which is also the best way to learn to spell correctly.)
 
clarsct said:
Supposedly, however it appears that many are graduating without even the rudiments of the language. For instance, the difference between a noun and a verb, and why sentences should have at least one of each.
Click to expand...
You is a rascist

Edited for gramer
 
TragicMonkey said:
It doesn't matter whether they teach proper English or not. The only way people will learn it and retain it is by reading a lot. (Which is also the best way to learn to spell correctly.)
Click to expand...

Pah it that was the case I'd be the bestest speeler in the world!
 
Mojo said:
I suspect this also leads to problems in teaching foreign languages: because pupils don't know how English works, teachers of other languages have to start from scratch and explain basic grammar before they can start actually teaching the language.
Click to expand...
Actually, this makes sense, in a way; native English speakers aren't going to listen to you try to teach them English grammar, since they figure they already know English. If you teach it in a foreign language class, it's going to seem much more useful. Native languages are learned without conscious awareness of the rules, while foreign languages can be difficult to learn without explicitly learning the rules.

slingblade said:
If I wasn't off to graduation in just a few minutes, I'd explain part of the reason for this, because there is a disconnect in the classroom, but it will have to wait until this evening.
Click to expand...
If you weren’t off to graduation…
:p
I’m also not comfortable with “disconnect” used as a noun.

ingoa said:
I thought that computers and ready available light entertainment would have some impact, but in the meantime it gets too much.
Click to expand...
Shouldn’t that be “readily available”?
 
Mojo said:
When I was at school no formal grammar was taught in English lessons (not quite true, actually: the class I was in was given one or two one hour lessons covering English grammar when we were about 15.
Click to expand...

Likewise, except in my case the last school lesson in grammar I had was when I was 11. English classes at school were a joke, they spent all their time trying to get you to find 'hidden meanings and depth' in books and poems that clearly were not meant to have any of either!

I learnt nearly all my grammar and spelling from reading trashy fantasy novels. I still don't fully understand what semi-colons are for! :o
 
Darat said:
Pah it that was the case I'd be the bestest speeler in the world!
Click to expand...

I suppose it depends on what books you read, and how good the authors and editors are. I know you enjoy "Pickles the Penguin and the Great Big Picnic", but maybe it's time for a big boy book? One with fewer pictures, and no popups?



Pickles only had such fun at that picnic because he was high on meth, anyway.
 
Hmmmmmmmmmm.

I learned recently that my High School just dropped the requirement to diagram sentences.

Tobias: A noun is the OBJECT of a sentence.

A verb is what that object is DOING.

A dog walks.

'dog' is the object. So what is the object doing? Walking. That is the verb.

TragicMonkey: I read quite a bit. I really need new bookshelves, because my books keep overflowing. Maybe this is the source of my frustration. Not everyone reads quite that much, and therefore, doesn't have the grasp on the language they are using.

As far as people learning English that already 'know' it:
Nearly everyone can add two and two and get an answer less than five, as well. Does that mean we can safely neglect math? I think not.
 
.
Tobias: A noun is the OBJECT of a sentence.

A verb is what that object is DOING.

A dog walks.
Click to expand...

Nitpick time, yay!

The dog in this case is actually the subject. If the sentence was "The man walked to dog," the dog would be the object.
 
:rolleyes:

Well, yes, actually. I was speaking of a noun as an object i.e. a physical object; a thing.

Properly speaking, the dog was the subject of the sentence, but an object for the purposes of my exposition.

Fair enough?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top Bottom