Hi, everyone, I just want to share my view about the English language. I feel like there are two kinds of “sub-languages” in English. One is spoken , and one is written , yet - I know all languages have different styles in spoken English and written English. I just want to point out that in spoken English especially “North American English” -I think , that they have almost TOTALLY different sub-language I would say . Because spoken English has lots of slang and idioms that are being used in almost three sentences , and they are almost never seen in written English .So I feel like I have to study two languages in just one language.
I will provide my thesis with more supporting examples. Well, first of all , when I watch English movies , I don’t understand most conservations. For example, in the movie called “Hitch”, which is a romantic comedy , I just don’t understand almost nothing . Yes- I got the idea of general theme , but I am just frustrated that I cannot understand almost every conversation.And I know this is a typical of spoken English . That’s why I am learning the "spoken English " distinctively with written English.
When compared to my native language: Burmese, and another language that I am learning : Chinese , I don’t see MUCH difference between spoken and written language contrary to the freaking difference in English . When I watch Chinese movie , I can understand better than when I watch English movie , and yet- the time and energy that I dedicate to English learning is so much greater than the time and energy I dedicate to Mandarin Chinese learning.
Okay , that’s it - just want to share my distinctive thought about English with other languages I know. Thanks for reading
Seriously? Not much difference between written and spoken Burmese? That goes against everything I’ve learned about Burmese.
“Diglossia occurs to a large extent in Burmese and is fairly noticeable in writing and speech. The written/literary form of Burmese has undergone only a few changes and tends not to accommodate the spoken/colloquial phonology of standard Burmese today.”
“In addition, different particles (to modify nouns and verbs) are used in the literary form from those used in the spoken form. Due to innate pronunciation rules, literate Burmese speakers are able to intuitively interpret ancient Burmese despite the potentially ancient nature of the inscriptions. For example, the postposition after nouns is (hnai. [n̥aiʔ] in formal Burmese, and (hma [m̥à]) in colloquial Burmese.”
“A newer system of orthography for Burmese (one based on phonology) has been proposed to accommodate such differences, but an obstacle in reforming Burmese orthography lies in the existence of conservative Burmese dialects that retain older pronunciations more similar to formal Burmese, which primarily come from coastal areas like Rakhine State. Moreover, some Burmese linguists such as Minn Latt, a Czech academic, have proposed shifting away from formal Burmese, as seen in television broadcasts, which use the colloquial form. However, formal Burmese remains well-established in Burmese society.”
That’s just some of what Wikipedia has to say on the issue, but as someone with quite a number of books on the language and a deep interest in learning it, I think that you’re wrong here.
Indeed, every language has diglossia; this is normal.
It also depends what kind of movies you are watching… You specifically identified “Hitch” as the movie you had trouble understanding… I wouldn’t use that as a good example. If you don’t understand what I mean, try watching “Friday”, or maybe some of the Tyler Perry movies? Every culture and area within America, has it’s own slang, accent, etc.
I was sat on the bus a few years ago and there were 2 men conversing quite loudly. For most of the journey i assumed they were foreign. (i wasn’t paying attention really). It was only after about 15 minutes that i started picking up a few words, and to my surprise they were native English speakers… yet were obviously from the caribbean/West Indies region and thus had heavily accented English.
Listening to German now, i can actually understand more than i could with those 2 men. Quite odd really.
I experience that. With some people, it takes me a while before I actually tune in to what they’re saying, and realise they’re actually speaking English! It’s odd, but I suppose it just comes from lack of exposure to different dialects.
PhilipFan, no unfortunately I’m not. I once met some very nice Burmese people in Australia and became interested in the language at that time. Hopefully, I’ll get the chance to learn it in the future. I have enough courses for learning Burmese but not enough books, movies and other resources like that.
