What form of English are Euro-Students taught?

Started by Ushgarak5 pages
Originally posted by §P0oONY
Geordie?! Geordie is one of the softest accents on the British Isles.

Err... very surprised to hear you say that. Famously hard to understand, often mocked (in Alan partridge, for example).

Originally posted by Ushgarak
Err... very surprised to hear you say that. Famously hard to understand, often mocked (in Alan partridge, for example).
I have lived near Newcastle nearly all of my life, it's may be hard to understand if you're not used to it, but it's not harsh. Compared to the Manc, Scousse or even a lot fo the London accents it's as soft as a baby's bottom.

Well, regardless, the point remains that it is famous for being hard to understand and in my experience foreign language learners loathe it.

Though I'll add Scouse to the list, thanks.

Fair crack, having lived in Northumberland we don't really see a negative view of the accent but if others do that's fine... I don't have it anyway. Thick Scottish accents are horrific on the whole, the broad Aberdeenshire accent I've been around for nearly 2 years now and I still can't understand a word of it.

Plenty of Scots accents have a lot of 'currency' though, globally. Sean Connery is the most famous example, Ewan McGregor a more recent one (though Trainspotting showed he could do a full-on one if he wanted). It's often viewed as an Edinburgh vs. Glasgow thing, though I am sure it is more complex.

It's true... The Scottish are a walking tourist attraction.

Originally posted by §P0oONY
Ah... Die Hard... How I love thee so.

'Tis the ultimate Xmas movie. ✅

I find the Geordie accent hard to understand and I´m English so it must be a nightmare for foreign students, mainly because they use very few actual understandable words, or similar pronunciation to the actual word someone would learn as a student.

I had to work with some Geordie bloke years ago, couldn´t understand much but one fraze which I´ll never forget was when he asked me to "pass the hammer over". Im not going to attempt to write it here but I found a link for it.

LINK

Theres other Geordie sound bite HERE If anyones interested.

Georgie accented english is right up there with Klingon. 😛

I can maybe see how some may find it hard to understand... But it still sounds soft and welcoming on the whole to me.

I think the initial question was about accents you like or dislike. So Spooony seems to like said accent, even if it is hard to understand.

Yes, but he joined the convo at the point where we were describing ones that are hard for foreigners to understand, and that was the context of the discussion.

Hmm, yeah, well, maybe he did mean to say that the accent is easy, not sure, reading over it again.

I'd just like to bring it back to which ones do you like or dislike 😛

Cause "hard" seems relative. I am sure if German's were taught Geordie accents we'd find them easy to understand, while other English accents hard, but since, I guess, most countries teach a sort of Northern American or a Queen's English accent, the ones that differ from that become hard to understand.

You in England now Bardock? Whereabouts? I'm curious.

I'm in Surrey...Walton-on Thames to be exact.

Though not for much longer, Sarah and I will move to Germany for a while...though, if the Euro continues to do that well against the pound I might just buy England 😐

Surrey, eww....

Yeah, laugh it up euro boy, when the empire returns Germany is 1st on the list.

Originally posted by §P0oONY
Surrey, eww....

Yeah, laugh it up euro boy, when the empire returns Germany is 1st on the list.

That would be not the smartest move...you'd like to take countries you can beat first ✅

I'm German, I'm speaking from experience.

Experience...? Why...? How old were you in the 1940s...? 😛

Re: What form of English are Euro-Students taught?

Originally posted by Grand-Moff-Gav
In schools across countries like France, Germany and Belgium etc. What version of English are students taught? British English or American "we can't spell properly" English?

I assume nations will have national curriculum and thus the form of spelling used will be taught uniformly across the country but I guess different educational authorities may use different spellings...what's your experience of this if any?

British English? You mean blah blah blah spot of dick and so I tell the swamp donkey to sock it before I give her a trunky in the tradesman's entrance and have her lick me yarbles!

We have world domination classes starting in pre-school!!!