How old is too old to be still living with your parents

Mutsumi said:
There are plenty of GCSE/A-level/Degree courses in English. How do they determine what is right and wrong then? Use Americanisms like 'mom' there and you'll get penalised.
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I suppose they take their guidelines from one or more of many sources, but as indicated here, just because they say something is wrong doesn't necessarily make it wrong.
Teachers and textbook writers often invent rules which their students and readers perpetuate.
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Of course there many aspects of the language that are universally agreed upon, but by the same token there are many that are disputed.
 
Mutsumi said:
There are plenty of GCSE/A-level/Degree courses in English. How do they determine what is right and wrong then? Use Americanisms like 'mom' there and you'll get penalised.
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Is this based on any sort of fact? From what I gather, Americanisms can be accepted.
 
Jaymii said:
Mutsumi said:
There are plenty of GCSE/A-level/Degree courses in English. How do they determine what is right and wrong then? Use Americanisms like 'mom' there and you'll get penalised.
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Is this based on any sort of fact? From what I gather, Americanisms can be accepted.
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Source?

When I was at school, Americanisms were not accepted. Standards have seriously fallen if they are starting to accept use of the US's bastardised version of our language.
 
American English is accepted by almost all exam boards, at all levels, as long as you adhere to it and don't mix in "English" English. This used to piss one of my A-Level English teachers off no end. :lol:
 
Jaymii said:
University people just said that stuff is accepted? People do like, study abroad and stuff... it caters to that.
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If I were in the US, like it or not, I would adhere to their simplified version of English. Likewise in the UK only proper English should be used. "When in Rome..."
 
ilmaestro said:
Ah, so I take it you only speak Italian when you holiday there? ;)
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I have never been on holiday there, but were I to, it would be up to me to learn a little to get by. Should their tourism industry in any way cater for English speakers such as myself by having some things in English, I'll benefit, but you should never expect a place you are visiting to make effort to fit your own needs. As a guest in their country, it is your own responsibility to come prepared.

First phrase to learn would be "I apologise for my poor Italian, but..." which could precede any other phrase, to cover the fact that my inexperience would lead to inevitable errors on my part.
 
Jaymii said:
I say hello in their native tongue before I slowly start increasing my voice until they can understand me.
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Ricky gervais quote perhaps? i'm pretty sure i've heard him say something akin to this before :p
 
Mutsumi said:
ilmaestro said:
Ah, so I take it you only speak Italian when you holiday there? ;)
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I have never been on holiday there, but were I to, it would be up to me to learn a little to get by. Should their tourism industry in any way cater for English speakers such as myself by having some things in English, I'll benefit, but you should never expect a place you are visiting to make effort to fit your own needs. As a guest in their country, it is your own responsibility to come prepared.

First phrase to learn would be "I apologise for my poor Italian, but..." which could precede any other phrase, to cover the fact that my inexperience would lead to inevitable errors on my part.
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So sometimes not using the exact version of a language native to that country is OK, but sometimes it isn't?
 
ilmaestro said:
Mutsumi said:
ilmaestro said:
Ah, so I take it you only speak Italian when you holiday there? ;)
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I have never been on holiday there, but were I to, it would be up to me to learn a little to get by. Should their tourism industry in any way cater for English speakers such as myself by having some things in English, I'll benefit, but you should never expect a place you are visiting to make effort to fit your own needs. As a guest in their country, it is your own responsibility to come prepared.

First phrase to learn would be "I apologise for my poor Italian, but..." which could precede any other phrase, to cover the fact that my inexperience would lead to inevitable errors on my part.
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So sometimes not using the exact version of a language native to that country is OK, but sometimes it isn't?
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It is OK when tourists make some mistakes, so long as they are at least making an effort to try and get things right. If you are native, you ought to know better, given the years of education you would have received on the subject, not to mention the fact that the years of computer use I am sure you all have should have fine-tuned your spelling through the use of spell checkers. Type 'mom' and you get the red wavy line of 'you done goofed'. Acknowledge, correct, learn. Try not to make the same mistake again. If you do, then take note of it again and eventually you'll remember now not to make that mistake.
 
Mutsumi said:
If you are native, you ought to know better, given the years of education you would have received on the subject, not to mention the fact that the years of computer use I am sure you all have should have fine-tuned your spelling through the use of spell checkers. Type 'mom' and you get the red wavy line of 'you done goofed'. Acknowledge, correct, learn. Try not to make the same mistake again. If you do, then take note of it again and eventually you'll remember now not to make that mistake.
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You have to bear in mind of course that not everybody has the same capacity for learning. And by behaving in that way we make those people feel like idiots when really, it's often the language (with it's silent letters and pointless grammar) that is idiotic. If we can understand what someone has written, it's of little consequence how words are spelt or if punctuation is being used correctly. Take txtspk. It's easily understood as it is phonetic, and it wouldn't surprise me if the English language were to naturally develop into something very similar. If of course, it was allowed by these "authorities" you speak of to do so.

At the end of the day, we don't speak the Brythonic languages any more. We don't write like Chaucer did when he wrote The Canterbury Tales. I do think it's somewhat arrogant to suggest (as all English teachers seem to) that Modern English as currently taught in British schools is the definitive version of the language, never to be superseded. Who has the right to stop it here and not allow it to develop any further? To do so is a form of conservatism, something I dislike in all it's forms as it is basically anti-progress.

Well, that's my twopenn’orth had. ayase out.
 
Mutsumi said:
If you are native etc
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In direct contradiction of your previous statement:

If I were in the US, like it or not, I would adhere to their simplified version of English
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Implying you also expect them to do the same over here.

I also don't need spell check software, so I disable it where possible (I'm glad it helps you learn, though). When I have no choice, I set it to US English.
 
"How old is too old to be still living with your parents?"
When you have your own family, IMHO. But then again, back where I'm from, people only leave their parents houses when they get married, more often than not, even after getting married they still live with their parents. In any case, moving just for the sake of moving is silly. My cousins lived with their parents later than their 40's, they have always been very individualists / career oriented - they only moved away as they got married and one of them only got married, after getting his long term gf pregnant. I think they are really rich by now, considering the amount they saved for doing that. They never even got a mortgage to buy their own houses.
As for me, I've moved out when I was 19 as I got a job in a diff state, then moved back to the same city and lived with my parents for a while, until I couldn't take them anymore and moved out again. I did met some people in here that think it's a bad thing to still live with your parents, but then again, I believe it only makes sense from a financial point of view.
 
ilmaestro said:
Mutsumi said:
If you are native etc
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In direct contradiction of your previous statement:

If I were in the US, like it or not, I would adhere to their simplified version of English
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Implying you also expect them to do the same over here.
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Not really a contradiction, more a botched wording on my part. I should have said "If you are native or if English is your first/main language". Now I'm not going to with all the ifs and buts of where people are fluent in English but it is their second or third language, etc. I know you are smart enough to know the point I am making, without any further clarification needed. :)

ilmaestro said:
I also don't need spell check software, so I disable it where possible (I'm glad it helps you learn, though). When I have no choice, I set it to US English.
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I just never bother disabling it. Helps me should I make a typo or a mistake (yes, even I can make a spelling error occasionally), letting me learn of my error so that I may avoid making the same one in future.

Why would you set it to US English? Have you a fondness for the red wavy line appearing under certain correct spellings, while letting certain mistakes go unanswered?

Or are you trolling me? You scamp. :p
 
Muts, genuine question now; Does it annoy you when people living here, who aren't 'native', but can speak perfect English, choose not to do when in conversation with each other?

E.g. Two Chinese guys, who can speak perfect English and live in England, speaking Cantonese to each other in the middle of London?

Or two Italians, who can speak perfect English and live in England, speaking Italian in the middle of London?

And as a variation, for example, someone of Japanese descent who has been born and raised in the UK, and thus speaks perfect English, still choosing to speak Japanese while around other Japanese peers who also speak perfect English in London?

Obviously, these are but examples. Feel free to pick any race/language to replace those with.
 
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