I’d like to distinguish between ESL and EFL. For ESL I heard “YINGweN Di Er yuyaN” but I’m not sure that’s right or even close. Sounds like somthing they might say if they wanted to talk about the relative importance or status of the language. For EFL I heard something with “WaiguO” in it and quit listening. An SL and an FL would both likely be foriegn, though ESL doesn’t indicate that either so…
I’ll just shut up.
You guys probably know waht the standard terminology is.
As always, thanks.
yi-effu-ello 
“YingweN Di Er yuyaN” sounds like Englese - contrived and grammatically suspect.
EFL is 以英語為外語 (yi YINGyu weI Waiyu). The “yi” at the beginning is optional depending on grammar.
Tha sad part is that that is perhaps as close as we will get.
Let me take a shot…
Ruguo ni xue yi ge yuyuan gen ni de yuyuan you guanxi de, you yi dian xiangtong de lishi, zhe4 shi4 yi1 ge SL. Zhe yangze ho!
Wo gei ni lizi, ni xue guandonghua, zhe4 shi4 nin3de SL, keshi ni xue fawen, zhe shi yi ge FL, yinwei zhongwen gen fawen zhen bu yiyong.
Zhe yangze ho!
Ruguo wo xue Fawen, wo hui faxian hao duo zi wanquan yiyang. Yingwen gen Fawen you yidian xiangtong de lishi. Suoyi wo xue fawen zhe4 shi4 wo3 de SL. Zhe yangze ho!
Zhongwen shi4 wo de FL. Yingwen shi nin de FL. Zhe yangze, ho!
Xue SL xue FL yidian bu yiyong. Yinwei xue FL gen SL bi jiao kunnan. Suoyi xue FL de shihou, zhuanzhu zai zui pupian de danzi, de biaodafa hen zhongyao. Zhe yangze ho!
That took four minutes and is pretty much what I want to be able to say. If there some more precise terminology that would be terrific. I could use it and nobody would know what I was talking about. Then, later, when they looked it up or asked their professor from the prestigious university they would discover that the terminology actually was correct and this would cause them to lose face. Months later I would be punished for having caused them to lose face but this would occur long after I have forgotten the incident and so the feeling would be merely hellish, with no apparent rhyme nor reason, and this is how I will be rewarded for my efforts to learn Chinese, zhe yangze ho! Etc.
Looking at the whole thing again it seems like what I really need is SL and FL.
FL = Waiyu
SL = ?
I was going to post the same thing but thought I should be good! This is too naughty.
Looking at the whole thing again it seems like what I really need is SL and FL.
FL = Waiyu
SL = ?[/quote]
Are you sure you didn’t make a mistake by choosing bob as a user name? Seems like you prefer verbosity. 
You seem to distinguish EFL and ESL with ESL having the nuance of English being somewhat related to the student’s mother tongue. I’ve always thought these two terms are pretty much interchangeable.
But to answer your question, SL=Di Er yuyaN, so ESL would be YINGyu weI Di Er yuyaN.
But naughty is nice.
Only to people who aren’t picky about such things. Actually FL and SL are really quite different. SLs are related languages, Fls are unrelated languages. FL has to be presented more carefully, and a lower set of expectancies would apply, all things being equal. It’s just alot harder to study a FL than an SL.
I’m surprised you didn’t know this stuff. You are usually up on all the lingo.
Anyway, could I say YINGweN Bu Shi nin de* Di eR yuyaN, Shi nin de* WaiyaN. ni XUYao xuE WaiyaN de FANGfa.
(English isn’t your second language, it’s a foriegn language. You need a foriegn language study system.)
Only to people who aren’t picky about such things. Actually FL and SL are really quite different. SLs are related languages, Fls are unrelated languages. FL has to be presented more carefully, and a lower set of expectancies would apply, all things being equal. It’s just alot harder to study a FL than an SL.
I’m surprised you didn’t know this stuff. You are usually up on all the lingo.[/quote]
esl-tutor.com/2007/05/whats- … d-efl.html
[i]
ESL stands for English as a Second Language. EFL stands for English as a Foreign Language. Both are about teaching English to speakers of other Languages, which is why the more recent TESOL acronym is used to encompass both ESL and EFL (or TESL and TEFL—the “T” stands for “teaching”).
The abbreviation “ESL” is used when the student learning English is in a primarily English-speaking country such as the U.S., the U.K. or Australia. “EFL” is used when the person learning English is in a primarily non-English-speaking county.
In addition to being more inclusive, “TESOL” is often thought to be more correct than ESL or TESL because the student learning English is often not learning English as a second language, but it may be their third, fourth or fifth, etc., language.[/i]
Heretics…
Lunatics.
Perhaps what I should be after is related and unrelated languages.
Anyway , the geniuses at TESOL could go to Beijing and study Chinese one day and French the other. That would be fun.
Presumably to pick up FBC ladies: Mademoiselle Xiǎojiě , voulez-vous ài wǒ ce soir? Je zhēn de t’aime.
or…
Mei guanxi le ba, wo tai tai host le grande paidui, you haoduo vino avec le seared duck liveer est le blacck truffle jus avec le crispy pancetta et mascarpone cream et la rasberry compotee, meige ren hao hen hao de kaixing, suoyi wo xiang zhe yang xiang un rodent avec wo pengyou kuai si le…
or…
Mei guanxi le ba, wo tai tai host le grande paidui, you haoduo vino avec le seared duck liveer est le blacck truffle jus avec le crispy pancetta et mascarpone cream et la rasberry compotee, meige ren hao hen hao de kaixing, suoyi wo xiang zhe yang ze yang zi hai xiang nei yang zi un rodent avec wo pengyou kuai si le…[/quote]
Sounds like bob has done this before!
or…
Mei guanxi le ba, wo tai tai host le grande paidui, you haoduo vino avec le seared duck liveer est le blacck truffle jus avec le crispy pancetta et mascarpone cream et la rasberry compotee, meige ren hao hen hao de kaixing, suoyi wo xiang zhe yang ze yang zi hai xiang nei yang zi un rodent avec wo pengyou kuai si le…[/quote]
Sounds like bob has done this before![/quote]
I think one thing’s for sure; bob’s Chinese is better than his French.
Oh, was that french? I just copied off the menu. I thought it was Italian! 
Well, it is Italian, except the part about duck, raspberry, crispy, etc. Perhaps you’re practising for IBC ladies?
I might be but I don’t know what an IBC lady is.
Italian Born Chinese, much like FBC ladies I mentioned earlier, but to the southeast.
That does not match my perception of reality, dear bob.