What's wrong with Kiwi accent and British English?!

What’s wrong with Taiwanese people? :fume: (I hate to say that I’m one of them.)

My kiwi accent is as good as any accent in the world!!! :raspberry:

And all of you who are ignorant of the word usage in British English because you are from the US or Canada, don’t just assume that I don’t know how to speak English because I look Chinese! :taz: :taz: :taz:

Let me teach you a lesson.

In British English, which is spoken in the UK, Australia and New Zealand, we say at the weekend instead of on the weekend. When I say this, don’t just turn to me and correct me and say, “At the weekend is just wrong.”

When I tell ya that the phone is engaged, don’t turn to me and tell me, “We say the phone is busy.” We say that, too! I just like to use the word engaged, OKAY??? :fume:

I would suggest you try calmly explaining to them that there are differences, and that must be good students to have caught the difference.

Thank you very much. :slight_smile:

The difference is that British English is right. No question.

And don’t dispair, the Taiwanese are coming round to it slowly.

Funny. I thought our NZ English was much the same as British English. But we spell the word ‘despair’. :wink:

It is? OK, ‘dispair’ from now on. :wink:

I’m usually good at spelling except when I post in the Teachng english forum.

By british, I mean the general English format used by NZ, AUS, UK, etc. Not US English.

Try not to read into things, BuLiEn. It can cause stress.

In many ways we ask the same question on a regular basis.

So is my kiwi accent. Wait a minute, I don’t have one anymore. But, it never caused me any trouble.

Hi, I am from New Zealand. I was gonna get all huffy about this, but then, you’re not talking to me. :slight_smile:

Are you sure you want to sound so confrontational?

I say both.

I know how you feel, but most people, especially on Forumosa, don’t have this problem.

Are you sure you are taking this to the right audience?

And in answer to your question. What’s wrong with the Kiwi accent and British English?

Nothing, nothing at all.

I suppose “Loretta” will be along in a minute. Just for him / her / it…

color
humor
aluminum
:laughing:

I hope you’re not as mad as you sound.

Most people will respect the Kiwi or British (etc.) usage, if they’re aware of it. Usually they’re just trying to be helpful and don’t even know of such a usage, so no need to fume. Just smile and politely let them know that that’s Kiwi, British, etc. usage, which is the standard you’ve learned and prefer. Personally, I think accents and regionalisms can be very charming and endearing!

are you talking about the bird or the fruit?

wait a minute!

you guys are kiwis??

Sorry, I have to leave now…
(how could I have been so wrong?)

That Kiwi accent is just so darn sexy. Or so I’ve been told.

Oh, and we Kiwi folk don’t use the Taz emoticon - that’s too Australian :unamused:

like someone else said, I’m all in favour of regional differences in pronunciation, spelling etc…spice of life and all that…

BUT

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, there is NO excuse for “aluminum” it is just plain wrong… why single out one element seemingly at random and alter it’s spelling… it’s still Uranium, Plutonium, Chromium etc. etc. so why the hell do yanks find it necessary mess with Aluminium?.. :loco:

In protest I suggest that the rest of the English speaking world from now refer to the US as the United States of Americum… :raspberry:

I believe having a 5th syllable was just too much of a brain overload, so they knocked it back to 4.

Youse guys shaddup and fix me a drink… :smiley:

I know you said etc. but I will just mention SA so they are not left out.

Also Canadians, although they pretend to speak American with their rhotic pronunciation and calling their mobiles cell phones, they tend to use ‘the general English format’ for their grammar.

That’s the joke at the end of the day. Parents/schools make a big fuss about American English but don’t realise that most people aren’t even using it.

To Woodchild
I urge you at every opportunity to challenge these people. It’s always amusing to show them how ignorant they are, especially when they are purporting themselves to be qualified English teachers. It’s one of my hobbies.

[quote=“Woodchild”]What’s wrong with Taiwanese people? :fume: (I hate to say that I’m one of them.)

My kiwi accent is as good as any accent in the world!!! :raspberry:

And all of you who are ignorant of the word usage in British English because you are from the US or Canada, don’t just assume that I don’t know how to speak English because I look Chinese! :taz: :taz: :taz:

Let me teach you a lesson.

[/quote]

Ummm… where did this come from?

Who exactly had a go at the Taiwanse? or your English?

Well the Kiwi accent… You shouldn’t have told us. We were taking you seriously there for a while…

:smiley: :smiley: :smiley: :smiley: :smiley: :smiley: :smiley: :smiley: :smiley: :smiley: :smiley: :smiley: :smiley: :smiley: :smiley: :smiley: :smiley: :smiley: :smiley:

I know you said etc. but I will just mention SA so they are not left out.

Also Canadians, although they pretend to speak American with their rhotic pronunciation and calling their mobiles cell phones, they tend to use ‘the general English format’ for their grammar.

That’s the joke at the end of the day. Parents/schools make a big fuss about American English but don’t realise that most people aren’t even using it.

.[/quote]

You forgot other countries like ireland, falkland islands, pitcairn islands etc. add what you want but you’ll never reach half of the US population. so it’s most people do speak that way.
US is also a bigger market n more influential in E Asia

so it’s no surprise

Food for thought…

If British English is more common, then why do you know so much about American English and use American English slang while most North Americans know very little about British English, let alone slang words?

If the majority of Taiwanese people who move abroad go to either Canada (esp. Vancouver) or the US (mainly San Francisco), then why do you think schools should emphasize the dialects of English which are not spoken in either of these countries?

If there are far more native American English speakers than British English speakers, how is it a more common dialect?

I would not debate that American English should be so prevalent in European language schools because of the fact that many of the people who are learning the language are more likely to interact with those from Ireland and the UK. I am confused why it’s such an issue for non-American English speakers teaching in a country where the majority of the people have the goal of traveling and expatriating to countries where American English is spoken.

I think the elitist attitude sucks. English may have originated in Great Britain, but it doesn’t mean that British English is more useful than other dialects.

cos the world is bombarded with Americana movies/TV/music/lifestyle perhaps?

Taiwanese live everywhere in the States. There are significant communities in New Jersey, New York, Chicago, Houston, Florida etc. In California Southen California is the preferred destination although there are a lot of Taiwanese in the San Jose area.

But there has been a significant change in the market recently-and that is the popularity of relatively inexpensive and short MA programs in the UK that are attracting significant numbers of students from Taiwan.

The market will decide.

You missed the fact that this was a rhetoric question.

If British English were more common than American English, then you’d hear more British slang, wouldn’t you?

Bombarded? Maybe, but that also makes American English more commonplace than British English.