I feel really disturbed recently . I participated in one net forum and somebody from an English-speaking country made fun of my English ( and he knew that my mother tongue is NOT English ) by saying something like this in serious manner :

" Your grasp of English is very poor "

Really, I think this is very disturbing. Can he speak in my language ? ( Malay )
Definitely not ! At least I've been trying my best to master HIS language.

Has anybody ever experienced this before ? How can we encounter such humiliation ?

I have with my mom. Her mother tongue is Spanish and when people say anything in front of her questioning her English speaking skills which btw she speaks quite well...I tend to answer in turn how many languages do they know? I am very protective of my mom and if anyone were to poke fun at her English speaking abilities I am quick to her defense.

Can you provide a link to this post ?

I have never been told so about my English…although I know I do stupid mistakes, and if I could, I would have edited most of my posts, sometimes the whole sentence is confusing!

Also, I am in an English-speaking country, I met people from different countries here, many of them speak not-so-good English but I never heard anybody commenting on that…the people here are very polite, and if you apologized about your poor English, many would smile and answer “Don’t worry, your English is better than my Malay!” what a smart and thoughtful answer!

Yet, I read once long time ago, a mod here making fun of another member commenting on his English; that was Gross, especially when it comes from a mod!

After all, we are sharing meanings here and also trying to learn from each other!

Yeah give us the link to the post :rolleyes:
Which mod ?

--
I don't like when people do that, I know my English isn't that good, but I'd love to hear them talking French :hyper: ... that would be fun lol

if your english on an english speaking forum is sh!t, someone's bound to say something. stands to reason, especially when you can't grasp the language idioms that are norm in the language.
if you are offended to easily, stay in malay forums. in the meantime, do your best and learn or cut your losses and run :hyper:

btw....why would anybody outside of malaysia want to speak malay anyway?

same for my language. maltese is for the maltese only. i'm not gonna expect foreigners to speak it. but english on an english forum...i mean a basic age 11+ passmark english..i'd expect it from any educated adult. if they haven't got it, they shouldn't be too hurt. just go 'sorry, am still learning' and stop being too proud.

o dont think it happened here, he said in a net forum

English is more my first language than Arabic, so I've never heard that. People can be harsh about things like that sometimes. But like the other members said, it's not your first language so you wouldn't be expected to have mastered it the way a native speaker would.
I think your grasp of English is far from poor, though!

There's this girl in our class back in school, whenever someone made a mistake in pronunciation she would correct that person in a rude manner. It really was bad and we all hated it. All that just because her 1st language is English.

I hate it when people correct others in a rude way.. I know someone who does that very often but her intentions are good.. but the way she corrects you is just horrible :os

I don't make fun of them directly, but it is annoying when a student of English who is supposed to graduate in a few weeks pronounces the letter P as B. I mean come on! Haven't you learnt anything!

^^^ lool that happens with instructors as well !!!


i dont make fun of people's broken english, but i laugh at people who try hard to have an english accent and they just screw it,,,,,,,,,, damn if u dont have an accent, dont fake 1

^ Haha. That I understand what you're talking about.. seeing it alot!

yeah...like that guy from mary poppins.

yeah...like that guy from mary poppins.

I totally loved her & wished to have her as my nanny :love:
What's the freakin longest word again? superfergiliciousfragel?! :hyper: never grasped it xD

look at 'your' moddy thread spirit!

spirit: lol..it's ...
superkalafragelistikexpialodoshes..hahahha

i never made fun of someone's english. i just keep quiet. If someone has good english, i will always compliment them.

Those who are poor in english..it's not good to laugh at them since that does a lot more damage than you think. It discourages them and makes them ashamed.

Everyone on this thread has wonderful English...I don't see what the problem is. Tropikalboy's English is great. What's to make fun of?

There are some people whose grasp of English is a little less perfect, but I still don't see anything to make fun of.

I usually don't point out flaws or mistakes ... but sometimes one gets into a conversation where grasping the finer points of the language helps and it's hard to find an alternative to saying, "You're not catching the meaning of the phrase."

But, Tropikalboy, I would just suggest not taking it too seriously. You can be quite confident that your English is great, so why worry is somebody is impolite about it? People on the internet are sometimes rude and there's nothing to be done really except find a nicer circle of net friends! :)

Everybody makes mistakes in English. I even notice mistakes I have made. My wife is always pointing out referents without antecedents in my writing and stuff like that...but I don't let it worry me. Very few people are complete masters of English grammar and style.

Everyone on this thread has wonderful English...I don't see what the problem is. Tropikalboy's English is great. What's to make fun of?
....
Everybody makes mistakes in English. I even notice mistakes I have made. My wife is always pointing out referents without antecedents in my writing and stuff like that...but I don't let it worry me. Very few people are complete masters of English grammar and style.

Show off !

:D

This same bad habit goes to Arab who makes fun of people speaking broken Arabic...

I hate racial jokes and I dont like people circulating them on text messages ...many of these jokes are about how some people in some races speak broken Arabic.... that's heartless!

It should be corrected in a polite manner. If a foreigner speaks my language, even in the most broken version in front of me, I wuld definitely praise him for his effort to learn my language. It's very inhumane and demoralizing to say one's English is poor straightaway.

This same bad habit goes to Arab who makes fun of people speaking broken Arabic...

I hate racial jokes and I dont like people circulating them on text messages ...many of these jokes are about how some people in some races speak broken Arabic.... that's heartless!
i love racist jokes, even those done on the maltese. a good joke is a good joke is a good joke. i don't like it if a joke is said to people who can't handle it. every saturday my husband meets up with people from about six different races/nationalities...and you should hear the banter. one joke after another...tit for tat in a funny way.

Minerva- I think most of soft Orientals ( like me ) can't accept it. Different people & different regions have diferent level of sensitivity u know..

Minerva- I think most of soft Orientals ( like me ) can't accept it. Different people & different regions have diferent level of sensitivity u know..
that's why such jokes should be kept amongst friends who can take it and not with everybody. amongst friends where political correctness does not feature. :)

hehe yeah i hate it when a person cnt even speak english properly but fakes an accent n tries to fit in so badly!


its mean to correct ppl in a rude way, but sometimes it gets so annoying i cnt listen to them speaking, my english isnt perfect coz its not my first language n sometimes i dont get some vocabs! hehe

if some1 says ur english is poor.. id say well thank god its not my mouther tongue !

n haha i love those jokes :p i accept all jokes that crak me up:p accept ones that r about religion

I think that people who poke fun at other people's skills are usually the people who lack confidence in themselves and so feel the need to make fun of others to boost their own ego. Ignore and be proud of your achievements cause only you yourself can measure your success cause you know exactly where you started from and how much work u've done to achieve what u've achieved even when it comes to learning a language.

I'm usually just...being friendly. If I hear something not spoken right, I try to clarify if I know. If I'm not sure, I'll shut up. But well, it's better if people know instead of coming out unknowing of the language every time they repeat it and SOMEBODY laughs at them!
I'm not very crazy about English being spoken right every time, it doesn't piss me off when someone does it since, it's not my language anyway. But if I happen (for instance) to know a word that my Canadian cousin doesn't know, I start being a big meanie :XD:

I'm usually just...being friendly. If I hear something not spoken right, I try to clarify if I know. If I'm not sure, I'll shut up. But well, it's better if people know instead of coming out unknowing of the language every time they repeat it and SOMEBODY laughs at them!
:

That is a good attitude indeed...if your friend does a mistake, then go ahead and correct him...You are the best (for him) to get the correction from!
I have an Arab professor whose mother language is Arabic but if any of his students makes a mistake he will correct it indirectly, like…

“I think you should say (****) instead of (----), am I right? Check the dictionary, it is always better than me…:)”

people who make fun of people who dont speak well or made one mistake
are jerks and have nothing to do in this life but doing stupid stuff like that!

....................................

when i see English people trying to talk Arabic i think its every cute and nice!
i love to hear them! i dont make fun of them


but i make fun of who make fun of themselves ;)

Pygmalion and ToxicHoney, very well-said ! I really like the posts of both of you guys in English Sabla, very simple and logical :cool:

Actually my English is quite good especially in speaking ( NOTE: not to show off here ) if you compare mine in relative compared to other non-native speakers. At least I'm fluent when am speaking. I know most of native speakers are accommodating and tolerating especially when dealing with non-native speakers. Only few irresponsible individuals exist. I can't imagine how would that guy ( the one who ridiculed my English ) deal with those who are still in intermediate and beginner levels.

How can we encounter such humiliation ?

Tell him: You may see my grasp of english poor, but am pretty sure there are many others think your grasp of english even poorer so you better zip it. Then break your english again just to tease :D

There is nothing wrong with correcting a person. I appreciate it when people do that, but the way they do it is the way that matters here. If they make fun of you or humiliate you in any way, then it is wrong.

But I got used to it.

When I speak broken Swahili, my family can't help but laugh at me. I don't take it personally. I end up laughing with them :p

There is nothing wrong with correcting a person. I appreciate it when people do that, but the way they do it is the way that matters here. If they make fun of you or humiliate you in any way, then it is wrong.

But I got used to it.

When I speak broken Swahili, my family can't help but laugh at me. I don't take it personally. I end up laughing with them :p

Better to say,

"But I have gotten used to it".

Use of the imperfect tense denotes the fact that the end result took place over time gradually until it reached a denoument sometime before the present moment.

The simple past is best used when the result took place all at once, at a particular time in the past.

;)

:angel:

:p

Better to say,

"But I have gotten used to it".

Use of the imperfect tense denotes the fact that the end result took place over time gradually until it reached a denoument sometime before the present moment.

The simple past is best used when the result took place all at once, at a particular time in the past.

;)

:angel:

:p

Thats correct Jeff, I would also like to advise her not to use referents without antecedents

Hahaha, hopefully, I will learn from that :p

Thats correct Jeff, I would also like to advise her not to use referents without antecedents

Amen, bruthah! :p

(My wife ALWAYS catches those; I ALWAYS miss them! :p )

I know my English isn't that good

And neither is your French

i love racist jokes, even those done on the maltese. a good joke is a good joke is a good joke. i don't like it if a joke is said to people who can't handle it. every saturday my husband meets up with people from about six different races/nationalities...and you should hear the banter. one joke after another...tit for tat in a funny way.

Exactly, if one cant stand the heat, they shud get out of the kitchen.

Actually its a good indication of a person's character. If a person is so sensitive, cant take a joke, gets hurt when corrected, worries about their language skills, it tells me a lot about his character.

He is so mean I must say!
At least you can speak in his language while he can't speak in your language..

oh how sensitive!!!!
ffs!!!
if someone tells you your grasp of english is deplorable, maybe they said something, you attacked it, and it was totally out of context, cos you didn't get it.
so instead of trying to 'encounter such disrespect, insolence, 'bad manners', and oh my feelings so crushed' watch a few english dvd's, where you can learn idiomatic english better. you can start with monty phyton.
i don't think anybody is gonna criticise anyone for bad tense, antecedents and what have you. or even spelling.

they might criticise you if i tell you 'hey don't count your chickens before they are hatched' and you go 'but we just killed the last chicken yesterday'. or something like that.

TropikalBoy, I am not a native English speaker, but you English is perfect, specially since its your second language.

I speak four languages (excluding different dialects), and I understand at least 5 languages. And from time to time, I do minor mistakes in any one of these languages, and once in a while, some morons tries to comment or correct the minor mistake I made.

What I have realized now, its only those inferior souls who try to make themselves happy by correcting you. Its inferiority complex :)

It happened here in EnglishSabla a few times, ironically enough from non-English speakers. What I did was just waited for a mistake to be made by that idiot, and then commented on his English like he did :p

You should try this, feels nice ;)

ROFL @ killed last chicken yesterday..

I, of course, agree with minerva. :D

I tend to ignore the occasional incorrect spelling or word usage in a forum, its impolite to point it out, unless they are asking for a correction. But if I can't understand what they are saying, I will tell them.

And neither is your French
Go ahead and explain :)

He has the right to do it :XD: It's his native language, you get to do it to others :hyper:

Such people exist you know, not all of them are like that. Just never take it personal & who knows, maybe it will trigger you to excel him!!

people always tell me that my english is bad...i never mind...i just laugh at them...cuz they cant even say 'how are you' in balushi even if i tell them 100s times how to say it properly...
dont care!

if someone objects to being corrected, then it's them who has the 'inferiority complex' rather a massive 'chip on the effing shoulder (it's an expression, not potato on your shoulder)'. too proud to stand corrected.
if someone pm's me and tells me something about something i tried to say in arabic, and tell me it's dismal, well wtf. i tell them yes you are right it's dismal but i really want to try.
get off your high horse (it's an expression, no reference to stallions) and stop crying crocodile tears (whoops) just cos someone told you you are crap at english.
ask where you were crap, and learn from your mistakes. next time fewer people will tell you how crap you are.
that's my two cents worth.

I tend to ignore the occasional incorrect spelling or word usage in a forum, its impolite to point it out, unless they are asking for a correction. But if I can't understand what they are saying, I will tell them.


Same here.

same here, i will only point out if someone misunderstands or throws a strop because they misunderstood what i was saying.

I correct peoples Arabic

haven't heard it regarding my english... but i have heard it regarding my arabic in trying to find a word for french fries which i later realized doesn't exist. the speaker was harsh to me... he said... don't you even know how to speak arabic?... but no worries... because i said, shut up and give me the french fries... because that situation was different... it wasn't an arabic forum...it was the cafeteria... not a language center.

other than that... I know when I speak german though I go through some grammatical mistakes, so far no one criticized and instead said I was almost fluent. but I bet that if I went to a german forum and made those mistakes someone is bound to give me a piece of their minds and ask me to practice before I put myself out there. so frankly I kinda agree with minerva.

I feel really disturbed recently . I participated in one net forum and somebody from an English-speaking country made fun of my English ( and he knew that my mother tongue is NOT English ) by saying something like this in serious manner :

" Your grasp of English is very poor "

Really, I think this is very disturbing. Can he speak in my language ? ( Malay )
Definitely not ! At least I've been trying my best to master HIS language.

Has anybody ever experienced this before ? How can we encounter such humiliation ?

Your English seems perfectly fine to me.

I wonder if it was just meant as a way to say, "we're not understanding each other".

Could be because I have been told that about Spanish and was only slightly offended at the time and asked how I could improve my listening skills.