Comments on: Notes on Maltese English (1): DONNING

By: Barrabas Borg

Barrabas Borg — Mon, 20 Oct 2014 23:23:18 +0000

In reply to Barrabas Borg. Agreed now :) thank you!

By: Barabbas Borg

Barabbas Borg — Mon, 20 Oct 2014 22:24:58 +0000

Are you saying the BBC is wrong here? http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-29505098

[Daphne – No, but explaining the fine distinctions of British-English usage to those who hope to conquer the language armed with a rule book is tedious and fruitless. That’s why the teaching of (British) English as a foreign language is ultimately an impossible task. The best you can hope for is English as an international language, or one of the several variants of Globish.

I can tell by the way you use ‘attack’ that you are Maltese because it is non-idiomatic. How can I tell you are Maltese (even if I didn’t already know?)? How is your use of ‘attack’ non-idiomatic? I can’t explain. It just is. I can look at a sentence that is, on the face of it, perfectly constructed and grammatically correct. And I can tell immediately that a Maltese person wrote it. Because there is something about the usage that is slightly off.

For example, when Maltese people use the word ‘attack’, it is an expression of disapproval for the person they perceive to be making an attack, just as it would be in Maltese. But in English, it is the other way round. When somebody is described as having launched a verbal attack on somebody or something, it signifies disapproval of the thing or person being criticised, and not of the person doing the criticising.

It is these subtleties that are so difficult to explain, because they don’t come out of a rule book but are learned through consistent exposure to idiomatic usage and the sensitivity to pick them up.]

By: Gaetano Pace

Gaetano Pace — Mon, 20 Oct 2014 13:01:41 +0000

Well said, Daphne. Using an Oxford or a Collins is completely different from reading a thesaurus. If only some could recognise the distinction. Listening to the the BBC would be a more beneficial than listening to Super One where language is concerned.

By: chico

chico — Mon, 20 Oct 2014 12:59:20 +0000

I suppose Sholokhov’s “And quietly flows the Don” could pass as “And quietly flows the Wear”. They’re both rivers after all.

By: Stefan

Stefan — Mon, 20 Oct 2014 09:31:06 +0000

Either way, on a different note. I must say that I truly admire your English writing skills and capabilities. At the least this blog serves as a good read to A level English sixth form students like myself. Whether one agrees on the argument presented or not, I look towards such a website with an educational approach.

Well done.

By: C Perkins

C Perkins — Mon, 20 Oct 2014 08:01:08 +0000

In reply to David.

The two examples you cite illustrate another subtlety of spoken English which is only understood by using the language and cannot be adequately explained in a textbook.

Pronunciations are often affected by the proximity in a sentence of other words which affect the fluidity of speech. There is a reason why our language has always been so invaluable to poets, apart from its beautiful range of vocabulary. The sound is very important.

Clumsy phrases such as ‘a historic’ are adapted to create mellifluous speech. ‘Often’ can be subject to regional variations, but as a Londoner speaking what used to be called The Queen’s English, I use both pronunciations depending on the sentence.

I generally don’t pronounce the ‘t’, but if I were to say ‘often times’ for example, I would emphasise the ‘t’ to create a clipped sound underlining the alliteration of the two ‘ts’ in the adjacent words.

English is such a wonderful language but I fully appreciate how difficult it is. At this point I would like to say how much I admire the Maltese for being proficient in two or even three languages, unlike the vast majority of British people.

By: Pandora

Pandora — Mon, 20 Oct 2014 06:55:45 +0000

In reply to M. Perhaps they meant to say "tipped" although that's still inappropriate in my opinion. It makes me think of horse races rather than archbishops...

By: Tabatha White

Tabatha White — Mon, 20 Oct 2014 04:28:56 +0000

Have a look at what happens when Socialist Marxist expediency meets Conservative rigour and correctness:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2785156/War-le-words-French-MP-fined-using-sexist-GRAMMAR-calling-female-colleague-Madame-Le-President.html

When comprehension of the depth and breadth of concepts is incomplete or insufficient, it is evident that there are a host of subtleties that cannot ever be taken into account.

We have, indeed, a situation of parallel worlds where we stand in one and observe the army of stunted amputees in the other, struggling with a massive deficiency of metacognitive process.

It is also like observing self-imposed Alzheimers in action:

Single-purpose neural nodes with insufficient link to normal associations within the neural network that one would make in logical and very basic reasoning.

No wonder we have administrative stalemates and “interminable discussions and differences:”

This is GI-GO (Garbage In Garbage Out) – an ancient business buzzword – in action.

It all starts with what one deliberately chooses as values (anything that creates an impact) and perception.

It is though these filters that we take decisions and observe life.

From time to time, they need an update:
Knowledge comes in over time.

By: Tabatha White

Tabatha White — Mon, 20 Oct 2014 04:15:49 +0000

In reply to David.

Surprised by “an historic”?

David, you need to widen your network and double-check its social positioning.

How old are you?

___________________

“As regards” drives me up the wall.

By: Barrabas Borg

Barrabas Borg — Mon, 20 Oct 2014 00:03:16 +0000

In reply to Barabbas Borg.

In the uk not England.. And places accross the 4 nations do attribute different meanings to certain words.

[Daphne – Not really, no; an attack is an attack is an attack, generally involving a weapon. In some case you might speak of a verbal assault or attack, but it would be an extreme case involving outrageous insults and very harsh words. And this even in Scotland, where I seem to recall your saying you now live. You use ‘attack’ in the Maltese way, a literal translation of ‘dik tattakka n-nies’. That doesn’t translate into ‘she attacks people’, I’m afraid.]