Search results for 'tag:Conversations tag:British people' matching tags 'Conversations' and 'British people'

Re: Essay: what means equality for the British ?

Mister Micawber — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 00:03:37 GMT

.
I have underlined some problem areas.

There is a tension in Western society between people who think that everyone should have legal equality and people who think that we have to make people equal in every way. Most English people share the first view whereas most of the French share the second one.

~~First,~~ English people are more comfortable with social inequality. This difference can find it origin in both their main religions. Most British are Protestants and there is a low power distance between God and themselves. They talk directly with God and know that they have been chosen. Therefore, the concept of inequality is accepted by the majority. On the contrary, most French are Catholics and their relationship with God pass by the Church. The French belief is that âevery man is equal in front of Godâ. So, they have applied that ideal in society and as a result, social equality has become a strong French value.

~~Then,~~ British people consider equality as equality before the law. ~~We can discuss this point considering equality inside education and work.~~ In England, it is enough to provide equal opportunity and equal treatment under the law to people, and to protect everyone's rights. Through work and education, it results as the right for anyone to apply for ~~some~~ studies or ~~some~~ jobs. The selection doesnât depend on origins, race, gender or ~~the~~ belonging to a particular group. It is forbidden by ~~the~~ law. In France, it's the government's job to make sure that everyone is equal; that no one is richer or poorer than anyone else, that no one has more success than anyone else. For instance, when a chief executive wants to fire an employee because of his incompetence, he has to pass by a lot of arguments cause of the French legislation ~~laws~~. ~~Actually,~~ the most productive or skilled employees are not recruited for that reason. Another example can be illustrated by some schools with problems called the ZEP. There are numerous pupils who are not interested in study and who are nothing but trouble for the other. Thus, serious pupils can miss great opportunity to pursue in Higher Schools.
So, ~~several~~ attempts to achieve social equality can end up punishing society's most productive people. ~~In my opinion,~~ most British think that social equality is impossible to achieve, because people have different gifts and abilities, and some have more motivation than others.

Another aspect concerns attitudes towards money which shows that social inequality doesnât mind British people. Indeed, people talk freely about money, and it represents a sign of merit. Those who have a lot of money have more merit than the other. In France, the money subject is taboo during conversation and several taxes exist in order to generate social equality. It provides a social security that French prefer because of their uncertainty avoidance attitude. The French government follows this trend and makes egalitarian laws like welfare or the redistribution of incomes.

To conclude, most British have a very different point of view of equality than the French. They consider that equality before the law is sufficient and doesnât believe in the benefits of social equality unlike the French.

Essay: what means equality for the British ?

learner_of_english — Fri, 30 May 2008 14:25:38 GMT

Hello,

I have to do an essay and I would appreciate if you could tell me if the the sentences are grammatically correct.

The topic is: The British poet and essayist Matthew Arnold (1822-1888) once wrote:
âAs to the duty of pursuing equality, there is no such consent among us. Indeed, the consent is the other way, the consent is against equality. Equality before the law we all take as a matter of course; that is not the equality which we mean when we talk of equality. When we talk of equality, we understand social equality; and for equality in this Frenchified sense of the term almost everybody in England has a hard wordâ.
Discuss this opinion in intercultural terms and illustrate your view with concrete examples :

There is a tension in Western society between people who think that everyone should have legal equality and people who think that we have to make people equal in every way. Most English people share the first view whereas most of the French share the second one.

First, English people are more comfortable with social inequality. This difference can find it origin in both their main religions. Most British are Protestants and there is a low power distance between God and themselves. They talk directly with God and know that they have been chosen. Therefore, the concept of inequality is accepted by the majority. On the contrary, most French are Catholics and their relationship with God pass by the Church. The French belief is that âevery man is equal in front of Godâ. So, they have applied that ideal in society and as a result, social equality has become a strong French value.

Then, British people consider equality as equality before the law. We can discuss this point considering equality inside education and work. In England, it is enough to provide equal opportunity and equal treatment under the law to people, and to protect everyone's rights. Through work and education, it results as the right for anyone to apply for some studies or some jobs. The selection doesnât depend on origins, race, gender or the belonging to a particular group. It is forbidden by the law. In France, it's the government's job to make sure that everyone is equal; that no one is richer or poorer than anyone else, that no one has more success than anyone else. For instance, when a chief executive wants to fire an employee because of his incompetence, he has to pass by a lot of arguments cause of the French legislation laws. Actually, the most productive or skilled employees are not recruited for that reason. Another example can be illustrated by some schools with problems called the ZEP. There are numerous pupils who are not interested in study and who are nothing but trouble for the other. Thus, serious pupils can miss great opportunity to pursue in Higher Schools.
So, several attempts to achieve social equality can end up punishing society's most productive people. In my opinion, most British think that social equality is impossible to achieve, because people have different gifts and abilities, and some have more motivation than others.

Another aspect concerns attitudes towards money which shows that social inequality doesnât mind British people. Indeed, people talk freely about money, and it represents a sign of merit. Those who have a lot of money have more merit than the other. In France, the money subject is taboo during conversation and several taxes exist in order to generate social equality. It provides a social security that French prefer because of their uncertainty avoidance attitude. The French government follows this trend and makes egalitarian laws like welfare or the redistribution of incomes.

To conclude, most British have a very different point of view of equality than the French. They consider that equality before the law is sufficient and doesnât believe in the benefits of social equality unlike the French.

Thank you very much

Sincerely,

Re: accents

SillyMe — Sat, 01 Sep 2007 10:32:36 GMT

"You knew your brother did a bad thing, did you?"

"You knew your brother did a bad thing, did you?"

Is the difference between those two an accent matter, or a pronunciation matter?

Neither. The intonation is the key. You have used an intonation stress to emphasise those words in the sentences. It has nothing to do with an accent. A lot of languages have the same mechanism for this purpose. People rarely speak in a monotonic way. They need an intonation to emphasise their ideas.

If your friends have a hard time understanding you when you start speaking with a "stupid" accent, then you need to analyze if you're really learning the target accent or not. It's not the accent's fault. How can it be?

Ok, Iâll say it again: I am not learning an accent. I just made sure that everyone could understand me. All people have different abilities in languages. I donât want to make anyone feel inconvenient when they are listening to me. My goal is to speak as accessible as possible for EVERYONE. I see accents as the main obstacle on this way.

Now, accents are part of a culture... be it in a country or in regions of that country. It may seem useless to you, but learning the american accent has given me the ability of having great conversations with many many americans. What about british people? They have no problem understanding americans, so I'm sure they'll have no problem understanding me... and I have spoken with british people, too. No communication issues.

I have never spoken to people whose first language was English and I donât think that Iâll ever do. English is the second language for most people. Why should I make my speech inaccessible for them? If I know that their level will not allow them to understand even a half of my speech, why should I? Language is a great tool to convey your ideas, why should I make it more complex and inaccessible?

LOL! This one made me smile! They are not speaking fast, it's that you are listening too slowly.

I have never said that I was a slow listener. But most people used to complain to me that speech of native speakers was hard to understand. Well, their (not natives) language might be poor, but anyway I am trying to sound easy to for them and for everyone in general.

To be understood by Americans... well, chances are you need to learn American English to understand Americans

I donât think so. I have never spoken to an American. I watch only dubbed films and like them that way. I donât listen to contemporary music, I like classical music. So, I think American English isnât present in my life.

The same applies for americans: how can I tell them that they don't know how to speak their own language?

They actually do. They are natives and they know it better. But unfortunately a spoken language is totally different from a written one to some extent of course. An accent is one of the main things that make this difference bigger. Why should one learn it, if nobody uses a spoken language (of course you have American friends, your situation might be a bit different or you live there, I donât know)? Most foreigners communicate using a written language. Thatâs why I want to speak slowly and without any reduction in my words.

Re: accents

Cvilla — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 21:29:32 GMT

SillyMe wrote:

There is no need to improve an accent. Sometimes some work on pronunciation is required, but no more than that. Everyone should just make sure that he could be understood and that is enough. I've seen a lot of people who thought they were fluent in the language enough to imitate a native pronunciation. Needless to say everyone had hard time understanding them. What is that for?
Perhaps you have never met a foreigner who thought that he could speak with an Irish accent. You even cannot imagine the sequence of sounds generated by this person.
I don't know how but you misunderstood me. I was talking about my friends who would have hard time understanding me if I started speaking with a stupid accent.
To conclude I want to say that accents are evil, because they imply various patterns of speech. Why should one learn for instance American accent? To be understood better by Americans, but it means that all other people will have hard time understanding this person. It seems senseless to me. Proper pronunciation is important but only to a sensible degree of course. Overdoing is just as bad as underdoing. Just make sure that you can be understood and be happy with that.

From my own experience, I can say that it's a very rewarding challenge. At least in my case americans say that I have no accent, and they have no trouble understanding everything I say.

Now, accents are part of a culture... be it in a country or in regions of that country. It may seem useless to you, but learning the american accent has given me the ability of having great conversations with many many americans. What about british people? They have no problem understanding americans, so I'm sure they'll have no problem understanding me... and I have spoken with british people, too. No communication issues.

If your friends have a hard time understanding you when you start speaking with a "stupid" accent, then you need to analyze if you're really learning the target accent or not. It's not the accent's fault. How can it be?

Now, if you are not a native English speaker (I assume you're not), I would like you to tell me the difference between these two sentences:

"You knew your brother did a bad thing, did you?"
"You knew your brother did a bad thing, did you?"

Is the difference between those two an accent matter, or a pronunciation matter? What does each question mean?

Things like that can't be found in languages like Spanish. So that is a matter of mastering an accent up to an "acceptable" level.

Re: comprehension: Rene

MrPedantic — Sat, 05 May 2007 21:58:08 GMT

3) How did the incident affect Rene and what did she learn from it?

Rene seemed to be slightly hurt âI thought that was so rude after making that effortâ and rather surprised by her attitude [add comma] so she started listening to other peopleâs conversations. Then she noticed that no one was talking about personal and intimate things. She learned that British people think it rude, unseemly to ask that kind of questions. It is a sign of bad manners. So if people wanted to know more of about their interlocutors they needed to be more diplomatic and not so direct perhaps.

I've made one or two small changes. Also:

a) slightly hurt ] only at first; a good phrase here is "R. was slightly taken aback", which means "nonplussed".

b) after making that effort ] Footnote: you would be much more likely to hear "after making all that effort".

c) rude, unseemly ] In literary usage, you might find adjectives presented thus; but in ordinary usage, you would be more likely to see "rude and unseemly".

Otherwise, fine!

MrP

Re: comprehension: Rene

Hela — Sun, 22 Apr 2007 10:34:24 GMT

Dear teachers,

I have done the work again and answered the comprehension questions. Would you please have a look at it and give me your corrections?

QUESTIONS:

1) How does Rene describe the old lady?

âa crusty old stickâ + âThis is going to be a bit of an effort, and I plucked up courage and started chatting to herâ

She is a tough, irritable old lady. (any more comments ?)

2) What was the old ladyâs reaction to the way Rene was conducting their conversation? Explain.

Suddenly she thought that Rene was nosy, indescrete. By telling Rene if she wanted her curriculum vitae she implied that asking many personal questions wasnât the thing to do.

3) How did the incident affect Rene and what did she learn from it?

Rene seemed to be slightly hurt âI thought that was so rude after making that effortâ and rather surprised by her attitude so she started listening to other peopleâs conversations. Then she noticed that no one was talking about personal and intimate things. She learned that British people think it rude, unseemly to ask that kind of questions. It is a sign of bad manners. So if people wanted to know more of their interlocutors they needed to be more diplomatic and not so direct perhaps.

4) What does she mean by âa British thingâ?

According to Rene, this attitude is paculiar to British people who are introvert and inhibited. They don't feel that comfortable giving out too much personal information. They feel that it's none of other people's business in many situations.

They never reveal themselves in their true colours because by doing so they may jeopardize themselves, become an easy target for criticism, which is a sign of weakness (?) âthere is some sense of losing face by showing too much of yourselfâ.

5) Is it also âan American thingâ? Explain.

This is not the case of Americans they are more extrovert, outright, spontaneous, and like talking about themselves.

6) In her reflection over social communication, why is she contrasting âtalk withâ and / with (?) other similar verb constructions?

She contrasts âtalk withâ with âtalk pastâ and âtalk throughâ to show that people do not really communicate: exchange ideas, expreriences, feelings and emotions. They only have a superficial contact with others, they do not touch their heart, do not learn anything from them and miss a lot by doing so.

7) What is the point she tries to make about âthe use of timeâ and how does it relate to human behaviour in society?

She says that she tries to take advantage of the present moment whereas people tend to look at the past or the future and do not give much importance to the moment they are living. They do not appreciate the company of the people they are with at the present and so miss very important things and can be left with regrets.

8) What main advantage do songs have over other art forms?

Music makes you feel emotions that otherwise you might not feel only with prose, poetry or drama. It touches the heart of people more instantly than any other form of art.

She prefers writing songs because she finds interesting the fact of being obliged to fit her own thoughts to a piece of music and being restricted by its rhythm. It demands a lot of discipline from the writer.

9) What five-word expression does Rene use to refer to the rules that everyone should know and obey in society? = âunwritten laws of social etiquetteâ.

10) Find words or expressions which mean:

a) avoid: You skirt the issue

b) to feel ashamed: Weâre all guilty of it (?) / losing face (?)

c) thoroughly: to the full

Thank you for being so understanding.

Hela

comprehension: Rene

Hela — Wed, 21 Mar 2007 10:42:03 GMT

Dear teachers,

Would you please correct my answers? But before that Iâd like to ask you if I understood the meaning of the underlined expressions or ideas. Furthermore, Iâd like to ask British teachers if they confirm what she says about the âBritish thingâ and give me more elements about this British attitude. And what about Americans, is it true that they are more extrovert? Thank very much for your help.

TEXT: An interview with Rene Wyndham (How is "Wyndham" pronounced, please?)

Interviewer: So how did you come to write that song, Rene?

Rene: Well I wrote it a few years ago after Iâd been at a rather formal dinner party, sitting next to (1) a crusty old stick, a lady I knew, and I thought âThis is going to be a bit of an effortâ, and I plucked up courage and started chatting to her about herself and she said sheâd been in Egypt and various things. And I was following the line of the conversation and all of a sudden she stopped dead and looked at me and said: âIf youâd really like to know more about me I shall write out my curriculum vitae for you!â And I thought that was so rude after making that effort that I (2) looked around and thought âWell what are other people talking about?â And I realized that other people donât ask direct questions, itâs one of the things, unwritten laws of social etiquette. You skirt the issue if youâre trying to find out things, or you (3) make polite niceties and nice noises at dinner parties but you donât often say what your emotions are doing underneath.

Interviewer: Can I come back to something you said? You said something about people not asking direct questions. Why do you think that is?

Rene: I think itâs partly fear, that they feel that they themselves will be exposed if theyâre asked those questions, and there is some sense of losing face by showing too much of yourself. I think it might be a particularly (4) British thing because I was for instance in the USA with people Iâd never met before, went to a very large dinner party, and within seconds people were telling me what their psychiatrist had said about them and their problems with the grocer and so on. Things that nobody in England would (5) open out and do because there is fear, there is a protective barrier and a sense of inferiority for anybody who dares to disobey these social norms.

Interviewer: Rene, when we talked about this song I think once before, you mentioned something about the way people donât listen to one another, and that was one of the reasons that you had written the song, you were very concerned about this.

Rene: Certainly a lot of my songs are concerned with communication. I was initially very inspired by the works of Wesker and Pinter and Albee and the way they show the people talking past each other, through each other, but never with each other, and this is something that in different ways I try to show in a lot of my songs. I even try and find the gulf between the Third World, the developing world, and our own world, because some of (6) the things people talk about there miss each other by miles. And (7) we do this in our own... unless youâre really close to people and you have a total trust, very often you say things as much to defend yourself as to listen to them. Youâre so concerned with the kind of impression you ought to be making that you fail to be listening to whatâs coming back to you from them. (8) Weâre all guilty of it.

Interviewer: Right, especially in that situation.

Rene: Very much so, and the more you know somebody, the more you relax and probably allow yourself to listen properly to them. That does demand a lot more energy of living that they simply havenât got time to make space for another personâs being within them.

Interviewer: You mentioned your other songs just now. What sort of other things do you write about in you other songs? What themes?

Rene: Well one of the other themes Iâm very concerned about is the use of time. I wrote one for instance about the fact that you give people flowers long after theyâre gone, and when people are leaving a firm that theyâve been working for, you give them a drink and say: âWhat a jolly good fellowâ and so on. But at the time they were there perhaps youâd never noticed them, never took the time again to listen to them properly. (9) We always seem to be missing the mark as far as time goes. I hate the thought of time rushing past. I really want to live every single minute to the full. Some of the songs are expressing that. The fact that you never have anything but this second that youâre living in, that when youâre looking to the future or the past, that doesnât really exist at all. And yet a lot of us find it the hardest thing of all, to coincide with the second that weâre living in.

Interviewer: And well, perhaps a final question. Why do you write songs at all? Why songs? Why not poetry or novels or something else?

Rene: Itâs something to do with a sense of rhythm. Thereâs a terrifically enjoyable discipline about fitting into a nutshell your own thoughts. In a poem youâve got more freedom, youâre not restricted by the music. But music itself is a wonderful art from and it conveys emotion more directly than anything, to me anyway. More directly than painting. More directly than theatre or whatever. If I hear a piece of music, thatâs it, instantly, in the heart. Thereâs even music therapy and so on, which shows that it can do this. If one can convey by oneâs own creativity a mood in another person through the music, and then enhance it with a discipline of well-chosen words, then I think youâve got a perfect portrait of an instant communication.

VOCABULARY:

1) an unpleasant irritable lady?

2) left the old lady and listened to other peopleâs conversations?

5) show their inner feelings?

6) Does she want to say that British people wouldnât understand the way people in the third world communicate with each other because they always talk about intimate problems even with strangers and donât feel guilty about it?

7) British people will do the same only with close friends or relatives?

(8) = weâre ashamed of it?

QUESTIONS:

1) How does Rene describe the old lady? As an unpleasant irritable lady?

2) What was the old ladyâs reaction to the way Rene was conducting their conversation? Explain.

Suddenly she thought that Rene was nosy, indescrete? By telling her if she wanted her curriculum vitae showed that it wasnât the thing to do.

3) How did the incident affect Rene and what did she learn from it?

Rene stopped talking to the old Lady and left her to hear other peopleâs conversations and noticed that no one was talking about personal and intimate things. She learned that for British people it is rude, unseemly to ask personal questions. It is a sign of bad manners. So if people wanted to know more of their interlocutors they needed to be more diplomatic and not so direct perhaps.

4) What does she mean by âa British thingâ?

This attitude is paculiar to British people who are introvert and inhibited. They never reveal themselves in their true colours because by doing so they may jeopardize themselves, become an easy target for criticism, which is a sign of weakness.

5) Is it also âan American thingâ? Explain.

This is not the case of Americans they are more extrovert, outright, spontaneous, and like talking about themselves.

6) In her reflection over social communication, why is she contrasting âtalk withâ and (/ with ?) other similar verb constructions?

7) What is the point she tries to make about âthe use of timeâ and how does it relate to human behaviour in society?

8) What main advantage do songs have over other art forms?

Music makes you feel emotions that otherwise you might not feel only with prose, poetry or drama. It touches the heart of people more instantly than any other form of art.

Thank you very much in advance,

Hela

Re: Accents in TV and movies - All varieties

Kooyeen — Sat, 16 Dec 2006 19:52:01 GMT

This is interesting. Anyway, we haven't get an opinion from a British English speaker yet. But if I get it right, when Americans watch British movies, they watch them in British English (that is, they watch the original movies, as thet were made). And British people watch American movies in American English (the original movies, again).

The purpose of this thread is to understand how people see the "opposite" accent (opposite means British for an American, and vice versa). If what I wrote above is true, then American English should sound very natural to British people, since they hear it in a great number of movies, in the Simpsons, and in a extremely huge number of songs (all genres). As for Americans, well, I don't know. I guess there's less British English in the US than American English in the UK, nevertheless it seems that British English sounds natural too...

So, the famous sentence "England and America are two countries separated by the same language" is just nonsense, isn't it? If that sentence were true, we could sometimes hear conversations like these:

(In the US) - What about watching a good movie? How about <insert movie here> ? ----- That movie? But... but they talk in British English in that movie, let's choose another one...
(In the UK) - Tom!!! What are you doing in your room? ------ I'm watching TV, the Simpsons... ------ Oh my, again that American stuff...

I hope you like my examples ---- If you have any comments, just post 'em, thanks.

Re: Expressing time

Lcchang — Fri, 26 May 2006 17:59:14 GMT

It's interesting to see the conversation between Americans and British people in terms of expressing time. I 've learned, thanks.

LCChang

Re: I Want To Be Fluent English Speaker How Please?

Eimai_Anglos — Sun, 26 Jun 2005 20:49:59 GMT

QUOTE: I am living in Saudi Arabia, which there are few native English speakers it is hardly to find them easily.

There are lots of English people in Riyadh. If you live in or near Riyadh you should be able to find English companies. Speak to them and tell them that you want to practice speaking English. Ask them if they can put you in touch with a few English people. Keep trying until somebody says "yes".

There is an email group here:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/expatsinsaudiarabia/
This is for British people who live in Saudi. If you join this email group you can make contact with British people in Saudi and they will help you.

(If anybody wants to find a similar email group you can use Google to search for "expats in xxxxx" where xxxxx is the name of your country).

There is also a British expat forum, where you might find your country listed, here:
http://www.expatfocus.com/index.php?name=Forums and here:
http://www.britishexpat.com/expatforum/country/index.php

QUOTE: I too anxious to speak fluent english without hesitation how please.

Same answer. Find English people and make conversation.