Language Q for native english speakers

[Fuzz]

That's entrapment!

[Nino]

That's entrapment!

Yep - but ... no sleeping on the job allowed this is a busy mall

[Guest rob]

this is a busy mall

HA!

[Ken Gargett]

Yep, looks like you're correct, acording to Wiki...I stand corrected!

Language Percent of World Population Mandarin 12.44% Spanish 4.85% English 4.83% Arabic 3.25% Hindi 2.68% Bengali 2.66% Portuguese 2.62% Russian 2.12% Japanese 1.80% German 1.33% Javanese 1.25% Others 61.17%

what would be interesting would be to know the percentage of english as a second language. i would imagine that it would be way out in front.

i must say, had not really taken much notice of 'should have' v 'should of' - i have a number of others i detest but another day. yet on the news this morning, a reporter said something to the anchor. she then said, several times, 'he should of'. he should of'. something else to drive me nuts.

[Ken Gargett]

and may i take this opportunity to congratulate rob on his use of english. i think he does amazingly well for a second language (at least until he has a few drinks).

his first language, of course, being sh&&*t.

[Ginseng]

...can speak at least two languages...an obvious useable skill

There's more to it that just practical value. I did my graduate research in a child language lab and it is well documented that bilingualism can confer cognitive advantages. I'd have to go dig up specifics but the gist is that knowing more than one language is better for you than knowing just one, as long as you learn them while you are a child.

Wilkey

[oliverdst]

Yep, looks like you're correct, acording to Wiki...I stand corrected!

Language Percent of World Population Mandarin 12.44% Spanish 4.85% English 4.83% Arabic 3.25% Hindi 2.68% Bengali 2.66% Portuguese 2.62% Russian 2.12% Japanese 1.80% German 1.33% Javanese 1.25% Others 61.17%

I am not so sure if everybody in China speaks Mandarin. I say that because I spent a couple of weeks in India and in every different corner of the country a different dialect was spoken. Most of them didn't speak English, just its regional dialect.

China being a communist country things can be different because, I guess, most of the kids go to school.

And I don't know if Wikipedia is a reliable source.

[Ginseng]

Mandarin is the official dialect so pretty much everyone HAS to learn it now. My family is from the southeast region/Hong Kong and Cantonese has historically been our native dialect. Now people there have to speak Mandarin as well. Everyone, even actors and celebrities like Jackie Chan and Chow Yun Fat. Funnily enough, Fat was ragged on when he started making movies with Mandarin dialog as native speakers of that dialect said he spoke it poorly like a child/foreigner.

Wilkey

[dangolf18]

Hi All,

As a Swede i was taught British english in school from the age of 10.

i think i have a reasonable grasp of the english language, but to this day some things still confuse me.

Lately i've seen a lot of people write "of" when i think it would make more sense to write "have" in a sentence.

As an example:

"My parents of never seen this"

Right or wrong?

t's just that posh British people pronounce have like "of" or more more phonetically correct, "ahv".