Thanks for the intro. Good to know you. I'd happily have any friend of Glenn's be a friend of mine.
I've mostly discussed this grammar issue with people who are dealing with doing business overseas, so I think that did slant the perspective in the conversation. I wasn't really talking about slang per se. I had a long talk with a man who has been working all over Asia and in some European countries for the past 6-8 years. My question wasn't dialect or slang-related. I know both of those exist. I'm not really sure whether I consider saying "I seen him." to be slang. I don't think so. When my 8th graders as "'Sup?" that's slang. They are all interacting within a group that is using the slang intentionally, as part of the group's culture, if you will. But when my fairly well-educated former neighbor comes over to talk, she *knows* I can't stand that whole "I seen him" way she talks and I know she knows better. But she still does it. I have a classmate who is student teaching **right now** and says things like "me and him" all the time. Would you consider that slang? My oldest daughter is a huge anime fan, so I know lots of those Japanese quirks of shaping an English word to fit the Japanese mouth. I don't consider that slang or linguistic laziness. In fact, I find that adaptive import appealing and totally Japanese in nature. One of the absolute best parts of the English language is the vast number of synonyms many words have from our historical adaptations from other languages. It makes English so expressive to be able to choose between the synonyms derived from Romance languages which are more descriptive, emotional, and decorative and those derived from other languages (Germanic springs immediately to mind) which are less emotional, more precise and logical.
The comparison between Parisian French and Quebecois isn't quite this area, either. If I were comparing British English to American English, the situations might be more analogous. My question is not differences between separate groups, but variations within one group. So, do Parisian French speakers fracture Parisian French grammar the way many Chicagoans butcher say, subject-verb agreement? My overseas traveling acquaintance said that he never encountered the same level of grammatical slaughter in any other language as he did and does in English.
So, why are you learning Hebrew? For the first time in my life, I'm meeting a fair amount of Christians who are studying it as part of larger Bible studies. I'm finding that coping with the fibro and all my current studies and family responsibilities are crowding out any chance at expanding my Hebrew (despite having a willing tutor in my daughter.) Someday, maybe. I'm just glad to be well enough to manage everything I'm already doing!
Re: Maybe you haven't been asking in the right places?
Thanks for the intro. Good to know you. I'd happily have any friend of Glenn's be a friend of mine.
I've mostly discussed this grammar issue with people who are dealing with doing business overseas, so I think that did slant the perspective in the conversation.
I wasn't really talking about slang per se. I had a long talk with a man who has been working all over Asia and in some European countries for the past 6-8 years. My question wasn't dialect or slang-related. I know both of those exist. I'm not really sure whether I consider saying "I seen him." to be slang. I don't think so. When my 8th graders as "'Sup?" that's slang. They are all interacting within a group that is using the slang intentionally, as part of the group's culture, if you will. But when my fairly well-educated former neighbor comes over to talk, she *knows* I can't stand that whole "I seen him" way she talks and I know she knows better. But she still does it. I have a classmate who is student teaching **right now** and says things like "me and him" all the time. Would you consider that slang?
My oldest daughter is a huge anime fan, so I know lots of those Japanese quirks of shaping an English word to fit the Japanese mouth. I don't consider that slang or linguistic laziness. In fact, I find that adaptive import appealing and totally Japanese in nature. One of the absolute best parts of the English language is the vast number of synonyms many words have from our historical adaptations from other languages. It makes English so expressive to be able to choose between the synonyms derived from Romance languages which are more descriptive, emotional, and decorative and those derived from other languages (Germanic springs immediately to mind) which are less emotional, more precise and logical.
The comparison between Parisian French and Quebecois isn't quite this area, either. If I were comparing British English to American English, the situations might be more analogous. My question is not differences between separate groups, but variations within one group. So, do Parisian French speakers fracture Parisian French grammar the way many Chicagoans butcher say, subject-verb agreement? My overseas traveling acquaintance said that he never encountered the same level of grammatical slaughter in any other language as he did and does in English.
So, why are you learning Hebrew? For the first time in my life, I'm meeting a fair amount of Christians who are studying it as part of larger Bible studies. I'm finding that coping with the fibro and all my current studies and family responsibilities are crowding out any chance at expanding my Hebrew (despite having a willing tutor in my daughter.) Someday, maybe. I'm just glad to be well enough to manage everything I'm already doing!