Chinese (and other) pilots unable to speak English pose danger for air travel (CNN)

"Craig Welch" wrote

My experience of that it that it depends on the Parisian's perception of
where the English speaker is from. Often I have been met with a lack of
comprehension of my English until it dawned that I was a native of
neither the UK or the US.

Yet these are the two primary nations that saved them from all speaking German.

Sad.
--
Jim in NC

"Morgans" wrote in message
...

"William Black" wrote

English in India is usually taught in a way that requires the speaker to
have a slight and distinct pause after each word. many Indians who have
been taught that way have problems understanding people who speak English
as their native tongue

Indians who learn English as their first language (About 10% of the
population) do not speak like this and do not have this problem.


EVERY time I get a customer support call routed to India, I end up
unsatisfied, because of not being able to understand the English that is
being spoken. Part of the problem is the fact that I don't hear well, I
think.

I don't know what the problem is, as most of the English is usually fair,
but the accent is so heavy that it makes it difficult. Also, it is like
they don't understand what the problem is that you are trying to explain
to them. I think they only understand enough to deal with the ordinary
problems, and don't know how to deal with an unusual situation.

Now, if I have a problem and get sent off to Tec support in India, I look
for a different solution. I know I will not get the problem solved,
there.

Most Indians who speak English learn it as a foreign language as children.

They are taught is a very formal and distinct manner and are made to leave a
distinct pause between each word.

It takes some getting used to.

If you speak to them in the same way. Each word distinct and a pause
between each one, you'll find your problem just about disappears.

--
William Black


I've seen things you people wouldn't believe.
Barbeques on fire by the chalets past the castle headland
I watched the gift shops glitter in the darkness off the Newborough gate
All these moments will be lost in time, like icecream on the beach
Time for tea.

"Morgans" wrote in message
...

Also, it is like they don't understand what the problem is
that you are trying to explain to them. I think they only
understand enough to deal with the ordinary problems,
and don't know how to deal with an unusual situation.

I suspect they're all reading scripts and following flowcharts in an attempt
to troubleshoot things they've never seen, much less used.

Here in Montreal I'm blessed in that tech support is offered in both English
and French - and it seems that they've yet to figure out that French side
could also be outsourced.

Richard

NotABushSupporter wrote:
Jim Logajan wrote:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_language


Wikipedia is NOT an authoritative source.

Indeed. But in the Wikipedia article it provides references to its sources
(which some articles notably lack). I normally prefer using authoritative
and as unbiased sources as possible for topics I'm more serious about. I'm
just not that serious about this topic. :-)

"William Black" wrote:
"Miguel Cruz" wrote:
I think the main linguistic consequence of India's economic growth will
be an improvement in the standard of English throughout India.

In what way exactly?

Most Indian undergraduates are already required to have a good command of
English before they can get into university.

More growth = more people on a white-collar track = more people heading
to university.

Also, those white-collar jobs tend to expose people to everyday English,
which improves their skill far more than sitting in a classroom.

Indians who learn English as their first language (About 10% of the
population) do not speak like this and do not have this problem.

I think you mean, "They are not having this problem."

miguel
--
Hit the road! Photos from around the world: http://travel.u.nu
Detailed airport information: http://airport.u.nu

Morgans writes:

Today, most Germans learn English in school from an early age, and speak very
good "British" English.

Many people learn English from an early age in school. Unfortunately, this is
no guarantee of competence in English.

TMOliver writes:

As a group, I suspect that Scandinavians are more likely to be "effective"
English speakers than are Germans, and in my experience the Dutch are more
likely to be at least semi-fluent in English than are other nationalities.

My experience is that the Dutch are the best at English overall. Of course,
they have no choice, since nobody is going to learn Dutch. However, the
notion that everyone from the Netherlands is fluent in English is quite false.
Unless they have reason to use English regularly, their English is often very
spotty, and hardly fluent. Still, when one compares their competence in
English to that of people in many Latin countries, they shine.

S Green writes:

Actually the most populous English speaking country is India.

India is not an English-speaking country; it is simply a country in which many
people are reasonably fluent in English, which is not the same thing. The
population is primarily rural and most people do not speak fluent English, or
any English for that matter. However, English is the most popular second
language AFAIK and is widely spoken to some extent among those with an
education. It is a useful language for communication between different
segments of Indian society, since there are 15 different languages that are
widely used in the country (Hindi is about one third of the total). Native
English speakers are rare.

The greatest population of native English speakers is in the United States.
Canadians speak essentially the same English and add to this total.

Craig Welch writes:

The US is not the most populous English speaking country in the world.

It has the greatest number of native English speakers.

NotABushSupporter writes:

Wikipedia is NOT an authoritative source.

Take care never to cite Wikipedia again, then, or this statement might
backfire on you.