Why English language is so popular ?

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#322
Charles Darwin said:
The british people you've met with what you call very good english probably spoke in an accent called Received Pronunciation.
This is an artificial construct of the upper classes and is taught in what we in the UK call Public Schools. These are the cream of the fee-paying schools and cost up to £30 000 per term.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_school_(United_Kingdom)
(note the chapter on psychological harm these boarding schools do)
The reason these people are successful is not so much their ability to speak regional-accent free english but because their parents were rich and while at school and Uni made the right connections with other rich kids and their families. Their success is pretty much guaranteed from birth and largely independent from actual ability or talent. It is the 'old boy's network' at work and the reason why the UK will never be meritocratic.
A grave social injustice and a drag on the british society and economy.

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Sometimes people get out and still believe in meritocracy! Also note that these days high % foreign students so nice little earner for the UK.
 
#323
SY said:
Not in his case, no. For that matter, not in my case, either- I never really picked up the strong regional accent from the area where I was born and raised, probably because of television. Perhap that was also the cause of his speech patterns, I never asked about that.

I do understand your point- I had a bright young fellow from Southampton working for me; we were dealing with a supplier who was also from there. I asked my engineer why his accent sounded so different than our supplier's. "You use a glottal stop instead of a consonant in the middle of words like 'didn't' and he doesn't. How come?" The engineer looked somewhat embarrassed, stared at the floor, and said, "Clahss."
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In recent surveys 20% of english people admitted to consciously changing their accent to get a job (or a date), 28% feel discriminated against due to their regional accent and 80% of employers actually do discriminate.

28% of Britons feel discriminated against due to accent - ITV News
 
#324
We often do the same here. For a variety of reasons, a Southern accent is often perceived by Northerners as signalling "not very bright." Ironically, the single smartest human I have ever known has a very pronounced Southern accent (born and raised in Louisiana).
 
#327
SY said:
We often do the same here. For a variety of reasons, a Southern accent is often perceived by Northerners as signalling "not very bright." Ironically, the single smartest human I have ever known has a very pronounced Southern accent (born and raised in Louisiana).
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It is very difficult here to get the best education if you didn't go to a fee-paying school.

7% of UK pupils attend them but of the Oxford/Cambridge students (clearly the best Unis) 90% did attend those.

In Germany they looked at the british situation and its two-tier system of higher education. Since they did not want that they removed the universities ability to choose their own students.
You apply to a central office and they tell you which university you will go to.
Furthermore every student of a certain subject will sit exactly the same exam as everybody else at any other Uni and obviously at the same time.
Some time ago they allowed their unis to charge smallish fees but abolished that recently as it was found to give an unfair advantage to those with well-to-do parents and being detrimental to the nation as a whole in the long run.
 
#334
Hiten said:
Its not like we have abandoned the native language. Earlier subjects like geometry, history, sciences, algebra etc. were taught in regional language. Now more and more students are learning them in english besides 2 or 3 regional languages. So you can say English is slowly taking over.
Regards
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Hi and thanks a lot again for the interesting info.
Actually i see English slowly taking over in any multicultural situation (at least in a technical context),
Will see. Regards, gino
 
#335
Charles Darwin said:
The british people you've met with what you call very good english probably spoke in an accent called Received Pronunciation.
This is an artificial construct of the upper classes and is taught in what we in the UK call Public Schools. These are the cream of the fee-paying schools and cost up to £30 000 per term....
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Hi actually they were quite on the top of their organizations.
But what i would like to say is that a correct and clear diction improve the efficiency and in the end the quality of the communication.
A speaker who mumbles turns out to be annoying in general.
Also the accent is very important.
I have a friend with a strong and funny accent coming from the dialect of his region. He took lessons to mitigate this accent because people were laughing at him every time.
Also some effort made to be clearer it is a sign of respect for the listener.
It gives points.
Regards, gino
 
#339
I commented on how well my Dutch friend Enza spoke English, and asked her why? I suggested better schools over there. She said the reason was American/English language movies, music ...

For better or worse a lot of American culture and language has been picked up in other countries.
 
#340
SY said:
You haven't lived until you've seen Star Trek dubbed into German.
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I used to watch it dubbed into French and got to rather like it. Going back to English was difficult. One thing lacking in the dubbed version was all the little incidental sounds. Apparently they were mixed with the original dialog track and were not replaced.

One day a very strange show came on TV, dubbed into French. I couldn't figure out if it was strange on purpose, or just bad dubbing. It was called Twin Peaks. That was a surreal experience.
 
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