Re^2: "Question" vs "Doubt"

In an abstract sense virtually any dialect of English can be said to be correct. Yet virtually all of us accept that our colloquial dialects are sometimes wrong, and we accept that there is a "correct" way to say it even if we don't speak that way.

Why? Because educated people are taught to speak "correctly". So speaking that way makes you sound more educated and intelligent. Which makes people respond better to you. (For instance they are more likely to give you a good job.)

Admittedly there are actually multiple dialects associated with education. However as far as most of the world is concerned, only two really count. Those two are standard American English (as spoken on most American TV), and the Queen's English (as spoken on the BBC). Those have an undue impact on the speech at the top English speaking universities (who have taught more than their share of world leaders), news organizations and markets. Therefore those are the dialects of international affairs and business.

Therefore it is reasonable to call something incorrect if it is incorrect according to both of those dialects. Because worldwide people will agree that it makes you sound uneducated. This is true no matter how common or well-established that speech pattern may be somewhere in the world.

So in an international forum like this, using "doubt" where you mean "question" will cause people to think that you don't know English very well. Perhaps you live in India and everyone you know speaks that way. You still created a suboptimal impression. And this is not just true for this forum. This is going to be true in general.

That said, I personally respect the fact that we have people here from all over the world, including people for whom English is a second or third language. If I believe effort was put out and I can understand what is meant, I will respond. We're here to talk about Perl, not English. However I still notice it. And I guarantee that others do as well.

Comment on Re^2: "Question" vs "Doubt"

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re^3: "Question" vs "Doubt" by LanX (Saint) on Jul 01, 2009 at 15:03 UTC
> However I still notice it. And I guarantee that others do as well. Sorry, and actually I personally really don't care! Linguists agree that "correct English" is extremely hard to speak, because of an unfavorable factor of exceptions per rules. Spelling and phonetics are a mess (... do you know why "island" is spelled with an s? Because educated English scholars in 17th century decided that it should more look like the Latin word "insula".) I'm fluent in 4-6 languages (depends where I spend my last holidays 8), so how many languages does the average educated English speaker speak fluently? English neither has a standard pronunciation ... ...nor a standard spelling. The English vocabulary is the biggest in the world just after Chinese. English is subject of a massive decentralization, nowadays in India alone 60 Million speakers consider English as their mother tongue. Maybe one day Bollywood might replace Hollywood in importance. Will it still help to know words like breakdance if everybody wants to dance bhangra? And last but not least English is subject of a massive creolization. (I know what a New Yorker means with "be a mensh", but do Brits understand this?) Sorry if I sound offensive, I really like speaking languages correctly and I'm constantly struggling to improve my "expressiveness" (had to look this word up ;) but speaking correct educated English is just mission impossible without spending at least a year in Britain or the US, but I hope you got my points. It's important to be understood, I don't care if I sound uneducated. And those who are not understood just won't get much help ... personally I'm just ignoring those posts. "Just putting this node here so I can refer to it in the future. Thanks for the opportunity." Cheers Rolf BTW: The best strategy to sound "educated" in English is to occasionally integrate some French words (or Latin, Greek or even German). People will look puzzled and suspect they missed to look up this special expression in the 17th volume of Collins dictionary ... ;-)	[reply]
Re^4: "Question" vs "Doubt" by davorg (Chancellor) on Jul 01, 2009 at 15:11 UTC
speaking correct educated English is just mission impossible without spending at least a year in Britain or the US Spending a year in the US is unlikely to help much. You'll just end up speaking that "not quite English" that the colonials do :-) -- See the Copyright notice on my home node. Perl training courses	[reply]
Re^5: "Question" vs "Doubt" by LanX (Saint) on Jul 01, 2009 at 15:28 UTC
Well I still remember when I asked my (very British) uncle in Portsmouth why my cousin pronounced "either and neither" in an American way. Five words reply "New Kids On The Block" and a gaze of disgust. 8) OTOH American TV even tried to remake Coupling to make it understandable for the masses! (OMFG!) Cheers Rolf UPDATE: OK I have to admit this might be just temporary phenomenons - recently the number of girls in France and Israel choosing German at school raised significantly because of a boy group ... this effect might diminish after puberty has finished. =)	[reply]
Re^5: "Question" vs "Doubt" by Anonymous Monk on Jul 01, 2009 at 15:23 UTC
Aye captain, yarr!	[reply]
Re^6: "Question" vs "Doubt" by LanX (Saint) on Jul 01, 2009 at 16:30 UTC
Re^5: "Question" vs "Doubt" by Anonymous Monk on Jul 02, 2009 at 14:17 UTC
You Brits should be careful with what you say about the US, especially so close to the Fourth of July.... Lest you forget, that's the day a rather famous letter was written to George III, the gist of which was to tell you Brits to get out of our faces. Then we roundly kicked your back sides out of here (with a little help from a guy named Lafayette, to be sure). But somehow, y'all didn't get the point and came back in 1812 for an attempt at revenge. So we kicked your back sides out of here again (all by ourselves that time). At least y'all got the point on the second round.... 8-)	[reply]
Re^6: "Question" vs "Doubt" by davorg (Chancellor) on Jul 02, 2009 at 14:30 UTC
Re^7: "Question" vs "Doubt" by Anonymous Monk on Jul 02, 2009 at 14:35 UTC
Re^7: "Question" vs "Doubt" by Anonymous Monk on Jul 02, 2009 at 14:39 UTC
Re^6: "Question" vs "Doubt" by tilly (Archbishop) on Jul 03, 2009 at 03:29 UTC
Re^4: "Question" vs "Doubt" by tilly (Archbishop) on Jul 03, 2009 at 03:42 UTC
As I tried to make clear, while I can't help what I notice, I don't much care either. However regardless of how little you or I care, there are many situations in which it makes a difference. Regarding the future, current economic trends do suggest that Indian versions of English will become important. However they are not important now. Similarly if you're seeking to make a professional impression you don't want to use slang that is associated with any particular region or ethnic group. For example I would avoid saying "mensch" in a formal presentation. And for the record, you are succeeding in using English well despite the fact that you're complaining about the impossibility of doing so.	[reply]
Re^5: "Question" vs "Doubt" by LanX (Saint) on Jul 03, 2009 at 09:18 UTC
Maybe I didn't make clear that I'm talking about the expected standard of this board not about applying for a job. I know that I make plenty of mistakes and do not really write "educated" English. But it's not only not bothering me ... it's important for the sake of communication that it doesn't hinder me to talk frankly! Personally I preferre much more foreigners who talk easily but make errors than people who elaborate flawless phrases for minutes. Therefore it's much more important to be understood than to sound educated. And for the posters which are not understood it's pretty unlikely that they will really understand any reply. So better ignore... > And for the record, you are succeeding in using English well despite the fact that you're complaining about the impossibility of doing so. Thanks! Well mixing German with French helps. Spellchecking is activated. And some strategies to pretend intellectuality just work in most languages alike... ;-) Cheers Rolf	[reply]