Doubtful. He was just making a general observation... possibly in jest. Take Roff's response for example.
Unfortunately, as someone who lives in the southern United States, it isn't too far from the truth. My wife is a teacher and the public schools in the area are consistently receiving poor marks, specifically when it comes to reading, writing, or speaking English (or science, math, history, and most anything else for that matter). The state (and this area specifically) typically lags behind the national average.
There are a few foreigners who recently arrived in Canada who can hardly speak, cannot read nor write and therefore have horrible English.
Most are from the USA.
There are so many foreigners living in some areas of England that even people who were born their and have English parents speak with a slight foreign accent.
There are so many foreigners living in some areas of England that even people who were born their and have English parents speak with a slight foreign accent.
Went for a day out in London a few years back, didn't speak to a single English person all day - everyone in shops, resturants, bars etc. was foreign!.
However, for a bit of North Derbyshire/South Yorkshire, how about:
"If tha ever does owt for nowt, do it for thee sen"
Not txt speak, just local dialect - any non-UK type understand it?, or even UK types?
Years ago in Canada a teacher became a leader of government.
He re-vamped the school system so the teachers learned how to teach and the kids actually learned how to learn.
But with the foreigners who have very poor English the school system falls to the lowest denominator. Then the smart kids get bored with hearing the same basics over and over.
The easiest rule for you to learn right away is that all new sentences in English begin with capital letters (for instance, "the" in this sentence begins with a capital: "The"). Notice also that the word English should be capitalized when it's referring to the language, culture, or anything from the country of England, even if the word English is being used as a noun or adjective.
I fear the computers with packages like WORD and others, have built in facilities for these capitalisation and space for the next sentance, are responsible for the state of affairs. Over a period people lost track perhaps, that they have to type in properly. It is a self realisation as I was also doing similar mistakes and now feel sad or bad and I thank all our members and the adminstration for putting up with the type of bad mannerism I had so far.
In the mean time , I have really enjoyed the shortcuts for ":mu:" and other such things. Without them, the technical Engilish would have been further BAD.
But with the foreigners who have very poor English the school system falls to the lowest denominator. Then the smart kids get bored with hearing the same basics over and over.
Not that the educational system is that good over here in the UK but if they've got one thing right, then it's sets. Each subject class is split up into three or more sets, from the less able students to the brightest students. The great thing about this, is that you can be in different sets for different subjects and even the exam papers had up to three levels of difficulty.
I was poor at English and French so I was in the bottom set for them but I was alright at Maths so I was in the middle set for it and good at Science and Electronics so I was in the top set for them. I sat the foundation exam papers (you could attain grades G to C) for English and French, the Intermediate paper for Maths (this covered grades E to B) and the higher papers for Electronics and Science (these covered grades D to A*).
The special needs department at my school was pretty good too. I have pretty severe dyslexia and my handwriting is totally crap, put it this way I couldn't have even completed some of the exams even if I was allowed to copy them! For some reason I wasn't allowed to do them on a computer so they provided an amanuensis to write for me as well as extra time as my reading is also a bit slow. The only subject I didn't receive any extra help for was English as it would have defeated the purpose of having an English exam. I'm quite sure that foreign students would have some extra dispensation of one form or another, whether it be extra English lessons or an interpreter for some exams.
That's awesome! The Greater Manchester example is the closest to my family's origin, geographically. Can't believe scousers aren't included in that, though!
There are a few foreigners who recently arrived in Canada who can hardly speak, cannot read nor write and therefore have horrible English.
Most are from the USA.
Me thinks yer jes jellus of my corn cob pipe, hickory stick, ands my snappy duds!
Certainly Canada must have its share of northern woodsmen who are backward hermits or similar. Instead of making and selling illegal moonshine, they probably trap and trade beaver pelts year round. You can't get any goofier than this bunch of goobers from the north: