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I’ve seen this happen everywhere, every country has their own version of English, where they use English words but not how they should be used. Notable example

by anuila 6y ago

I’ve seen this happen everywhere, every country has their own version of English, where they use English words but not how they should be used. Notable examples for me are “smart working” in Italy to refer to “work from home” and “maintain cleanliness” in the Philippines instead of “keep clean.” Both phrases irk me every time I hear them. I think every language learner should go through a list of false cognates [1] to tighten up their dictionary once they reach a certain level. I’m learning Spanish now and the amount of words that seem identical to Italian but have a different meaning is astounding. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_cognate https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_cognate

hehetrthrthrjn 6y ago
Both of those examples are just local idiomatic usages, there's nothing incorrect about them. You get those wherever English is spoken, including variations within countries and cities.
- anuila 6y ago
  My gripe is that they shouldn’t be used in the first place (just say “lavoro da remoto”) and then they’re used super awkwardly anyway: - You should prefer working in “smart working” mode - Classes will be available in “smart working” (Non-quoted words would be in Italian) When you see such contrived sentences, you know that there’s an easier way to speak.
teacpde 6y ago
Non-native English speaker here, to me “maintain cleanliness” just feels a bit formal compared to “keep clean”, but doesn’t feel incorrect at all. It makes me wonder how many phrases the I speak/write feel incorrect to native English speakers.
- hehetrthrthrjn 6y ago
  You don't need to worry. There is no such thing as a generic native speaker of English, since one can only learn a local form natively. Every speaker of English is offending some native speaker of English somewhere. Generally speaking, native speakers need to get over themselves. English has become the global language (which no-one got to vote on) so native speakers should accept local forms and foreign influences and invasions, especially since English has been doing that since its inception.
exidy 6y ago
Those aren't too hard to comprehend. The one that gets me in Philippines is the idiomatic usage "until now." Example phrase "The bus didn't arrive until now." "Standard" English: The bus arrived as I was speaking PH English: The bus has not arrived yet I believe this is a literal translation from Filipino "hanggang ngayon" where "ngayon" does double duty as both "now" and "currently / presently".

by anuila 6y ago

hehetrthrthrjn 6y ago

Both of those examples are just local idiomatic usages, there's nothing incorrect about them. You get those wherever English is spoken, including variations within countries and cities.

anuila 6y ago
My gripe is that they shouldn’t be used in the first place (just say “lavoro da remoto”) and then they’re used super awkwardly anyway: - You should prefer working in “smart working” mode - Classes will be available in “smart working” (Non-quoted words would be in Italian) When you see such contrived sentences, you know that there’s an easier way to speak.

teacpde 6y ago

Non-native English speaker here, to me “maintain cleanliness” just feels a bit formal compared to “keep clean”, but doesn’t feel incorrect at all. It makes me wonder how many phrases the I speak/write feel incorrect to native English speakers.

hehetrthrthrjn 6y ago
You don't need to worry. There is no such thing as a generic native speaker of English, since one can only learn a local form natively. Every speaker of English is offending some native speaker of English somewhere. Generally speaking, native speakers need to get over themselves. English has become the global language (which no-one got to vote on) so native speakers should accept local forms and foreign influences and invasions, especially since English has been doing that since its inception.

exidy 6y ago

Those aren't too hard to comprehend. The one that gets me in Philippines is the idiomatic usage "until now." Example phrase "The bus didn't arrive until now." "Standard" English: The bus arrived as I was speaking PH English: The bus has not arrived yet I believe this is a literal translation from Filipino "hanggang ngayon" where "ngayon" does double duty as both "now" and "currently / presently".