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nnoble's User Profile

Date registered: Tuesday, 28th August 2007
Region: China

Latest Forum Posts

    Posted: Wednesday, 17th March 2010
    Posted in: Forums > Study > American English, British English...who cares?
    John Xie, reference UK accents: general elections are looming in the UK. One possible way of listening to regional accents would be to get onto a UK news website with multi-media output and listen to sound clips from the leaders of the Welsh and Scottish Nationalist party leaders. The difference will be clear enough. However, you then have to bear in mind the Scottish cities of Glasgow and Edinburgh are just a few kilometers apart yet the difference in accent are stark.

    For the regional accents of England: Listening to the British Prime Minister Gordon Brown (Scot) will not help here. Perhaps regional news websites or radio programmes (Liverpool, Manchester, Devon and Cornwall) would give you a flavour of the mix of accents. BBC Radio 5 live (lots of 'phone in programmes) will provide you with a real potpourri.

    On a slightly related matter: Chinese students often become overly concerned with pronunciation and accents yet I find they rarely interfere with communication. This is not something I could say for a strong Glaswegian accent or some speakers in the south east of London.

    Possibly one of the purest and easiest British accents can be heard spoken by the inhabitants of the Shetland Isles, way up to the north of Scotland.
    Posted: Tuesday, 16th March 2010
    Posted in: Forums > Study > American English, British English...who cares?
    At a dinner in Beijing a professor (whatever that means these days) from Cornell University sat and said very little while a table of around a dozen people from around the world sat and chatted eagerly. Finally from across the table eminent professor (what does THAT mean!) lent forward toward me and stated "English no longer belongs to the British'. My immediate thoughts, after being thrust into the spotlight, were '...... he's straight from the ministry of the bleeding obvious.' Conscious of where I was and the need to be polite, I could only reply with "It never did." In retrospect this feeble response may have saved him further embarrassment and me from getting too tribal.

    Language does appear to evoke strong emotions, for example: ''Laotou, as a non-native English speaker, please keep your comments and opinions to yourself.'' The latter outburst I found shocking.

    The IELTS (English test) does not favour either British or US English and strives to avoid cultural bias. Neither does it overly concern itself with grammar since the emphasis is more on the ability to communicate, at least at the lower and intermediate band levels.

    British, US, Canadian, Indian or Chinese English is surely no more an issue than choosing between two brands of good beer, just as long as communication takes place?

    As to the original question? Much the same as the choice of beer, I may have a preference, but in the end who cares.
    Posted: Tuesday, 9th March 2010
    Posted in: Forums > Living in Kunming > Something that's been irking my...no offense to anyone
    If Chinese friends are mentioning this then it's counter to accepted behavior and those causing the offense through use of explicit and coarse language should at least know.

    Just in the last few days a friend and colleague caused great offense by not being aware and following etiquette at a meal. The behavior displayed caused me to wince and would have been deemed rude at a family table at home. And here is the problem, one westerner's unacceptable behavior is quite often then attributed to all westerners.
    A large number of Chinese may assume this is normal and accepted behavior at home when in fact bad manners can be recognized as such the world over by young and old alike. It works both ways: Kunming drivers habits would be recognized as bad the world over but then at least they're on home ground.
    Posted: Sunday, 21st February 2010
    Posted in: Forums > Living in Kunming > iPhone usage in KunMing
    So Micheju, you got fed up of paying and decided to take it for free. Must be tough owning an iPhone. I'd like a house and a car, no, perhaps a motorbike given the state of traffic in the rush hour. Any ideas for getting these without paying?

    Come to think of it financing basic needs is becoming tiresome, perhaps you have equally useful advice about where to steal rice, vegetables, tools, books........? Thanks in anticipation.
    Posted: Sunday, 29th November 2009
    Posted in: Forums > Living in Kunming > green appliances in kunming
    Green or otherwise I would recommend buying a brand, or from a store that will both provide AND honour a guarantee. A 'green' item may not end up helping to save the planet if you have to buy several of them over a period where one purchase should normally suffice.

    There are some good old Chinese manufactured washing machines for example that seem to last forever however I doubt they would be rated 'green' or energy efficient. Looking around my house; Midea, Haier, 'Little Swan' are just three brands of electrical goods that have provided trouble free service over a period of several years.
    In Kunmings larger department stores and electrical stores (Gome) items such as refrigerators and washing machines are on display with internationally recognised 'energy efficiency rating' labels offering clear comparison between models and brands.
    After sales service, when it is available, is usually comprehensive, extremely speedy and efficient and much better than anything I ever experienced prior to coming to China.
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