At 08:45 AM 11/1/1998 +0100, Chris you wrote:
>
>Seriously though, non-native speakers of English would do well to learn
>from one side or the other to avoid confusion. The differences make
>learning English a bit "PhD-level".
>
>Chris
>
Hi Chris,
We had some Russian students at the University just prior to the breakup of
the USSR who were here on a study abroad to improve their English. They
were very good students and were studying to become English teachers back
in Mother Russia, and at the beginning (1989) they were very nearly
celebrities over here.
The English they had learned was your received, Ox-bridge variety. This has
since changed somewhat as Russia has, perhaps, extended its focus beyond
Europe in this respect (ahem). In any case, at a social gathering I asked
one of the students how her English was progressing and she said she was
pretty sure it was getting worse.
Apparently her lessons were going very well. ;-)
Joel
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