1. We were talking art, not science. I did not write philosophic opinions and
environmental reports in the same voice - or style, format, jargon or tense.
2. If Americans deviate from proper English, they only have themselves to blame
for any confusion. Even calling themselves Americans is a kind of geographical
arrogance. Personally, I speak both standard English and Australian English,
two very different things. And an Australian in Denmark may well have attempted
to ‘knock up’ the maid. Go for your life, mate.
3. The fact that you are not using your native language should not confer
‘weight’ - you may be talking rubbish or be in error. Admiration,,
encouragement - yes but deference, no.
Andrew Fildes
afildes@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:afildes@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
www.soultheft.com
> On 25 Dec 2015, at 9:17 am, Brian Gray via olympus
> <olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> Hi
> This discussion reminds me of the similar exchanges that have taken
> place elsewhere about how scientists should write when formally
> reporting their work. My experience when dealing with papers in
> european languages was that it was much easier to understand a paper in
> another language when it used the conventional format, which in my
> working days meant using the passive voice and a relatively limited
> vocabulary. Also, when considering reports by native English
> speakers, any examples which I have seen in which non-scientists
> (usually language specialists) attempted to convert papers into more
> conventional language with a wider vocabulary actually lost some of the
> significant details.
> Thus I do not think there is any absolute 'right' or 'wrong', but
> the writer should consider the expected reader. Abbreviations or
> special phrases can easily cause problems and misunderstandings for a
> reader with a different native tongue. In a related context, I
> remember the confusion many years ago when, in Denmark, an Englishman
> said he would go and 'knock-up' a maid who had overslept and not
> produced breakfast in our hostel: americans present were extremely
> surprised. Certainly, there was no reason why 'UK english' should have
> taken precedence over 'american english' in that establishment, but it
> was a warning to all present of potential problems of using idioms (eg.
> 'knock up' instead of 'wake up').
> In the case of photographic discussions on this list, I suggest
> that we should give most weight to the views of those contributors for
> whom english of any form is not their native language.
> Brian
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