MERGED: Modern Education, Literacy and English Proficiency

[potterboy]

---

<---- adapts...

[annais]

i think most schools in the philippines can be NICE training ground since our educational system here in the philippines puts a greater focus on english rather than science and technology. if you are looking for GOOD schools, ateneo schools top my list (love your own.)

[didgeridoo]

read read and read english books

[louie007]

sacred heart school for boys. hee hee.

OT: sacred ka maling? wat batch?

[louie007]

if you say that our english-advantage has made us "globally competitive" .. i think that is too much to handle.

just because we KNOW.. not necessarily speak better.. but KNOW enlish more than other asian countries.. doesn't make us great competitors globally.

..and just bcoz US firms are outsourcing to countries like the philippines bec. of such advantage, again, it's not enough to make us globally competitive.

[crinkle]

@vern: Please don’t give me an analysis based on a movie and your momentary stay at Minnesota. I understand that there are a lot of accents. i get calls from all parts of North America and beyond. i'm working for a travel agency... considering that the bussiest airports are from the East Coast, most of our calls are from the area. getting used to their accent, i probably sound like i was from that part of the states.

[vern]

1. I grew up here. Cebu was my second home.
2. People love to brag about their English and I can tell you now that people here and in many other places know when their calls aren't answered by Americans no matter how natural they think they sound. You know Mikel, Mikel speaks great English, yet you can tell he didn't grow up in Canada because Canadians have a distinct accent. You working in a travel agency is irrelevant. Thats like saying a Mexican who comes and lives in the US for twenty years isn't going to sound Mexican in any way after that. That isn't something to be ashamed of ... but is fact of linquistics. On the contrary, the mix of different accents makes English a little less dull. I lived in Cebu for 10 years and I'm always going to have Cebuano tendencies whether I try or not.
3. The busiest airport is Chicago, although I am sure you are aware of that ... and that isn't in the East Coast.
4. Spoken English is not business English. The English you hear in the ghetto though natural is not English that you would use in your line of work now would it?
5. You are trying to say you have an East Coast accent? Say ... someone from Jersey? or maybe from the Southeast? Nevermind, don't answer that. Lets just settle with ... "somewhere from that part". If you must insist you sound so naturally from some part of the East Coast based on your co-worker's professional opinions, then good for you.

[crinkle]

of course. i know real Americans would know who's from where. no one's bragging bout their accent. there's no need to. it ain't important. as long as you could understand each other, then that's good enough. if there's a need to brag, it wouldn't be online of course coz that's just pointless. busiest airport? with the number of landings and take offs, yes, maybe O'Hare. but with the number of passengers, i think Hartsfield would be it. Memphis is also a big one... but most of the problematic calls come from the rest of the East Coast that's why i'm more inclined to getting an accent of someone from Georgia, perhaps. not Jersey. i know how most of them sound like. i believe i'm old enough know the difference between spoken and business English. i don't just speak with Americans on the phone nor exclusively at work. that'd be too lonely. i'm just answering your question but i guess you'll never know unless you actually hear me talking.

[maling]

hmm... are u two arguing on whether an individual born and raised in some other place could sound as naturally speaking as someone born from that place??

vern... i have to disagree. that mexican u are referring to can sound just as good as any american if the mexican was exposed to american culture and language for a very very VEEEEEEry long time.

i think personally it all depends on your environment...i mean you could be living in the hamptons and still immerse yourself in cebuano culture and retain most of your cebuano qualities.

[vern]

maling ... that is where you go wrong. You mention ... "just as good as any other American" .... but what does that really mean? Which part of America? There are millions of Mexican Americans, and they have their distinct accent ... that doesn't make them any less American as opposed to full blooded raised and living in New York ... New Yorker. So what do you mean when you refer to "any other American"? Now that I have gotten that out of the way, what I think you are trying to say is someone taken out of a foreign country will be able to pack up and move somewhere in the United States and assume every nuance of the local spoken English. Did I get that correct? Mind you, we are talking about adults ... not children ... for children can easily be shaped and changed. Now maybe you didn't understand me so I'll say it clearer this time. An ADULT that was born, raised, and lived in a different region and then transplanted to a foreign land whether within the same country or not will ALWAYS have tendencies (no matter how subtle) of the language he/she grew up with. There have been many studies done on the evolution of language ... and they all seem to indicate that the spoken word once learned as adults is more indicative of where you came from more than any other human trait. So tell me, how many adults do you know have completely lost their connection and dare I say ... embarassment of their old land that they completely defy lingquistics?

was exposed to american culture and language for a very very VEEEEEEry long time.

You obviously haven't met my mother (sorry Mom) or 90 year old Russian immigrants who have been here since before WW2.