Bad Engrish?

On Jun 28, 3:00 pm, Dallas wrote:
Scary.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWDEIvjwaFU

--
Dallas

Oh ... good ... God!

On Fri, 29 Jun 2007 03:36:56 -0000, wrote in
.com:

The Air China pilot certainly didn't meet the english requirement.


Perhaps some Chinese natives aren't evolved enough to speak English:



http://www.newscientist.com/article/...d=FDDOLFCFABIO
Speaking like a Chinese native is in the genes
02 June 2007

Nora Schultz

ENQUIRE in Chinese after the health of someone's mother and you
could well receive an answer about the well-being of their horse.
Subtle pronunciation differences in tonal languages such as
Chinese change the meaning of words, which is one reason why they
are so hard for speakers of non-tonal languages like English to
learn.

Babies of all backgrounds can grow up speaking any language, so
there is no such thing as "a gene for Chinese". There may,
however, be something in our genes that affects how easily we can
learn certain languages. So say Dan Dediu and Robert Ladd of the
University of Edinburgh, UK, who have discovered the first clear
correlation between language and genetic variation.

Using statistical analysis, the pair show that people in parts of
the world where non-tonal languages are spoken are more likely to
carry different, more recently evolved forms of two brain
development genes, ASPM and microcephalin, than people in tonal
regions (Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, DOI:
10.1073/pnas.0610848104).

"This is exciting because most genes and language features that
vary at the population level are either not correlated or have a
correlation that can be explained by geography or history," says
Ladd. In ASPM and microcephalin, neither geography nor history can
account for the correlation.

Since both genes have a function in brain development, Dediu and
Ladd propose that they may have subtle effects on the organisation
of the cerebral cortex, including the areas that process language.
Brain anatomy differs between English speakers who are good at
learning tonal languages and those who find it harder, says Ladd
so now he wants to see whether similar learning differences can be
found in carriers of the ASPM and microcephalin variant genes.

A remaining puzzle is the role of natural selection. The newer
gene variants that are common in non-tonal regions must have been
positively selected (New Scientist, 11 March 2006, p 30), but
nobody has been able to show how they might provide a selective
advantage. Dediu and Ladd don't think their proposed linguistic
effect could be the answer. "There is absolutely no reason to
think that non-tonal languages are in any way more fit for purpose
than tonal languages," says Ladd.

Bernard Crespi of Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, in British
Columbia, Canada, has an explanation for the older genes, however.
"Tonal languages may have some similarities to 'motherese' [baby
talk]," which apparently helps infants learn language, he says.

From issue 2606 of New Scientist magazine, 02 June 2007, page 15

AJ wrote:
On Jun 28, 3:00 pm, Dallas wrote:
Scary.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWDEIvjwaFU

--
Dallas

Oh ... good ... God!



Yes?




--
Mortimer Schnerd, RN
mschnerdatcarolina.rr.com

"Mxsmanic" wrote in message
...
El Maximo writes:

I don't give a **** what you think. I also know that many others also
don't
give a **** what you think.

Then why do you feel compelled to tell me so?

In the slim hope that you'll come to your senses and realize that you are
nothing but an irritant.

And why do you need to speculate that others feel as you do?

It's not speculation. Try re-reading what I wrote.

Are you uncomfortable with your own opinions if they don't match those of
the club?

If it were a club, we would have a method to prevent you from polluting.

Shirl writes:

How much more standard can it get than, "Were you cleared to the ramp?"
The question couldn't GET any more basic than that, and even after
asking four times, the guy *did not understand* that it was a
*question*, NOT a clearance. IMO, that clearly falls under the heading
of not "understanding" English. Not to mention his inability to LISTEN
and comprehend. How many times did the controller have to repeat that he
was saying "Mike/Alpha", NOT November? The guy was so intent on reading
back his instruction that he failed to even HEAR what it was accurately.

Agreed.

Thomas Borchert writes:

It's an easy sentence, agreed. However, it is NOT a sentence in the AIM
nor the Pilot/Controller Glossary or the ICAO standard phraseology.

The AIM and glossary do not provide sentences, only sentence fragments (with
rare exceptions).

It is
also not the proper way to phrase a question in standard phraseology. It
is plain English, but that doesn't help a foreigner trained to expect
standard aviation phraseology. And THAT is exactly what standard
phraseology is for.

If the foreigner can understand English, he can understand "non-standard"
phrases.

"Cubdriver" usenet AT danford DOT net
You might try landing at Liverpool with a
controller speaking clearly in a Liverpudlian accent.


I have an English friend that tells a story of renting a 172 on vacation in
Miami.

It seems that he got a Cuban-American controller and between the two of
them, neither could understand each other. He actually had to end his
flight and try again later after a shift change.

Dallas

"Mxsmanic" wrote in message
...
Cubdriver usenet AT danford DOT net writes:

Spoken like a true monophone American!

No, spoken like someone who is bilingual and teaches ESL for a living.

You've admitted you don't make a very good living at it, therefore you must
be a poor instructor.

El Maximo writes:

You've admitted you don't make a very good living at it, therefore you must
be a poor instructor.

There is no correlation between the quality of the instructor and the pay she
receives in my area.

Shirl,

The question couldn't GET any more basic than that, and even after
asking four times, the guy *did not understand* that it was a
*question*, NOT a clearance.


Missed that one. Again, there are NO questions asked by changing
inflection in standard phraseology. The proper way would have been
"confirm you have been cleared..." or something like that.

--
Thomas Borchert (EDDH)