Freightdog wrote: ↑Tue Apr 16, 2019 4:01 pm Can I have a glass of milk? Yes, you can.
(Waits in confusion until the similar question is cautiously uttered;)

May I have a glass of milk? Yes, you may.
(Is given a glass of milk)

...

Give the Khmer a break for a moment.

Yep, give them a break - for many of them their spoken English is better than my spoken Khmer.

If anyone wants to check their own understanding of their native-English, try writing an explanation (WITHOUT resorting to Google or other sources) of how could, would and should are different to each other.

Freightdog wrote: ↑Tue Apr 16, 2019 4:01 pm Give the Khmer a break for a moment.

I am not suggesting it is bad or wrong, just different. I have seen people confused because they didnt understand how others express it differently.

I share this so people coming across similar situations may be aware of potential misunderstandings. They may ask additional questions to clarify the situation.

There are times when I ask more questions.

TOG wrote: ↑Tue Apr 16, 2019 7:20 pm I take it your not good at European languages then?

No. I dont speak European languages.

If anyone has examples from other languages, feel free to share.

Interesting article on how language affects wealth

[media]https://www.businessinsider.com/how-lan ... lth-2015-7[/media]

Languages can either be "futureless" or "futured," he explains. When speaking a futureless language, the way you express the future is similar to how you would express the present; the opposite holds true for futured languages, in which the future is expressed distinctly from the present.

For example, if you're talking about the weather in English (a futured language), you would say, "It rained yesterday," "It is raining now," or "It will rain tomorrow," depending on the context and timing of the event.

"Every time you discuss the future or any kind of future event, grammatically you're forced to cleave that from the present and treat it as if it's something viscerally different," explains Chen. You have to divide up the time spectrum in order to speak correctly in English.

A futureless language such as German or Japanese, on the other hand, would use the same verb conjugation for the past, present, and future, which, translated into English, would be "It rained tomorrow" or "It rained now."

According to Chen, this subtle difference in grammar could help explain why the US saves much less than other OECD countries.

explorer wrote:

TOG wrote: ↑Tue Apr 16, 2019 7:20 pm I take it your not good at European languages then?

No. I dont speak European languages.

If anyone has examples from other languages, feel free to share.

English is made up of a cocktail of European languages inc. Celtic, Germanic, Latin, Greek, Scandinavian, French...
for example Common 'English' words like 'Photography' is actually from Greek 'Phos' meaning 'light' and 'Graphe' meaning 'drawing' Photography = Drawing with Light,
same with Telephone is also from Greek 'Tele' meaning 'afar' and 'Foni' meaning 'voice/sound' Telephone = Voice from Afar
Scandinavian words in English like Cog, Ski, Nudge, Hug, Cozy, Husband, Knife, Window, in the east Midlands and Yorkshire we still use a lot of less common words which are classed as Dialect,
even most of the places we live are of Scandinavian origin all placenames ending in -ham, -thorpe, -by, all basically meaning 'village' ... just around where i live theres Hykeham, Skellingthorpe, Saxilby, Thorpe-on-the-hill, Coleby, Bassingham, Whisby, Navenby, Collingham to name a few
The English word 'By-Law' also comes from this 'Village Law' the local authorities

Back to the time...
In England its far more common to say...
quarter-to-seven (6:45)
ten-to-ten (9:50)
half-eight (8:30)
twenty-past-seven (7:20)
quarter-past-two (2:15)
just-gone-five (5:00-5:05)

Saying seven-forty-five sounds like i have to put on a shitty bastardised American accent and say April-twentieth too instead of Twentieth-of-April



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My missus didn't understand at all, when I'd say " quarter to...", she only knew the metric, x.45. She's learnt my weird ways now and accepts but does not adopt them.

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explorer wrote: ↑Tue Apr 16, 2019 7:25 pm

Freightdog wrote: ↑Tue Apr 16, 2019 4:01 pm You start with ‘Cambodians’, and then subtly modify to a ‘speaker of another language’.

The negative question example is common in many different languages, including Khmer.

I don't think it's common to ask negative questions in Khmer, but they often ask questions like:

"You like to go, or not?"

A Khmer will rarely ask a negative question like 'You don't like to go, do you?'. I can't remember ever hearing that kind.

Jamie_Lambo wrote: ↑Mon Apr 22, 2019 2:26 pm English is made up of a cocktail of European languages inc. Celtic, Germanic, Latin, Greek, Scandinavian, French...

Don't forget Frisian...

Jamie_Lambo wrote: ↑Mon Apr 22, 2019 2:26 pm
Back to the time...
In England its far more common to say...
quarter-to-seven (6:45)
ten-to-ten (9:50)
half-eight (8:30)
twenty-past-seven (7:20)
quarter-past-two (2:15)
just-gone-five (5:00-5:05)

Saying seven-forty-five sounds like i have to put on a shitty bastardised American accent and say April-twentieth too instead of Twentieth-of-April

I've typically said "half passed eight" for 8:30 and for "odd" times I'd say "Eight Twenty Seven" vs. "Twenty Seven passed Eight" or 9:48 I'd say "Nine Forty Eight" vs. "Forty Eight Passed Nine" but for the rest of that I agree.

JerryCan wrote: ↑Mon Apr 22, 2019 3:48 pm

Jamie_Lambo wrote: ↑Mon Apr 22, 2019 2:26 pm English is made up of a cocktail of European languages inc. Celtic, Germanic, Latin, Greek, Scandinavian, French...

Don't forget Frisian...

Jamie_Lambo wrote: ↑Mon Apr 22, 2019 2:26 pm
Back to the time...
In England its far more common to say...
quarter-to-seven (6:45)
ten-to-ten (9:50)
half-eight (8:30)
twenty-past-seven (7:20)
quarter-past-two (2:15)
just-gone-five (5:00-5:05)

Saying seven-forty-five sounds like i have to put on a shitty bastardised American accent and say April-twentieth too instead of Twentieth-of-April

I've typically said "half passed eight" for 8:30 and for "odd" times I'd say "Eight Twenty Seven" vs. "Twenty Seven passed Eight" or 9:48 I'd say "Nine Forty Eight" vs. "Forty Eight Passed Nine" but for the rest of that I agree.

after half past you say "to" instead of "past" so you would say 12 mins to 10

I just noticed you wrote "In England" not "In English". Forgive me, I'm from a different colony.