[General] Do you think he speaks english flawlessly?

[EngFan]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEZ-bGLBJzk&feature=share

Do you think he speaks english flawlessly, and totally same as native speaker?

 

[bhaisahab]

Re: Do you think he speak english flawlessly?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEZ-bGLBJzk&feature=share

Do you think he speaks English flawlessly, and totally the same as native speaker?

He speaks very well, not completely like a native but does that matter?

 

[EngFan]

Re: Do you think he speak english flawlessly?

He speaks very well, not completely like a native but does that matter?

Basically it's not a matter but he's selling himself to teach ppl how to speak english like a native speaker, and he says native speaker wouldn't know he is not a native speaker when he speaks english, do you agree with it and do you think he is qualified to do that?

 

[5jj]

Re: Do you think he speak english flawlessly?

Basically it[STRIKE]'s not a[/STRIKE]doesn't matter but he's selling himself to teach people how to speak [STRIKE]e[/STRIKE] English like a native speaker,. [STRIKE]d[/STRIKE] Do you think he is qualified?

He speaks English a lot better than many people who are qualified to teach it.

 

[Tdol]

Re: Do you think he speak english flawlessly?

He's got very close to native speaker level, so he is probably qualified to help others get that far. He may slightly overstate his case, but he is good.

 

[tedtmc]

Re: Do you think he speak english flawlessly?

He's got very close to native speaker level, so he is probably qualified to help others get that far. He may slightly overstate his case but he is good.

Tdol
Could you please elaborate on the underlined part?

As he was reading from a prepared script, he was only demonstrating his reading skills. He does sound British to me.
I think you can't tell how well he speaks unless we hear him engaged in a conversation with another person, unprepared.

not a teacher

 

[bhaisahab]

Re: Do you think he speak english flawlessly?

Tdol
Could you please elaborate on the underlined part?

As he was reading from a prepared script, he was only demonstrating his reading skills. He does sound British to me.
I think you can't tell how well he speaks unless we hear him engaged in a conversation with another person, unprepared.

not a teacher

He overstates his case by saying that a native speaker would not know that he is not a native speaker. This is not true, as has been demonstrated here by native speakers.

 

[EngFan]

Re: Do you think he speak english flawlessly?

Thank you for all your replies. As a native speaker, how do you consider this person is not a native speaker when he speaks English? Based on his YouTube video, could you all possibly advise that what he needs to improve, so that he can speak English as same as native speaker?

 

[Tdol]

Re: Do you think he speak english flawlessly?

Some of his vowel sounds are off - story - and his intonation can be wrong- the way he says tree when telling the story. He wouldn't convince a native speaker that he is also a native speaker, but he is good.

 

[Tdol]

In Pygmalion, Shaw says that [i]t is impossible for an Englishman to open his mouth without making some other Englishman hate or despise him. He's exaggerating, but as with many languages people have preferences for certain regions, etc. It may be more marked in a class-conscious society, which the UK is still but was much more so in Shaw's time. You will hear some people disparaging certain accents.

 

[Abstract Idea]

... and nobody says a word about the story? Really interesting.

The personification of the noun "tree" is also interesting: any particular reason to
choose it as a "she" instead of a "he"? The corresponding noun for "tree" in Portuguese
is a feminine word while in German it is masculine.

Well this is just to point our that in 4:30 of the video, the subtitles say ' ... said the tree, straightening herself up as much as she could, ... ' . In this part I hear the speaker
saying ' ... as much as he could, ...'. At least to my non-native speaker's ears it seems
he pronounces he instead of she in this specific part.

 

[BobSmith]

[not a teacher]

... and nobody says a word about the story? Really interesting. This is a very famous story in the U.S. I'd say 90% of all school children have been read this story at one point or another.

The personification of the noun "tree" is also interesting: any particular reason to
choose it as a "she" instead of a "he"? The corresponding noun for "tree" in Portuguese
is a feminine word while in German it is masculine. English nouns do not have genders. When something is personified, it is [almost] always a "she".

Well this is just to point our that in 4:30 of the video, the subtitles say ' ... said the tree, straightening herself up as much as she could, ... ' . In this part I hear the speaker
saying ' ... as much as he could, ...'. At least to my non-native speaker's ears it seems
he pronounces he instead of she in this specific part. It doesn't sound that bad to me. It just sounds "lazy", as if he's not a practiced speaker. I notice right after, that he doesn't quite pronounce the "P" in stump, and he often says "I'm" when the text says "I am".

 

[BobK]

...

Well this is just to point our that in 4:30 of the video, the subtitles say ' ... said the tree, straightening herself up as much as she could, ... ' . In this part I hear the speaker
saying ' ... as much as he could, ...'. At least to my non-native speaker's ears it seems
he pronounces he instead of she in this specific part.

Good catch:up: ;-)The thing is that - as elsewhere - he has taken too much to heart the observation that a native speaker often elides unstressed words

A native speaker saying 'as she', in an informal register, would assimilate the fricative retrogressively but keep the voicing (as we say in the trade ;-)): /əʒ ʃi:/. This speaker avoids the temptation to say /æz ʃi:/ (knowing that a native speaker tends to elide unstresssed syllables), but does the wrong thing with the 'z' and omits the consonant altogether: /ə ʃi:/ , which you hear as /əs hi:/ (because there's no voicing) .

But as Bob said, it doesn't sound too bad.

Assessing one's own ability in languages is always difficult. People who don't understand what 'fluency' is ask me thing like 'Are you fluent in Portuguese?'. But heck, I'm not even fluent in English;-) - although I'm a native speaker and can eventually say what I mean. But I choose my words too carefully to be regarded as 'fluent'; 'hesitant' would be nearer the mark!

So I wouldn't decry this person for overstating his flawlessness; it's just not the sort of thing he'd do if he were British!

b