Courtney: “What’s up my language experiencers and observers, this is English Fact or Fiction? with your hosts Courtney, Beth, Bridie, and Meg”

Courtney: “Let's discuss language. More specifically, let’s discuss the English language and how it differs from the languages around the world”

Beth: “In school, we are taught the rules and regulations of how English works. However, this quickly evolved into a harmful societal way of thinking. This thought process has made it so that these rules dictate intelligence. Essentially, if you don’t speak this “perfect English” and follow all the rules (that were made hundreds of years ago) you are basically looked at as dumb or inarticulate. Do you believe this?”

Bridie: “Let's dive into the pool of facts shall we, according to Oxford University Press, English proficiency is on a steady rise within the last thirty years. However, this type of English is academic English. I have a question for you listeners, do you think we as a society would benefit from learning about other forms of English?”

Meg: “There are so many forms of English and yet the school only teaches one particular type. Oftentimes if students speak non academic English they could be scrutinized for it. This is all due to the institution of academia and how the system itself is flawed. It only benefits one group of people, those who are born English speaking. They can benefit from the institution while the rest are made to suffer.”

Courtney: “Okay now looking at bilingualism, many countries around the world are taught the English language within their schools. However, the English they teach can be seen as quite different, and maybe a little odd sounding, to a native English speaker. This is because English has different dialects. Those dialects change based on location and surroundings.
For instance, slang. A slang term is a word or phrase that is used informally. For example, the word 'fit' is slang for an outfit. Another one that may sound confusing is that when somebody says “Yeah no” they mean “no''. Even though the person expressed a positive and a negative, they ultimately mean the negative. This concept is not taught in schools because it is not representative of those “perfect English rules” that I mentioned were made hundred of years ago”

Beth: “Okay, going back to this concept of positives and negatives… In most languages there is a concept called double negatives. Have you heard of double negatives? Well, it is when two contrasting elements of language are put together. According to traditional English rules, double negatives are supposed to cancel out. For example, the phrase “I don’t want nothing” should mean that the person wants something, the negatives cancel out. But in some dialects of English, this is slang to mean that the person doesn’t want anything.
It should be noted that double negatives are very much culture-based, as it varies based on the language you are speaking. In Spanish for example, all negatives are double negatives. To say you don’t want anything, you would say “no quiero (keyedo)nada”, which literally translates to “I don’t want nothing!”

Bridie: “Slang is all about location, it varies based on area. However, because of advances in technology, slang can become universal. This is especially helpful to people who only learned the professional dialect of English in school. It immerses them into the true day-to-day vernacular of native English media.”

Meg: “Okay ya’ll, Meg here, I have been speaking with someone from Spain who is fluent in four languages. Even though English is her third language, she is completely fluent and says that it is her most perfected language. How crazy is it to think that a language she learned at 7 years old is the language that she thinks and talks to herself in?”

Meg: “So, she said that she speaks English so fluently and understands most slang because she consumes media in English. Therefore, she hears English being used in real conversations and not just in the format of the quote un quote perfect English from school.”

Courtney: “She also said that learning a language in school will almost never lead you to a point where you can use the language in practical everyday situations, you have to use it to learn it. Meaning, that because non native English speakers are all taught a formal academia-influenced type of English, they never learn about day-to-day expressions. Thus, if they go out into an English speaking society with their school learned English skills, they will often be left confused in situations. Especially since English is simply confusing!”

Beth: “For example, English has something called contronyms. These are words that have two meanings, but these two meanings are opposites. Like the word clip could mean to clip two things together, like a seatbelt or two pieces of footage. But it can also mean to cut two things apart, like clipping off branches or hair. This is very hard for non native speakers.”

Meg: “This is actually the case in all languages taught in schools! Learning one, professional, dialect of Spanish in an American school can lead to confusion when words are replaced with other words in different Spanish dialects. Like how school will teach you that socks in Spanish are called “medias” while in some Spanish dialects, they are called “calcetines”. Wouldn’t you be confused?
There are so many dialects of every language! How cool is that?”

Bridie: “Now that we have discussed how English can vary from the so-called perfect English that we are quote unquote “supposed” to speak, we can cover how these variations can lead to people being looked at as less intelligent. Essentially, if people don’t speak this perfect English due to it not being their first language, they can be stigmatized as unintelligent because they do not always have the words to express themselves fully. Even if some dialects speak English differently than the academic dialect, they are put down as being inarticulate or unprofessional.”

Courtney: “Bigoted people, mostly in America and other countries where most citizens only speak one language, assume that English does not vary from its written rules, and that those who do not follow them are less than them and are not intelligent. This is simply incorrect. Especially since everyone speaks their own dialect of the languages they know. Even native English speakers speak a specific dialect of English.”

Beth: “Multilingual brains are working harder as they differentiate their languages and use them in different situations. If anything, they are more intelligent!”

Bridie: “You may be sitting here and wondering, guys, how can I help defeat this stigma? Well, the best way to do that is to be an active listener and learner. Learn from others and your own experience as a language participant.

Meg: “Okay, ya’ll that concludes this session, I hope you enjoy this podcast English Fact or Fiction? Remember to rebel against the status quo and to be yourself. English is a social construct, break its rules! Have a wonderful day.”