Linguistic Studies On Slang - Tips

Linguistic Studies On Slang - Tips

Hello Sarah, I am semi-amazed about communications skills. I have not studied this subject or various subjects, such as culture, ethnology, languages or interpersonal communications. I do not think the goal of studies is to communicate or learning to communicate, I think Universities Study to be published, and to look good, to study to learn how to communicate is to take on too big of challenge. I do not find University people as being open minded, they are in a channel or track and only focusing on what they are thinking about, not listening. However, I daily need this to communicate. I travel in a unique and close to non-existent manner. There are hundreds, thousands, maybe millions of Expats who have lived all over the planet for up to 50 years. I met a man in Lome, Togo who had lived outside of Belgium in both South America and in Africa, but also in Asia. He had lived in the same locations and worked, but had traveled a lot. I tend to think the linguistic people study how a language works more than they study how to talk to this person. I need to know how they think, then I can communicate the way they want to talk. English Slang just complicates a conversation, I use slang to test the level of their fluency, if they know colloquial phrases, or some slang, then I know I can speak in more complicated expression. Note, I think only the German culture will say,
"I do not understand. " This small statement would solve half the social problems. The world will not admit they do not understand, test your foreign friends, say some obscure slang to them and see if they say, I do not understand. The way they will say this normally is by a non-reaction. I give a choice, do we go left of right to people, choice questions are great Open ended questions lead to them saying what you want to hear. I say, left or right, the answer here is.
- OK or nodding head.- I think, they did not understand, I need to extremely fast evaluate them. The worst person though is he person who really speaks good English, to discover when they did or did not understand is very complicated. They have learned in life to look good, to sound good, to emulate and copy the person they are talking too. This is a diplomat, I can listen to people on TV and know, this person does not know or understand the issue. Show like Hard Talk on BBC are fun for me to watch. The BBC interviewers will say thing I know is impossible to understand, they use slang and colloquial phrases meant to talk to the viewer and to confuse the person they are interview. Very unfare and impolite, but is Hard Talk. There are many rules of polite international conversation, for instance, I can never talk English here with more than one person, to have people talk in the dominant and most understood language that will INCLUDE all the members of the discussion. The African people do not see this, and are very impolite on a global basis, they will talk in Mina or French and if one person does not understand, they do not care. The language is body, not word, so people speak about 90 percent with body language here in Togo. I can gesture and the will understand better than talking. All fun and interesting unless you need to do something NOW, then very difficult and frustrating. People that drive a car, motorcycle of rent a vehicle guarantee they do not need to communicate with people. The can if they wish, but they have all choices, yes or no. I have no choice, I use only public transportation, I must learn to talk so the un-educated Taxi drivers understand. I just had a friend who went to Iraq, he had a body-guard and a driver, he thinks now he understands he Kurdish people. He never spoke with need, he spoke with choice and as an option, not a need. If you speak as a need, then you learn slang is about worthless and just a fun thing for games and small talk, not to talk. If I meet an American that speaks with slang, I avoid them, they have no empathy for other people. very self-centered way of talking. Andy in Atakpame, West Africa May of 2007


YOU WROTE Andy,
Very fascinating that you should pick up a global
accent. And the use for fewer words makes perfect
sense. Makes one wonder what linguistic studies have
been done on such a phenonmena...no use for slang, i
like that. Oh yeah, and what kind of camera do you have?
Sarah-
Thank you,
Andy HoboTraveler.com
http://www.hobotraveler.com/blogger.html 2007-05-07

Linguistic Studies On Slang - Tips