----- Original Message ----- From: Lora Walters - walters.lora@xxxxxxxxx Subject: Re: spik inglish Hi Your n=2 doesn't really have any meaning. Also, the most competent English teachers/speakers that we know will never reach native competence by definition. That doesn't mean they don't speak fluent English. Leah Linda wrote: >First, I liked your reply to the person who dropped the literature course. > However, I do not agree that a non-native English speaker cannot achieve "full native competence", which I understand to mean that an Israeli can never talk like a native speaker. There are two English teachers in my school - neither of whom has ever lived abroad -whose spoken English sounds as American as mine if not more so (I am a native speaker, by the way). There is such a thing as an ear for language (many times connected with and ear for music) and so teachers can hope that some pupils will, indeed, reach this high standard. Doron wrote: > Another point in the "spik Inglish" wars: since it is impossible for > non-native speakers to achieve full native competence, it is wrong to hold > them to a native-speaker standard. We should talk, precisely, of > "competence" in L1, L2, L3, etc., as indeed the European Union, among > others, suggests. Laurie will never be mistaken for a native-speaking > Bedouin; she can, with work, reach pretty good L3 competence, and be > congratulated for doing so. The same is true of Barry's Russian and > Ethiopian pupils, and my Arabic speakers - all hope to achieve > "sufficiently > good" competence in their L3 - English. To expect more is worse than > unrealistic, it is unfair and disempowering. ----------------------------------------------- ** The ETNI Rag ** http://www.etni.org/etnirag/ Much more than just a journal ** Etni homepage - http://www.etni.org or - http://www.etni.org.il ** ** for help - ask@xxxxxxxx ** ** to post to this list - etni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx ** -----------------------------------------------