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I/We for non-native English speakers

Started by O'Borg, December 13, 2006, 07:16:59 AM

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O'Borg

December 13, 2006, 07:16:59 AM
Question for the non-Native English speakers : does the concept of "I" and "We" translate easily from English, especially for people who's native langauge is Arabic?
 
I've been working with and assisting a guy at work who speaks English as a second language. Every time he talks to the boss about work we've done together, he always says "I've done".
I'm trying to give the guy the benefit of the doubt over his English skills, and that he's not trying to take full credit for shared work (which doesnt bother me as I've worked for the boss for five years compared to his three months), but some of his recent actions are leading me to beleive he's a bit of a selfish git.
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Blackleaf

#1
December 13, 2006, 08:43:11 AM
"Je" and "Nous" are seperate words in French.

Edit:

أنا and نحن are seperate words in Arabic as well.

Sosthenes

#2
December 13, 2006, 08:50:53 AM
This is coming straight out of the Googleverse, but it seems that Arabic _does_ have distinct words for I and we. Conjugation seems to make them generally unneccesary, so maybe that's the point.

I'd still guess (nevermind Sturgeon's law) that he's a selfish prick...

Edit: Of course it's Hanlon's Razor ("Never attribute to malice which can be explained with stupidity"), not Sturgeon's Law ("90% of everything is crud").
 

SunBoy

#3
December 13, 2006, 01:31:15 PM
Quote from: SosthenesThis is coming straight out of the Googleverse, but it seems that Arabic _does_ have distinct words for I and we. Conjugation seems to make them generally unneccesary, so maybe that's the point.

I'd still guess (nevermind Sturgeon's law) that he's a selfish prick...

Edit: Of course it's Hanlon's Razor ("Never attribute to malice which can be explained with stupidity"), not Sturgeon's Law ("90% of everything is crud").

Think the worst, and you'll be right.

Yo y nosotros son palabras diferentes en español, también. Pero al igual que en el árabe, el verbo generalmente las hace innecesarias en la oración. E.G.: Uno no diría "Nosotros hicimos el trabajo", sino simplemente "Hicimos el trabajo", a menos que esté específicamente separando el sujeto de un grupo mayor. "Nosotros hicimos el trabajo, no ellos." :P

I speaked no good english, but I can write in spanish.
"Real randomness, I\'ve discovered, is the result of two or more role-players interacting"

Erick Wujcik, 2007

Dr Rotwang!

#4
December 13, 2006, 01:34:46 PM
Quote from: SunBoyI speaked no good english, but I can write in spanish.
...pues...este...me parece que si, hombre.
Dr Rotwang!
...never blogs faster than he can see.
FONZITUDE RATING: 1985[/font]

SunBoy

#5
December 13, 2006, 01:44:02 PM
Quote from: Dr Rotwang!...pues...este...me parece que si, hombre.

Gracias, Doctor Rotguango.
"Real randomness, I\'ve discovered, is the result of two or more role-players interacting"

Erick Wujcik, 2007

hgjs

#6
December 14, 2006, 12:06:09 AM
Quote from: O'BorgQuestion for the non-Native English speakers : does the concept of "I" and "We" translate easily from English, especially for people who's native langauge is Arabic?
 
I've been working with and assisting a guy at work who speaks English as a second language. Every time he talks to the boss about work we've done together, he always says "I've done".
I'm trying to give the guy the benefit of the doubt over his English skills, and that he's not trying to take full credit for shared work (which doesnt bother me as I've worked for the boss for five years compared to his three months), but some of his recent actions are leading me to beleive he's a bit of a selfish git.

As others have mentioned, Arabic does distinguish between "I" and "we."  Furthermore, I'm not aware of any language on Earth that does not have separate words for those concepts.
 
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