A type of English that is hard for me to understand

hirashin · 2 Dec 2020

Hello, native English speakers,
I got to know an American woman who works with the military department Yemen.
It is often hard for me to understand her English.

For example, when I asked her whether she has ever taken part in a battle,
she answered this:

Yes my dear I have been different types out battle before and all types of mission

What does she mean ? Is this a common way an American speaks English casually?

Hirashin

Grandpa Frank · 2 Dec 2020

My guess from a military standpoint....when you are in a war zone and go in search of the enemy or some other job/objective and you have no problems or gun fire , it is just a mission. When you engage the enemy and there is gun fire back and forth , then it is called a battle . It's been a long time since I was in the military so I may be wrong. The part "Yes , my dear" sounds like she may be from the southern part of the US or a few years older than you , LOL.

hirashin · 2 Dec 2020

Thanks for your guess, Uncle Frank. She is 30 years old She said she was born in LA. She became an orphan when she was 15 and raised up by a military priest. (I don't know what a military priest is, though) It seems that she had a hard time in her teens.

Grandpa Frank · 2 Dec 2020

In the Navy and maybe other branches of the military , we call the members in charge of religion "Chaplains" and they can be any religion. My last year in the Navy , I served as the base Chaplain's yeoman/secretary. He was a Lutheran minister. Now we also have Muslim Chaplains. Most large military bases have several Chaplains representing many religions. Often children raised by military parents are called "military brats" and they do often have a hard life. The parents usually move/change their base every 2 to 4 years and it is hard on the kids who lose old friends and have to make new ones.

mdchachi · 3 Dec 2020

hirashin said:
Yes my dear I have been different types out battle before and all types of mission

What does she mean ? Is this a common way an American speaks English casually?

This is over text, not speaking, correct? I think she is not being very careful about what she types. Maybe she is using a mobile keyboard with autocorrect. Probably she meant to say:

Yes my dear I have been in different types of battles before and all types of missions

Grandpa Frank · 3 Dec 2020

TEXT?? HA HA , that never occurred to me since I have never sent one. Shows I'm old and out of the loop. Glad you are awake mdchachi !

mdchachi · 3 Dec 2020

Uncle Frank said:
TEXT?? HA HA , that never occurred to me since I have never sent one. Shows I'm old and out of the loop. Glad you are awake mdchachi !

By "text" I just meant the written word. Even for Internet/email I think most people use mobile devices these days.

Grandpa Frank · 3 Dec 2020

TracFone forced me to get rid of my 10 year old phone and buy a new one a few months ago. I figured out how to charge it , but haven't turned it on yet , LOL. I'm still living in the dark ages .

Majestic · 3 Dec 2020

There are many different types of Americans, and many different types of American English. It's common to drop the "s" off of plurals in African American Vernacular English (AAVE). If you are talking about written English, it incredibly common for autocorrect to change words into words that were not intended by the writer.

hirashin · 3 Dec 2020

Thank you all for the responses.

mdchachi said:
This is over text, not speaking, correct? I think she is not being very careful about what she types. Maybe she is using a mobile keyboard with autocorrect. Probably she meant to say:

Yes my dear I have been in different types of battles before and all types of missions

Yes, mdchachi. You're right. She said she writes from her cellphone. Your explanation cleared up the mystery of her English. Thank you.

She says she wants to come over to Japan and start a new life here as soon as her contract is over because she has no one to go back to in the United States. But she does not know any Japanese people nor its language. (My sentences may sound odd. Please correct them if needed) So I don't think it's a good idea. What do you think?

johnnyG · 3 Dec 2020

Long ago I spent a year in beijing, and there were some africans in the same building, some french speakers, and some english. When the english speakers talked to me or others like me (e.g., same lunch/dinner table), I could generally understand what they were saying. When they talked to each other (in english), I was lost.

Look up Kachru's three circles--inner, outer, and expanding. There are lots of different englishes in the world.

Grandpa Frank · 4 Dec 2020

Buntaro · 4 Dec 2020

Majestic said:
There are many different types of Americans, and many different types of American English.

The Hawaiian dialect of English is difficult for even native speakers of English to understand.

Grandpa Frank · 5 Dec 2020

People from the north east of the US can have strong accents. When I went to get the paperwork in Japan to get married , the Japanese girl at the counter said "You must be from Maine or Massachusetts". I never realized my accent was that bad , LOL.

hirashin · 5 Dec 2020

Thank you all for your interesting messages.

Majestic said:
There are many different types of Americans, and many different types of American English. It's common to drop the "s" off of plurals in African American Vernacular English (AAVE). If you are talking about written English, it incredibly common for autocorrect to change words into words that were not intended by the writer.

I saw on TV that some black Americans who were dancing outside speak English in a different way from many others.

Uncle Frank said:
People from the north east of the US can have strong accents. When I went to get the paperwork in Japan to get married , the Japanese girl at the counter said "You must be from Maine or Massachusetts". I never realized my accent was that bad , LOL.

Oh, really? That's interesting. I know the northeastern part of America is an area where people speak another dialect from the Mid-Western part. "Standard American English" is based on the Mid-Western dialect, I hear.

Grandpa Frank · 5 Dec 2020

When I was about 10 years old , my cousins from Michigan visited and we spent hours talking about each other's funny accents. The very first word that came up was they wanted a "pop" which I thought was a "punch in the nose" , but they meant "soda".

Buntaro · 15 Dec 2020

Uncle Frank said:
When I was about 10 years old , my cousins from Michigan visited and we spent hours talking about each other's funny accents. The very first word that came up was they wanted a "pop" which I thought was a "punch in the nose" , but they meant "soda".

I have a cousin who lives in Chicago. I told her she had a dialect and she got mad!

A type of English that is hard for me to understand

hirashin

Sempai

Grandpa Frank

Sempai

hirashin

Sempai

Grandpa Frank

Sempai

mdchachi

Moderator

Grandpa Frank

Sempai

mdchachi

Moderator

Grandpa Frank

Sempai

Majestic

先輩

hirashin

Sempai

johnnyG

Sempai

Grandpa Frank

Sempai

Buntaro

運動不足

Grandpa Frank

Sempai

hirashin

Sempai

Grandpa Frank

Sempai

Buntaro

運動不足

Similar threads