Big Brother and The English Question?

Question

Once again we have the Big Brother house filled with people whose first language is apparently English, but in order to understand half of what is being said, I have to enable subtitles.
In the last Celebrity Big Brother, the only person with a proper understanding of English diction and grammar was a person who was born in India and had learned English, without ever injecting "like" or "you know?” into a sentence. Even more noticeable was that she actually finished sentences and didn't leave it hanging, unfinished, followed by "you know what I mean?"
I think BB is a good example to everyone just how bad the British education system has become, when our own people cannot even speak our native language. This time around it seems to have happened again. The only person I have no difficulty in understanding was born in Greece and has been taught English - Gerry, what a scholar!

Answer 1

Not so much a question here as a statement. But I have to agree with you. I love the variety of accents in this country but the grammer is getting worse. We`re following in the footsteps of america again. Words are there for a purpose, we all need to use them properly.

Answer 2

Firstly, I'm not English so I won't comment on that part of your question... but I do have a couple of points to make...

Firstly, it is a well known fact that mother-tongue speakers use colloquialisms all the time - whether their own language is French, Italian, Indian, Arabic, English etc. When you learn a foreign language you learn it with all the correct grammar, syntax etc... When, however, you have been speaking a language your whole life in your native country you invariably pick up regional accents/dialects/slang etc.

Now, secondly, to the Indian lady you speak of... I have yet to understand how so many people speak so well of someone who is incredibly false, someone who never really showed us her true colours and someone I wouldn't trust for a second. I would count myself as being an intelligent woman who trusts people and respects those who are themselves and not living a lie. Shilpa is lucky that she's so intelligent as that has given her the ability to pull the wool over people's eyes and have them believe that because she speaks properly she is a decent person. She's a good actress! People should not be judged on the way they speak but accepted for other qualities they possess like kindness, generosity, openness etc. and likewise their bad qualities should not be shrouded in a cloud of false politeness. The thing about the English people you speak of is that they are being themselves... hence part of the reason why they speak the way they do - they don't feel the need to cover themselves up by being something they're not.

Answer 3

I don't think it is fair to group all teens into one basket! all my friends speak perfectly good English, and around here we never use ' you know what I'm saying' etc... and we are all welsh :P
I don't think it is right to blame the education system entirely. English is still taught well in schools and I think that it is outside factors influencing that way people speak and spell. I feel that msn and texting are amongst the major culprits, where people become so used to abbreviating and missing out apostrophes etc.. that it becomes an everyday habit. As to not understanding what people say, alot of that is simply down to regional accents on not the lack the ability to form a coherent sentence.

Answer 4

The last time I watched Celebrity Big Brother the only person whose English was grammatically perfect was Germaine Greer. She has a BA, an MA, and a PhD. I met her before the programme and she told me that the only reason she had agreed to do the programme was to get £40,000 so that she could pay the two men who look after her piece of rainforest in Australia for a year.

Answer 5

That's nothing. Have you ever tried to translate teenagers today. I left school (only) 10 years ago, and I have no idea what they are talking about!!!

I think it's worth taking into account how languages develop over the ages. Imagine when people first started saying didn't instead of did not etc. Seems like the same sort of thing to me. There are lots of words in the english language that have been shortened and adapted out of laziness and social progression (if you like). I bet the older generation at those times said exactly the same as you now!

Answer 6

I think the problem is not so much the inability of these people to construct anything half resembling a sentence, it's more that they have nothing to say that's worth listening to anyway. The conversations are shallow and banal, not to mention grossly introspective and tedious.

I, for one, don't mind that I can't follow the farmyard grunts and cackles because I have better things to do than watch a group of nobodies say nothing 24 hours a day.

Try a good book.

Answer 7

Sad but true, and made worse by the speed at which the sound-bites are delivered. What makes it even worse is that BB has not singled out a few freaks. This style of rapid-fire blocks of words (not sentences) is becoming endemic in teens/twenties. How do they hold down jobs when they can't speak their own language?

Answer 8

You only have to look at the standard of English here on YA answers.Second language speakers have a much better grasp of the language than many first language English.
How many can't distinguish between..
there and their,
no and know,
its and it's
Use 'could of' and 'would of' where they should be using 'could have' and 'would have'.
The fools who put an apostrophe in every word that ends in 's'.
eg Potato's for sale, I like grape's.

hbk13...grammar is spelt with an 'a' not an 'e'.

Answer 9

Try being a teacher and marking work filled with - wiv and 2 and 4 etc - does make me seriously wonder for the future of the British language!!!

Answer 10

It,s fastened to a undeniable degree, as in case you in undemanding terms watch the edited version, their controlling who you spot and as its become the JJ & Josie, thats a fix to make us watch, no longer that anyones interested in them to any extent further, so their controlling that section, thats why i like to exhibit screen the stay feed, you get to work out a real,er image of all of them. I,m beneficial in specific cases they,ve fastened the vote besides, as they did this 3 hundred and sixty 5 days on the 1st eviction night. As for their hair, their given hairstuff consisting of scissors/ clippers, as for limited meals & showers, i could,nt incredibly evaluate it limited as their no longer ravenous and as for water its in undemanding terms became of for little bits at a time, and as somebody on right here as already stated, they sign a settlement, so they could adhere to BB,s rules,