Anonymous wrote:Question PP... in the other countries, are the various dialects divided among class or economic class like here in the U.S.? Maybe that's the difference?

Yes, of course they are -- at least in some cases. Remember the German teachers who looked down on the "village" dialect?

Question PP... in the other countries, are the various dialects divided among class or economic class like here in the U.S.? Maybe that's the difference?

I taught school in Baltimore for a year.

I spent an English lesson explaining to my 4th graders why "ain't" is not a proper word.

After what I thought was a good lesson, I let them draw the whales from our earlier science lesson. My department head happened to come in at that moment, picked up one of the student's pictures and exclaimed "Ain't that cute!"

Needless to say, out the door went my lesson on "ain't."

Yes, this is true. But nobody on this thread has said that children should not learn to speak Standard American English. The discussion is about whether other variants of English are by definition "incorrect" and "improper".

Yes I find this interesting. I posted about Switzerland earlier, where Swiss German is all dialect, and varies quite a bit from region to region, and is essentially incomprehensible to a speaker of Standard German. The same is true in regions of Germany. The thing I find odd in the US is that dialects beyond Standard English are treated with such vitriol and distain, whereas dialects in many European countries are embraced as part of one's heritage. I have to think this has to do with some intense, complicated racial undertones.

Sorry, teachers who cannot or do not speak standard English should not be teaching.

Anonymous wrote:And, not speaking High German will hurt you in your career field. Just as not speaking standard American English.

Yes, this is true. But nobody on this thread has said that children should not learn to speak Standard American English. The discussion is about whether other variants of English are by definition "incorrect" and "improper".

And, not speaking High German will hurt you in your career field. Just as not speaking standard American English.

Anonymous wrote:Those "snobby ignorant" Germans that I referred to earlier were teachers. I guess they were disturbed that the kids couldn't speak properly.

It is possible for teachers to be snobby and ignorant -- especially if they mock their students for not having learned the Hochdeutsch that the students are supposed to learn in the schools the teachers work in. Not knowing Hochdeutsch doesn't mean that you can't speak properly; it means that you can't speak Hochdeutsch.

(Here are some more incorrect forms of German: English, Dutch, Frisian, Afrikaans, and Yiddish.)