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[EnglishLanguage 4324] Gonna and slang

Steve Kaufmann

steve at thelinguist.com
Wed May 20 10:03:27 EDT 2009


A native speaker can afford to be sloppy in pronunciation and usage. A
learner who tries it can sound foolish. This has been my experience in many
languages. As learners we do not know when slang and sloppy pronunciation
are appropriate. I would neither teach nor want to learn slang and sloppy
pronunciation until it just happens naturally.

As for unexpected greetings like "how are they hanging", these things have
to happen in the real world. The classroom cannot account for every possible
language experience that the learner will encounter. The language, and
expressions, have to be acquired naturally, in the real world, or in real
contexts (which can include real interviews or real discussions that have
been recorded from real situations. This gives new expressions credibility
and the learner will be more likely to buy them.



> Steve Kaufmann

> www.thelinguist.blogs.com

> www.kpwood.com

> 604-922-8514

>




--
Steve Kaufmann
www.thelinguist.blogs.com
www.kpwood.com
604-922-8514
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