Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

 cincydooley wrote:

 Alfndrate wrote:
Americans have plenty of trouble learning how to critically think. We also have issues thinking a problem through to it's logical conclusion. If we mastered those skills, the entire redneck and hilljack populations wouldn't exist because they'd have learned that saying, "Ya'll come watch this!" is probably going to lead to a death, and they'd quickly realize that they shouldn't be acting this way and seek to better themselves.

With that being said, what makes English a difficult language to learn is the nuances, turn of phrases, and idioms we have. When I say, "a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush" sto someone that doesn't know what I'm talking about I get blank stares because they're caught up on the concept of birds in hands (whether I have one or not).

But think of how much poorer YouTube would be...

I think our economy could take the hit... Also we still have Carbide Cannon videos from people in the Netherlands.

 Alfndrate wrote:

 Fafnir wrote:

 Alfndrate wrote:

With that being said, what makes English a difficult language to learn is the nuances, turn of phrases, and idioms we have. When I say, "a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush" sto someone that doesn't know what I'm talking about I get blank stares because they're caught up on the concept of birds in hands (whether I have one or not).

But I'd imagine that "A bird in the bush is worth two in the hand" would be instantly understandable, regardless of your understanding of idioms.

It's possible, I was just throwing it out there, but Americans and the English language in general rely on so much context in our words that it makes it difficult for ESL learners to really understand wtf we're saying.

I was making a joke with that one.

>_< Sorry I wasn't using my reading skills, I was busy putting hard work over intelligence

 Shadowbrand wrote:
I don't have a graph or survey but i'm pretty sure the typical Canadian is also pretty fething dumb.


We should be ashamed of the Vancouver Riots and Justin Bieber.

If you look in the right places, the yoof of any country can come across as dumb.

~Tim?

 Alfndrate wrote:
>_< Sorry I wasn't using my reading skills, I was busy putting hard work over intelligence

Work harder, not smarter! The Frazzled way.

Dont you mean Texan Way?

No the Texan Way is: Shoot It Grill It Eat It, and pray its in that order.

 Shadowbrand wrote:
I don't have a graph or survey but i'm pretty sure the typical Canadian is also pretty fething dumb.


We should be ashamed of the Vancouver Riots and Justin Bieber.

According to http://www.statisticbrain.com/countries-with-the-highest-lowest-average-iq/

Average canadian IQ is pretty good, standing at 97, putting us at the 25th rank worldwide.

Lowest is equatorial guinea, with 59.

Study seems to indicate that, while the US has below average literacy, the impact of socio-economic background seems to be the highest out of any country on the survey.

Per the rating system they use, the study graphs show that there are actually comparable numbers of high-functioning adults in the US compared to a lot of those other countries, though certainly not comparable to the highest contenders. I suspect, based upon the above, that would be mostly those from better backgrounds than others. The biggest problem with the US statistics appears to be that the average US adult is less capable than the average adult globally, not to mention the lows being among the lower lows. The article is being somewhat misleading then. I feel like it should have read, "Average US adult is dumber than the average human." Even as it reads now, it seems to imply that people in the US are actually getting stupider as they age.

Of course, I've not yet gone through the entire study yet, but it seems pretty well done. The NY Times article though, not so much. But it's US news, so it was written by dumber than average humans, right?

 Alfndrate wrote:
With that being said, what makes English a difficult language to learn is the nuances, turn of phrases, and idioms we have. When I say, "a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush" sto someone that doesn't know what I'm talking about I get blank stares because they're caught up on the concept of birds in hands (whether I have one or not).

I'm pretty sure there's idioms in every single language.

I'm trying to do what I can to bring the average up with my Mensa membership!

[/elitist]

 d-usa wrote:
I'm trying to do what I can to bring the average up with my Mensa membership!

[/elitist]

I remember getting an invitation to apply to Mensa back in high school. I want to say it was about the same time I got my Who's Who invitation. They both went to the same location.

 d-usa wrote:
I'm trying to do what I can to bring the average up with my Mensa membership!

[/elitist]

Pretty much how I feel about anyone who places a lot of faith in those IQ tests.

Well, you can be intelligent and dumb at the same time!

d-usa wrote:I'm trying to do what I can to bring the average up with my Mensa membership!

[/elitist]

One of my roommates is in Mensa, and probably living proof that IQ is little more than a number.

Best ACT score in my school for a long time, full ride scholarship to college.

8 years later I finally get my associates degree with a ton of student debt after dropping out of my fully paid for college.

Ask me about my opinion of standardized testing and indication of future performance!

 Fafnir wrote:

d-usa wrote:I'm trying to do what I can to bring the average up with my Mensa membership!

[/elitist]

One of my roommates is in Mensa, and probably living proof that IQ is little more than a number.

I've met plenty of PHDs that can't do basic, everyday things. Hard mathematics? Child's play! Astrophysics? Easy! Changing the thermostat? Impossible.

~Tim?

 d-usa wrote:
Best ACT score in my school for a long time, full ride scholarship to college.

8 years later I finally get my associates degree with a ton of student debt after dropping out of my fully paid for college.

Ask me about my opinion of standardized testing and indication of future performance!

Okay



I scored average on the ACT but was only 400 points off from a perfect SAT score.

Measuring how much someone has learned used a predominantly multiple-choice test is stupid. Now we know why it's done

 Hulksmash wrote:

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
It also doesnt help that American Is the hardest flipping language to learn

Not sure if serious......

He's actually right;: it is the hardest. Reason being is that our tense structure (past, present, future) sucks horrible balls. I read the book. I read the book. One is past, one is present, depend on how you pronounce "read". "Red" vs "reed", in this case. Or "take" and "took" vs "bake" and..."baked"? Similar base word, with only the first letter being different, but the past tense is completely different. That's why our language is so hard compared to something like Spanish or French. As many of us are English speakers, we take for granted how we already know the correct terminology. But many others who don't have English as their first language can find it confusing because it is!! English is one of the hardest languages to learn. You've just learned something new today.

 timetowaste85 wrote:

 Hulksmash wrote:

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
It also doesnt help that American Is the hardest flipping language to learn

Not sure if serious......

He's actually right;: it is the hardest. Reason being is that our tense structure (past, present, future) sucks horrible balls. I read the book. I read the book. One is past, one is present, depend on how you pronounce "read". "Red" vs "reed", in this case. Or "take" and "took" vs "bake" and..."baked"? Similar base word, with only the first letter being different, but the past tense is completely different. That's why our language is so hard compared to something like Spanish or French. As many of us are English speakers, we take for granted how we already know the correct terminology. But many others who don't have English as their first language can find it confusing because it is!! English is one of the hardest languages to learn. You've just learned something new today.

Not sure if serious...

 timetowaste85 wrote:

 Hulksmash wrote:

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
It also doesnt help that American Is the hardest flipping language to learn

Not sure if serious......

He's actually right;: it is the hardest. Reason being is that our tense structure (past, present, future) sucks horrible balls. I read the book. I read the book. One is past, one is present, depend on how you pronounce "read". "Red" vs "reed", in this case. Or "take" and "took" vs "bake" and..."baked"? Similar base word, with only the first letter being different, but the past tense is completely different. That's why our language is so hard compared to something like Spanish or French. As many of us are English speakers, we take for granted how we already know the correct terminology. But many others who don't have English as their first language can find it confusing because it is!! English is one of the hardest languages to learn. You've just learned something new today.

I think Hulk was questioning why the language was called "American", rather than questioning how clumsy of a language English is. I could be wrong though.

Ve Datch now Enklish verrie well sankyuu!

Hearing the Turbolanguage in Holland of my younger countrymen, i am surprised we do so wel on the list.

"Echt vet man!"

And no comments blaming 'No Child Left Behind' yet?

 timetowaste85 wrote:

 Hulksmash wrote:

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
It also doesnt help that American Is the hardest flipping language to learn

Not sure if serious......

He's actually right;: it is the hardest. Reason being is that our tense structure (past, present, future) sucks horrible balls. I read the book. I read the book. One is past, one is present, depend on how you pronounce "read". "Red" vs "reed", in this case. Or "take" and "took" vs "bake" and..."baked"? Similar base word, with only the first letter being different, but the past tense is completely different. That's why our language is so hard compared to something like Spanish or French. As many of us are English speakers, we take for granted how we already know the correct terminology. But many others who don't have English as their first language can find it confusing because it is!! English is one of the hardest languages to learn. You've just learned something new today.

Given the talk in this thread I went to a quasi-Expert (he's still in college so take the following for what it is with that in mind). The problem with English is that our rules are extremely strict. English is one of the most inflexible of languages on Earth. The rules are extremely precise in a language where individual words are very imprecise. It's difficult for people coming out of other languages, some of which have virtually no rules on grammar, language to adapt to something where structure and phraseology is so strict but definitions are so loose.

So that's what he says XD According to him our idioms are actually more easily understood than those of certain other languages (Arabic and Chinese).

Well, you just can't sit by a tree waiting for a rabbit.

 Dreadclaw69 wrote:
And no comments blaming 'No Child Left Behind' yet?

They haven't been left behind, they are exactly average now!

English does NOT "borrow" words.

English ROBS you and then holds you up by your ankles and shakes to get the rest of the loose verbiage, too.

 timetowaste85 wrote:

 Hulksmash wrote:

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
It also doesnt help that American Is the hardest flipping language to learn

Not sure if serious......

He's actually right;: it is the hardest. Reason being is that our tense structure (past, present, future) sucks horrible balls. I read the book. I read the book. One is past, one is present, depend on how you pronounce "read". "Red" vs "reed", in this case. Or "take" and "took" vs "bake" and..."baked"? Similar base word, with only the first letter being different, but the past tense is completely different. That's why our language is so hard compared to something like Spanish or French. As many of us are English speakers, we take for granted how we already know the correct terminology. But many others who don't have English as their first language can find it confusing because it is!! English is one of the hardest languages to learn. You've just learned something new today.

I have a feeling if you ask a German person if English or Japanese is harder I'll bet he/she will say Japanese is harder, how hard a language to learn depends almost entirely on how similar it is to the language(s) you already speak so English maybe extremely hard for a Korean person but they'll probably have a much easier time learning Japanese than say an English speaker would.

It probably doesn't help that you guys call it "math" rather than "maths", as it should be

It was also entertaining seeing all the poor and confused grammar in the news report about how poor Americans did in a study of their maths and English skills

 Kovnik Obama wrote:

 Shadowbrand wrote:
I don't have a graph or survey but i'm pretty sure the typical Canadian is also pretty fething dumb.


We should be ashamed of the Vancouver Riots and Justin Bieber.

According to http://www.statisticbrain.com/countries-with-the-highest-lowest-average-iq/

Average canadian IQ is pretty good, standing at 97, putting us at the 25th rank worldwide.

Lowest is equatorial guinea, with 59.

Those sorts of stats are generally bull-gak. Firstly, IQ is actually measured as compared to an "average" of 100, and that average is determined country by country - so any list of countries IQ would be all 100s. Secondly, it's really hard to compare IQ across cultures and languages because of the nature of the test - IQ is supposed to be a basic measure of Intelligence, but the test in its standard lay out is biased strongly towards those in first world westernized nations.