Re: R: Re: New to the list

On Thu, 12 Oct 2000, Barry Garcia wrote:

> CONLANG@LISTSERV.BROWN.EDU writes:
> >Yup, I agree with you. I think English for a Tagalog L1 speaker could seem
> >more difficult than Latin to an English mothertongual speaker.
>
> Hmm, i dont know about the Tagalog example :). I've never met a relative
> who really had problems speaking English, but then again theyre all
> American born, or got here in the 40's :). But anyway, my relatives from
> the Philippines seem to have the most trouble with the gendered pronouns.
> Often he and she get mixed up by my dad's aunts: "i saw him, she was
> walking to the store...".
<nodnod>  My dad makes that mistake too--when he's tired or not paying
attention he uses "he" and "she," etc. interchangeably.  That's Korean,
but I bet it's similar reasons.

My mom doesn't have this problem mainly because she avoids speaking in
English unless she has to.  She understands it very well, but she has a
strong accent.

YHL