|
This question from Ingrid, a Chinese learner of English:
"In the following conversation - a passage taken from Look Ahead, an English-teaching programme by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) - 'film' and 'movie' seem to have been put into different genres (categories).
'David: Natalie likes watching television. What kind of programmes can you see on television?
Natalie: The news.
Kevin: A documentary.
Natalie: A film.
Kevin: Or a movie.
Natalie: A music programme.
....'
I've always thought films and movies are the same thing. Perhaps I'm mistaken. Please explain.
My comments:
I don't think you're mistaken, Ingrid. Films and movies are the same thing. I myself hold the same view as you, due to the fact that we both are Chinese.
That Kevin from the passage you quoted must be an American. Natalie, on the other hand, speaks English the British way even though her name sounds French.
The difference between "film" and "movie" is nothing to everyone else but to the British and the Americans. And with them, the difference can be as big as the Atlantic Ocean - in other words, very wide and great.
George Bernard Shaw, who is Irish, once said to the effect that the British and Americans are the same people divided by a common language.
Oscar Wilde, also Irish, observed that "the Americans are identical to the British in all respects except, of course, language."
You get the picture.
On the British side of the Atlantic, people go to the cinema and watch a film. On the other side of the pond, Americans go to the theater and watch a movie.
On one side of the ocean, the British have 10-pound notes. On the other side, Americans have 10-dollar bills.
The British say either (EYE-ther). Americans say either (EE-ther). The British say tomato (to-MA-to). Americans say tomato (to-MAY-to). The British watch the news and other TV programmes. Americans watch the news and other, preferably more entertaining and shorter, programs. So on and so forth.
Except that the British are wont to complain every once in a while about the "damage" the Americans have done to their language (what they are really moaning about might be the loss of the erstwhile British Empire - and the global leading status that goes (went) with it, a position assumed by the Americans), the two peoples are as close to each other as any two peoples can be, especially politically at the top governmental level.
If you follow the way Tony Blair follows George W. Bush in every which turn, you'll understand that the British have a legitimate case to make against the Americans, or rather, their own Prime Minister - at least previous lodgers at No 10 Downing Street often talked back to, and always talked better than the men from the White House.
To his credit, Blair, who was born in Edinburgh and who studied law at Oxford, could not possibly mimic the man from Texas in accent. Otherwise, he could have been thrown out of office by now.
Kidding aside and before we call the whole thing off, I have a confession to make.
Years ago, when I started to learn the English language, I preferred British English (BBC style to be exact) to American English.
Today, I like American English just as much as I like British English.
I prefer both British English and American English to Chinglish, or in Chinese political parlance, English with Chinese characteristics.
Speaking of which, I may do a column on that very subject. You may send in your favorite examples of fun Chinglish expressions for potential use in this column. I'm collecting stories.
My own (least) favorite example of Chinglish is the word "Shanghainese" for "people of Shanghai". It's a terrible coinage. People have to break every grammatical rule (British, American, Greek or Roman) to come up with this one.
Suffice it to say, "Shanghainese" doesn't add to their collective reputation, such as it is.
|
