Arrive AT or Arrive TO?

[pukunui]

I don't know where this phrasing is coming from. I guess it's not specific to the UK.

I'm guessing it's an ESOL thing.

 

[Morrus]

I think that's clearly foreigners asking about England.

 

[pukunui]

I think that's clearly foreigners asking about England.

Another example I saw was "Can you swim in Bournemouth Beach?" but yes, I think it's non-native English speakers perhaps mistranslating their question into English.

I thought maybe it was a regional thing, like using "sat" instead of "sitting" (that one's a real pet peeve of mine - "I was sat at the bar" sounds so wrong to me!).

 

[Morrus]

Another example I saw was "Can you swim in Bournemouth Beach?" but yes, I think it's non-native English speakers perhaps mistranslating their question into English.

I imagine they asked in their own language. Why would a Spaniard or a Brazilian Google in English? That's just Google translating it badly.

 

[Ryujin]

I'm confused by your response. Are you saying you've heard people in other countries asking if they can swim in a beach?

No, at the beach. Being at the beach, you are able to swim.

 

[Morrus]

Somebody in America literally just said to me “it arrived to you on June 16th”.

I WASN’T IMAGINING IT!

 

[Mannahnin]

Somebody in America literally just said to me “it arrived to you on June 16th”.

I WASN’T IMAGINING IT!

Was it someone with ESL, as hypothesized?

 

[Morrus]

Was it someone with ESL, as hypothesized?

Remind me what ESL is?

 

[Mannahnin]

Remind me what ESL is?

English as a Second Language.

Someone suggested earlier that this could be an artifact of importing grammar from another language.

Similar to how my ex-wife who was into photography always said "make" a picture rather than "take" a picture, despite her degree being in English Philology, because she had learned the former phrasing as a literal translation from the equivalent Bulgarian phrase.

 

[Morrus]

English as a Second Language.

Ah. They’re American, so yes.