Reply to thread

Message

<blockquote data-quote="Janx" data-source="post: 6642079" data-attributes="member: 8835">ah yes, good point.&nbsp; Though I've heard europeans (not from those islandy bits like you) in english, use the same phrasing.&nbsp; So however they talk, seems to translate to &quot;I am going to University next fall&quot;Here's a different one from Indians, that may be influenced by the british, so maybe you'll know why:if you work on a project with Indians, eventually one of them will say something like &quot;I have a few doubts&quot;Which really means in American English &quot;I have a few questions&quot;For some reason, they use the word &quot;doubt&quot; when to us, they should be saying &quot;question&quot;.&nbsp; &quot;Doubt&quot; to an american signifies a lack of confidence, rather than a query in need of an answer.&nbsp; I suspect it lies in the multi-meaning usage of the word &quot;doubt&quot; and &quot;question&quot; in some context (surely, if you had questions about how to do something, you lacked confidence in the doing of that thing).&nbsp; Of if your slacker buddy promises to wake up early and get that task done for you, you might say &quot;I doubt it&quot; or just as easily say &quot;I question the likelyhood of that happening&quot;So anyways, is that just an Indian quirk of translation or is it part of British speech as well?</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Janx, post: 6642079, member: 8835"] ah yes, good point. Though I've heard europeans (not from those islandy bits like you) in english, use the same phrasing. So however they talk, seems to translate to "I am going to University next fall" Here's a different one from Indians, that may be influenced by the british, so maybe you'll know why: if you work on a project with Indians, eventually one of them will say something like "I have a few doubts" Which really means in American English "I have a few questions" For some reason, they use the word "doubt" when to us, they should be saying "question". "Doubt" to an american signifies a lack of confidence, rather than a query in need of an answer. I suspect it lies in the multi-meaning usage of the word "doubt" and "question" in some context (surely, if you had questions about how to do something, you lacked confidence in the doing of that thing). Of if your slacker buddy promises to wake up early and get that task done for you, you might say "I doubt it" or just as easily say "I question the likelyhood of that happening" So anyways, is that just an Indian quirk of translation or is it part of British speech as well? [/QUOTE]

Verification