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Who Owns English (the language)

I was in a discussion with some friends and we ended up discussing languages, especially English. Now, the question is who "owns" the English language? (I cannot define what "own" means in this context.) The Englishmen? How about the Americans?

In my experience, Indians (the Asians, not the Native Americans) usually are better in using English. They usually pick words that are not commonly used (daily by people on the street). It's interesting. I could not generalize this, but that's just my experience. Yours could be different.

Okay, it's just a light discussion (that goes to nowhere). Forget about this ...
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Anonymous said…
Hallo pak Budi,
I guess I am one of your blog frequent reader, but this is the first time I post a comment. Pardon me, I can't help not to comment. :)

About the Indians are usually better at English, IMO it depends on how we define 'better'. IMO one is good at English means one is able to communicate effectively their idea to the communication partner(s). Hence it's not merely about their vocabularies but knowing when/how/when to use the correct vocabulary for the correct situation.
Nonetheless, I still find it easier to understand Indian than Britain English speaker. :)
3:35 PM
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