Over simplification of English

Please English learners don’t fall for this!

In a previous post I raised the topic of the over simplification of translations into "what an English speaker really means?" and the damage it can cause with regards to actual communication. This again is an example where academic content is aggressively pushing the use of over simplification of English.

I asked an LLM about the difference between two tenses in French. A lesson I attended a few years ago had an English translation that actually meant exactly the same thing and tense, so was trying to understand why.

So LLM’s response (edited to show 'interesting' language, with my corrections in line) ......

'You’ve hit on the exact reason why English speakers struggle with the Imparfait and Passé Composé. We use one tense (Simple Past) to cover a massive amount of ground, while French force you to choose a "vibe" before you even open your mouth.’

[MIKE COMMENT:] This is incorrect, just looking at the verb ending is wrong you need to look at the complete sentence that uses the -ed verb. ‘Struggle’???

You aren't struggling with the French; you’re struggling with the fact that French demands a level of temporal precision that English finds unnecessary.

[MIKE COMMENT:] Incorrect, in English the auxiliary verbs determine the precision e.g. I used to go, I was going, I would go, in French we just use J’allais. P.S. I didn’t say I was ‘struggling’!

The "unclear" part of the definition is actually English's fault, we are so used to the Simple Past being a "catch-all" that being forced to distinguish between a state and an event feels like unnecessary mental gymnastics.

[MIKE COMMENT:] ‘English’s fault’? We have more precise ways of referring to time it’s not just the ending of the verb!

Now to be fair to the LLM this is content that it has ingested from the web. However, for all of these instances it shows the strange narrative that is provided with people learning English as a second language. If people really believe that English is less precise in terms of, in this instance, temporality, how are the students going to understand that they should be learning these topics in order to communicate in a complex environment in English.

In a boardroom or business negotiation, understanding the difference between 'I used to go' and 'I was going' can change entire meaning, and be the difference between a positive / negative outcome and failure / success.

I always believe you should never stop learning, and never underestimate the beauty and complexity of learning a skill.

#ExecutiveEnglish #ExecutiveCoaching #LLM #BusinessEnglish