On Wed, Jun 4, 2008 at 4:33 PM, Rishab Aiyer Ghosh <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > "for bookings before june 15th the 4th night is offered" > > a native english speaker may find this incomprehensible. but any > continental european would understand what it means. native speakers are > frequently at a disadvantage since they do not allow for the same > flexibility in the interpretation of words as 2nd/3rd/4th language > speakers of english do. especially if they're monoglots, as most native > english speakers are.
Actually, I disagree. I have difficulty parsing that sentence, and I speak more than half a dozen languages. It's really the cultural context that may make it more understandable to other Europeans. I think there are similar Indian constructions in English that make sense to other Indians, but rarely make sense to non-Indians. Cheeni
