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   Yohan Yukiya Sese Cuneta 사요한🦣 (youronlyone@c.im)'s status on Tuesday, 27-Feb-2024 18:12:49 JST Yohan Yukiya Sese Cuneta 사요한🦣

   “We” in the #Filipino, #Tagalog, and Philippine English, #Languages.

   * “kami” = speaker + their group = “we” in Philippine English = no equivalent in any other English variant (in a way, it can be similar to the “royal ‘we’”)

   Depending on the sentence structure, “us” is also equivalent. However…

   * “tayo” = speaker + listener (+ their group) = “we” in Philippine English = “we” in any other English variant.

   “Us” can also be used depending on the context.

   So, when talking to a Filipino, or anyone who learned Philippine English (like most Koreans and Japanese), check first what they meant by “we”, as it could either be “speaker + their group” or “speaker + listener (+ their group)”.

   It can become a point of misunderstanding because of the difference in usage, as English doesn't have a separate word for those two scenarios of “we”/“us”, not like in Filipino, Tagalog, and other languages.

   (P.S. And this is why it is important to always ask for the context first before arguing or “reporting”.)

   How about in your native #language? Do you have separate words for these?
   * speaker + their group
   * speaker + listener (+ their group)

   #English #We #Us #Wika

   • Embed this notice
     Yohan Yukiya Sese Cuneta 사요한🦣 (youronlyone@c.im)'s status on Sunday, 05-May-2024 12:10:23 JST Yohan Yukiya Sese Cuneta 사요한🦣

     in reply to

     • lizzzzard

     @lizzard Yep, an English “we” always include the listener.

     It's why sometimes a discussion is derailed because people will start leaving comments like, “not all/everyone” even though the context was clear how the speaker used “we”.

     English is far too simple. Well, after all, according to some sources, English was a “peasant language”. Maybe that's why there are so many conflicts, English is so prone to being misunderstood. ^^;;

     But most, if not all, non-English languages, there are separate words for two context usage. And if not separate words, there's a clear understanding that a word can have two different context depending on how it was used.

     Sadly, in English, “we”/“us” is often understood as including the listener and everyone else.

     So, to avoid being misunderstood, you have to include clarification, which can distract the reader (and make things longer than necessary).

   • Embed this notice
     lizzzzard (lizzard@social.tchncs.de)'s status on Sunday, 05-May-2024 12:10:24 JST lizzzzard

     in reply to

     @youronlyone wait, an English "we" always includes the listener? Is that what you're saying there?

     I thought it's like in my language, German: it's either clear from context who you're referring to as we, or you need to awkwardly clarify.

     A very clever thing to disambiguate by having two words.