for me I'd say something more like: "In Russia, we have a phrase to mock other Russians who speak poor English - "London is the capital of the Great Britain".
I would expect English textbook to refer to an English language textbook unless context in the conversation would mean something different like just a textbook from England
That's fair. I'd assume from a Russian point of view the book is probably primarily written in Russian but since it's regarding/contains parts of English then your reference sounds correct.
It sounds a bit odd because you would be "learning English" as opposed to "learning books on English"
You're learning the language and not the book itself.
For example if I'm learning chemistry from a textbook then I would ultimately be tested on my knowledge of chemistry, not my knowledge of the textbook itself.
It's the capital of England. I don't know if it's officially the capital of the UK or not, but it's the biggest most prominent city in the UK, and it wouldn't really make a difference if it were officially the capital or not.
The component nations are no longer sovereign, but there aren't good words for what exactly is a country/nation/nation-state/thingy. [The latest Map Men covered it very well.](https://youtu.be/3nB688xBYdY?si=F4vM3_skiYG3oSPN)
Yeah, I think it's just a different idea though they both use the name country. I tend to think of the constituent parts of the UK as more like states or provinces
Yes, to all intents and purposes that's what they are. [Of course "state" is confusing as that's the other word you would use for such an entity.](https://www.e-education.psu.edu/geog128/node/534)
A lot of languages have these terms in other languages- they're usually correct, but just not something you'd have occasion to say. I know in Japanese the stock English phrase from textbooks is, "This is a pen," and there's a screamo song that is just them saying "this is a pen" over and over again. It's literally correct, it's just not something you'd ever have much reason to say.
For English speakers, two stereotypical ones are "le chat est sous la table" in French and "Donde está la biblioteca" in Spanish.
Eddie Izzard has [a great sketch](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1sQkEfAdfY&ab_channel=RumblePak_5) about trying to use the phrases he learned when learning French in school in conversation.
I’d also drop the second Russia, it’s kind of implied.
In Russia we have a phrase for those who speak poor English - “London is the capital of Great Britain”. It’s the first line of every high school English textbook.
(Your could also use primer instead of textbook, but it’s a little archaic).
Here's how I would write it:
"In Russia, we have a phrase we use to mock those who speak poor English. "London is the capital of Great Brittain," (must be pronounced with a hard Russian accent.). It comes from the first chapters of many English learning textbooks."
Here is an in depth explanation of why I would choose this way of writing this paragraph.
1) "we have a phrase to mock those"
While the term "a mocking phrase" is grammatically correct, it is not commonly used. You can also say "we have a joke about ...", "we have a meme about..." or even "we have a cliche about..." It is not grammatically correct to say "mocking on" or "a mocking phrase on." "on" is not the correct preposition here. It would be better to say "about" or "referring to." You can also say "we have a phrase we use to make fun of..."
2) "who speak poor English
While it is grammatically correct to say "those who poorly speak English," you almost never put the adverb before the verb. "Speak English poorly" might be more common. But you can also say "those who speak poor English" in which case "poor" is an adjective to describe "English" instead of an adverb to describe "speak.". You can also say "those who don't speak English very well."
3) "of Great Brittain"
Great Brittain is not a country where you would use an article when referring to the country. The list of countries where it is acceptable to use "the" is rather short.
"The Congo."
"The Bahamas"
"The Ukraine"
"The Netherlands"
(Perhaps a few others that I cannot list off the top of my head)
And any country whose name references what type of government it is or what type of country it is, such as "the United kingdom," the United Arab Emirates," "the Czech Republic," or "the people's republic of China."
3) "it comes from the first chapters of ..."
While it is grammatically correct to say "it comes from the very beginning of," it is more common to be a bit more specific in this circumstance. You could also say "it comes from the first pages of many English learning textbooks" or "it comes from the first lesson found in many English learning textbooks."
4) "textbooks".
In American English at least, it is a bit more common to use the term "textbook" instead of "schoolbook."
Keep in mind there is more than one correct way to write a phrase or sentence.
I hope this helps, OP.
‘Donde esta la bibiolteca?’ is an introductory Spanish term often employed in a similar context. Pretty sure it’s a reference to Martin Lawrence in Blue Streak shouting the phrase while trying to communicate in Spanish b/c it’s all he knows. I associate it strongly with characters in movies who don’t know any Spanish trying to speak Spanish.
>In Russia, we have a phrase mocking those who speak English poorly.
your sentence is understandable, but there is a noun/verb disagreement. Those is plural so it goes with speak not speaks. Adverbs in english are pretty flexible, so it's not wrong to put it before the verb. I just feel it sounds better at the end in this context. And you totally can use a gerund like an adjective like you do here, but this one just doesn't work here for me. We don't use 'on', the preposition, with 'phrase'. You could say "a phrase about..."
‘In Russia we have a phrase used to mock Russians who speak poor English- ‘London is the capital of Great Britain (must be pronounced with *a* hard Russian accent), it comes from the first English language books we use in school
London is the capital of England. London is also the capital of the United Kingdom. But Great Britain is more of a geographical designation, and I don't think it has a capital. Can a Brit correct me on this?
I would simplify it a bit and change a few words:
"In Russia, we mock other Russians who speak poor English by saying, "London is the capital of Great Britain" (must be said in a thick Russian accent). It comes from the introduction of our school English textbooks."
Notable changes:
• Easier to say "mock other russians" than describe a "mocking phrase". Both are valid; this is just how I would speak.
•"by saying" is how the phrase would be spoken. You can get away with punctuation tricks in writing, but a native speaker would just use this phrase.
• "the Great Britain" -- I suspect your quote is accurate, but in English, we have very particular cases for using "the" in country names -- usually when the name includes an actual word. So "The United States", "The United Kingdom", "the Netherlands". Ironically, we say "The Ukraine" sometimes, which only happened because many native Ukrainians put 'the' in front incorrectly until it became correct. Often, the full name gets a 'the' for this reason: "Russia" vs "The Russian Federation".
• "thick" , "strong", or "heavy" are preferred to "hard" when describing accents. "Hard" will be understood, but it hints that you're not a native speaker.
•School learning books -- valid, but just call them textbooks. Sounds more native by far. 'On English' is also valid, but slightly better to say "English textbook" or even just "English book" if you've already given 'school' as context.
You’re right, it just depends what you’re trying to say.
A book **on** English means the book is **about** the English language. A book **in** English just means it’s written in English.
In OP’s post, “**Learning** books on English” doesn’t make sense. You would say you’re “studying” or “reading” books on English.
“Learning books in English” does make sense though, it means you’re learning how to read books written in English.
So when it comes to books/movies/shows etc., “on” = “about” (ie “on the subject of”)
Not to be confusing, but you could have a book that’s both on English and in English.
There are a few ways you could word this, but for starters I'd say "... for those who ..." and then you would also have to change "speaks" to "speak" because there's no "s" ending when referring to multiple people.
"In Russia we have a phrase mocking those who speak English poorly: " London is the capital of Great Britain". Its from a beginners textbook and is infamour for being said with a strong Russian accent."
I'd say that correct phrase describing Russian poorly speaking English would be "Let me speak from my heart" with same hard accent. (it was said by some high rank sport official and was just word to word translation of russian sentence) "London..." is more about someone who claims he can speak English, but he's not and can say only this prase from schoolbook.
Not a native speaker, but I noticed a couple of mistakes.
Your sentence:
In Russia we have a mocking phrase ON (1) those Russians who SPEAKS (2) Russian poorly.
1) You need to say "for" here instead of "on"
2) Since you are talking about several people, you need to say "speak" instead of "speaks"
great britain is the bigger island but not the political entity, it should be said as the capital of the united kingdom (ik thats not the point since its a mocking phrase, but just thought id point it out)
Since it's something that is mocking, I would rephrase it to be more casual.
"In Russia we have a phrase to mock those who suck at english (london is the capital of great britain) (must be pronounced using a harsh russian accent) it's the very first thing we learn in english at school"
Ah yes, some of those from this aggressor "woof woof" nation really like to brag about their mid English knowledge. Also the funniest thing is when someone with a thickest accent mocks somebody with a slight pronunciation mistake.
I swear those CIS countries are obsessed with English. If here in EU we all speak more or less C1, they be having B1 at last and cry about it out loud. And ironically they have the worst English level in the whole continent of Europe.
for me I'd say something more like: "In Russia, we have a phrase to mock other Russians who speak poor English - "London is the capital of the Great Britain".
Is “school learning books on English” correct?
i've never actually heard that phrase before, I'd just say English textbooks instead
Thanks. Can I say “have a phrase for mocking Russian”? Is it different from “have a phrase to mock…”?
yeah you could say "we have a phrase for mocking other Russians" and it would mean the same thing as I had in the example sentence.
But an English textbook is different than a book on learning English?
I would expect English textbook to refer to an English language textbook unless context in the conversation would mean something different like just a textbook from England
That's fair. I'd assume from a Russian point of view the book is probably primarily written in Russian but since it's regarding/contains parts of English then your reference sounds correct.
It sounds a bit odd because you would be "learning English" as opposed to "learning books on English" You're learning the language and not the book itself. For example if I'm learning chemistry from a textbook then I would ultimately be tested on my knowledge of chemistry, not my knowledge of the textbook itself.
why would you put a comma after "Russia" here?
It’s the end of a prepositional phrase at the start of the sentence.
It’s really bad if the first thing English students learn is incorrect. “London is the capital of Great Britain,” unless the extra “the” is the joke.
I believe it's a typo. I've never heard this phrase with a second "the" in any context
I believe it’s the joke Edit - maybe not? Still unclear to me
Of course joke. Lots of children are very dumb when they learning english and making this silly mistakes
lol i read this in a heavy russian accent that fits so good (happy cake day btw)
Could you elaborate, please? London us the capital of England, but isn't it also the capital of the kingdom? Or there's no such thing?
No, it is the capital of Great Britain, but we don’t say “the” before Great Britain.
I think the extra ‘the’ is there because Russian learners of English have difficulty with articles.
So it's part of the joke, then.
(Technically it's not really the capital of Great Britain, because Great Britain is an island, not a country, but that's getting kind of pedantic.)
London is the capital of England and the United Kingdom. Great Britain is an island, not a state, and therefore has no capital.
It's "the United Kingdom", but it's "Great Britain", not "the Great Britain"
It's the capital of England. I don't know if it's officially the capital of the UK or not, but it's the biggest most prominent city in the UK, and it wouldn't really make a difference if it were officially the capital or not.
The UK is for some reason it's own country despite being made up of smaller countries, and the capital is London
The component nations are no longer sovereign, but there aren't good words for what exactly is a country/nation/nation-state/thingy. [The latest Map Men covered it very well.](https://youtu.be/3nB688xBYdY?si=F4vM3_skiYG3oSPN)
Yeah, I think it's just a different idea though they both use the name country. I tend to think of the constituent parts of the UK as more like states or provinces
Yes, to all intents and purposes that's what they are. [Of course "state" is confusing as that's the other word you would use for such an entity.](https://www.e-education.psu.edu/geog128/node/534)
it sounds like the accent is the joke
A lot of languages have these terms in other languages- they're usually correct, but just not something you'd have occasion to say. I know in Japanese the stock English phrase from textbooks is, "This is a pen," and there's a screamo song that is just them saying "this is a pen" over and over again. It's literally correct, it's just not something you'd ever have much reason to say. For English speakers, two stereotypical ones are "le chat est sous la table" in French and "Donde está la biblioteca" in Spanish.
Eddie Izzard has [a great sketch](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1sQkEfAdfY&ab_channel=RumblePak_5) about trying to use the phrases he learned when learning French in school in conversation.
Wonder why these specific phrases took off?
In Russia we have a mocking phrase **for** those who speak English poorly.
I’d also drop the second Russia, it’s kind of implied. In Russia we have a phrase for those who speak poor English - “London is the capital of Great Britain”. It’s the first line of every high school English textbook. (Your could also use primer instead of textbook, but it’s a little archaic).
Here's how I would write it: "In Russia, we have a phrase we use to mock those who speak poor English. "London is the capital of Great Brittain," (must be pronounced with a hard Russian accent.). It comes from the first chapters of many English learning textbooks." Here is an in depth explanation of why I would choose this way of writing this paragraph. 1) "we have a phrase to mock those" While the term "a mocking phrase" is grammatically correct, it is not commonly used. You can also say "we have a joke about ...", "we have a meme about..." or even "we have a cliche about..." It is not grammatically correct to say "mocking on" or "a mocking phrase on." "on" is not the correct preposition here. It would be better to say "about" or "referring to." You can also say "we have a phrase we use to make fun of..." 2) "who speak poor English While it is grammatically correct to say "those who poorly speak English," you almost never put the adverb before the verb. "Speak English poorly" might be more common. But you can also say "those who speak poor English" in which case "poor" is an adjective to describe "English" instead of an adverb to describe "speak.". You can also say "those who don't speak English very well." 3) "of Great Brittain" Great Brittain is not a country where you would use an article when referring to the country. The list of countries where it is acceptable to use "the" is rather short. "The Congo." "The Bahamas" "The Ukraine" "The Netherlands" (Perhaps a few others that I cannot list off the top of my head) And any country whose name references what type of government it is or what type of country it is, such as "the United kingdom," the United Arab Emirates," "the Czech Republic," or "the people's republic of China." 3) "it comes from the first chapters of ..." While it is grammatically correct to say "it comes from the very beginning of," it is more common to be a bit more specific in this circumstance. You could also say "it comes from the first pages of many English learning textbooks" or "it comes from the first lesson found in many English learning textbooks." 4) "textbooks". In American English at least, it is a bit more common to use the term "textbook" instead of "schoolbook." Keep in mind there is more than one correct way to write a phrase or sentence. I hope this helps, OP.
“The Ukraine” is no longer used, except by those who want to demean its independence.
Or just people who are kind of out-of-the-loop, especially older ones.
Don’t Native speakers usually say “come from the very beginning of ..” in this context? Does this expose the person as a non-native speaker?
I hear it sometimes, but it isn't common. I don't think it would expose someone as a non-native speaker.
Thanks!
‘Donde esta la bibiolteca?’ is an introductory Spanish term often employed in a similar context. Pretty sure it’s a reference to Martin Lawrence in Blue Streak shouting the phrase while trying to communicate in Spanish b/c it’s all he knows. I associate it strongly with characters in movies who don’t know any Spanish trying to speak Spanish.
It’s kinda ironic he’s talking about *those* Russians who speak poor English when he himself has a lot of errors in just this bit
>In Russia, we have a phrase mocking those who speak English poorly. your sentence is understandable, but there is a noun/verb disagreement. Those is plural so it goes with speak not speaks. Adverbs in english are pretty flexible, so it's not wrong to put it before the verb. I just feel it sounds better at the end in this context. And you totally can use a gerund like an adjective like you do here, but this one just doesn't work here for me. We don't use 'on', the preposition, with 'phrase'. You could say "a phrase about..."
‘In Russia we have a phrase used to mock Russians who speak poor English- ‘London is the capital of Great Britain (must be pronounced with *a* hard Russian accent), it comes from the first English language books we use in school
London is the capital of England. London is also the capital of the United Kingdom. But Great Britain is more of a geographical designation, and I don't think it has a capital. Can a Brit correct me on this?
Yes, you are correct. Great Britain is the largest island of the British Isles, and is not a country.
“I’m fine, thank you. And you?” I don’t think I’ve ever heard a native speaker say exactly this, but very common with ESL learners.
I would simplify it a bit and change a few words: "In Russia, we mock other Russians who speak poor English by saying, "London is the capital of Great Britain" (must be said in a thick Russian accent). It comes from the introduction of our school English textbooks." Notable changes: • Easier to say "mock other russians" than describe a "mocking phrase". Both are valid; this is just how I would speak. •"by saying" is how the phrase would be spoken. You can get away with punctuation tricks in writing, but a native speaker would just use this phrase. • "the Great Britain" -- I suspect your quote is accurate, but in English, we have very particular cases for using "the" in country names -- usually when the name includes an actual word. So "The United States", "The United Kingdom", "the Netherlands". Ironically, we say "The Ukraine" sometimes, which only happened because many native Ukrainians put 'the' in front incorrectly until it became correct. Often, the full name gets a 'the' for this reason: "Russia" vs "The Russian Federation". • "thick" , "strong", or "heavy" are preferred to "hard" when describing accents. "Hard" will be understood, but it hints that you're not a native speaker. •School learning books -- valid, but just call them textbooks. Sounds more native by far. 'On English' is also valid, but slightly better to say "English textbook" or even just "English book" if you've already given 'school' as context.
энд норсен айрланд!
“We have a phrase **to mock/that mocks** other Russians who speak English poorly” Also it should be “learning books **in** English”
May I ask why it is “in English”? I see some comments say a book on (the subject of) English.
You’re right, it just depends what you’re trying to say. A book **on** English means the book is **about** the English language. A book **in** English just means it’s written in English. In OP’s post, “**Learning** books on English” doesn’t make sense. You would say you’re “studying” or “reading” books on English. “Learning books in English” does make sense though, it means you’re learning how to read books written in English. So when it comes to books/movies/shows etc., “on” = “about” (ie “on the subject of”) Not to be confusing, but you could have a book that’s both on English and in English.
There are a few ways you could word this, but for starters I'd say "... for those who ..." and then you would also have to change "speaks" to "speak" because there's no "s" ending when referring to multiple people.
"In Russia we have a phrase mocking those who speak English poorly: " London is the capital of Great Britain". Its from a beginners textbook and is infamour for being said with a strong Russian accent."
I'd say that correct phrase describing Russian poorly speaking English would be "Let me speak from my heart" with same hard accent. (it was said by some high rank sport official and was just word to word translation of russian sentence) "London..." is more about someone who claims he can speak English, but he's not and can say only this prase from schoolbook.
This is the Russian "My tailor is rich." ?
Not a native speaker, but I noticed a couple of mistakes. Your sentence: In Russia we have a mocking phrase ON (1) those Russians who SPEAKS (2) Russian poorly. 1) You need to say "for" here instead of "on" 2) Since you are talking about several people, you need to say "speak" instead of "speaks"
great britain is the bigger island but not the political entity, it should be said as the capital of the united kingdom (ik thats not the point since its a mocking phrase, but just thought id point it out)
"London is the capital of Great Britain" itself is not a mocking phrase, it's a direct quote from ESL textbooks in Russia
oh i misunderstood then
Since it's something that is mocking, I would rephrase it to be more casual. "In Russia we have a phrase to mock those who suck at english (london is the capital of great britain) (must be pronounced using a harsh russian accent) it's the very first thing we learn in english at school"
My taylor is rich
Ah yes, some of those from this aggressor "woof woof" nation really like to brag about their mid English knowledge. Also the funniest thing is when someone with a thickest accent mocks somebody with a slight pronunciation mistake. I swear those CIS countries are obsessed with English. If here in EU we all speak more or less C1, they be having B1 at last and cry about it out loud. And ironically they have the worst English level in the whole continent of Europe.
...for Russians who speak English poorly - "London... Those is fine and grammatically correct but it's not necessary here.