talk to, or talk with....

Nora   Thursday, March 06, 2003, 08:39 GMT
I wonder why in American English people say "I want to talk with", but in Britain people say "I want to talk to.. "
What is the difference. In our language its literally "with", not "to".
mjd   Thursday, March 06, 2003, 08:53 GMT
You can say either one, but I'd say "talk to" is more common in America as well. You can use both in conjunction with "speak" too. These aren't rules per se, but it often seems to be the case that when you're referring to a certain person, say a friend or whomever, you'll say:

"I have to talk to Nora." OR "I'll talk to Nora" OR (slang) "I gotta talk to Nora."

Using "with" is probably more common with the word "speak."

"I would like to speak with Nora about this problem."

But "to" is also very common with "speak."

"I would like to speak to Nora about this problem." OR "I spoke to Nora about this problem yesterday."

My advice: with "talk" use "to" with "speak," use whichever one you want.


Nora   Thursday, March 06, 2003, 09:06 GMT
Thank you, mjd.
If I'm not boring - where are you from?
mjd   Thursday, March 06, 2003, 09:06 GMT
New Jersey in the U.S. It's right next to New York City.
Nora   Thursday, March 06, 2003, 09:20 GMT
I don't know nothing about New Jersey...
mjd   Thursday, March 06, 2003, 09:27 GMT
I rarely hear you speak of your native Bulgaria. Do you live in Sofia? Is there much tourism? Was learning English difficult due to the difference between it and the slavic language of your country?
scottish   Thursday, March 06, 2003, 09:31 GMT
piss off retards
Nora   Thursday, March 06, 2003, 09:37 GMT
Scottish - mind your own business. Don't bother with that...
Mjd,
da az sym ot Sofia. Sega e snegowito i dosta studeno. Kak e wremeto w New Jersey. Could you understand me?
Nora   Thursday, March 06, 2003, 09:44 GMT
To be honest english is completely different from our language. We have got much in common with russian, macedonian, serbian. I can understand them. May be because we have studied russian in school. Now the situation is completely different - the kids study english in school, which I've found useful. I like English - I like the sound of that language - I find it very soft and sweet...
Nora   Thursday, March 06, 2003, 09:51 GMT
We have wonderful place for tourism. I mean that Bulgaria is beautiful place for tourism. Because - we have ski's resorts like Borowetz and sea's resorts like "Golden sands'. We have soo virgin places.I adore the old small villages. My favourite towns are Veliko Turnovo and Plovdiv. I like them mmmuch....
mjd   Friday, March 07, 2003, 03:03 GMT
Sounds interesting Nora. Incidentally, what did that sentece you wrote mean?
Jim   Friday, March 07, 2003, 04:33 GMT
You can mostly use them interchangably but maybe "with" is a bit more equal whereas "to" is more one way. If you talk to someone then you do more talking and they do more listening but if you talk with someone both talk and both listen. In reality it's far from being anything like as clean-cut as this but sometimes people might use the distinction this way, maybe.
Nora   Friday, March 07, 2003, 07:34 GMT
Nothing essential - I'm from Sofia, here is snow (snowing) and it's rather cold. How is the weather in New Jersey...
How does it sound our Bulgarian language? We have a particularly 'r' - different from french 'r', and from english 'r', we've got some slavian sounds that are very differerent from english alphabet and haven't got analogue in english - even though I can't describe them.
For me english language is melodic and very pleasant language...
mjd   Friday, March 07, 2003, 10:44 GMT
Yeah it's freezing and snowing here too. That word "snegowito" seems like a cognate for the word snow. Am I right?
Nora   Friday, March 07, 2003, 11:06 GMT
Yeah I suppose so...