language "authority" in the US

You just have to love the assumption behind the following statement in antimoon:

"Level 3 will be called good pronunciation. Notice that good pronunciation is not "perfect American or British accent". You don't have to sound like the Queen of England or the President of the United States of America."

Like presidents (current or former) in the US were somehow regarded as authorities or models of "correct" language and pronunciation. In fact, they are often chastised in the media for their (supposedly) incorrect use of English.

Does Level-3 mean that your points/statements can be clearly understood by your peers in America?

For presidents' English pronunication, I have seen many college Chinese students who would want to have a Bush's style of English pronunciation and are struggling for it.

>>For presidents' English pronunication, I have seen many college Chinese students who would want to have a Bush's style of English pronunciation and are struggling for it.<<

Why Bush's in particular?

Rolandkun:
You missed my point. The president's dialect is perfectly intelligible. I was pointing out to a cultural difference here: for many people who speak Commonwealth English (not all, I know), the Queen somehow represents "correct speech", and this is reflected in expressions such as "the Queen's English". In American English, there is no such figure of "authority" over the language, and singling out the president in the quoted sentence seems odd to me.

I do understand what you're trying to convey, and I couldn't agree more.
I really doubt that the person that wrote that comment is american.

"Why Bush's in particular?"

I think that it is all because Bush is the president of the united stated and the word "president" in China represents something that can be regarded as a symbol worthy of a life-pursuit. They tend to regard the president Bush as a God-speaker of English, and naively think that his Englsh should be better than most educated American.

"In American English, there is no such figure of "authority" over the language, and singling out the president in the quoted sentence seems odd to me."

Now I've got your point. I know there is no such term of "authority" over American English pronunicationin USA. However, this authority seems to be growing at the expenses of other languages. I might be wrong, anyway!

>>I think that it is all because Bush is the president of the united stated and the word "president" in China represents something that can be regarded as a symbol worthy of a life-pursuit. They tend to regard the president Bush as a God-speaker of English, and naively think that his Englsh should be better than most educated American.<<

The reason why the idea of such is funny is that at least here in the US, George Bush has often been subject to ridicule about his overall speech habits; note though that such is not with respect to his pronunciation, for the most part (with a few exceptions like "nucular"), but rather how he words and states things.

Most Americans regard Bush as having the very worst English.

Brennus:
>>The other day, I heard a guy on television say that whenever he's going on a job interview or talking to bosses he uses only the King's (or Queen's) English. My own experience in the work place tells me that these are wise words. <<

That's very interesting though I am not good at adjusting myself to King's English.

Well, we would never consider any president to be a representative paragon of anything, since they get replaced every 4 to 8 years. Unlike a monarch, who will usually reign for decades and is groomed for the job from birth. Our presidents are more like hired CEO's working on a limited contract.

If you wanted to compare speaking styles, Bush and Clinton both have southern-type accents (different southern accents, but from the same family, so to speak), yet Clinton was eloquent and well-spoken, with a silver tongue, while Bush's speechwriters must shake their heads in horror at how he mangles their carefully chosen words -- if you listen to his speeches, it's not the writing that's so awful, it's the awkwardness of his delivery. The man is just a horrible orator. Some people have that gift, and some people just don't.

Here's a great Bush quote from August of 2004:

"Our enemies are resourceful... so are we. Our enemies never stop thinking of ways to harm or kill us, neither do we."

As if we are all trying to commit suicide or something. I think this is the kind of thing uriel and others were talking about; his lack of eloquence.

<<if you listen to his speeches, it's not the writing that's so awful, it's the awkwardness of his delivery. The man is just a horrible orator.>>

Oh My Word!! I just about laugh my pants off when Bush has something to say! He stares at the script, tries to memorize a segment, and then fails miserably when he attempts to recite it. Each sentence goes by painfully slow. My friend does such a great impression.

He is getting better, though.

English language means money, prosperity, development, improvement, economy, science or NASA, and the most interesting result for business is the international communication.

Spanish language is considered to be a very important as the second one
for Latinos mainly. But a lot of people take an option to learn to speak Spanish as well.

Having Bush's English as an example doesn't have anything to do with the Queen's English. The Queen speaks English very well, as an intelectual so to speak, and Bush speaks a horible English, not just as pronounciation , but grammatically incorrect as well.
Nobody in the US wants to compare his/her English with Bush's. Sic!