0
Guest Posted 21 years ago
Grammar
Claim and Complain!
0 Hello everyone! 02 br
00 As a TEFL teacher in Spain I often get students using the word "claim" when they mean "complain". Of course I explain about claiming lost property, staking a claim, baggage reclaim, insurance claim, claiming something is true etc etc.. but when I taught in Japan students made the same mistake. I can find NOTHING on the internet about stds confusing these words.. can they mean the same thing in American English?? 02 br
02 br
00 Can anyone help? 0-
00 As a TEFL teacher in Spain I often get students using the word "claim" when they mean "complain". Of course I explain about claiming lost property, staking a claim, baggage reclaim, insurance claim, claiming something is true etc etc.. but when I taught in Japan students made the same mistake. I can find NOTHING on the internet about stds confusing these words.. can they mean the same thing in American English?? 02 br
02 br
00 Can anyone help? 0-
Top answer
0 Hello Guest 02 br 02 br 00 Perhaps it's because every 'complaint' implies (or embodies) a 'claim' that one deserved better treatment in some respect. 02 br 02 br 00 And we often hope that our complaint will lead to a refund or compensation of some kind; so you could say that by making a complaint, we are implicitly 'claiming back' something. 02 br 02 br 00 These implications seem to be closer in Spanish: I seem to recall that you make a 'reclamación' to the manager of a shop, for instance, whereas we 'make a complaint' about something.
- 0 Hello Guest 02 br 02 br 00 Perhaps it's because every 'complaint' implies (or embodies) a 'claim' that one deserved better treatment in some respect.
- 02 br 02 br 00 And we often hope that our complaint will lead to a refund or compensation of some kind; so you could say that by making a complaint, we are implicitly 'claiming back' something.
- 02 br 02 br 00 These implications seem to be closer in Spanish: I seem to recall that you make a 'reclamación' to the manager of a shop, for instance, whereas we 'make a complaint' about something.
- ) 02 br 02 br 00 Maybe something similar obtains in Japanese!
- 02 br 02 br 00 MrP 0-
Get the Weekly English Kit 📬
New words, one handy idiom, and a 2-minute quiz — delivered to your inbox to keep your streak alive.
3 Answers
0
0 Hello Guest 02 br
02 br
00 Perhaps it's because every 'complaint' implies (or embodies) a 'claim' that one deserved better treatment in some respect. 02 br
02 br
00 And we often hope that our complaint will lead to a refund or compensation of some kind; so you could say that by making a complaint, we are implicitly 'claiming back' something. 02 br
02
02 br
00 Perhaps it's because every 'complaint' implies (or embodies) a 'claim' that one deserved better treatment in some respect. 02 br
02 br
00 And we often hope that our complaint will lead to a refund or compensation of some kind; so you could say that by making a complaint, we are implicitly 'claiming back' something. 02 br
02
00
Don't know about Japan, but in Spain it is easy to see the L1 interference at work. Reclamar is one verb in Spanish among others used to make complaints. Reclamar also includes the idea of redress, to make things right. The best equivalent for our verb complain is the Spanish quejar as in Me quejaba del sevicio. (still not sure if it should be reflexive though) =
00
Hello Guest
I'm a Japanese. You are quite right. We have a word 'kureimu' that originally came from English 'claim'. My wife might use this Japanized 'claim' like this way: "Papa, this morning I put a claim to our neighbor Ms Koizumi, because their dog barked at me so furiously yesterday evening."
paco
I'm a Japanese. You are quite right. We have a word 'kureimu' that originally came from English 'claim'. My wife might use this Japanized 'claim' like this way: "Papa, this morning I put a claim to our neighbor Ms Koizumi, because their dog barked at me so furiously yesterday evening."
paco
0
Related Questions