Meaning of "your english is better than my slovakian"

Question

Hi,
I am non-native english speaker and I got a strange comment from anative speaker.

"Your english is 1000x better than my slovakian" the fact is that the person who said it doesnt speak a word in slovak..

So i dont know how to explain it to myself, is it good or bad? sounds insulting to me.. (when all other native speakers did understand what i said...)

thank you for all your comments.

Avangi · Accepted Answer

Anonymoussounds insulting to me.

Me too.

A thousand times zero is zero.

But your critic is safe, because it amounts to saying that your English is NOT better than his Slovakian.

If he had said, "Your English is about as good as my Slovakian," then you'd have cause for action.

It's one of those "safe" insults, like:
My opponent is not fit to slop hogs.
(Retraction: Well, maybe he is.)

CSnyder · Answer

Huh?  He just means "Your English is much better than my Slovakian".  The "thousand times" is hyperbole and not meant to be taken literally.

Avangi · Answer

CSnyderHe just means "Your English is much better than my Slovakian".

This reading is surely possible. Perhaps he didn't know that Anon would discover that he doesn't speak a word of Slovakian.

I think only context can determine whether or not an insult was intended.

Perhaps he was attempting to draw a parallel between Anon's situation and his own -- a relatively new resident in a land in which he's relatively unfamiliar with the language. He may have been complimenting Anon on doing a better job of learning a new language than he was.

I had assumed that Anon discovered there was no reason or intention to speak Slovakian. Why else would he suspect an insult?
You're probably right.

Rgdz, - A.

Anonymous · Answer

Thank you for all your comments.

well context is (business correspondence, I am customer, they are supplier): last week I agreed something with his colleague (who understood and confirmed what I asked for), today I found out that they haven´t done it so asked them to do it asap. The one who made the comment didnt want to do it because he thought I was wrong. I sent him an e-mail where his colleague confirmed it but he still didnt understand. then my boss asked him to read that e-mail once again that it was written clear and he admitted I was right and made that comment... :-/

Meaning of "your english is better than my slovakian"

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