I just finished answering a question on another site from somebody from the country of Georgia. It was obvious English wasn’t the person’s first language. When answering questions from other countries, I try to use simple, common words and avoid idomatic phrases. Was the person likely to understand OK?
I remember years ago, a Chinese delegation visiting where I worked. They all knew enough English to ask questions, but not to understand the answers.
Would they understand the word OK? They were asking in English? Yes, definitely. OK would be understood by pretty much everyone you’re likely to come in contact with.
I suppose you have to assume he did unless he told you otherwise. Using clear and simple language is a good practice no matter whom you’re addressing. Just don’t go overboard with it unless you’re sure you’re talking to an absolute beginner; otherwise you will come across as patronizing.
I like how the OP is itself quite hard to understand. Is it asking “would they understand the word ‘OK’ ?”, or “would they understand sufficiently well?”
Ah… reminds me of my boss, who tried to explain to our partners in Mumbai, India that his town back in the USA doesn’t have many stores that stay open late. He said, “Wow, Mumbai isn’t like Mickleton where they roll the sidewalks up at 10pm”.
In response to their completely puzzled looks, I explained to the mostly 20-somethings that:
My boss said to me, “Phil, don’t treat them like they’re stupid.”
.
“Okay” is likely to be understood by someone who doesn’t know any English.
There was recently a thread which concluded that “okay” is the most widely understood word in the world.
I’d love to give you a link to it. But unfortunately, our wonderful search engine considers “okay” to be a very short and common word, and refuses to let me search for it.
I had an interesting conversation with a man from that part of the world (former Soviet Union). His English was quite good, but he was bemoaning how difficult business meetings in the U.S. were for him. His English teacher was from England, and he didn’t understand all of the sports metaphors the businesspeople were using.
“Yeah,” I said. “We use a lot of football metaphors.”
Football? He started rattling off the phrases that had confused him. They were from all different sports. He had dozens of them.
[ul]
[li]That idea came out of left field.[/li][li]One more strike and you’re out.[/li][li]In the penalty box with you![/li][li]I feel like I’m facing a 7-10 split.[/li][li]Hole in one![/li][li]Who’s next at bat?[/li][li]Hey! That question was out of bounds![/li][li]They’re bringing in the second string now.[/li][li]Why do I have to wait on the sidelines?[/li][li]Good job! That’s a three-pointer.[/li][/ul]
What was **thelabdude **going on about? Could anybody make it out?
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He was asking us either
(a) can someone from Georgia probably understand the word “OK”? (answer: yes); or
(b) can someone from Georgia probably understand thelabdude’s attempt to express concepts in basic English? (Answer: how in God’s name would we know? Depends entirely on what grasp of English the person had, and on what thelabdude considers to be basic English.)
Either you got whooshed, or my attempts at wit are pretty lame.
Unless, I got counter-whooshed.
hh
But the point is that the OP’s question was very poorly written and I, for one, misunderstood what he was asking. I didn’t realize until I read some of the responses that he was asking "Would the person understand “OK”? I thought he was asking “Would the person understand OK?” ( Anyone want to argue that the use of quotation marks is unimportant?)