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Yep. Often it is the native speakers that are the worst problem in cases like this. We tend to fall into “higher” English and use uncommon words or idioms. I ha

Yep. Often it is the native speakers that are the worst problem in cases like this. We tend to fall into “higher” English and use uncommon words or idioms. I have been in many situations where the non-native speakers talk to each other with no problem, but they get lost with my contribution.

stordoff 11y ago
I wonder if taught English is more standardised than native English. I can certainly think of things I hear regularly that might surprise even a native speaker. Couple of examples: - The informal form of 'you' persists to some extent in parts of Yorkshire - "Where are you going?" often becomes "Where's tha goin'?" - There is slang that I rarely hear outside of my immediate family (though I suspect it's more common than I realise) - "seef" for example (from "see if"), "I was seeing if it was in the car" is almost always "I was seefing it was in the car"
- prewett 11y ago
  I think it is because non-native speakers all learn the same basic 1000 words (initially) and same most-frequently-used grammatical patterns. Native speakers know thousands more words and all the colloquial phrases. I can understand foreigners (Americans, anyway) speaking Chinese pretty easily, because we all know the same (limited) vocabulary and grammar. I have real trouble with native speakers because they use all the short forms of the words and the grammar patterns that you don't learn initially.
_delirium 11y ago
There's also the flipside of that: rather than "higher" English, native speakers are also more likely to use fairly "sloppy" English, especially with pronunciation. When not thinking about it and speaking quickly, native English speakers, or at least American English speakers, tend to elide or merge syllables, which second-language speakers often find challenging to understand. I've more than once found that the reason someone didn't understand something I said in English was just because, speaking quickly, I was leaving out 20-30% of the syllables, if you were to really try to pick out distinct ones. Americans hearing me speak would fill these in subconsciously, but second-language speakers can be thrown off. For example, if you listen to how I say a phrase like "no, morning won't work, because of the meeting" (11 syllables) when I'm speaking very quickly, you can only really make out 7-8 distinct syllables, roughly "nah, morn' won' work 'cause the meet'n".
- danieltillett 11y ago
  Yes this is true - I guess I am just expressing my personal experience where I forget I am speaking to non-native speakers and use language they are unfamiliar with.

stordoff 11y ago

I wonder if taught English is more standardised than native English. I can certainly think of things I hear regularly that might surprise even a native speaker. Couple of examples: - The informal form of 'you' persists to some extent in parts of Yorkshire - "Where are you going?" often becomes "Where's tha goin'?" - There is slang that I rarely hear outside of my immediate family (though I suspect it's more common than I realise) - "seef" for example (from "see if"), "I was seeing if it was in the car" is almost always "I was seefing it was in the car"

prewett 11y ago
I think it is because non-native speakers all learn the same basic 1000 words (initially) and same most-frequently-used grammatical patterns. Native speakers know thousands more words and all the colloquial phrases. I can understand foreigners (Americans, anyway) speaking Chinese pretty easily, because we all know the same (limited) vocabulary and grammar. I have real trouble with native speakers because they use all the short forms of the words and the grammar patterns that you don't learn initially.

_delirium 11y ago

There's also the flipside of that: rather than "higher" English, native speakers are also more likely to use fairly "sloppy" English, especially with pronunciation. When not thinking about it and speaking quickly, native English speakers, or at least American English speakers, tend to elide or merge syllables, which second-language speakers often find challenging to understand. I've more than once found that the reason someone didn't understand something I said in English was just because, speaking quickly, I was leaving out 20-30% of the syllables, if you were to really try to pick out distinct ones. Americans hearing me speak would fill these in subconsciously, but second-language speakers can be thrown off. For example, if you listen to how I say a phrase like "no, morning won't work, because of the meeting" (11 syllables) when I'm speaking very quickly, you can only really make out 7-8 distinct syllables, roughly "nah, morn' won' work 'cause the meet'n".

danieltillett 11y ago
Yes this is true - I guess I am just expressing my personal experience where I forget I am speaking to non-native speakers and use language they are unfamiliar with.