I’m a native English speaker. I argued for the contraction "amn't" through sixth grade, but my teachers kept correcting it. At work a few years back, a Chines

I’m a native English speaker. I argued for the contraction "amn't" through sixth grade, but my teachers kept correcting it. At work a few years back, a Chinese colleague was speaking with an Indian colleague. I had some trouble understanding them with their heavy accents, but they were apparently having no trouble understanding each other. At the same workplace, my Italian boss would sometimes converse with a Canadian colleague in French. My dad is one of those people who when speaking to non-native English speakers, he speaks (a lot) louder, as if that helps them to understand (I don’t think it does). In Italy one time, my daughter was trying to order espresso with hot milk but got served a glass of cold milk because she asked for a latte. She's currently studying German and is amused by the German for "birth control pills": "Anti-Baby-Pillen". I am reminded of a habit from seven habits of highly effective people: seek first to understand, then to be understood. Shrug.