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As a native English speaker, for the most part I typically know what someone means when they say "gl-OW-kester square" or "Green-witch mean time", so don't wor

by 22c 5y ago

As a native English speaker, for the most part I typically know what someone means when they say "gl-OW-kester square" or "Green-witch mean time", so don't worry about it. I have a Russian friend who has specifically asked me to go out of my way to correct their mispronunciations, but for the most part if someone says an English word in a weird I don't even blink. I'd say part of being an effective English communicator is not just about speaking English, but also about being able to understand foreign English accents (and I include different dialects of native English in that as well).

Tabular-Iceberg 5y ago
> I have a Russian friend who has specifically asked me to go out of my way to correct their mispronunciations, but for the most part if someone says an English word in a weird I don't even blink. Yes, English has so many weird native dialects that weird foreign pronunciations shouldn’t throw you off either. The Finns seems obtuse in their insistence on using Finnish phonology when speaking English, which is easy to make light of on the surface, but when you think about it it’s not actually a bad system. It’s consistent, easy to understand and it lets them focus on gaining fluency over memorising pointless irregular pronunciations.
neltnerb 5y ago
English is also unusually flexible, something I noticed abroad. In English you can do ridiculous wrong things and still create something that a skilled listener can easily understand. Subject and verb all you know? Eh, I can guess from context. Try putting the subject and verb in the wrong order in Japanese or forget your counter particle for a particular kind of counting and you just get blank stares. I think that English, for its many faults, is at least extremely error tolerant in terms of it being possible to say something that's comprehensible enough dozens of ways and often with words practically in random order. It's probably the most amazing thing about English to me, although I only know a few other languages they are much more strict.
Zababa 5y ago
I think you have to understand that "international English" is not the same as English. We have the same thing in France where lots of people come to study from other countries where they speak French, and their French is a little different. I'm not going to waste anyone's time on correcting someone because they said "le table" and not "la table". Same thing with the pronunciation. I can understand them, they can understand me, and that's what matters. That's the "price" of having a huge influence in the world.

by 22c 5y ago

Tabular-Iceberg 5y ago

> I have a Russian friend who has specifically asked me to go out of my way to correct their mispronunciations, but for the most part if someone says an English word in a weird I don't even blink. Yes, English has so many weird native dialects that weird foreign pronunciations shouldn’t throw you off either. The Finns seems obtuse in their insistence on using Finnish phonology when speaking English, which is easy to make light of on the surface, but when you think about it it’s not actually a bad system. It’s consistent, easy to understand and it lets them focus on gaining fluency over memorising pointless irregular pronunciations.

neltnerb 5y ago

English is also unusually flexible, something I noticed abroad. In English you can do ridiculous wrong things and still create something that a skilled listener can easily understand. Subject and verb all you know? Eh, I can guess from context. Try putting the subject and verb in the wrong order in Japanese or forget your counter particle for a particular kind of counting and you just get blank stares. I think that English, for its many faults, is at least extremely error tolerant in terms of it being possible to say something that's comprehensible enough dozens of ways and often with words practically in random order. It's probably the most amazing thing about English to me, although I only know a few other languages they are much more strict.

Zababa 5y ago

I think you have to understand that "international English" is not the same as English. We have the same thing in France where lots of people come to study from other countries where they speak French, and their French is a little different. I'm not going to waste anyone's time on correcting someone because they said "le table" and not "la table". Same thing with the pronunciation. I can understand them, they can understand me, and that's what matters. That's the "price" of having a huge influence in the world.