To cheat a native English speaker...

[nyggus]

Do you, native speakers, always recognize that a text you're reading is written by a nonative speaker?

[Tdol]

Not always, but most of the time. I remember talking to a guy in Portugal and it shocked me a few hours later when he mispronounced a word in a way that no native speaker would- I had not suspected him of being a non-native speaker before that.

[Hayseed]

Hi nyggus, I`d agree with tdol. It seems that non-native speakers make the same types of mistakes; types of mistakes that would rarely or never be made by a native speaker. I wouldn`t worry too much about it though, you`ll probably be understood anyway.
You may also be interested to know that it`s often possible for native speakers to tell which country written English (from other native speakers) originates from. Brits & Aussies have a certain way of expressing themselves which differs a bit from Americans.

[Tdol]

Interestingly, there's a lot of Australian influence in the young of the UK- you here many younger speakers whose voices rises like a question when making a statement, which is Australian- probably comes from the soaps.

[drhatch]

In the 60s/70s the rising inflection (question stress) was known as 'surfers' English' because it was strongly associated with California surfing culture. Perhaps the Oz surfers thought it made them sound Californian. It just sows that there are more varieties of ambition in the world than we can dream of in a lifetime

[Tdol]

I didn't know that, nor, indeed, that it was that old. It just goes to show the doomsayers that the death of the language will take a lot more than a few soaps from down under.

[nyggus]

Few days ago I was sitting on the London airport and waiting for my flyight; I was just after five-month stay in Canada. I heard a girl talking by a phone--and I "used" her to compare British and Canadian pronunciation: the difference was clear for me. Imagine how amazed I was when after a while I heard this girl speaking in perfect Polish! I am not English "maestro", but usually I am able to recognize Polish accent in English--not this time! Her English sounded so natural and so British, and it had no Polish accent!

Nyggus

[Bernadetta]

I am not a native speaker but I do notice if it is written by a non-native. I guess, it depends on the level of the English language proficiency.

[nyggus]

Originally Posted by Bernadetta

I am not a native speaker but I do notice if it is written by a non-native. I guess, it depends on the level of the English language proficiency.

For sure, it is easier to recognize NNES when s/he is speaking than in written language. If you are NNES, you must know the language perfectly to notice that the writer is NNES. If s/he knows the language better than you do, are you so sure that you would recognize him as NNES? Besides, how often do you read anything without the knowledge whether or not the author is a native/non-native English speaker?

Take care,
Nyggus

[i love kobe bryant]

In my part,whether writer is native English speaker is not important.Particularly,it is just important that he/she can use English proficiently.