JarekSteliga
Member
- Joined
- Nov 30, 2011
- Member Type
- Interested in Language
- Native Language
- Polish
- Home Country
- Poland
- Current Location
- Poland
Perhaps it is not just I who is curious to know what goes on in a native English speaker's mind when they encounter an ESL (English as a Second Language) speaker.
Which steps (if any) are they likely to take to facilitate that instance of communication? I suppose before looking deeper into this we should divide native speakers into two groups:
1. Those who are unfamiliar with an idea of learning ("the hard way") a foreign language
(and who can blame them? :-D).
2. Those who either had/have learned a foreign language and/or are English teachers
themselves.
It is the first group with which communication can be particularly problematic.
My personal experience in dealing with people belonging to this group is that their reaction is mixed and varies from condescension (making remarks like: "your English is very good" and never trying to engage in any real conversation) to completely ignoring the fact of their interlocutor's linguistic deficiency. My ability to speak English has on these occasions always been taken for granted as far as the "accent" and the speed of utterance
were concerned.
A good illustration of this will be my encounter (on the phone and in the line of duty) with a USA soldier serving in Germany. Since I had actual difficulty in asserting the fact that the language he spoke was even a form of English and naturally peltet him more often than not with words like "please repeat", he soon grew impatient and eventually furious at my apparent dumbness and hung up. The only measure this man could think of to make himself better understood was to raise his voice :-?.
So my question again. Do native speakers have any clues how to render their speech more ESL speaker friendly?
Which steps (if any) are they likely to take to facilitate that instance of communication? I suppose before looking deeper into this we should divide native speakers into two groups:
1. Those who are unfamiliar with an idea of learning ("the hard way") a foreign language
(and who can blame them? :-D).
2. Those who either had/have learned a foreign language and/or are English teachers
themselves.
It is the first group with which communication can be particularly problematic.
My personal experience in dealing with people belonging to this group is that their reaction is mixed and varies from condescension (making remarks like: "your English is very good" and never trying to engage in any real conversation) to completely ignoring the fact of their interlocutor's linguistic deficiency. My ability to speak English has on these occasions always been taken for granted as far as the "accent" and the speed of utterance
were concerned.
A good illustration of this will be my encounter (on the phone and in the line of duty) with a USA soldier serving in Germany. Since I had actual difficulty in asserting the fact that the language he spoke was even a form of English and naturally peltet him more often than not with words like "please repeat", he soon grew impatient and eventually furious at my apparent dumbness and hung up. The only measure this man could think of to make himself better understood was to raise his voice :-?.
So my question again. Do native speakers have any clues how to render their speech more ESL speaker friendly?