Re:Native speakers are hard to understand in a lingua franca...
by refactor_master on Thursday May 20, 2021 @04:33PM
(#27226819)
I’ve experienced this problem for native and non-native speakers alike, where perfectly capable English speakers almost freeze up when they mishear a word, rather than try to help the conversation along. I’d usually ask the other party to spell it out, whereas some simply drop the conversation dead and awkward silence ensues.
Re:Native speakers are hard to understand in a lingua franca...
by teachingassist on Thursday May 20, 2021 @05:23PM
(#27227476)
> perfectly capable English speakers almost freeze up when they mishear a word, rather than try to help the conversation along.
As a person who speaks a second language I learned as an adult, I find this situation incredibly difficult to negotiate.
In my first language, I can get through almost any such situation by using humour. In my second language, at best, I can manage 'just one more time?' with a frowny face.
I often think - why wasn't I taught this skill in any language school I attended?
In English it's particularly bad because of the proximity between some vowels. In many cases a monosyllabic word is one of six or seven almost identical. And that's for basic vocabulary. Think bird, bear, beard, bore, bar, boar, beer, birth, born, burn, bier... when someone is whispering the words or talking over a noisy medium.