" Do you even know how smart I am in Spanish?" - Gloria from the Modern Family
Being exposed to different people who speak different languages, makes me want to come back to my old self, telling her not to be so hard on herself.
And I also want to go back to tell everybody that, " Look, you'd get by without trying to sound British. It may impress one or two but most of the time, will leave people confused. It also doesn't mean that you're stupid if you can't have a British accent. "
English has been the international lingua franca at least from the 21st century to today. Yet these days, with the slow shift to the power house of economy, is it going to be the same in the future?
From what I know, day to day, if I have a business, I would want to start learning Mandarin, Japanese and Korean. Heck, even these days some people write instructions in Russian because now, Alexander from a village you never heard of in Russia is moving all around the world. Do they speak English? well sort-of, but mostly a broken one. This is why, they certainly could understand better if the instructions are in Russian. Hence people are making attempt to cater to them by writing the instructions and notice in Russian.
Back to present, now meeting alexanders, every manuels, tom, dick, harry in a country with a non-alphabetic script and they speak with 4 different tones. We all sort of have to adjust.
For us and them, we want to communicate to get our things done. So, since there is an imbalance between our English, broken English is the standard. Broken English does not mean it's a bad English. It just is English that are non-standarised and it might be that this English has one of these.
may be fragmented, incomplete, and/or marked by faulty syntax and inappropriate diction because the speaker's knowledge of the vocabulary isn't as robust as a native speaker. source
Even from my experience, I realized that knowing too many vocabulary and advanced English sometimes can't get my message across. It leaves the other person bewildered and frustration on my part. However though, broken English works in a country where they don't speak English as their official language.
I would say, "no spicy", " going where?", and they would say something like, " we not want". There are also some pronunciation issues but one thing I know is that they don't go around saying,
Sorry my English is bad
They would continue these despite sometimes, there are being corrected here and there.
I notice that I also don't go around saying, my Thai/whatever language I know is bad. I realized that even natives from Thai, Spanish,etc they don't mock me if I make grammatically mistake. They know it's not my first language and I am still learning.
Why can't we do the same with English learner and non-native speakers who are trying to communicate in English?
Although often, these mockery comes from our peers and back home, it comes from other students who feel superior that they know grammatically correct English and can speak like natives. I am sure if they've been outside the country by now, they'll know that sometimes it doesn't matter especially when they visit countries where the people don't even speak English. Maybe along the way, some people would just assume that the speaker grew up in an English speaking country or some sort. But that's about it.
The main takeaway is that, never apologize for it. Just keep learning and don't start a paragraph with, sorry my English is bad....
 | 𝘔𝘢𝘤 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧-𝘦𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘺𝘦𝘥 𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘫𝘢 & 𝘤𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘦𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘯𝘰𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘦𝘶𝘳 . 𝘈 𝘵𝘺𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘢𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦, 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴, 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩𝘯𝘰𝘭𝘰𝘨𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘰𝘱𝘩𝘺. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘨, 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘧𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘭𝘦𝘥𝘨𝘦. 𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘧𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴, 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘪𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸𝘴, 𝘵𝘦𝘤𝘩 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘪𝘦𝘸𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴, 𝘱𝘩𝘰𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘱𝘩𝘺, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘥𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘱𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵. 𝘖𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘢 𝘣𝘭𝘶𝘦 𝘮𝘰𝘰𝘯, 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨, 𝘪𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘧 𝘪𝘯 𝘭𝘰𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘪𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘪𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘴𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵𝘴 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺. 𝘚𝘩𝘦'𝘴 𝘢𝘯 𝘰𝘤𝘤𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘧𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘪𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘭𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘯𝘦𝘸 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘦𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘴. 𝘍𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘰𝘸 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘯 𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘢𝘥𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘫𝘰𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯! 𝘋𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘶𝘱𝘷𝘰𝘵𝘦, 𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘳 𝘢 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘥𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬. 𝘈 𝘳𝘦-𝘣𝘭𝘰𝘨 𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘴𝘰 𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰𝘰. |
English is not my first language too, so I don't mind if it's bad.
Since English is being used here, nobody seems to mind whether the grammar is incorrect, neither do I, lol.
However, it's funny to say that in my home country, people would make fun of someone who speaks English incorrectly.
It's unfortunate to admit that our own race treats us less favorably than other races, lol.
The greatest way to pick up new vocabulary and get practice speaking English at the same time is to interact with different people, especially the foreign ones, and communicate with them in English.
haha that's the same problem in Indonesia too. In places like Singapore and Malaysia, they have accent in their English and even some of them can't speak grammatically correct despite English being their official language. I am sure that in HK, it's like in Bangkok and every capital in SEA where people speaks with different English accent with different levels of vocabulary.
Chenglish is fun to listen to. I am often influenced by the accent here lol.
I thought Singapore is using mandarin and Malaysia has another language.. 😅..
As long as we are able to get our message across. That's what matter. Broken english or not. Even native english speakers do not have perfect grammar.
hahaha thrown in some sign language on the way too. That's what I did sometimes when the other person doesn't speak English.
I am sorry my English is bad. But I can make your day so wonderful with the sincerity of our hospitality. : )
Alexander seems to be al around the world now; )
😂 They're everywhere and started seeing important signs in Russian too. In Thailand, you see this like " No flying drone" or " no alcohol" around certain times.
One of the basis of intellectual capacity especially in Asian countries like here in the Philippines is how great you are at speaking English and other foreign languages. This is sad, to be honest.
English is not my native language and I often make mistakes in my grammar but I think as long as you're able to deliver the context of the things you want to say, it's already enough. Native English speakers won't mind as long they understand us.
Yep, most South East Asian countries values that skill. Even a lot of jobs requires its applicant to at least know basic level of English. Though in some cases, flawless English is needed in context of academia but when it comes to getting by when traveling, as long as the context is understood then that's not a problem much :)
This is so Relatable.
Our native language is Urdu but in our own country it's like a shameful thing if someone can't speak English and when someone is speaking broken English they get trolled or mock because it's not cool.
I seriously never thought it does exist in other regions as well. Have never seen a native English speaker making fun of someone who's speaking broken English or doing grammatical mistake but own people which is sad.
Maybe somewhere in future we won't have that language barriers anymore and than this won't Be a debate anymore. Who knows what's coming.
Yep. It's totally unfortunate that those harsh comment comes from our own people. It shouldn't be that way though. I think that as long as we try and can get the message across (daily life context), that should be fine.
Maybe you've seen it but I'm organizing a show on the Discord server where I try to speak both English and Turkish and sometimes my brain burns haha. But I don't say I'm sorry because my English is bad because I try my best and I try to improve myself all the time. I try to use different words. That's what we can do.
hahaha just never say that you're English is bad. Never apologize for anything tbh but keep on improving and you'll improve in no time.
How about saying I'm not good :P
Darn! You got me with this one... I'm definitely the guy who says a lot of "My English is bad" and "My Spanish is bad"... I'm not throwing that as an excuse, but more as lower the expectation of the "other side"... 😂
But, I do agree with you that most of the people on this planet talk broken English... probably more broken than mine... lol...
When I came to Spain, knowing very little Spanish, I had the impression that people are thinking that I'm stupid because I don't speak Spanish... It sounds weird, but that's how I felt... But, as you said, those people aren't worth having a conversation at all, so F%#$ them... lol...
It's time to stop saying your Spanish is bad :D but you know, like you said most of people on this planet talk broken English even more than us, so yeah haha.
Brilliant. With the kids I teach English to, I actually teach them to COMMUNICATE first. When people worry too much about spoken grammar, they lose confidence to actually speak. No speak, no communication and language is all about? Communication!
I am not saying grammar is unimportant, but it should never be the first consideration when learning a language.
Hope you're having a wonderful week :-)
That's a great approach Nathen! grammar is important but considering everything, I think speaking first and trying to communicate would come first. Now that I think about it, I remember when I was a kid that was my approach to learning language. I would talk in broken whatever language I learned and talked to strangers online. It sounds silly now but I learned more from there than from school xD and you too, have a wonderful week!
Very intelligent post. I love your write up