Understanding a Non-Native Speaker

[jlammetje]

This is exactly what I'm noticing in communications with my fellow English Master students! The Dutch students tend to choose the same words in certain situations, and understand each other perfectly, while foreign students (whose English is fine!) do not understand because they would use different words.

I think the common language background is more important than the speed of talking.

[sannetussch22]

When I where in Indonesia I where speaking with people that actually only spoke a few words. I mean if you said baked egg instead of sunny side up they all ready would be like what are you saying. But my mom and dad sometimes asked them for some things. And I where mostly the one that could understand them with just a few words so not even a sentence. In Thailand is the r a l and they talk so softly but I always could understand them so I think it has more to do with how your going to say things

[sannetussch22]

@sannetussch22 and being used to languages. I live near the border of Germany I speak it but I can't understand it that well when someone is speaking it. In Germany people don't learn English like we do in Holland. In Holland we use subtitles with a different language (especially English). But in Germany they synchronize the whole movie so they learn it less so speak it less.

[WeeMcNiCoL]

My answer to your question is PRO and CONS

[oescolhido691]

Well, Im not an english native speaker, but i understand better others not native speakers than native speakers. I get really offended when a native speaker makes fun of me, or pretends to not understand me

[ifosfamid]

I've noticed that I often understand other non-native speakers more easily than native speakers understand the non-native speakers. Or at least that's my impression after reading the comments on videos on youtube. I also think that it depends on what country you're from. Smaller countries lke Belgium, Sweden, Norway.. have more english media (TV, books, movies). In lager countries like France or Germany everythings is translated.

[Mottahead]

I'm happy that this video is about understanding non-native speakers.

Some people actually do videos mocking non-native speakers and they think they're being funny while they do this sort of thing.

My answer to these people - you know, the geniuses that speak fluent English, even when they have nothing better to do then mocking other people - is:

People who speak English as a second language are actually bilingual (or even trilingual). So , geniuses, how many languages you speak, by the way?

[sbelanto]

Some things you spoke about in the video brought up some very interesting issues for someone like me who partakes in a strictly non-primary language community: Esperanto. Unfortunately, I learned about Esperanto only a f t e r I traveled extensively in Europe.

[sbelanto]

You can’t imagine how much I regret not having heard of Esperanto at a younger age. It would have been so nice to use their networks while traveling and having a built-in language to communicate in, to boot.

[sbelanto]

There are still better and worse speakers to contend with in Esperanto. But I must say it is so nice to generally understand 95% of the Esperanto I hear spoken. Can I understand native English speakers better in Esperanto? I hate hearing the native English accent in Esperanto, even if I have one myself, and even if it was designed to be spoken and still understood with accents.

[sbelanto]

Nonetheless, native English speakers are more likely to use cognates which match English. Even if they use false friends which sound the same but are different meanings, I would tend to understand them. The same would be true of speaking any other language foreign language with a native English speaker. But really, I don’t find a tremendous advantage over speaking to non-native English speakers - perhaps little to none.

[sbelanto]

The other difference is, of course, that in my infrequent but highly valued international Esperanto discussions, the few native speakers of Esperanto do not dominate the conversation, as many non-native speakers often speak better than the native Esperanto speakers.

[sbelanto]

Moreover, there is this tremendous feeling of camaraderie of of everyone in the group having made the effort to learn a language we can all share as equals and speak. One thing that surprised me was that I found myself less curious about where the people I spoke with had come from.

[sbelanto]

Another thing that surprised me was that I could actually understand one Australian member of parliament 100% better in Esperanto than I could in English. Amazing, Esperanto (or any second language) can serve as a bridge language between the more varied forms of English.

[mathewanumate]

very charming voice ) did i write it corectly ? :))))

[MattRodrig]

It depends for me. I used to understand better when a non-native speaker is speaking, I think I still do. But if you really want to improve, you have to listen to natives, because they will speak more correctly and choose the right words for each situation.

[entaroduai]

native speakers here do not make effective conversations either.

they tend to abuse phrases such as like, you know, awesome, oh my god, i mean, and come on.

like when told a friend of mine that i met a person who spoke like five languages, he was like oh my god. five languages? i mean, i can't even speak spanish. you know......... i mean......... i was like.......... so on and so forth

self evident. isn't it? you don't need to be a nuclear scientist to discover that.

[TimoKick]

I think it depends on how good the listener speaks English. I speak English fluent and prefer a native speaker speaking it. A 2nd reason for this is: I believe non-natives have more unknown problems than common problems. With problems I mean wrong word choise or pronunciation. Since we interpret 2nd language our own way. I don't prefer the speaker sometimes saying something only a Dutch would understand and other time saying something nobody understands as the latter would occur more.

[Waokele7]

This may be off the subject, but I have noticed that whether you speak fluently to a person in his native language or donnot speak his language at all, if that person is prejudice against your race or nationality (of course he'll be prejudice against you) it will not matter how well you do. A prejudice person will be prejudice no matter what!

[TheFeJaPiDi]

I'm a native dutch speaker and I understand English and Americans better sometimes than dutch people. But french people I don't understand in English.... But I do get the Hungarian girl, her accent isnt that strong haha XD

I'm quite fluent in English, maybe that is why?

[brusmani]

it's easier to understand a non native speaker than it's to understand a native speaker.Of course it depends on where this non native speaker comes from.People from certain countries have very strong accents which can change the real pronunciation,but in general,non native speakers speak more slowly and use simpler structures.I also think it helps a little bit if you know the non native speaker's native language,because You know how their sentences are structured.

[witchcerridwen]

some people have words in their language that u cannot translate.i think you would understand him better when your native tongue would have been spanish also.

[ATouchOfMagic88]

this is a very interesting question...i'm dutch and can speak dutch (obviously) english,german and almost basic hebrew. I can talk well with native speakers as well as non native...but it depends on what the person's first language is in my opinion. But i like talking to non-native english speakers more, i don't know why though

[jonbasi00]

interesting question. personally as a dutch speaker, I think having a conversation with another non-anglophone can be easier, but it depends on one`s knowledge of english. If it`s basic then yes, because the other non-anglophone person will probably speak somewhat more slowly since he/she is speaking a foreign language. However if you`re used to speaking/hearing english on a daily basis, i`d argue that at some point "native english" becomes more understandable, hope it makes sense of whatimsayin

[COYPATRICIA]

i like this video

atte:

Jose Adrian Fontes Luna

#6

[COYPATRICIA]

Patricia Preciado

A non-native is easier for us to understand, I think in some people being native speakers talk faster because they have more fluidity and occasions for us is difficult to understand

[Stefcesues]

In my point of view like non-native speaker I say that depends a lot on the other person pronunciation, speed, tone, and accent of the language. In my personal opinion we understand better the non- native speaker that the native for the reason that we are non-native as well. We share in some way backgroung knowledge, our pronunciation is similar and teh use of vocabulary as well that"s why is much easier for us to understand non-native speakers .

[MarisolCesues]

In my school I had a Mexican teacher (non- native speaker) and I always understand her better than my other teachers that were native speakers. I think because she used more simple words, simple phrases and her speech was much slowly then a common native speaker, also my other teachers (native-speakers) used a lot of contractions at the time of speak. So for my it´s easier to understand a non-native speaker that commits the same mistakes that I make and understand them, then a native speaker.

[lourdeszz]

Well, in my opinion I think it is true that when we have a conversation with someone who is native speaker, can be harder to understand, not just for reasons of pronunciation even for the way in which this other person talking, as she says, a native speaker speak more fluency and this can produce misunderstantigs, but also we as non-native speakers can have that fluidity,

[tec8807]

Maria Bojorquez

In my opinion, is easier to understand people non-native speaker then native speaker because they might present the same problems of pronunciation or make the same mistakes to communicate.

[crazydudegirl]

that was my post ups!!

Elia

[crazydudegirl]

I agree with some of the comments my classmate post, as Non-Native speaker we can understand better to other Non-Native speaker because how they say, we don´t speak to fast as Native speakers do and we can understand each other. And a comment to the video, what she said about a Native speaker that speaks correctly i desagree, because maybe they just have better communication than we do and find other words to express themsleves.

[lauramoreno10]

in my opinion, I think that us like non-native speaker can undesrtand better to another non-native speaker as we spoke in class last friday.

sometimes native speaker speak really fast, and us like non-native speaker speak with short sentences, (another thing that we spoke in class), but if we practice maybe we can understan to a native speaker ver well, and native speaker can understand us.

[JoseMiguelIbarraM]

Well, what she says on the video is interesting, she like a native speaker was easy for her to hear and understand what the non native speaker was talking that means that the non native was very fluent in his or her speech.

Another thing that I found unbelievable was when she said that a native person doesn´t make mistakes that was rude , but was helpful for me an understandable even I am not a b¿native speaker.

[JoseMiguelIbarraM]

correction:

I am not a native speaker.

[mercedes1988]

for me its anoying to hear a dutch person speak poor english...i'm like looking at the person..thinking...omg...stop raping the language...its torture...what are you trying to say man your almost swallowing your tounge 0_O

[JoshuaIlana]

do you speak any other languages exept english?

[mercedes1988]

i can speak dutch, english,german and also a tiny bit of french and japanese:)

[mercedes1988]

i have noticed that if i go to france and i speak almost fluent english( my grammar sucks big time btw) they don't seem to understand me.

so i started talking very poor english with a french accent and it worked!!!

you make the same mistakes that they make,your on their level so they understand what you are trying to say,and yes typical words that are substitutes for lack of a better one,the tones they make with their language,it really workes!! and i do think its a combination of everything!

[amberdelange]

Personally it's often easier for me to speak with other non-native speakers (as long as their English is quite fluent), doesn't matter where they're from.

The problem I sometimes have with native speakers is that they use more slang and speak less 'describing' then non-natives. I also have difficulties with some English accents (like Scottish or Northern Irish).

I also have more difficulties with understanding foreighners who to speak dutch or speak dutch dialects, because I'm not used to that.

[Rosty89]

biggest problem for me (especially english movies): strong accents and mumbling people.

[EenGedachte]

Dutch speakers tend to use a lot of sayings, not knowing if the same sayings are being used in English. And that sometimes leads to funny situations that hit like a dick on a drum kit.

Germanic languages also seem to be more descriptive. Some things can be said in English in one word, while we describe what we are trying to say. A lot of things cannot be translated one on one.

[arturo17049]

IM A MEXICAN and can tell you, it's up to the accent, for instance californian accent is really easy to get, but the kiwi or aussie accents are kind of troublesome and takes a while to get used to it (20-30 minutes), and sometimes it's hard to get people (non natives) speaking english from countries like, india or africa,

[Schmandimann]

Well, I'm German and I can understand native and non-native speakers. My English is very good, it has to be in the family, my uncle is professor for english studies. He teaches in a german university. I formed a habit of speaking BBC english, but I noticed that non-native speakers consider american english easier than british english. Hm... Another question for my uncle

[dadikkedude]

boeie!

[mrowcaa]

I'm from Poland and sometimes I have difficulty in understanding native english speakers from Scotland and Ireland because of their accent. But I have to admit that they are easier to understand than english speakers from France.

[mercedes1988]

hahahaha yeah i know, a strong brittish accent or even irish and scottish is better then trying to figure out what a french person is trying to say( if they are willing to speak english at all...arrogant pricks ;) )

[lisanneeekman]

Hey!

Im dutch but i can understand native english speakers better that dutch english speakers because i learned a lot of english fron the television. When i hear a dutch guy speaking english or, let's say, spanish (do you know that football guy fron holland who lives in spain now??) i really dont understand them, when they use the dutch grammar for example. I  Some dutch twist words. Do you know the show Jensen? thats a good english speaker, good to follow!

xx lisanne

[atieppo]

Hi, I'm from Brazil and I can say, defintely it's easier to understand non native speaker who are fluent than native speakers. I think it's because native speaker usually simplify the way the say some, such as " U tired?" instead of "Are u tired?". Well, it's just my point of view.

[asian4u007]

well, i have a friend who speaks english just like an american cause she grew up here in the US but english is her second language although she undertands english and can speak it as good as a native white person. So is she considered an english native speaker as well??

[CorpusChristi83]

It's been said that the language which "your brain speaks" is your native tongue.

[kboucker]

well to understand english is not a big deal but to follow it in a right perspective is very difficult because i my self a non native speaker of english but i always fint it very difficult to understand the english of a native speaker english .But when a non native speaker begin to speak english than it become so easily to understand as compare to the native speaker speaking english

[giovanniqua1]

3-2-1 since its so important, i will indicate to the thousands that giovanniqua1 has written too much from the bottom up 3-2-1.ciao mina-san!

[giovanniqua1]

i'm just thrilled to leave a comment (American rhetoric of late is heavy on sarcasm). americans in general (that's y i'm generalizing and its ok) seek to understand another's viewpt "o i see where ur coming from" or "let me get this right..." so your saying" etc -- which emphasizes the 2way communication --- I say this as a challenge to all cultures of the world and establish this empirically based HYPOTHESIS on observed composite discourse.

[giovanniqua1]

therefor even non american speakers will communicate better in english.... this is a variable in the equipod, which no one has mentioned (55 comments to date). Furthermore, the american idiom can be employed by USING FOREIGN WORDS AND SYNTAX... like the futballer dude and the 1/2 dutch american girl hosting this insane dialogue (i.e. the dutch side)

[giovanniqua1]

so two french will use english with a french idiom implicitly subreptitiously undermining the inter-national phenomenon (in a group setting) yeah. but those french people with the bi-level, 2-tier system WILL according to pt 1 (i.e. americ communication goals) understand ea other better IN ENGLIS.. which is ridiculous consideriing how badly the french speak english... but nevertheless, my closest friends will love the insights gleaned from this 4a.m. post wedding party flash in the panini. yo!

[flobleenen10]

Instead of saying 'het zou me worst wezen' (ask you mother what it means) you could say in English 'it could be a sausage to me', which is nonsense, I guess, because it's a Dutch expression.

[bttmelcherts]

Hi!

I think it just depends on what you're used to hear. For example: I understand English quite well, but I've been watching a show called 'Shameless' for the past few months. In this show they speak English with a Manchester accent, which for me was hard to follow sometimes. But, as you hear it a lot, you get used to it. Off course a non-native speaker is always limited in the use of words or sentence constructions. Greatings from Rotterdam, The Netherlands. ;-)

[yenerowna]

Perhaps you could get a profile on Hyves. It´s very popular in Holland.

[erikkll]

Back when i was 16 years old, i went on an exchange trip to the Czech Republic. I found them very hard to understand when they were speaking English. However, when they spoke German, they were easy to follow. I think it has something to do with how closely your own language is related to the other language you're speaking.

[erikkll]

For me as a native dutch speaker, i must say i find Dutch people speaking English easier to understand than native English speakers speaking English. On the other hand, i find French people impossible to understand when they're speaking English.

[labetsybel]

This is a very complicated subject. You want to know how the mind of the bilingual or multilinual person works, and there are so many variables. Where bilingualism or trilingualism is the mother tongue, there is no non-native accent. They are distinct from someone who learns another language later in life. Scientists do know that the brains of multilinguals work differently from monolinguals. It may just be that we are comfortable speaking with those whose brains work like ours.

[ptpark]

Native speakers are easier to understand if they know you aren't native, and they make an attempt to speak slowly and clearly. I saw a TV special on Céline Dion - when she spoke with her staff she was perfectly understandable, but in one section she was speaking with René in their car, and that section was much more difficult to understand. In the same way, Dutch on the TV is easy to understand, but sometimes the conversation of native speakers is tricky to understand.

[computerjantje]

You actually know latin well? I am so jalous :)

Your question is very hard to answer. I tried to think it over based on my experience but I have no conclusion. My guess is that a non natve speaker is easier because the person speaks slower and easier but thats only a guess

[GwynnShadow]

I once spoke English with someone from Germany and sometimes I realised she was saying something in German word order, and it took me longer to understand her. My native language is Dutch, but I started learning English when I was nine..(I'm 18 next week) I understand native English speakers better than non-native speakers of English. But I grew up around kids of the international school across the street so I'm used to speaking with non-native English speakers without huge accents. So yeah...

[fernederland]

there is no problem when 2 non-native speakers talk each other in other language. I speak spanish dutch english and when I did my exchange year in NL . i had to speak dutch with my hispanic friends at home eventhough we could spoke in spanish, for me it was easier to understand our dutcg than a native speaker. Some times it was hard to understand his dutch because this friends lived in utrecht and i lived in enschede so our accents were difference too. do you know about dutch accents?

[DongdukGHS]

I think it can be difficult for non-native speakers to understand native speakers. Native speakers tend to use a lot of slang so it can be difficult for non-native speakers, even fairly fluent ones, to understand native speech. Though I find that if a native speaker spends a lot of time around non-native speakers they start to sound more like the non-native speakers just as the non-native speaker starts to sound like the native speaker.

[JJJJJS]

Dude, I don´t really know I can understand everybody that speaks English regardless if it is their native language or their second,third,whatever.

[computerjantje]

I think this comment is from a real dum person or is high in Amsterdam :)

[gonnakllU]

I'm French, speaking English (I'm not really fluent, but I understand pretty well), and for me, it really depends if the non-native speaker shares my native language or not. I easily understand a French who speaks English fluently (not any French speaking English, 'cause a strong French accent in English is just horrible), but I find it very hard to understand a Spanish or a German, for example, who speaks English.

But for me, the easier is understanding a native English speaker.

[Platysoma]

Your example is flawed though, because ofcourse a German ould understand another german better then a native English speaker, juust because they are both Germans

[Platysoma]

You'got to take into consideration that Non native speakers make mistakes, but they all make Different mistakes, therefor it's easier to speak English for instance you, then to a guy from France

[diesketje]

I think it depends on how fluent you are in that language. I'll just take dutch people talking english as an example, If you don't speak english very wel, it certainly is easier if the speaker is non-native english, dutch. But i think it's easier for me to understand native english people, because i hear english so much, it sounds freaky to me when a dutch person speaks english...

[davesnijder]

omg im dutch and i speak 4 language's but i think that almost all dutch people speak more then 1 language

[paws4caws]

I speak French, German, Russian. In all cases it is easier for me to understand a non-native speaker, and I believe it is because of the slower speech, simpler sentence structure etc. However...you refer to this ease of understanding as an advantage in several parts of your video, and I do not consider it an advantage, because the level of communication is more simplistic. JMO.

I do think that sharing the same native language does help as well but not to the same degree.

[sinaasapelsap]

im english i speak dutch

[slakbar]

i am an englishman and the most ironic thing i find is sometimes american and english people cannot understand one another even though they speak the a common language; in my case ; i used to know a lady from oklahoma who complained that my accent was too thick for her to understand over the telephone!

[kazuya1196]

Do you have a cockney accent? Those are cool. I would like to see someone from Tennessee trying to communicate with someone with a cockney accent. What a great comedic device.

[RogerZhaoHang]

I'm from Chinese,my major is english,I just graduated this summer and i think i can understand you very well though there's no subtitle. Every chinese student at least learn english for 8 years. it's quite a LONG time. but the result shows we not as good as we expected. Because we don't like to open our mouth to practice. Reading loudly is a good way to learn a language. I think it's eariser to understand native speark instead of nonnative speaker if you hear the english indian friends speak.

[onepiecemachine]

I've lived and worked in English-speaking environments in NON-English-speaking countries for the last few years. I'm constantly told (despite attempts to correct it) that I'm harder to understand than a competent non-native speaker. For example, in a discussion with my Italian and Dutch classmates, the Italian guy will understand the Dutch girl more easily than he will me.

I think it has to do with connected speech. Non-native speakers mark the boundaries between words much more clearly.

[RuleBatavia]

Theres a very cool book about this called "I allways get my sin". Its about the confusing attempts of Dutch people to speak English.

For example the Dutch say "Ik krijg altijd mijn zin" which translates as "I always get what I want". But when it's poorly translated you get "I always get my sin"

Similarly, when trying to ask how one's wife is doing we might say: "How do you do your wife?" Which may ofcourse be problematic...

ps. For Dutch people, the Canadian accent is easiest to understand

[RsGhost1]

Ik krijg altijd mijn zin is more like an expression, I krijg altijd wat ik wil can also be said.

[linguistmuz]

There must be some research on this... In any case, these are very sensible and interesting questions, and I'm wondering what the answer to them is, too.

[jpfrlinguaphile]

But to finish, there was the rare occasion where I spoke Jp with a native speaker of English. I tended to understand him better simply because we shared the same communication patterns.  It wasn't necessarily easier to understand him than a native speaker of Japanese though.

[jpfrlinguaphile]

I can speak from my experience in Japan. My native language is English, but I had to speak Japanese, obviously the lingua franca in Japan, to other non-native speakers of Japanese. I consider myself a fairly fluent speaker of Japanese, and so was able to carry on conversations with relative ease with Japanese. Overall, it was more difficult to understand non-native speakers of Japanese, but I found that I felt more comfortable speaking Japanese with them because we were in the same boat.

[nelenceto]

from other Americans*

[nelenceto]

Well, it depends on the way of learning.

If George learned German by listening to native speakers, then he would most likely understand them better.

Another situation -- if Carl learned German other Americans (school, his parents, friends etc. ...) he will understand HIS natives much easier.

[RsGhost1]

That's why living in a country is best to learn the language. Although I don't think it really matters if u learn german at school if ur dutch or if ur dutch and u live in germany, because the languages are very much alike.

[aihoschema]

You already answered your question except for one detail: idioms and sayings.

O.K. I am German-born, living in Portugal for 22 years (speaking fluently portuguese - so I have a good "vantage point"). When I was less fluent in English I understood Portuguese people better than English born because they speak simpler and slower, but I didn't get the portuguese idioms they wrongly transleted

literally. I did get those from fellow germans thpough. So the basic advantage is the slower .....

[aihoschema]

....and simpler speech, amd the second advantage - which only applies to people who share the same native language - is that wrongly literally translated idioms (and sayings, metaphors etc.) can be traced back and understood. Of course I idealize and assume that both non native English speakers are at similar levels. If the levels are dramatically different, obviously, the one who speaks better English has a greater advantage. Example: "I go over the street" - is wrongly literally translated...

[aihoschema]

...from German and actually means: "to cross the street". A German-born will understand this phrase whether he/she knows that it is an error or not. The melodic and rhythmic aspects also count. A native English speaker will place f. ex. emphasis in places which might be unfamiliar or unexpected (thus drawing away the attention from the surrounding phrase making it hard to undererstand) to non-native speakers sharing the native language and are surprised in the same places.

Hope this helps.

[aihoschema]

P.S. : I apoligize for my lousy typing.

[yougottogetthemoney]

Exc.question love these convs! I'm Spanish (4 thos narrow minded ones not Mex, Spain Spanish) grew up in Montreal lived in theUS for a while, have family all over the world and know many lovable people from a wide range of cultures including Americans!. Bottom line, nontve spks interact with other nontve spkrs simply because of they'r open mind. convs are more personable less work related. regardless of their eng convs skills. Keep in mind - there are exceptions! email me...

[MikFrey]

I' not a native speaker. I'm from Poland. For me is much easier to communicate in English with my familiar speakers.

Obviously I understand everything what you said, without any problem, but in fact to face contact it's hard for me to communicate with native speaker because the English grammar structures are totally different than Polish. When I'm writing I have more time to think about grammar ( It doesn't change fact that I still make mistakes).

[rositadelamuerte111]

I think it there is great oportunity for a non native speaker to intruduce new and spontaneous ways of structuring an idea because they can achieve migrations from their own language structures, plus they dont have any tabus about words sounding dumb or not commonly used.

[Crapulency]

Good question:

1) It depends on the circumstances - what are the intentions of the speakers, and what would they take as "better"?

2) There will be swings and roundabouts for each of these possibilities. One advantage is that they might be more aware of the fallibility of language, and therefore not fall into the trap of presuming far better agreement than they should

3)Fluent polyglots might draw upon different cultural thinking habits. We at least get the benefit of fresh perspective.

[hawky2]

If I'm talking to two people, one fluent, native English and one fluent French, fully bilingual English, it would be the same. The answer to your question is, how well does the person know and understand the language? Take a person from the Northern states (Minnesota) and someone from the southern states (Louisiana) are they going to understand each other? Probably not.

[Festerius2008]

There are many native English speakers (American and British) that I have some difficulty understanding, and they like wise do not always understand my speech. But, where native speakers have an advantage over non-native speakers are of course colloquialisms, idioms, euphemisms and other small differences in vernacular that are not necessarily part of the formal language. In my opinion the culture of a language has greatest bearing over the transmission between two people conversing.

[MrRay47]

My personal experience has been with other non-native speakers of Cantonese. Easiest to understand were others whose native language is also English, second easiest were native speakers of Western European languages, most difficult were those whose native lang is another Chinese dialect. I think at least one factor in this is that in all Chinese dialects tone affects meaning. Two words said with different tones are different words. Not so with English and other European languages aloha :) ray

[wickedwolf123]

Of course it's easier to understand a non-native speaker if you are non-native too. I'm German and I lived in Finland and in Wales. I'd describe my English skills as, errr... sufficient. Understanding native English speakers is more difficult for all the reasons you already mentioned in the vid. But it'd also depend on the language skills of your non-native opponent. If he's much worse than you it'll become very difficult... Btw: Two French wouldn't speak English at all unless they are forced to

[salimsg]

As a non-native speaker, my greatest difficulty is the accent. Some british speakers speak terribly. Likewise, some Australians. Some non-native speakers, like most Japanese and Koreans, I have great deal of difficulty understanding them over the phone. The easiest native speakers to comms with are Americans.

[tupolev154v2]

you are sexy

[phildotpot]

"And all that"

:)

[Blammo25]

I'd say it depends on the amount of skill both speaker have in the non-native language. The listener who doesn't knows the language very well will have an easier time if the speaker is on the same level as skill he is. The speaker will use easier sentances and make the same mistakes the listener will.

[Blammo25]

If the listener is fluent and the speaker isn't, I think the listener will get annoyed and will even have a harder time listening. If I speak english I will have a very hard time listening to dutch at the same time. My mind has a hard time processing multiple languages at the same time. This might also be true when a speaker uses dutch grammer with english words.

[Blammo25]

But the last question was when both are fluent. I'd it doesn't matter. The speaker will generally speak the same as if he was a native speaker I think. He will have a slightly smaller vocabulary and an accent. The lesser vocabulary would mean easier words but since the listener is also fluent it wouldn't matter much. The accent is probably the biggest factor, but an American from Texas (for instance) can have a harder accent than a German speaker.

[GHortaV]

what kind of dog is that?

[Prepoceros]

He's a terrier mix.

[Jihunn]

HERE IS THE ANSWER: HAVING A NATIVE LANGUAGE IN COMMON IS DEFINITELY AN ADVANTAGE BETWEEN TWO PEOPLE SPEAKING A FOREIGN LANGUAGE. I KNOW THIS FROM EXPERIENCE. ALSO, ONE GETS USED TO DIFFERENT ACCENTS. FOR EXAMPLE, IF YOU HAD LIVED IN MEXICO FOR A LONG TIME, I THINK YOU WOULD HAVE AN EASIER TIME UNDERSTANDING THE MEXICAN MATHEMATICIAN. so that's my answer.

[HKurck]

Well, I am used to talk a lot in English with some Norwegian people. In those conversations I noticed some sentence-constructions which were alike and some words that are more common to use for someone who has a more German-like native language than a American.

Though I also noticed that it is quite hard to express yourself to someone in English if both people don't have full control of the language.

[Phalar]

Well one advantage 2 non native speakers of the same language have is that sometimes a non native speaker will directly translate a catchphrase. or will not use certain catchphrases. For instance: "To paint the town red." The meaning will sometimes not be understood by non natives because they will directly translate it. And sometimes for instance dutch will directly translated their catchphrases which will not have the same meaning.

[leporidus]

I generally understand non-native English speakers better, with a few exceptions, e.g. Dr Vilayanur Ramachandran (look for BeyondBelief ot TEDTalks -- an excellent scientist and fast speaker). But English is just my second language anyway.

Wow, understanding Latin better than Dutch; how did that happen?

I also wonder how Sammy parses your gestures. :D