OVER TO YOU
1. Do you find it easier to understand native or non-native speakers of English?
2. How do you feel about having your English corrected?
3. Do you have any funny or embarrassing stories related to misunderstanding someone?
4. Is there anything you still find difficult about English?
You’re going to hear Cristina from Romania and Pun from Thailand, who both live in the US, talking about their experiences of being non-native speakers of English. Before you listen, check that you understand the words in the glossary.
- hit it out of the park: meet a goal even more than was expected.
This expression comes from baseball, when the ball is hit so far that it flies outside of the ballpark or stadium.
- slam dunk: something that is achieved easily.
This expression comes from basketball, when a player jumps above the basket and “dunks” it in the hoop without opposition.
Now listen to Cristina and Pun answer the questions.
What do they say? Who do you identify with most? Why?
What anecdotes do they tell?
What do they still find difficult? Do you agree with them about what is difficult?
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Interviewer: Do you find it easier to understand native or non-native speakers of English?
Cristina: Well, I’ve been in the United States for seven years now, and I’ve been exposed to a lot of different accents, not only people from the United States, but from different parts of the world, so I’m used to it. In terms of regional accents in the US, I still sometimes have trouble with Southern accents...they’re a little more challenging for me, because I don’t live in the South. The most stressful thing, I think, is talking on the phone, because you don’t have the face-to-face interaction, so it can be tricky.
Interviewer: Do you find it easier to understand native or non-native speakers of English?
Pun: I find native speakers easier to understand, because they speak more clearly than non-native speakers. But, some native speakers can be difficult to understand too because they talk too fast. And even though I can usually understand native speakers better, I have more confidence when I’m talking to a non-native speaker because I know that neither of us speaks perfect English, so I’m not as worried about making mistakes or being embarrassed.
Interviewer: How do you feel about having your English corrected?
Cristina: Well, it hasn’t happened much lately, but I don't mind, because that's how we learn, you know, we learn from our own mistakes. Sometimes when I’m tired, I might make a mistake with the third-person form, you know, but usually people are quite tolerant. And sometimes I catch my own mistakes, so I'm able to correct myself.
Interviewer: How do you feel about having your English corrected?
Pun: I love to have native speakers correct my English, because it helps to pinpoint my mistake. But some people can overdo it. For example, I had this co-worker at my job, and every time we had a conversation, he used to correct my mistakes — if someone corrects you constantly, you just don’t want to speak anymore. But when they give me words that l didn’t know before, then it’s appreciated.
Interviewer: Do you have any funny or embarrassing stories related to misunderstanding someone?
Cristina: Yes, this happened a few years ago. I was trying to organize an evening out with some friends, and one of my friends picked a place for all of us to meet, and he said, “Let’s all meet at Hideout.” He meant H-I-D-E-O-U-T you know, like a hiding place, which was the name of a bar. But I completely misunderstood him and thought he said “high doubt,” two words, like H-l-G-H D-O-U-B-T. So, this caused a lot of confusion because I passed on the information to a bunch of other people and everybody got extremely confused and we couldn’t find the place. We had to call him to find out where it was, and then we all figured out that I had misunderstood and gotten the name of the place wrong. Yeah, it took us a while, but in the end we all got together and had a good laugh. So it all worked out.
Interviewer: Do you have any funny or embarrassing stories related to misunderstanding someone?
Pun: Yeah, usually related to idioms. For example, I once took a business course, and the professor liked to use the phrase, "get a foot in the door.” I didn’t know what that expression meant and kept thinking, why do we need to put a foot in the door? Then a classmate told me it doesn’t mean you REALLY stick your foot in the door, it means you initiate, or start, something...And here’s another one: “sugar-free.” I knew that “free” means no cost, but I kept seeing “sugar-free” things in stores. I thought that “sugar-free” meant they put in more sugar, like extra sugar, and it was free to the customer. But instead, it meant there was NO sugar at all. I was really surprised by that.
Interviewer: Is there anything you still find difficult about English?
Cristina: I find that certain idioms related to sports don't come easily to me because I don’t know anything about baseball or basketball I or American football, and there’s quite a few idioms in American English that come from those sports, like “hit it out of the park” or “slam dunk.” So even though I do understand them in context, I don't use them, because I don’t always see the connection...Oh, and spelling. Romanian is a phonetic language, so spelling isn’t necessarily as important as it is in English. Sometimes I have to write words out in English, maybe because I’m a visual learner. I have to visualize the letters in my head before I can spell the word.
Interviewer: Is there anything you still find difficult about English?
Pun: mmm. Sometimes when I read a new word, I’m not sure where to put the stress, for example, I’ll say STAtistics instead of staTIStics. And I always used to say aCAdemic...for the word acaDEMic. You see, the Thai language is very different from English, so sometimes it’s hard. But mostly my problem is that I’m constantly monitoring my own speech because I’m afraid of making mistakes.