Native English speakers are the world’s worst communicators
https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20 ... municators
An interesting article on the inability of native speakers to adapt their language to its lingua franca status in an international environment. In other words, non-native speakers of different backgrounds are a lot more likely to understand each other than to understand a native speaker.
As the article claims, “English speakers with no other language often lack awareness of how to speak English internationally.” They talk too fast, they use slang, abbreviations and cultural references, and they aren’t nearly patient enough to give non-native speakers a chance to collect their thoughts and produce an utterance.
I have certainly noticed this phenomenon myself on many occasions. If I drop connected speech, avoid idiomatic language, and up my accent, I have a much easier time communicating with people in Europe than actual native speakers do. I found myself "translating" native speakers' English to locals more than once.
Which brings me to the question – what’s better to teach, English or Globish? How much should we really focus, say, on teaching idioms or native-like pronunciation? I’ve been gravitating toward Globish lately, especially if there’s no chance a student is going to move to an English-speaking country. What do you guys think?