English is Challenging

The task of using a language that is so different to your own is a daunting task for so many. There are all types of influences that arise from differences in age, background, levels of education, affluence, general interests and of course what it is your peers, family and colleagues are involved in.

There is a sense when not being able to communicate adequately, that the person is stupid, an idiot or is not very professional. On the contrary. The fact that a person even makes the effort of trying to meet such a challenge must be seen as a positive attribute, one that must be supported and enhanced whenever possible.

While it may be taken for granted that a person should be able to speak more than one language, it must be seen too, that this ability comes at a cost, a cost of time dedicated to this ability that could have been better served being dedicated to the real necessities of a profession.

What must be recognized  is the fact that non-native English speakers come from different cultures. There is as great a difference in the way different cultures view their world as there is in the way a pessimist and an optimist view a glass half filled with water. These differences are sometimes slight and almost imperceptible and at other times so great that disasters can often occur.

.The focus here is two-fold. The first is to illustrate some of those disastrous differences, and their possible consequences and the other is to provide a series of hints to help both speaker and listener to understand what some of the more common mistakes are, why these mistakes occur, and ways of not making these mistakes, towards the goal of making communication clearer and more effective.