In a world filled with international corporations, one skill holds a lot of currency: the ability to speak English. And that skill gives Americans a definite leg up. At least, that’s what you might think. But, Spencer Hazel, a linguist at University of Nottingham's Linguistic Profiling for Professionals, explains why native English speakers are sometimes harder to understand than people who learned English in school.

Three Takeaways

• International office workers understand English as a Second Language speakers better than they understand the native English speakers. In fact, native English speakers sometimes confuse more than they illuminate. (Or elucidate.) 
• Most native speakers don’t know they’re confusing people. Instead, they tend to slip into idioms and acronyms without realizing they’re doing so. At the root of the problem: phrases like “back to square one,” “missed the boat,” “ETA,” and “ASAP.”
• The key to getting better at speaking your first language? Learning a second: “If we can become more aware of what it is to use a second language,” explains Hazel, “then we can start understanding how sensitive we have to be with different people we talk to around the world.”

More Reading

• Curious about your speaking patterns? Take this New York Times quiz to nail down your dialect.  
• Spencer Hazel writes about his research in The Conversation. 
• Lim some kopi while you read this article on the rise of Singlish.