We are not
native speakers of English. So we don't sound like one. And we most likely
never will, if we don't sound like one by now. But that's OK. There's no need.
There are more
non-native speakers in the world than there are native speakers. So we are more
likely to be using English with other non-native speakers than with native
speakers (unless you immigrate to the US or get a job at the British Embassy or
something). It is certainly the case with me. Few of my friends with whom I use
English are native speakers (except my colleagues at school). I attend an
international church where English is the practically the only language used,
but very few in the congregation are native speakers of English. They seem to
understand my Japan English without much difficulty.
It is probably
not true that native-speaker varieties of English are the most widely
understood. There are quite a few studies which found out that native-speaker varieties
were actually harder to be understood in international communication. And I
have attended many international conferences and meetings where native speakers
were the only ones having trouble understanding and being understood. It's not
hard to guess why. Many of them are so used to speaking in English that they
speak so fast, and they don't enunciate clearly. And they use many local idioms
and slangs that may be common in their own countries, but not outside. Some of
them probably put the blame for communication breakdowns on the fact that our
English is "not up to the standard". We know from studies that such
an attitude interferes negatively with one's ability to understand.
Aside from being
understood more easily in international communication, there are other benefits
to sounding non-native. I feel more comfortable and psychologically stable when
people can tell from my accent my cultural background. This way, I don't have
to try to pretend to be someone else. It is tiring to sound like a native
speaker. It is even worse sometimes even imitating native speakers' mannerisms,
facial expressions, etc. (I think many fellow non-native teachers agree with
me.) It is a futile effort. And it makes me feel stupid. Besides making me feel
as if I was a copycat monkey (物まね小猿) in the English-speakingdom,
it actually does make me sound more stupid, because I can't pay much attention
to contents, grammar and lexis when I have to pay so much attention to
native-like pronunciation.
Another thing is
that it is dangerous nowadays to be mistaken as a native speakers of English in
certain countries, especially in the Middle East, etc. But this is a sensitive
issue, so I won't talk about it here then.
OK, so if we
don't need to try to sound like a native speaker, how can we raise our success
rate in international communication with other non-natives? Here are my
thoughts.
From my
experience, it is important to pronounce the words clearly. You should almost
sound like "spelling pronunciation". This will certainly slow down
your speech. You will also sound less "native-like" and more "foreign"
to native ears. But that doesn't matter. People from different countries will
understand you better.
Studies found
that "syllable-timed" accents were easier to understand for
non-native speakers. Syllable-timing means you give almost equal stress to
every syllable in a word. So you sound like "cohn-grah-choo-lay-shee-ons"
when you say "congratulations". Many proficient non-native speakers
of English have syllable-timing. Yet, syllable-timing is one thing that will
make you sound definitely non-native. You may feel you are less "cool"
when you sound less like an American. But you have to realize that you will
never sound completely like an American no matter how hard you try anyway. (Unless
you have some special talent, that is. And if you do, you should perhaps consider
becoming an actor.)
I think one of
the reasons why "spelling pronunciation" or "syllable-timed"
accents are easier to understand is because, especially here in East Asia, we
learn how to spell and read English before we learn how to speak it (if we ever
do)! When I was learning English as a young student, I always felt frustrated
that English words never sounded like how they are spelt when pronounced by native
speakers.
Another
important thing is more of a psychological factor. It is called accommodation.
It means you have to accept that people have different accents, and be willing
to try hard to understand people with "unusual" or unfamiliar
accents. This can happen only if people are constantly exposed to people with
many different accents. The opposite happens when people are exposed only to
limited varieties of accents. For example, many Taiwanese students are familiar
only with a kind of American accent. So they may mistakenly think that is the
only "standard" accent of English. And when they come across someone
with a different accent, they naturally find it difficult to understand. This
is usually because they subconsciously blame the other person for not having what
they think is the "standard" accent. This causes them to give up
efforts to understand too easily. The problem can be solved easily by constantly
exposing learners to different accents.
It is encouraging
to know that in many countries, like the Philippines, people are "functionally
native" in English. It means that they use English among their own countrymen
in certain domains. Even though the way they use English may be different from
that of, say, Americans, and occasionally get laughed at for that, it
nevertheless functions perfectly well as a lingua franca in those domains.
I often use English
with my fellow East Asians including Koreans and Vietnamese, because it is
often the only language we have in common. And it is very helpful that they
find my Japanese rhetorical style and cultural references very similar to their
own. The communication would be much more problematic if I spoke with an impeccable
British/American English. Well, Asian Englishes is another topic so I will
write about it some other time, then.
