A Word on Euro-English

I arrived home from a week at Taize late last night. After checking my many email messages and wondering why the French postal services can't be bothered to bring me my mail, I started telling my Canadian roommate about the trip. This would be the first time in 7 days that I have spoken English at a regular speed to a native English speaker. Since moving to France I have had to alter how I speak, not just the speed but also how I choose my words, in order to be understood correctly. Here are some general rules of thumb I have learned and am still learning:

1. Speed

This may seem obvious, but I have to speak more slowly to non-native speakers. Now when I hear anglophones on television or speak with family in the US I am amazed at how quickly they speak. What's the hurry? Also, I am finding that the faster one speaks the less precise their speech will be, so we end up saying things that don't really capture our main point or are completely unnecessary.

That being said, one cannot speak at a snail's pace. Listening comprehension and spoken fluency are two completely separate skills in a foreign language. It seems that even very rudimentary speakers understand a great deal of what is being spoken because most people are taught additional languages mostly through listening or exposure to it on TV, radio, etc. I remember when studying French that I understood a great deal of French instruction in class, and yet when giving a presentation in French I would stumble, sometimes even over words I had heard spoken. My point is that you have to speak slowly enough for the other person to catch each word, but not so slowly that the shape of the words and the tones used to express the sentiment behind the words is lost.

2. Pronunciation

For God's sake, don't mumble! Make the effort to pronounce words properly. Say "Ts" as "T" and "Ds" as "D" and don't drop the "Gs" off the ends of words. Also, European schools are now teaching contractions ("don't," "didn't," "can't," etc), so those are actually preferable to use rather than the long form.

It may be clear to you and every other anglophone in the room what you're saying, but poor pronunciation or strange pronunciation will kill a conversation. Also, the person speaking English as a foreign language will make pronunciation mistakes and knowing whether to correct them is a judgement call. Too many corrections will frustrate the person so they may not wish to speak anymore, which is no good for anyone because speaking is the best practice and the best way to make new friends.

3. Careful word choice

Non-native speakers will not understand a lot of synonyms to more common nouns and verbs, but this doesn't have to simplify the conversation you are having. Instead, just work around the idea you are trying to form using more common verbs. Think back to the verbs you studied in a foreign language class and go from there. I tend to stick with the obvious verbs (to be, to go, to come, to have, to do, to make and then others where the root word has some latin base so it's easy to guess what I'm saying). Like I tell my students when they don't know the word, try describing what the thing does using the words you do know. When your speaking partner replies using more complex language you will be both surprised and impressed by the European educational system almost every time and you will also know what level of conversation is possible.

Connotation is also worth some discussion. There are so many words in the English language that have a specific connotation with absolutely no basis in linguistics (as far as I can tell), but are more about culture and common usage. Many non-native speakers are taught the uses of these words in a way that would not be common for anglophones, so it will sound a bit strange. I usually reply to the person using the more common terminology and if they ask about it I explain the difference or I just say "it sounds strange to say it the other way." If connotation is less important I try to choose my words carefully so that I use the most common nouns and descriptive words rather than a regional word or uniquely American term.

4. Slang and colloquialisms

The general rule is don't do it unless you hear the non-anglophone say it first. This week I was explaining that the word "pupil" is rarely used and now we say "student." I was not sure the easiest way to explain why this is until a non-anglophone said, "oh, is it very old fashioned?" Old fashioned was exactly what I was thinking, but was unsure if the term would make sense to my audience, luckily it did this time. Slang is really fun to teach to people sometimes, but the most fun is when the non-anglophone has been taught really outdated slang or when they say things like "okay" and "cool" sprinkled in their own language.

5. Using a second or third language as a bridge

In a heavily English speaking world, it's easy to get around without another language, but it's even easier if you have some concept of a latin language or the language of the person with whom you are speaking. This week I was on retreat in France with people from all over Europe but we all had some knowledge of French, at least a tiny bit, so when there was a word or concept that we just couldn't explain in English we would switch to French momentarily and then back to English. It works amazingly well even with someone like me whose French is far from great.

French in particular is a great language to use as a bridge because it is so direct and has so many little sayings that mean a specific concept. For example, "raison d'etre" means a person's reason for existence. I have heard this term used in the US for a completely anglophone audience, in France, and I used it myself during a workshop this week. There isn't a perfect English translation of the concept it describes, so for my multilingual audience it was a great way to get the point across quickly and clearly.

6. Accents in Your Mother Tongue

There are a lot of different English accents. Sometimes these accents will make it very difficult to be understood. So far I have found that the Hollywood American accent, typical Canadian accents, and any British English that is spoken at a reasonable pace without mumbling goes really well.

Your particular accent could also determine how easily you can charm your new friends. Speakers of different mother tongues like the sounds of various accents differently. So far I have found that the accent that is least similar to their own language is usually the favorite. For example, French is a very fluid language where the words often run together so French people really enjoy the sound of an American accent in French (and English as well, I think) and I think they also enjoy Italian accents in French too. By contrast, German is a very clear and harder sounding language where the words are much more clearly divided, so Germans tend to favor British accents in English.

7. English as a Universal Language

Over the past seven days I was constantly in the company of French, Dutch, German, Spanish/Catalonian, British, Swiss and Norwegian people. Clearly the only language we would all have exposure to at some point is English, so it was the dominant language of the week. It makes little sense linguistically why English is so important- it is a difficult language to learn, it isn't particularly pretty, and it has very little root in latin compared with and abundance of romance languages. However, it is now the most important language in the world, especially in the western world. School systems throughout Europe and Asia are teaching English with this in mind, so the world gets a little bit smaller every day and we are better able to communicate with everyday people more and more.

This being said, I hope that North Americans will make a greater effort to teach children languages in the future. My students at the lycee are learning a minimum of two languages fluently. This coupled with the strength of the European economy indicates that my lycee students and their contemporaries are going to take over the world in about 15 or 20 years. The only way for the US to keep up in the global economy and global cultural developments is to be better educated in more international ways. Learn languages in school and on your own, read books not written in English, travel, start non-English discussion groups, use the internet to practice chatting/Skypeing with people all around the world. There's really no excuse for not learning at least a little bit of another language. Plus it's fun!