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Native speakers of English to go back to school to relearn English?
Thread poster: ph-b (X)
Susana E. Cano Méndez
Susana E. Cano Méndez  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 15:40
French to Spanish
+ ...
Yes Dec 28, 2016

Christine Andersen wrote:

Once you get over the idea that there is one correct form of English and the others are somehow wrong, it is really fascinating to study all the different varieties.


Yes, this is the point. In Spain we have different varieties (dialects, if you wish) of Spanish inside and outside Spain (and 3 more official languages that are not Spanish). This is fun...


 
Frank Wong
Frank Wong  Identity Verified
Local time: 22:40
Chinese to English
+ ...
to another level Dec 29, 2016

As a non-native speaker, I can try to get close to native level, they may want to improve to the next level.

 
Oliver Walter
Oliver Walter  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 14:40
German to English
+ ...
Learn another language Jan 1, 2017

I think I am competent at speaking (& writing) English using terms and structures that are relatively easy for non-native speakers to understand.
And ... I think I acquired this facility to a large extent while I was living for a few years in (German-speaking) Switzerland (and before that spending a total of a few months in Germany and France, speaking those 2 languages) and had an analogous problem in more or less the opposite direction: I often wanted to say something without knowing the
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I think I am competent at speaking (& writing) English using terms and structures that are relatively easy for non-native speakers to understand.
And ... I think I acquired this facility to a large extent while I was living for a few years in (German-speaking) Switzerland (and before that spending a total of a few months in Germany and France, speaking those 2 languages) and had an analogous problem in more or less the opposite direction: I often wanted to say something without knowing the relatively complicated 'official' German or French way to express it, so I developed the habit of using fairly simple and unambiguous terms to express it. This is now more or less also what I do when I am speaking or writing English. (I hope this reply is an example of that!)
Hence the title of my reply: 'Learn another language' (which of course members of Proz have probably already done!): by experiencing the problems of expressing yourself in a non-native language, you can develop an understanding of how to use your native language (assumed in this topic to be English) in a way that will make it easier for non-natives to understand, instead of using the latest fashionable non-obvious metaphors.
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Native speakers of English to go back to school to relearn English?






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