English information

Heather Hansen asked:


Yes and No.

Yes, if you are a non-native speaker speaking to a native English speaker (classified as English speakers from the UK, Australia, New Zealand and North America).

No, if you are a non-native English speaker speaking to another non-native speaker (classified as… everybody else).

Let me explain.

English language teaching theory has traditionally been based on native English forms, more specifically British and American English varieties. In today’s international community however, where more than 1 billion non-native English speakers use English as a lingua franca, teaching theory is changing to focus on English as an International Language (EIL).

According to linguist Jennifer Jenkins’ research on the English language, there are certain factors in English pronunciation that can influence the degree of intelligibility between a speaker and listener. Word stress is one of these factors if you are speaking with a native English speaker, but Jenkins has found that when two non-native speakers interact in EIL, word stress has little influence on intelligibility.

So why are native speakers so stressed about word stress?

Stress indicates identity

Anyone who has ever zapped between BBC and CNN has probably noticed the differences between standard British and standard American word stress. It has caused quite a CONtroversy (US), or should I say, “conTROVersy” (UK).

To a native English speaker, a certain word stress is considered appropriate or inappropriate depending on where the person is from. “Inappropriate” word stress can really rub listeners the wrong way because it deviates from their norm and indicates that the speaker is an “other” - an outsider. This can be quite FRUStrating (US)/frusTRATing (UK) for the non-native speaker who is just trying to get his point across.

After hours spent in a language LABoratory (US), or laBORatory (UK) if you prefer, non-native English speakers are still at a loss when it comes to speaking to native speakers internationally.

“So which variety is correct?” This is the most common question I am asked in my language courses. And I always have the same answer, “It depends who you ask!”

Stress indicates different meanings of identical words

In one case however, word stress can cause problems whether you are a native speaker or non-native speaker of English: words which are spelled the same, but have different meanings (and different word stress).

A pilot once told me a story about a member of his cabin crew informing him that they had an inVALid passenger on board. The pilot was a bit confused and wondered if the passenger didn’t have a ticket or wasn’t on the roster. He couldn’t figure out what the problem was. Is wasn’t until the flight attendant continued to explain that the passenger was in a wheel chair and had special needs that the pilot realized he meant to say INvalid!

This is a perfect example of how inaccurate word stress can cause problems. And in this case, both the pilot and the flight attendant were non-native English speakers.

Stress indicates parts of speech

Word stress can also differentiate a word’s part of speech - more specifically whether the word is a noun or a verb. There are many examples of words which in their noun form take their stress on the first syllable, but in the verb form are stressed on the second syllable.

Say the following words out loud: PROgress - proGRESS, OBject - obJECT, REcord - reCORD.

We would never say, “She wants to REcord a REcord one day,” but rather, “reCORD a REcord.”

Unfortunately this isn’t a blanket rule, and there are plenty of English words which sound the same both as verbs and as nouns: travel, picture, promise and visit are a few examples.

So what is the non-native English speaker to do? I always recommend sticking to the form you are most comfortable with. You might make an American VIP cringe when you call him a DIGnitary instead of a DIGniTARy, but he’ll also cringe when you call French fries “chips” and cookies “biscuits!”

Communication is a two-way street with compromise and understanding at both ends. If you meet people who can’t accept the way you speak, then they’re probably not worth speaking with anyway!

Groshan Fabiola asked:


When you speak in your native language, you don’t have to think about the grammar or the words you use. Correct sentences seem to just come to you. Your brain uses sentences you’ve already seen or heard. If you want to learn to speak the English language fluently, you have to learn it the way you learned your native language, by reading and listening.

Reading and listening to the English language will help you develop English language intuition. Learning the English language is all about putting lots of proper sentences in your head. Your brain can then imitate them and produce similar English language sentences to express the meaning you want. When you read and listen to the English language a lot, paying close attention to useful English vocabulary, you will soon start to use new English language words and phrases in your speaking and writing. Not only that, but you will develop English language intuition. You will start to feel what sounds good and what sounds incorrect in the English language, just as you do in your native language.

To get a good feeling for the use of articles in the English language you need to read lots of sentences and analyze them closely. It seems like it would be easier to read a unit on English language articles in a grammar book, but it takes lots of time to build a sentence when you have to think of all of the English language grammar rules. When you talk to someone, you don’t have time to do that. The input-based approach may seem to be more demanding, but it’s the only way to achieve fluency.

If you have ever attended English language classes, you have probably been asked to read a text and then complete a task connected with it. Most teachers encourage students to read very quickly, just to get the main points out of the English language text. You might think that this way you will improve your English, but it’s the other way around. Reading in such a way isn’t very useful; it could even slow down your progress!

When you read in your native language, you read for content. Your brain focuses on key words that convey the meaning of the text. This way you are able to read faster. But this is the wrong thing to do when reading in the English language. You want to concentrate on the grammar, too. You should analyze the sentences closely. When reading content in the English language, try to notice interesting things in every sentence you read. It could be a useful phrase or an expression that you could have written wrongly. In this way you can learn how to use the English language more correctly, faster.

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