There is an article by Sonja Bonin on pages 26 to 28 of the June 2021 issue of Toastmaster magazine titled Speak the Language, Speak the Culture. The second paragraph of her section on Talking to a Non-Native Audience says:
“ ‘Most native English speakers think they are communicating, where in fact, they aren’t,’ says John Zimmer, a professional speaker and speaking coach from Canada who has worked for the United Nations and has been living in the French -speaking part of Switzerland for more than 20 years. His experience has taught him to speak ‘a different English’ when he’s talking to non-native speakers. ‘Back in Canada, I speak faster, and I use more slang and colloquialisms; I also allow for fewer pauses.’ Here are some of his tips for English speakers talking to a non-native audience:
Talk slowly, enunciate well, and use more pauses.
Avoid jargon, filler words (such as ‘like’ or ‘actually’), an colloquialisms (‘We’d’ve come’ is far more difficult to process than ‘We would have come’; don’t say ‘we need to up our game’ – instead, say ‘we need to improve.’).
Beware of phrasal verbs, where the meaning is different than the combined meanings of the individual words, such as ‘I’ll see to it’ or ‘he turned me down.’
Use the active voice over the passive voice and the affirmative over the negative (say ‘often’ instead of ‘not uncommon’).
Use short words and short sentences and avoid unnecessary flourishes. Zimmer’s recommendation is ‘Value clarity over creativity.’ “
John Zimmer presents similar advice in a detailed 24-minute YouTube video from the European Speechwriter Network on May 15, 2024 titled Why native English speakers can’t speak English! At twelve minutes he says:
“…don’t initiate when you can begin. Don’t terminate when you can end. Don’t transmit if you can send, and please, please don’t utilize when you can just use.”
The same advice as for non-native speakers also applies to children.
The cartoon audience was adapted from an image at Openclipart.
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