How to speak English as a Lingua Franca

More often that not, we so-called "non-native speakers" use English to communicate with other "non-native speakers". When a Japanese and a Taiwanese or a Korean and a Thai are conversing with each other in English at an international conference, English is being used as a lingua franca. In this case, there are some things you can do to facilitate successful communication. And those can be quite different from when you are trying to communicate with native speakers of English. So please try the following tips, unless you are intending to immigrate to an inner-circle country (a country where the majority of people are "native speakers" of English; e.g. U.S.A.) and blend in to the mainstream society there.

1. Speak slowly and clearly. Enunciate each and every syllable. Never contract or omit syllables. If you do this, you will sound more "foreign" or less non-native-like to native-speaker ears. But believe me, all other people will find it easier to understand you.

2. When in doubt, use "spelling pronunciation". When you come across words you're not sure how to pronounce, just read it out syllable by syllable, as if you are pronouncing an Italian or Indonesian word. For example, if you are not sure how to pronounce "Abimelech", just say "ah-bee-meh-leck". Surely, you will sound very non-native-like. Native speakers may even think that your "foreign" accent is really strong. But don't worry, native speakers are in minority of English speakers today. If you are using English as a Lingua Franca, what native speakers will think of your accent is quite irrelevant. And I guarantee you that all the non-native speakers present will understand you better!

3. Avoid using any idioms or slang as much as possible. Some Asian people like using idioms, thinking that it can show how native-like their English is. But those idioms can be obscure to your non-native listeners. One of the reasons why native speakers of English are hardest to understand in international conferences is that they use many idioms that are culture-specific. For example,  many American idioms originate from baseball terms, when most people in the world are completely ignorant about baseball. (Taiwan, South Korea and Japan are obvious exceptions.)

If you want to use an idiom for a specific effect, make sure you explain the meaning. In some cases, you may use translated versions of some idioms if you are sure that the same idiom is used in the country where your counterpart comes from. For example, "having an iron rice bowl" is understood in many Asian countries as meaning having a very stable job.

4. Try to use as easy words and expressions as possible. Make sentences short. Stick to "one idea per sentence" principle. Some Asian people like to use "big words" to show that their English is good. But this does not help communication at all if it makes the meaning more obscure.

5. Optionally, you can model your English after a second-language variety, such as Philippine English and Singapore English. Native-speaker varieties, for instance American English, have some disadvantages. First, formal empirical research found that native speakers are not the easiest to be understood in international communication situations. Some people think that just because American English is the "standard" English, so it should be universally understood; but this was proven not to be the case. Secondly, a native speaker accent is unattainable for many. If you are already past the "critical period", it is highly unlikely that you will ever sound like a "true native speaker", no matter how hard you try. So you have to settle permanently for a second-best: "trying to sound native, but not quite there yet".

6. Finally, this is anecdotal and has not been proven yet, although some informed experts do recommend it: Try to pronounce all the "r's" in the spelling if possible, like in an American accent. I have a very strong hunch that this will make you easier to be understood by many non-native speakers. What I mean is this: if you learned English in such places as Hong Kong, Malaysia and many other countries, you may have been taught British English. In the so-called standard British pronunciation, the "r" in the spelling is not always pronounced, as in such words as "car park" and "Peter". There is nothing wrong at all with this kind of pronunciation; I myself was taught this way in Japan. But since people in many Asian countries usually learn to read and write English before they can speak it, it makes more sense to them that when there is an "r" in the spelling, it should be pronounced. In Taiwan or South Korea, some people may even think that your English is poor if you fail to pronounce the rolled "r", because those countries are under so much American influence.

Again, all these tips are applicable only if you are using English to communicate successfully with other non-native speakers. If your purpose of learning English is to communicate exclusively with native speaker, though this is becoming quite rare, I suggest you try to get as close as possible to a native speaker accent. Even people with extremely high proficiency in English, for example former U.N. secretary-general Mr. Kofi Anan, are still considered by many native speakers to have a very strong accent and sometimes even ridiculed, just because they don't sound American or British. (You may say that it's not good to advice students to settle for something "less than ideal", because they may be disadvantaged in future job interviews, etc. I will address this in a separate post.