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5 Ways to Empathize With Non-Native English Speakers
They need your patience
What’s more frustrating than interacting with someone who stutters, searches for their words, and fails to convey their ideas? Being that person.
Over the years, I have been told everything and its contrary: my accent was thick, I had no accent, my accent sounded very French/German/European, or that actually it was hard to place.
It’s not lost on me that over the history of this country, many people at some point learned English and struggled with what I am describing. Many still do.
English is our least common denominator. It’s what makes us able to communicate and interact despite our differences.
Yet it’s also what divides us into two categories: the native speakers and the non-native speakers.
These days, as I wear a mask, you might not understand what I am telling you on the first try. I get it because I don’t make sense of your words either. I can’t read your lips and when you speak fast I feel disoriented.
So please don’t get frustrated with me.
It’ll get better when we can take our masks off. I’ll hear again each word separately instead of a jumble of syllables and maybe, just maybe, you’ll stop eyeing me suspiciously.
