Learning an International Language

Years ago I attended a public lecture given by a world famous linguist, Michael Halliday. The topic was about English being an International Language. The lecture was fully packed with about 2000 people.

Factors for a language to become an international language include
- its global political status
- its economic power
- its native speakers
- others

The first two factors are quite clear. The third one is interesting. How native speakers respond to foreigners using their language has an impact on its popularity among learners. One of the things Prof. Halliday has mentioned was that native speakers of English in general are tolerant of foreigners' mistakes and inaccuracies in using English. This, I find is largely true.

It is not uncommon to see that native speakers show patience in trying to understand foreigners expressing themselves in English. They show appreciation and are rather unreserved in giving compliments when foreigners are using English to communicate regardless of their fluency and proficiency.

For learners, this is a token of acceptance. And it will help learners build confidence, which in turn will encourage learners to continue to learn and use the language.

I only wish English teachers in Hong Kong would be like that. Then students would behave more positively in learning the language. Yes, teachers should aim high - that students should be able to use the language correctly and speak it beautifully without mistakes. But in reality, we need to remind ourselves that even educated native speakers of any langauges make mistakes.

Any educated native speakers of any languages would make pronunciation errors, grammatical and spelling mistakes. It's only natural. If it's natural for native speakers, why would some non-native speakers criticise other non-native speakers so mercilessly? What do they want to prove? One incident I came across is the use of the structure 'Although ...but...'. Well, it's not grammtically correct, but I don't see the severity as some 'teachers of English' in Hong Kong do. One said, 'That's an unforgivable mistake and must be penalised.'

Another example which I find very funny is what I call 'double comparative', for example 'more better'. If you say that to any non-native English teachers in Hong Kong in oral exams or interviews, you are dead. Yet, you hear it in normal or casual conversations among native speakers. After hearing John (an educated native speaker of English) say 'more better' for many times over a number of years, I once challenged him and told him that he was wrong. He thought for a while and said, 'Yes, it might be wrong, but we do that. Of course, you don't say that in formal circumstances. Hey, just relax; people don't speak like teachers in daily situations. That's very unnatural and sounds horrible.'

I beleive it is really not necessary to pick on students and other people who make some language mistakes and blow it up unproportionally as if it is something fatal or lethal.

Many people choose to learn English because they like the 'flexibility'. They don't have to be perfect users. They like the feeling that as long as they can get their message across, the native English speakers are happy and they will not be discriminated against because of the mistakes they make or the accent they carry.

English teachers may want to remember that picking on learners and other non-native speakers unnecessarily and ruthlessly will not prove that your English is better. It will only discourage students and confuse users. To view it from another angle, if educated native speakers make mistakes when using their own language, why can't foreigners make mistakes?! What langauge users don't make mistakes?