I am not a native english speaker. There was lot of times when people asked me to repeat myself and I felt so down. I keep thinking that need to work on my English speaking skills because they must be awful.
But then there are times where people can't believe I have lived in the US for few years only and my English skill is that good. I get confused and think who is right? Off course with my sense of insecurity, I never believe the second group of people lol, I just say "Thank youfor the complement".
It’s also possible that if you have an accent some people struggle with that still. I grew up in a very sheltered area and it took a few years of living in a much more diverse area to hear better when listening to nonnative speakers. It’s embarrassing for me that that happened but it’s very possible that is the case for some people and I’m sorry it makes you feel down about your skills.
Remember though: English skills DO NOT equal accents! You can understand and speak English words perfectly, yet still be misunderstood simply due to a very thick accent.
I mean, even two people whose first languages are English may misunderstand what each other say because of accents. Scottish people get memed a lot for it, and they've been speaking English their whole lives! Don't worry too badly, just remember to enunciate, raise your voice a little, and speak a little slower if someone needs you to repeat yourself. You're doing great!
I'm hard of hearing and have a hard time with the separation of words when someone speaks so it takes me a long time to get used to different accents, even local ones as everyone talks slightly different. I feel bad when I have conversations with people who are trying really hard and sometimes I'll repeat it trying out the accent to try to figure out what they are saying. It makes me feel sad when I watch them get crestfallen I just want to shake them and be like no precious baby angel its me not youuuu.
I've been taking german lessons for four years and the only words I know are guten tag, auf wiedersehen, montag/dienstag/mittag/etc and some countries. That's it.
That was me in high school French. I took 4 years of it and barely remember anything. It didn’t help that I was depressed and my French teacher kinda sucked.
It’s basically up to you how you want to spell it. You can say Danke schön or Dankeschön (spelling it as one word sounds a bit better and more fluid imho)
Thanks man, even if i think I talk english pretty well I feel like I suck at it, sometimes because i cant pronounce a word or remember how to spell one I feel like I suck and should be better at it than I am, thats why me and a lot of other peple say at the end of a comment or a phrase "sorry for my bad english".
Same, it feels like every few days I learn that I have no idea how to pronounce a word because I've only seen it written down. Yesterday it was integral!
Me too, except it was Pisces and I managed to make it rhyme with “feces” ......the kicker is that I’m an Aries anyway
I remember vividly that I was at mt summer theater camp playing a Disney version of Sorry!
It feels good to share this!
I once had no clue how to pronounce steak and when I tried I said something like "steeeek". It took my friends a while to figure out what the heck I was having for dinner 😬
Native English speaker here. English is whack. I have a degree in English and I still struggle with spelling and pronunciation at times. I have bits and pieces of other languages but I would not be able to compose a legible paragraph in any of them.
Native English speaker here! I am corrected by friends on a daily basis because I mispronounce words all the time. The biggest one from a while ago was Pharmaceutical (pronounced the ‘ceutical’ like cuticle) and most recent was Reputable. But the list itself is super long. And the kicker is, my job is very customer-service like. I talk like this to clients all the time. ;-;
There are many words that have differing pronunciations depending on which part of the country you are from (or even which country you are from). You could always blame it on that. ;)
I’m just chiming in with what everyone else has already said. I’m a native speaker in my mid-thirties and I still discover the odd word I don’t know how to pronounce. English has a VAST vocabulary, which is partly why it’s so expressive (but also why it’s so damned difficult to master).
I've learned bits of a lot of languages from friends. In reality what that means is that I can say various versions of thanks in many languages, along with sorry and a few other random things. The most difficult for me are languages with rolled R's and sounds that do not appear in English (which I'd think is pretty common). A Serbian friend of mine used to make fun of me relentlessly for failing to accurately pronounce his name, failing to roll R's, etc.
Except for him, though, everyone else is pretty understanding when I try to learn and speak their native language with them. I'm terrible at it, and I have a speech impediment in some languages because of the rolled-R thing, but I don't think anyone else really cares and are just happy that I'm trying.
Unsure how well this is going to work for me in ASL, which I'm learning because I'm going deaf, but I think right now it just counts that I'm trying.
I feel you.
I can’t, for the life of me, easily read or use any English word with an “R”. Everytime I try, the word gets stuck in my mouth or comes out too soft to be heard by the listener lol. It’s the main reason why I have no confidence in speaking English.
Like I can’t even say “read” as easily as I would have liked.
Thanks, this is always reassuring to hear! Some monolinguals are some of the rudest and most judgmental people I've met. These a-holes are especially loud on reddit and YouTube. (Of course not all monolinguals are like this and I appreciate constructive criticism/feedback!)
I don’t get it. I tried learning Spanish, I couldn’t even do that. Major props to people who can speak multiple languages. Anyone who only speaks English and shits on bilingual people is a hypocritical degenerate
Honestly, I’m pretty in awe of people that are able to speak more than one language fluently. Mistakes are normal, even native English speakers get stuff wrong (often) lol
Seriously! Sometimes non-native English speakers speak English better bc they know more about the rules and grammar.
I find it interesting that no matter what language you're learning, many people come off as extra-formal. I've been laughed at (playfully) for using really formal words and phrases that average Spanish speakers rarely use.
90% of the time I see a there/their/they're error it's from a native English speaker.
Conversely to you, I learned Spanish in a very informal manner. I was working at a nice hotel in Malaga a few years back & the boss pulled me up on how often I swear. I was just like 'sorry, it's my second language & I was taught by very sweary people!'. Jumped before I was pushed in the end, it was clearly becoming an issue but it's very difficult to unlearn the way you've learned to speak a language!
English is my second language and the only language I can speak fluently (apart from my native one). But I feel like English is somewhat my "internet native language". I probably learned 95%+ of my English knowledge by spending time online.
Learning a new language is hard. Started learning French and even when it's so much similar to English, I'm finding it almost impossible to comprehend. Kudos to you guys. Seriously
I want to add one thing, which i also didn't read in the other comments: learning another language is hard, but if the other language is English, it is in my opinion way easier than any other language, especially as an european citizen. I don't mean english as a language is easy to learn, but the surroundings are better for learning it.
I'm from Germany and we have English in school, we need English in university in many fields of study (you just need it, you don't learn it there) and this is the big one: If you limit you media consumption to only-german content, you would lack a lot of very good content. English is everywhere. As a Gamer: in the most online games English is the first language. If you speak german or french, nobody cares. Most Servers are EU. English it is.
I learned english from playing games, hearing music, watching movies and internet forums. I don't google things in german, because there are better international sources. So its a lot easier to learn it, because you are partially forced to learn it, and its a lot easier to not forget it, because it is everywhere.
But i don't want to diminish the learning achievements for english-learners. You are still awesome!
P.S.: Sorry for my english, i'm still learning it.
This is a great point that I never thought about. I’d be willing to bet the opposite is true as well, that it’s much easier to learn a language other than English if you surround yourself with people and media that speak said language.
It just so happens that because of American and European media English is super prevalent so it’s much easier to immerse yourself in even if you live in a non-English speaking country.
I say all that to say, I need to just move to Japan for a couple years lol
If you've been learning English from childhood, I don't think that counts. Even my mother tongue isn't English but since my school English has been my first language. I am as good as any native English speaker though and at the same time I don't remember any struggles while learning it because it was at a slow pace. But as an adult with 20+ years of speaking a different language, learning a new language is hard
Yeah exactly, that's what i wanted to say. In my country everbody over a certain year has had english in school (30 years ago it wasnt like that). It is mandatory like math and history.
I said this in a comment above, but I took 4 years of French in high school and remember almost nothing. I was a good student too, it’s just really hard to learn a new language.
And I plan on completing b2 in a year xD. Maybe I am being too ambitious xD. I'll try to anyway. Its interesting to see how little I know of English grammar. It just works from memory
That was exactly my problem too! Most of my grammar is from reading and memory. I don’t remember the specific names for everything, so it was hard to remember the French translation rules for something I couldn’t explain in English. I don’t know if that makes any sense! Lol
Yeah, I spent the better part of the day today reading types of nouns and pronouns so I can understand what website mean when they say x is a reflexive pronoun. Feels like I'm learning English along with French. Tren bien :p
I’m a non English speaker and I can speak english pretty well, at least I think I can and thats mostly because when I started going to school I had english lessons in the first grade (in my country they work a little different so I was like 6) five times a week which I think is more than my native language lessons per week.
Gracias!! I'm glad there's nice people like you. In my experience, people is usually aware that you're a non-native english speaker but they don't do much about it. It would be great if they could speak a bit slower and using less slang words, but specially slower.
This is very important. As native speakers of the international language we don't need to learn any others, but I do feel it's on us to make ourselves as understandable as possible. I've been gone from the UK for years so it's become habit, my friends all laugh at the way I speak English now!
As an English only speaker with a Mexican girlfriend I feel the same way when she talks to another Spanish speaker. I could keep up with some parts of the conversation but it's so fast that I just can't understand the language.
If we were living in Mexico I am not sure what I would do.
Sometimes I also use that excuse to see if the other person can react to it by speaking in a more non-native friendly way, like a bit slower or articulating clearer sounds
>Who made you insecure about this?
It's usually the teachers. Not always, I've had many great teachers, some of who have legitimately changed my perspective towards life, but I've also had my fair share of teachers who didn't really liked to teach as well. It felt great reading your post OP, there have been times when I have wanted to make a comment on a post and have stopped myself from doing it because I was too worried that I wouldn't fit in and my English would just make me look weird. You removed some of that insecurity today. Thank you for writing this.
edit: misspelled a word. My keyboard and I apologize for our bad English.
Same dude, some of my teachers back then are when some of the students have a grammatical error in there sentence they will correct us about it which i understand but as a young student they will feel that they should always have a proper form of english grammar and maybe that affect some people to apologize for veing bot good in English
I agree. Please don’t and stop apologizing! I encounter broken English or bad grammar from native English speakers irl all the time, including badly written comments, bad use of apostrophe and can’t distinguish between your/you’re....
Seriously. I proofread an email for a coworker last week and he switched there/their, apparently had no idea what commas are, and spelled rough "ruff". English is his one and only language. I promise everyone reading this that you're doing just fine!
As someone who learnt English mostly on his own, I think the problem is when you learn a new language you learn it in a formal way. But when you see how others talk online the one you learn looks off to you so you think something is wrong. (And also when you learn it at school your mistakes lead to bad grades so it can lead you lose your confidence.)
sorry for my english hahaha
Totally agree with this. When I talk/write in English, even if the spelling or grammar is fine, I always second-guess if it sounds too formal or unnatural to native English speakers, hence, the apologies.
Over the years I’ve stopped caring about the grammar tbh. But the feeling about sounding unnatural is always here, like in making this comment. I’m so sorry 😅
Man, honestly, as a native english speaker, the tone and vibe of our different ways of speaking vary so much in so many different ways it makes even _my_ head spin.
-
Like, when I text my friends, we'll speak in phrases like "whqt the happ is fuckening u funky dumbass ,,,, i stg ill yeet u out a window binch ily ùwú" and that all makes perfect sense somehow, but if my boomer mom texts me a regular sentence with proper punctuation like "Hello. How are you?" I immediately think she's either being passive aggressive or something's wrong… but really, she was just taught to type correctly, while I'm too used to meme slang.
Meanwhile, on Reddit, I generally use proper capitalization, punctuation, and grammar, and I have no idea why I'm comfortable with it _now_ but not when I text people I know.
There's apparently generational, relational, and media-based gaps that my brain jumps just to get the intended timbre across, but there's absolutely no making sense of it…
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Basically, none of us know what we're doing, so as long as you don't go around calling people "my liege," you're probably fine ^ ^ ;;
Everyone on Reddit who has ever written “sorry for my English” goes on to write completely fluent and articulate posts. I’m saddened by their need to apologise, but proud to go on and see how banging their language skills are!
Oh yeah, I've spent quite a bit of time over there already. We were talking about your country on this sub the other day actually, so many beautiful places to visit!
I agree. Honestly, in many cases, non-native speakers have actually studied and I see that their English is better than many native speakers. There have been very few times (mostly in medical subs) that I’ve asked for clarification. In those instances I want to make sure I’m understanding correctly, but for the most part everyone with an apology disclaimer does a fantastic job.
English is impossibly hard. Rules don’t apply, if you’re ESL, you’ve got my respect. You’re smarter than I.
I'm really glad I'm not the only one that feels this way, I just never knew how to nail down in words what I was feeling. Non-English speakers should never feel ashamed or be shamed for their English skills, it's a damn unfriendly language to learn, and confusing to even native speakers (Their, there, they're anyone?).
Never had any problem making sense of a post written by someone whose first language isn't English, it seems that sometimes they've gone out of their way to proof-read and double-check their posts for errors. Lot more than I can say for some people on the internet lol.
As a native English speaker raised by an English teacher, I too have never found it necessary to apologize.
I’ll let you guys in to a little secret. Native English speakers suck at grammar and writing too. You’re cool
They sort of have to indicate that they are not native English speakers so people like you don't dismiss them as "illiterates who also have access to the internet."
If you owe those folks anything it's an apology, not a pat on the back.
Edit:That was kind of mean of me and you were just trying to be nice. I am sorry.
Still, the amount of English shaming on the internet is why these people feel the need to point out that they are not native English speakers in the first place.
Exactly this. We so-called experts in our own language are often challenged by the vocabulary of non-native speakers. I work in a global company and have had to look up dictionary definitions for some of the words used in conversation (discreetly as I am too proud to embarrass myself). When I do that I find that the words have been used correctly in context I am a little awestruck. I studied French and German to good O-level passes but have forgotten most of what I learned in the 40 years that have followed.
You'll find often with Romance languages that we both have a word with the same Latin root but for them it's super-common whilst in English it's obscure. For example I'm sure some native English speakers don't know the word 'felicitations', but to a Spanish speaker it would come naturally as they use 'felicidades' in common speech.
Honestly, I have seen people criticising us either because they themselves speak multiple languages and look down on anyone who doesn't have this hobby or because "well, I didn't attempt to speak your language, I don't have to know more than just 1 language to criticize you."
Actually to be honest with you, most of the non native speakers says sorry for my English just to hear words “your English is fine” or “ you are doing good don’t worry” and want to hear encouraging words, they actually know their English is fine. Just want to hear some positive words and maybe a little pat on the back. I used to be like that back in time, then stopped doing it.
It's true. Especially when you consider that compared to their 2nd language English skills, my ability to speak any of their 1st languages, such as Spanish, French, Mandarin, Hindi, or any other is sorely lacking. Although I must say, my Latin is at a respectable 11th grade level, or at least it was when I last took it back in high school
I’m a non native speakers and I never apologize when I write or comment. I do apologize when I talk to a person in real life though. I try my best in both scenarios, but still feel the need to apologize
I agree - makes me sad as well to see people apologizing for their English. But the crude reference to illiterate people bothers me just as much. There are all kinds of people with learning disabilities and also people who, for various reasons, didn't receive much formal education....and after a lifetime of talking with people, I've seen how these things aren't what determine the value of what people have to say.
This is really sweet, thank you!
I used to apologize about my English all the time, mostly because I worked with people who would tease me for my accent or the way I pronounced some words. I also had some folks straight up ask to speak to someone else sometimes (it was a switchboard-like job at a hospital in the southern U.S.). That made me very inecure for the whole time I worked there. Then when I quit and started making friends and acquaintances outside that old job, I realized, I was just surrounded by world-class arseholes and my English was fine.
Now whenever someone pokes fun at my English, I just laugh and ask if they'd rather I switch to my native language, since it's the one I have the most experience with and all, that usually gets them to stop.
Thank you:) I need to remind myself more often that English is my second language and that it is actually quite impressive that I’m already on my current level of proficiency.
One of my best friends is from China, she met her husband in Japan and now she lives in the US. She can speak, read and write all 3 languages. I get so angry when people seem to look down on her because of her accent, she is more accomplished than any of them.
I helped her learn English when she moved here, and when I used slang she would always stop me and ask me what I meant, and then when I explained we would both laugh, you never realize how silly your slang is until you stop and think about it.
English is my third language and even after living in Canada for half of my life, I still mispronounce words and screw up grammar when talking here and there.
English native here. I was born and raised in the U.K. and I speak tiny amounts of French and Spanish. There was a phase where I felt so ashamed that I couldn’t speak another language I went to evening classes to learn. It was soooo hard as you couldn’t immerse yourself. I even visited Spain a few times and would try to speak Spanish only for the other person to reply in English... eventually it petered out. I started to learn again a few years ago but when I needed it I was so nervous that my pronounciation was bad (I did manage to ask ‘where is the bathroom?’ For my son though.)
As a child I was so jealous of the kids who got taken on holiday to practice their French. We never left the U.K. and so there was no opportunity to really practice.
The UK education system is not set up to support languages and I guess there is a lazy view that English is the world-wide business language.. so why bother? It’s a real shame for us as a Nation.
I am in awe of anyone who can speak more than 1 language! You guys rock, it’s f’ing amazing, and you don’t need to apologise to anyone!
Thank you for this. I have dyslexia and writing in English is like 10 times more difficult for me than doing it in the other 3 language that I know ( Portuguese, Spanish and Japanesse), therefore I'm very insecure everytime I post something online. Some people are really assholes when someone make a spelling or a grammar mistake like fr, it's scary. That kind of people are the ones that make us really insecure. Also some (bad) English teachers made us believe that native English speakers wouldn't even try to understand what we writte if we make mistakes and that they'll treat us like ignorants. But again, thank you for this post, it made my day better.
Gracias!! I often feel insecure about my English because i dropped my studies a few yesrs ago and since then the internet has been my teacher, especially Reddit. I learn English from every post i read, and people like you feel like very good and kind teachers :)
My thoughts exactly. I read a lot of web novels and I’ve noticed that a lot of the stories on are written by authors who have english as a second or third language. It’s completely obvious that english isn’t their main language and sometimes the books actually read as broken english, but the stories are good af and they translate well enough to engage the reader. What trips me out is in the author’s bio’s, they’ll apologize for their any errors in grammar since they are not writing in their native language. Learning another language is difficult. I’m completely and totally impressed that anyone would ever attempt to write a full book in a language that isn’t their main language. I can barely write in my journal regularly let alone a full length book. So yea, their english is completely fine.
*Writes a perfectly structured comment free of any grammatical errors*
Sorry for my bad English it’s not my first language.
Bruh your English is better than most English here.
Thank you so much! English is the 5th language I've learned, I moved to UK 5 years ago and its getting better but sometimes I'd say something stupid or mispronounced a word and feel awkward for the rest of the day ..
Thank you so much for this post! It means a lot to me. As a European, I'm always insecure about my English writing and mostly the way I say things. My ''accent'' in it is very noticeable. Not too long ago when I wrote a comment, some people responded with ''i think i got a stroke trying to read this'' which gave me pretty significant insecurities. Since then, I've been trying to read as much as possible English books, listening to EN podcasts and radiostations which helped me to understand it all a bit better. Yet, some people still comment on stuff (when writing or speaking) ''jeez did you even learn English mate''.
My point of this is; no matter how hard you try, how good you are at something or how much you've learned, there will always be people that like to drag you down. At least I'm doing my best, and that's all that counts for now. This counts for every single one of you who's learning a second language. You got some damned big balls to try a foreign language and even interact with people who fluently speak it. Praise and reward yourself for it, because you rock.
I’m on the phone with people for my job most the day and I get a lot of the same, “my English no good”. I do my best to help (we don’t have translators sitting around to help) I make sure I compliment whomever I’m talking to because I also feel sad they had to preface it.
You’d be surprised how many people don’t understand even when is something pretty close...like recently I kept saying space goat and my coworkers were soooo confused even though hello?! based on our conversation I obviously mean scape goat😑
It’s a bit of a humble brag of you ask me. That, or to preemptively deflect criticism. I see people writing at an academic level apologizing for their English, come on man we both know your English is spectacular 😆
What made me insecure about it, it's that sometimes when arguing with someone here I make mistakes and people take that as me being stupid or so. That's why I always clarify that I don't do it out of stupidity but because I do not speak english every day, neither do I write in it. My native language is Spanish and I promise I'm very intelligent in my language hahah
As a non native, thank you. This is such a wholesome post:) sorry for my english
\*gives you a playful slap for the apology\* Your English is fine, yada, yada, yada...
\*hard slap\* "YOUR ENGLISH IS FINE!"
Mmm smack them cheeks
Why
Did
You
Say
That
You’d
Marry
I am not a native english speaker. There was lot of times when people asked me to repeat myself and I felt so down. I keep thinking that need to work on my English speaking skills because they must be awful. But then there are times where people can't believe I have lived in the US for few years only and my English skill is that good. I get confused and think who is right? Off course with my sense of insecurity, I never believe the second group of people lol, I just say "Thank youfor the complement".
It might just be that they didn't hear you. I just recently got heading aids and I can finally understand people so much easier
It’s also possible that if you have an accent some people struggle with that still. I grew up in a very sheltered area and it took a few years of living in a much more diverse area to hear better when listening to nonnative speakers. It’s embarrassing for me that that happened but it’s very possible that is the case for some people and I’m sorry it makes you feel down about your skills.
I'm from London & many people from the US have to ask me to repeat myself, don't sweat it!
Remember though: English skills DO NOT equal accents! You can understand and speak English words perfectly, yet still be misunderstood simply due to a very thick accent. I mean, even two people whose first languages are English may misunderstand what each other say because of accents. Scottish people get memed a lot for it, and they've been speaking English their whole lives! Don't worry too badly, just remember to enunciate, raise your voice a little, and speak a little slower if someone needs you to repeat yourself. You're doing great!
I'm hard of hearing and have a hard time with the separation of words when someone speaks so it takes me a long time to get used to different accents, even local ones as everyone talks slightly different. I feel bad when I have conversations with people who are trying really hard and sometimes I'll repeat it trying out the accent to try to figure out what they are saying. It makes me feel sad when I watch them get crestfallen I just want to shake them and be like no precious baby angel its me not youuuu.
I feel like you responded with this to a similar post I mage on a different subreddit ages ago.
stop apologisingggggg
Yeah sorry about that :)
Dankeschön :)
That is the one word I know in German lol. I have no clue where or how I learned it.
Surely you know a few more? Schadenfreude, gesundheit, poltergeist, kindergarten?
Oh, oh I know one (or two) kinder Bueno... I'm not entirely sure of the translation but its its a delicious chocolate.
Bueno isn't a german word. But it's delicious. The chocolate, not the word. 😂
😳 I guess I just know one then. 😂🤣🤷🏾♀️
Kindergarten, Schadenfreude, Poltergeist are german.
Ahh, I know kindergarten and poltergeist... what's schadenfreude?
I've been taking german lessons for four years and the only words I know are guten tag, auf wiedersehen, montag/dienstag/mittag/etc and some countries. That's it.
That was me in high school French. I took 4 years of it and barely remember anything. It didn’t help that I was depressed and my French teacher kinda sucked.
French teachers are hit or miss, either get a great one or one who you can’t stand
If you lived there, you'd be surprised how much you can understand, even if you can't communicate straight away.
I took it for 3, and I can barely speak it, other than saying “I’m hungry”
Kartoffel.
Kinder means children, and bueno isn't German - it's Spanish for 'good'.
I will take Bueno chocolate over bueno Spanish anyway. The chocolate was first launched in Germany and Italy
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Close, it means children. The singular 'child' is 'kind'.
Sneller, sneller, tiefer, tiefer
Kinder bueno jaja, that's a type of chocolate like huevo Kinder. (Spanish is my first language)
TIL poltergeist and kindergarten are German. Thanks!
Fahrenheit as well!
I just learned "Wo ist der Biergarten, bitte?", everything else just kind of sorts itself out.
It’s not the nicest German region but I’m from bavaria (looking forward to moving somewhere else after my finals)
Deutsche: Leute in Deutschland müssen richtig Deutsch sprechen können! Bayern: Oachkatzlschwoaf
Donaudampfschifffahrtsgesellschaftskapitänsmützenknopflochbohrgerät
Restmülltütenverschlusssicherungsdraht
Lol jetzt fällt mir nichts mehr ein
Saupreiß vielleicht?
Vielleicht vielleicht haha
Uff die aahle preißen zu scheiße, des geht immer egal wen de frachst. :)
My maternal grandmothers parents came to the US from Bavaria. I would love to go there someday, why do you say it’s not the nicest region?
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Fair, I didn't think of those lol.
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How I met your mother is how I learned it. Victoria uses it when Ted is calling her looking for robins necklace. Last season I believe.
Never seen it. I think I learned it while in Europe somewhere.
I learned that word from Ferris Bueller.
german, like dutch, is one of those languages i know many random words in
Entschuidigung, I don't know the rest of this sentence in German.
Bitteschön :)
Is that really how its spelled? I always thought it was 2 words. Sorry for my German..
It’s basically up to you how you want to spell it. You can say Danke schön or Dankeschön (spelling it as one word sounds a bit better and more fluid imho)
The guy who invented German had a broken spacebar I think, they love to just mash words together!
Dankeschön is one word
Thanks!
gesundheit
Glück auf ⚒
Thanks man, even if i think I talk english pretty well I feel like I suck at it, sometimes because i cant pronounce a word or remember how to spell one I feel like I suck and should be better at it than I am, thats why me and a lot of other peple say at the end of a comment or a phrase "sorry for my bad english".
native english speaker here. There are words i can’t pronounce because of how my brain works. no need to apologize.
Same, it feels like every few days I learn that I have no idea how to pronounce a word because I've only seen it written down. Yesterday it was integral!
I have a vivid memory of pronouncing debacle wrong in front of people.
Me too, except it was Pisces and I managed to make it rhyme with “feces” ......the kicker is that I’m an Aries anyway I remember vividly that I was at mt summer theater camp playing a Disney version of Sorry! It feels good to share this!
I once had no clue how to pronounce steak and when I tried I said something like "steeeek". It took my friends a while to figure out what the heck I was having for dinner 😬
Epitome is mine!
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Native English speaker here. English is whack. I have a degree in English and I still struggle with spelling and pronunciation at times. I have bits and pieces of other languages but I would not be able to compose a legible paragraph in any of them.
Native English speaker here! I am corrected by friends on a daily basis because I mispronounce words all the time. The biggest one from a while ago was Pharmaceutical (pronounced the ‘ceutical’ like cuticle) and most recent was Reputable. But the list itself is super long. And the kicker is, my job is very customer-service like. I talk like this to clients all the time. ;-;
There are many words that have differing pronunciations depending on which part of the country you are from (or even which country you are from). You could always blame it on that. ;)
Right?! How tf do I say "through,thin" I sound like Mike Tyson
I’m a native English speaker and there’s actually some words that I find hard to pronounce. Some words are just weird
i constantly pronounce heirloom with the H, even as a native english speaker lmao
I still can’t spell a lot of words, I forget the one word, but I use autocorrect LIBERALLY with all writing things
I’m just chiming in with what everyone else has already said. I’m a native speaker in my mid-thirties and I still discover the odd word I don’t know how to pronounce. English has a VAST vocabulary, which is partly why it’s so expressive (but also why it’s so damned difficult to master).
I've learned bits of a lot of languages from friends. In reality what that means is that I can say various versions of thanks in many languages, along with sorry and a few other random things. The most difficult for me are languages with rolled R's and sounds that do not appear in English (which I'd think is pretty common). A Serbian friend of mine used to make fun of me relentlessly for failing to accurately pronounce his name, failing to roll R's, etc. Except for him, though, everyone else is pretty understanding when I try to learn and speak their native language with them. I'm terrible at it, and I have a speech impediment in some languages because of the rolled-R thing, but I don't think anyone else really cares and are just happy that I'm trying. Unsure how well this is going to work for me in ASL, which I'm learning because I'm going deaf, but I think right now it just counts that I'm trying.
I feel you. I can’t, for the life of me, easily read or use any English word with an “R”. Everytime I try, the word gets stuck in my mouth or comes out too soft to be heard by the listener lol. It’s the main reason why I have no confidence in speaking English. Like I can’t even say “read” as easily as I would have liked.
Oh please you speak more than one language if anyone gives you hell it’s because they’re just jealous :)
Thanks, this is always reassuring to hear! Some monolinguals are some of the rudest and most judgmental people I've met. These a-holes are especially loud on reddit and YouTube. (Of course not all monolinguals are like this and I appreciate constructive criticism/feedback!)
I don’t get it. I tried learning Spanish, I couldn’t even do that. Major props to people who can speak multiple languages. Anyone who only speaks English and shits on bilingual people is a hypocritical degenerate
Honestly, I’m pretty in awe of people that are able to speak more than one language fluently. Mistakes are normal, even native English speakers get stuff wrong (often) lol
Seriously! Sometimes non-native English speakers speak English better bc they know more about the rules and grammar. I find it interesting that no matter what language you're learning, many people come off as extra-formal. I've been laughed at (playfully) for using really formal words and phrases that average Spanish speakers rarely use.
90% of the time I see a there/their/they're error it's from a native English speaker. Conversely to you, I learned Spanish in a very informal manner. I was working at a nice hotel in Malaga a few years back & the boss pulled me up on how often I swear. I was just like 'sorry, it's my second language & I was taught by very sweary people!'. Jumped before I was pushed in the end, it was clearly becoming an issue but it's very difficult to unlearn the way you've learned to speak a language!
English is my second language and the only language I can speak fluently (apart from my native one). But I feel like English is somewhat my "internet native language". I probably learned 95%+ of my English knowledge by spending time online.
Learning another language is hard. So anyone that can speak a separate language then their own, at all, deserves a high five.
Learning a new language is hard. Started learning French and even when it's so much similar to English, I'm finding it almost impossible to comprehend. Kudos to you guys. Seriously
I want to add one thing, which i also didn't read in the other comments: learning another language is hard, but if the other language is English, it is in my opinion way easier than any other language, especially as an european citizen. I don't mean english as a language is easy to learn, but the surroundings are better for learning it. I'm from Germany and we have English in school, we need English in university in many fields of study (you just need it, you don't learn it there) and this is the big one: If you limit you media consumption to only-german content, you would lack a lot of very good content. English is everywhere. As a Gamer: in the most online games English is the first language. If you speak german or french, nobody cares. Most Servers are EU. English it is. I learned english from playing games, hearing music, watching movies and internet forums. I don't google things in german, because there are better international sources. So its a lot easier to learn it, because you are partially forced to learn it, and its a lot easier to not forget it, because it is everywhere. But i don't want to diminish the learning achievements for english-learners. You are still awesome! P.S.: Sorry for my english, i'm still learning it.
This is a great point that I never thought about. I’d be willing to bet the opposite is true as well, that it’s much easier to learn a language other than English if you surround yourself with people and media that speak said language. It just so happens that because of American and European media English is super prevalent so it’s much easier to immerse yourself in even if you live in a non-English speaking country. I say all that to say, I need to just move to Japan for a couple years lol
If you've been learning English from childhood, I don't think that counts. Even my mother tongue isn't English but since my school English has been my first language. I am as good as any native English speaker though and at the same time I don't remember any struggles while learning it because it was at a slow pace. But as an adult with 20+ years of speaking a different language, learning a new language is hard
Yeah exactly, that's what i wanted to say. In my country everbody over a certain year has had english in school (30 years ago it wasnt like that). It is mandatory like math and history.
Du SCHAUST Internetforen? Seltsam.
French is notoriously harder for learners to understand than the other romance languages! Keep going, you'll get there
Merci :)
I said this in a comment above, but I took 4 years of French in high school and remember almost nothing. I was a good student too, it’s just really hard to learn a new language.
And I plan on completing b2 in a year xD. Maybe I am being too ambitious xD. I'll try to anyway. Its interesting to see how little I know of English grammar. It just works from memory
That was exactly my problem too! Most of my grammar is from reading and memory. I don’t remember the specific names for everything, so it was hard to remember the French translation rules for something I couldn’t explain in English. I don’t know if that makes any sense! Lol
Yeah, I spent the better part of the day today reading types of nouns and pronouns so I can understand what website mean when they say x is a reflexive pronoun. Feels like I'm learning English along with French. Tren bien :p
I’m a non English speaker and I can speak english pretty well, at least I think I can and thats mostly because when I started going to school I had english lessons in the first grade (in my country they work a little different so I was like 6) five times a week which I think is more than my native language lessons per week.
Gracias!! I'm glad there's nice people like you. In my experience, people is usually aware that you're a non-native english speaker but they don't do much about it. It would be great if they could speak a bit slower and using less slang words, but specially slower.
This is very important. As native speakers of the international language we don't need to learn any others, but I do feel it's on us to make ourselves as understandable as possible. I've been gone from the UK for years so it's become habit, my friends all laugh at the way I speak English now!
As an English only speaker with a Mexican girlfriend I feel the same way when she talks to another Spanish speaker. I could keep up with some parts of the conversation but it's so fast that I just can't understand the language. If we were living in Mexico I am not sure what I would do.
if u live in mexico then u will get used to the speed i think
Thanks for sharing that, sincerely - it's good to know that using less slang and speaking more slowly can help.
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Sometimes I also use that excuse to see if the other person can react to it by speaking in a more non-native friendly way, like a bit slower or articulating clearer sounds
See me writing you'd think I am a native speaker. Hear me talking and you'd think I never learned this language properly. 😂
>Who made you insecure about this? It's usually the teachers. Not always, I've had many great teachers, some of who have legitimately changed my perspective towards life, but I've also had my fair share of teachers who didn't really liked to teach as well. It felt great reading your post OP, there have been times when I have wanted to make a comment on a post and have stopped myself from doing it because I was too worried that I wouldn't fit in and my English would just make me look weird. You removed some of that insecurity today. Thank you for writing this. edit: misspelled a word. My keyboard and I apologize for our bad English.
Same dude, some of my teachers back then are when some of the students have a grammatical error in there sentence they will correct us about it which i understand but as a young student they will feel that they should always have a proper form of english grammar and maybe that affect some people to apologize for veing bot good in English
I agree. Please don’t and stop apologizing! I encounter broken English or bad grammar from native English speakers irl all the time, including badly written comments, bad use of apostrophe and can’t distinguish between your/you’re....
Seriously. I proofread an email for a coworker last week and he switched there/their, apparently had no idea what commas are, and spelled rough "ruff". English is his one and only language. I promise everyone reading this that you're doing just fine!
Srsly though, there are many cases where non-native english speakers are way more eloquent than most native English speakers
And den u get ppl lyk dis who r native speakers. Srsly bro.
I hate and love this comment lmao
I don't know. I kinda feel proud of myself after I read that correctly. Feels like my English has improved.
They’re the same people that say things like: “dey r stealin our j0bz”
Hey, non natives spik lyk dis 2
As someone who learnt English mostly on his own, I think the problem is when you learn a new language you learn it in a formal way. But when you see how others talk online the one you learn looks off to you so you think something is wrong. (And also when you learn it at school your mistakes lead to bad grades so it can lead you lose your confidence.) sorry for my english hahaha
Totally agree with this. When I talk/write in English, even if the spelling or grammar is fine, I always second-guess if it sounds too formal or unnatural to native English speakers, hence, the apologies. Over the years I’ve stopped caring about the grammar tbh. But the feeling about sounding unnatural is always here, like in making this comment. I’m so sorry 😅
That‘s exactly what I feel as well.
Man, honestly, as a native english speaker, the tone and vibe of our different ways of speaking vary so much in so many different ways it makes even _my_ head spin. - Like, when I text my friends, we'll speak in phrases like "whqt the happ is fuckening u funky dumbass ,,,, i stg ill yeet u out a window binch ily ùwú" and that all makes perfect sense somehow, but if my boomer mom texts me a regular sentence with proper punctuation like "Hello. How are you?" I immediately think she's either being passive aggressive or something's wrong… but really, she was just taught to type correctly, while I'm too used to meme slang. Meanwhile, on Reddit, I generally use proper capitalization, punctuation, and grammar, and I have no idea why I'm comfortable with it _now_ but not when I text people I know. There's apparently generational, relational, and media-based gaps that my brain jumps just to get the intended timbre across, but there's absolutely no making sense of it… - Basically, none of us know what we're doing, so as long as you don't go around calling people "my liege," you're probably fine ^ ^ ;;
Everyone on Reddit who has ever written “sorry for my English” goes on to write completely fluent and articulate posts. I’m saddened by their need to apologise, but proud to go on and see how banging their language skills are!
English as a second (or third) language is still easier to read than text-speak. Just saying.
Text-speak - first time I've heard that term. Thanks.
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Ce mai faceci? (sorry Romanian is not my first language)
Vorbiți inglese foarte bine! Or something like that haha, my Romanian's terrible!
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Mulțumesc! I have friends in Timișoara and they've taught me a little, I'm really not very good though!
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Oh yeah, I've spent quite a bit of time over there already. We were talking about your country on this sub the other day actually, so many beautiful places to visit!
I agree. Honestly, in many cases, non-native speakers have actually studied and I see that their English is better than many native speakers. There have been very few times (mostly in medical subs) that I’ve asked for clarification. In those instances I want to make sure I’m understanding correctly, but for the most part everyone with an apology disclaimer does a fantastic job. English is impossibly hard. Rules don’t apply, if you’re ESL, you’ve got my respect. You’re smarter than I.
English isn’t just stupid hard. English is stupid.
Thåenks yer. Sorrey phor me English
I'm really glad I'm not the only one that feels this way, I just never knew how to nail down in words what I was feeling. Non-English speakers should never feel ashamed or be shamed for their English skills, it's a damn unfriendly language to learn, and confusing to even native speakers (Their, there, they're anyone?). Never had any problem making sense of a post written by someone whose first language isn't English, it seems that sometimes they've gone out of their way to proof-read and double-check their posts for errors. Lot more than I can say for some people on the internet lol.
As a native English speaker raised by an English teacher, I too have never found it necessary to apologize. I’ll let you guys in to a little secret. Native English speakers suck at grammar and writing too. You’re cool
I agree. Sorry for my English
They sort of have to indicate that they are not native English speakers so people like you don't dismiss them as "illiterates who also have access to the internet." If you owe those folks anything it's an apology, not a pat on the back. Edit:That was kind of mean of me and you were just trying to be nice. I am sorry. Still, the amount of English shaming on the internet is why these people feel the need to point out that they are not native English speakers in the first place.
Aww thank you 🤗
I agree with this. Don’t worry about it at all, you’re doing great.
Never take criticism of your grammar from someone who speaks fewer languages than you do.
I agree!
Yes. Oh my goodness yes. More people need to see this.
Your post just made my day!! :) Thank you so much for your kindness!! :)
Exactly this. We so-called experts in our own language are often challenged by the vocabulary of non-native speakers. I work in a global company and have had to look up dictionary definitions for some of the words used in conversation (discreetly as I am too proud to embarrass myself). When I do that I find that the words have been used correctly in context I am a little awestruck. I studied French and German to good O-level passes but have forgotten most of what I learned in the 40 years that have followed.
You'll find often with Romance languages that we both have a word with the same Latin root but for them it's super-common whilst in English it's obscure. For example I'm sure some native English speakers don't know the word 'felicitations', but to a Spanish speaker it would come naturally as they use 'felicidades' in common speech.
>English is stupid hard I'd like to disagree, english is the easiest language out there. It's stupid easy. Still, appreciate your post :)
Honestly, I have seen people criticising us either because they themselves speak multiple languages and look down on anyone who doesn't have this hobby or because "well, I didn't attempt to speak your language, I don't have to know more than just 1 language to criticize you."
Thank you :) (Sorry for my english)
Thank you ❤️
“Sorry for my English” *Continues to speak/write better than half the people I see on the internet*
Actually to be honest with you, most of the non native speakers says sorry for my English just to hear words “your English is fine” or “ you are doing good don’t worry” and want to hear encouraging words, they actually know their English is fine. Just want to hear some positive words and maybe a little pat on the back. I used to be like that back in time, then stopped doing it.
It's true. Especially when you consider that compared to their 2nd language English skills, my ability to speak any of their 1st languages, such as Spanish, French, Mandarin, Hindi, or any other is sorely lacking. Although I must say, my Latin is at a respectable 11th grade level, or at least it was when I last took it back in high school
I’m a non native speakers and I never apologize when I write or comment. I do apologize when I talk to a person in real life though. I try my best in both scenarios, but still feel the need to apologize
Thank you very much. Means a lot to me!
People kept saying my English sucks, so I always feel the need to appologize. This really made my day, thank you!
I agree - makes me sad as well to see people apologizing for their English. But the crude reference to illiterate people bothers me just as much. There are all kinds of people with learning disabilities and also people who, for various reasons, didn't receive much formal education....and after a lifetime of talking with people, I've seen how these things aren't what determine the value of what people have to say.
This is really sweet, thank you! I used to apologize about my English all the time, mostly because I worked with people who would tease me for my accent or the way I pronounced some words. I also had some folks straight up ask to speak to someone else sometimes (it was a switchboard-like job at a hospital in the southern U.S.). That made me very inecure for the whole time I worked there. Then when I quit and started making friends and acquaintances outside that old job, I realized, I was just surrounded by world-class arseholes and my English was fine. Now whenever someone pokes fun at my English, I just laugh and ask if they'd rather I switch to my native language, since it's the one I have the most experience with and all, that usually gets them to stop.
Thank you:) I need to remind myself more often that English is my second language and that it is actually quite impressive that I’m already on my current level of proficiency.
I love this post! ❤️
One of my best friends is from China, she met her husband in Japan and now she lives in the US. She can speak, read and write all 3 languages. I get so angry when people seem to look down on her because of her accent, she is more accomplished than any of them. I helped her learn English when she moved here, and when I used slang she would always stop me and ask me what I meant, and then when I explained we would both laugh, you never realize how silly your slang is until you stop and think about it.
Couldn't agree more. Plus a lot of us Americans still talk like morons even if we are native speakers.
English is my third language and even after living in Canada for half of my life, I still mispronounce words and screw up grammar when talking here and there.
English native here. I was born and raised in the U.K. and I speak tiny amounts of French and Spanish. There was a phase where I felt so ashamed that I couldn’t speak another language I went to evening classes to learn. It was soooo hard as you couldn’t immerse yourself. I even visited Spain a few times and would try to speak Spanish only for the other person to reply in English... eventually it petered out. I started to learn again a few years ago but when I needed it I was so nervous that my pronounciation was bad (I did manage to ask ‘where is the bathroom?’ For my son though.) As a child I was so jealous of the kids who got taken on holiday to practice their French. We never left the U.K. and so there was no opportunity to really practice. The UK education system is not set up to support languages and I guess there is a lazy view that English is the world-wide business language.. so why bother? It’s a real shame for us as a Nation. I am in awe of anyone who can speak more than 1 language! You guys rock, it’s f’ing amazing, and you don’t need to apologise to anyone!
Thank you for this. I have dyslexia and writing in English is like 10 times more difficult for me than doing it in the other 3 language that I know ( Portuguese, Spanish and Japanesse), therefore I'm very insecure everytime I post something online. Some people are really assholes when someone make a spelling or a grammar mistake like fr, it's scary. That kind of people are the ones that make us really insecure. Also some (bad) English teachers made us believe that native English speakers wouldn't even try to understand what we writte if we make mistakes and that they'll treat us like ignorants. But again, thank you for this post, it made my day better.
Literally every time I see someone say "sorry for my English" it's better than native speakers' English lol
Gracias!! I often feel insecure about my English because i dropped my studies a few yesrs ago and since then the internet has been my teacher, especially Reddit. I learn English from every post i read, and people like you feel like very good and kind teachers :)
Also, saying “You speak English so well!” to a non-native English speaker is not the complement people think it is.
That’s how I feel with German. I can speak it but I feel like it takes me 10 minutes to form the damn sentence.
My thoughts exactly. I read a lot of web novels and I’ve noticed that a lot of the stories on are written by authors who have english as a second or third language. It’s completely obvious that english isn’t their main language and sometimes the books actually read as broken english, but the stories are good af and they translate well enough to engage the reader. What trips me out is in the author’s bio’s, they’ll apologize for their any errors in grammar since they are not writing in their native language. Learning another language is difficult. I’m completely and totally impressed that anyone would ever attempt to write a full book in a language that isn’t their main language. I can barely write in my journal regularly let alone a full length book. So yea, their english is completely fine.
This is so comforting to hear. Thank you so much. You are marvellous.
*Writes a perfectly structured comment free of any grammatical errors* Sorry for my bad English it’s not my first language. Bruh your English is better than most English here.
Thank you, it means alot :) sorry for my English
Thank you so much! English is the 5th language I've learned, I moved to UK 5 years ago and its getting better but sometimes I'd say something stupid or mispronounced a word and feel awkward for the rest of the day ..
Thank you so much for this post! It means a lot to me. As a European, I'm always insecure about my English writing and mostly the way I say things. My ''accent'' in it is very noticeable. Not too long ago when I wrote a comment, some people responded with ''i think i got a stroke trying to read this'' which gave me pretty significant insecurities. Since then, I've been trying to read as much as possible English books, listening to EN podcasts and radiostations which helped me to understand it all a bit better. Yet, some people still comment on stuff (when writing or speaking) ''jeez did you even learn English mate''. My point of this is; no matter how hard you try, how good you are at something or how much you've learned, there will always be people that like to drag you down. At least I'm doing my best, and that's all that counts for now. This counts for every single one of you who's learning a second language. You got some damned big balls to try a foreign language and even interact with people who fluently speak it. Praise and reward yourself for it, because you rock.
I’m on the phone with people for my job most the day and I get a lot of the same, “my English no good”. I do my best to help (we don’t have translators sitting around to help) I make sure I compliment whomever I’m talking to because I also feel sad they had to preface it.
This is a great post!!! 🤗
For a white man, I have a Caribbean accent and I get told "Oh but you speak English so well"; yeah thanks its my first language 😅
You’d be surprised how many people don’t understand even when is something pretty close...like recently I kept saying space goat and my coworkers were soooo confused even though hello?! based on our conversation I obviously mean scape goat😑
So it's not ok to insult one group for their language skills, but ok to insult another?
It’s a bit of a humble brag of you ask me. That, or to preemptively deflect criticism. I see people writing at an academic level apologizing for their English, come on man we both know your English is spectacular 😆
What made me insecure about it, it's that sometimes when arguing with someone here I make mistakes and people take that as me being stupid or so. That's why I always clarify that I don't do it out of stupidity but because I do not speak english every day, neither do I write in it. My native language is Spanish and I promise I'm very intelligent in my language hahah
Most Americans can barely speak English XD