Misunderstandings in ELF Contexts

[Admin]

In trying to think of relevant examples, I remembered separate instances in which in first time interactions with a friend from New Zealand I was a bit thrown by the question "How are you going?" ("um, what, where...?"), and in the UK by the "You alright?" question. Both essentially mean "how are you?" but the use of 'going' in the NZ English question, and asking someone whether they are alright, did not quite land well with me, a user of L2 English mostly used to American varieties. However, some negotiation of meaning (I love this term) was certainly helpful in clarifying the questions and soon made me realize the person asking "You alright?" wasn't particularly worried about my well being.

[sameerco1971]

There are many examples of misunderstanding among English speakers due to culture differences. For example, when you translate what you want to say as a non-native speaker, you might encounter different response from the listener. If you say to a native speaker "where are you?", it seems to them a stupid questions. However, the non-native speaker does not mean literally to ask about your place. It might mean we haven't seen you around for a long time.

[Kunlong Jin]

I just gave one of my own real examples couple of years ago. I studied in a university foundation programme in Sydney, Australia. My classmate (native Arabic) and I (native Chinese) were talking in a cafe after class.
I think I need to return the 'pens' I borrowed from X (the other Arabic classmate) to him tomorrow because he was not in class today. My friend repeated that 'his what?' I said, the pens I borrowed from him yesterday. He replied in surprise:' his pants'. Oh, ok, I did not realise that happened. But it is good you solve it. I laughed and said yes. But I am sure that both of us did not figure out the real meaning of the word from each other and misunderstand it. I only realised and reflected that on my way to home on a train, trying to figure out where the shocking face he came from.
Well, the story ended here. The next day, I did return the pens to the guy but I still did not explain to the guy in the cafe about the true 'word story'.
As two non-native speakers from Expanding circle countries communicate in a native English speaking countries, it is quite often that the misunderstanding and misinterpretations will caused by words, phrases, and even a subtle intonation. Try to be as honest as you can and always kindly ask others to repeat and clarify what he or she said, I reckon most 'issues' will be addressed.

[erenkenny]

When I heard 'sounds as a pound' I was surprised. It means (fine). I found out other varieties in Merseyside.

[andrea scabbia]

I was in the USA about 10 years ago. My English was learned in a typical Italian school. A Scottish boy asked me: Do you have fun? . And I sayd: Sorry? And he, slowly: D-o y-o-u- h-a-v-e f-u-n? And I, proud of myself: Ah, ok, yes I have a phone, it's a Nokia one!

never heard before in my life the word fun with the sound like phone

[Tom Le Seelleur Lisburn, NI]

I have been living here since 2014 and my father-in-law is an NI farmer with a strong accent and a dialect i am was unfamiliar with when I first met him. Since speaking and listening to him I think I can now understand about 50% of what he is saying (25% when I first spoke with him) as I get more used to his and the local language and nuances I am slowly building a knowledge of what people are saying. However, someone from Belfast is far easier to understand than my FIL from Armagh and yet the difference in distance between the two varieties is barely 50 miles.

[profebeth]

There are alot of misunderstandings of English here in Costa Rica. Many of them stem from the pronunciation of the "I" sound such that "beach" can be misinterpreted as "b#tch" and "sheet" as "sh#t" (please excuse the inappropriateness of these words, but I think it highlights the social- emotional riskiness of this type of misinterpretation!). In addition, verb tenses are often 'overlooked' or simply not learned well by users and it can lead to frequent misinterpretations.

False friends are another source of misunderstanding. In Spanish, "embarazada" means pregnant, and many English speakers mistakenly use "embarazada" intending to mean "embarrassed."

[Sally Urquhart]

I am English and was visiting relatives in Edinburgh. I was taken aback being asked "what's your chat?" to find that it is a Scottish informal equivalent of "how are you" or "hows it going". Not a difficult misunderstanding in the context - I was able to ask my cousin what it meant.

Teaching a Belgian student and an Italian. Target language included examples discussing whether or not they keep a diary. I overheard the Italian ask the Belgian "what's a diary?". Response from Belgian: "It's when you have to go to the toilet a lot." Luckily I was able to resolve this very quickly having monitored. But if I hadn't heard, that could have lead to significant misinterpretation!

[evarojo]

This is a story I always tell my students, many years ago a female friend of mine told me that she met an English guy in a camp, she asked him for fire (fuego in Spanish is a light for a smoker), and she got it, big time!
I tell them as well another anecdote about another person who said I am constipated instead I have a cold, in Spanish estoy constipado
Misunderstandings are funny and part of the language learning, humour is a vital part of it.

[marian]

What I'm going to share is not exactly an example of a misunderstanding due to the use of the language, but due to cultural differences. In our country young people tend to kiss older people instead of shaking hands, even on a first meeting. The first time I was in England I was in my twenties, and I stayed with a host family provided by the language school. When I arrived at the house, I immediately kissed the landlady and she was completely baffled. I think I was so embarrassed that I said nothing, but I should have explained to her that where I came from, that was absoluetly normal.

[Mu Mc]

Many years ago as a student teacher in Dagenham, East London, an 8 year old pupil asked me if we needed the 'scouuse' for our maths lesson. It took quite a lot of demonstrating and repetition before I fully understood that she was asking for 'scales' You have to hear this in an East London accent to appreciate how it sounded to my Irish ear. I often think that there must have been misunderstandings aplenty on the part of my pupils during that period of my training!

[Ulla]

I often think of an international project I was involved in years ago, with partners from Bulgaria, Slovakia, Germany, France and Scotland. Despite different idiolects and different levels of English proficiency, we usually communicated well and reasonably efficiently. The only breakdown in communication occurred between native speakers: an American colleague (an expat who was part of the Austrian delegation) had massive problems understanding our Scottish partners and sometimes even had to ask her non-native speaker colleagues for 'translations'. (This was not an act - the problems were real, and she was very embarrassed.) We discussed it and decided that the non-native speakers were more flexible when it came to adapting to a new accent. As a native speaker teacher of English, this was not something she was used to doing.

[miabae]

This story of misunderstanding happened to two different people (one in a hotel in Croatia, another in a hotel in Kazakhstan) around the same time. It's spooky how the details are the same.
A person is on a business trip and goes to the hotel restaurant to have dinner there. Before they order, they ask the waiter if they accept American Express there. The waiter confirms. The person has dinner and asks for the bill. The waiter comes back with a coffee and says: "We've nearly forgotten your American espresso! Here you go. And here's the bill. It's best if you pay cash as we've been having issues with card payments lately". Unfortunately, there was no way to resolve the problem in either of the cases.

[Rachel Dry]

I often experience misunderstandings and think about my students intelligibility at school. I am the only EFL teacher and often I am seen as a translator to mys students despite not speaking their first language. There are many times where I have had to speak with a student about something that has happened at school and relay this to another member of staff, despite the fact I am also speaking English to the student. These instances show that due to my experiences in speaking with the student we have increased intelligibility. At times i feel as though I have a secret power or language which I can use to converse with my students which other members of staff are not able to. There are too many times to recall where I have 'translated' my students English to other teachers to avoid misunderstandings!

[Anita]

My initial teaching years in an Arab country was a learning period for me. One of my student approached me and said,''Ms I bray 5 times every day. Do you also bray? A bit embarrassed and not knowing what he meant, I just nodded without knowing how to answer him. Later I got to know that the student meant,''Pray''. It seemed that they do not have the letter 'p' in Arabic.