Forgive the odd title, had trouble with the title word limit. My question is, do any other non-native English speakers find themselves facing constant hostility for their shortcomings speaking it? I basically didn't know a word of English three and a half years ago and it is my third language. I feel like I'm constantly being forced to apologize and coming against hostility over it.

I do my best, but I find it hard to learn the nuances of such a strange language. Sometimes I get a word mixed up or use one that isn't apt to me meaning.

Hostility? No..Being made fun of and mocked? Yes.

Well, English is my only language at the moment ( I hope to learn German and maybe another) but living in the south US I do see what you mean and I also see the other sides point of view too. In my personal opinion so long as you are trying to speak my countries language I hold no ill will to you and will be more than happy to help you out. But if I have to jump through hoops to figure out what you want and you obviously dont care to learn the language then thats where I draw the line. At least have a translation dictionary or something.

Not my fault you barbarians can't speak the glorious Queen's English



In all seriousness though, if someone mocks you or acts like a knob-end because your English isnt perfect, ignore them, because clearly they're a moron. And lets be honest, ESL or LBOTE people on the internet tend to have better grammar and spelling than most of the 13 year old grammar Nazis anyway.

It's easier to get away with if you're actually talking with someone else, since your accent would likely come through and they'd understand you're not a native speaker. Online, with only your written word to show, you might have a harder time being taken seriously.


Having english as my first and only language, I have never run into this problem. Were I to try and learn another language and go to a country where that language is spoken, I doubt I'd fare much better.

I expect those whose native language is English to have an excellent grasp of it. I don't have a problem with non-native speakers of the language mangling it. It's all part of the learning process. And chances are that no matter how long you speak it, you'll still have idiosyncrasies to your speech patterns because you're not a native. There's no point in criticising someone for that.

It's very difficult to gain confidence and ability in speaking a language if people are constantly criticising and mocking you for it, so I wish people didn't do it. I'm trying to learn Norwegian at the moment, and got teased about my poor grammar a few days ago, which really stung. I'm really, really trying, but with four other languages in my head, things are going to get mixed up for a while still. So I empathise with your situation.

Poor speaking ability when the person isn't a native speaker has never bothered me, I'm quite proficient at understanding what people are trying to say.

Online I can usually tell the difference between a non-native speaker and a lazy/stupid native speaker. Of course it's not always possible and get it wrong. In neither case am I rude about it.

Four? Out of curiosity besides English what are the other three?

I'd like to think that most people are forgiving of non-native English speakers' efforts; on the contrary, coming from a country whose foreign language abilities in general aren't exactly noteworthy, I think other nationalities' abilities in English are impressive. But there are always a few troglodytes: I've had enough aggravation from some people just for having an accent from the "wrong" part of the country, so I dread to think what those xenophobes' attitudes are to people with a foreign accent.

I've probably said some strange things myself when I was younger, and I've probably been mocked because of it, too. Just ignore them. I do find it a little sad that I tend to write better English than some native speakers.

Det er morsomt ? h?re at du l?rer norsk. Lykke til!

God save the queen and all those wonderful six Pistols songs.

Nazis grammars out they're usually are busy typing up papers on how to create knew ways too thwart YOUTUBE commentators who don't wish too care about the crap they say on a video about a cat.

Am I annoying the Grammar Nazis yet?

That aside, if someone mocks you for bad English, remind them that they once couldn't spell antidisestablishment. I don't even know if I spelled it right. Too busy being confused by spell check.