Questão de Língua Inglesa

Execução: Fundatec 9 446_CE_07_V1_19/10/201711:24:38 Instruction: Answer questions 26 to 40 based on the following text. Native English speakers are the world’s worst communicators 01 It was just one word in one email, but it triggered huge financial losses for a multinational 02 company – a nightmare in a nutshell. 03 The message, written in English, was sent by a native speaker to a colleague English 04 was a second language. Unsure of the word, the recipient found two contradictory meanings in 05 his dictionary. He acted on the wrong one, and couldn’t put across his ideas. 06 Months later, senior management investigated why the project had flopped, costing 07 hundreds of thousands of dollars. “It all traced back to it: this one word,” says Chia Chong, a UK- 08 based communications skills and intercultural trainer, who didn't reveal the tricky word because 09 it is highly industry-specific and possibly identifiable. “Things spiralled out of control because both 10 parties were thinking the opposite.” 11 When such misunderstandings happen, it’s usually the native speakers are to blame. 12 Ironically, they are worse at delivering their message than people who speak English as a second 13 or third language, according to Chong. They don’t choose their words carefully. 14 “A lot of native speakers are happy that English has become the world’s global language. 15 They feel that they don’t have to spend time learning another language,” says Chong. “But often 16 you have a boardroom full of people from different countries communicating in English and all 17 understanding each other and then suddenly the American or Brit walks into the room and nobody 18 can understand them. Native speakers of English generally are monolingual and are not very good 19 at tuning into language variation,” professor Jennifer Jenkins says. 20 The non-native speakers, it turns out, speak more purposefully and carefully, typical of 21 someone speaking a second or third language. Anglophones, on the other hand, often talk too 22 fast for others to follow, and use jokes, slang and references specific to their own culture, says 23 Chong. In emails, they use baffling abbreviations such as ‘OOO’, instead of simply saying 24 they will be out of the office. “The native English speaker is the only one who might not feel the 25 need to accommodate or adapt to the others,” she adds. 26 Relating to your audience 27 With non-native English speakers in the majority worldwide, it’s Anglophones who may 28 need to up their game. “Native speakers are at a disadvantage when you are in a lingua franca 29 situation,” where English is being used as a common denominator, says Jennifer Jenkins, 30 professor of global Englishes at the UK’s University of Southampton. “It’s the native English 31 speakers that are having difficulty understanding and making themselves understood.” 32 Non-native speakers generally use more limited vocabulary and simpler expressions, 33 without flowery language or slang. Because of that, they understand one another at face value. 34 Jenkins found, for instance, that international students at a British college understood each other 35 well in English and swiftly adapted to helping the least fluent members in any group. 36 Giving others a chance 37 When trying to communicate in English with a group of people with varying levels of fluency, 38 it’s important to be receptive and adaptable, tuning your ears into a whole range of different ways 39 of using English, Jenkins says. “People who’ve learned other languages are good at doing that, 40 but native speakers of English generally are monolingual and not very good at tuning in to 41 language variation,” she says. 42 In meetings, Anglophones tend to speed along at what they consider a normal pace, and 43 also rush to fill gaps in conversation, according to Steggles. “It could be that the non-native 44 speaker is trying to formulate a sentence,” he says. “You just have to wait a heartbeat and give 45 them a chance. Otherwise, after the meeting they come up and say, ‘What was all that about?’ 46 Or they walk away and nothing happens because they haven’t understood.” He recommends 47 making the same point in a couple of different ways and asking for some acknowledgement, 48 reaction or action. “If there’s no participation," Steggles cautions, “you don’t know whether you’ve 49 been understood or not.” Source: http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20161028-native-english-speakers-are-the-worlds-worst- Execução: Fundatec communicators – Adapted 10 446_CE_07_V1_19/10/201711:24:38