What Do Foreigners Think Of English?


The concept of engaging in a new language is always thrilling and quite useful to most foreigners worldwide. Plus, the English language is a few of the languages widely spoken in many countries in the world. It is good to enrich your linguistic skills to widen your social circles and get the perspective of other people’s cultures. In most cases, English for foreigners will always help you see things from a different perspective.

Speaking in English will always make you a notch higher in sophistication. Plus, being able to speak more languages will help you keep a healthy and active mind. Aside from that, it is most likely that you will learn some English if the British colonized your country at some point. This means that it is an official language in many countries.

Foreigners do not usually think English is a particularly beautiful language – they learn it because of the possibilities it opens rather than because of personal admiration for the language. Foreigners think of the English language as an opportunity to differentiate themselves from their fellow countrymen.

Does English Sound Nice to Foreigners?

To most foreigners, English is such a flowery and fiery language with many ways to express oneself. Plus, most people worldwide can use the language to show their level of sophistication. The English language is quite malleable, and it is easy to make up new words and connect them with your local language, like pidgin English in Nigeria.

On the other hand, British English is more beautiful and more comfortable to comprehend than American English. To someone with little or no comprehension of the language, you will get some of the wildest pronunciation. If English is not your mother tongue, you will most likely speak it, but in a derivative of your mother tongue and accent.

Is English a Hard Language to Learn?

I believe English is quite complicated and can be discerning to learn and even speak. The funny thing is that it does not matter whether you are a native or not. The English language will challenge your comprehensive skills, nonetheless. It requires a whole different level of proficiency and understanding that many do not want to commit to. However, if you can get the flow and the grammar of the language correctly, you can never limit what you can attain or do with it.

It can be frustrating and sound unreasonable to most foreigners, especially if it clashes with your native languages. For example, a layperson in the English language saying getting up from bed in the morning may sound strange; however, standing up from the bad sounds more proficient to them. Also, English is littered with many pronunciations that cannot make sense to most people. For example, Qi.

No matter how good you are, how will you convince a layperson that this word has the pronunciation, CHI for the British, or Kai for Americans. Another thing that confuses most people is the singular and plural verbs and nouns. For example, the foot has its plural as feet. The general principle is to add an s at the end of a word to get its plural. A friend just recently asked me why it is not ‘foots’ but feet.

Which English Accent Do Foreigners Prefer?

The English language has grown over time, and many people speak it worldwide for various reasons. Plus, I believe that most foreigners have also come up with accents that are suitable for them. However, the familiar accents are the American one and the British. The British accents are more acceptable to African countries that were colonized by the English.

However, in some parts of Africa, there are places where the American accent is vital, like Liberia. In major parts of the world, it is the British accent that works for most of them. The American accent has many twists and is full of slang that one may not fully comprehend. Plus, most usually learn American English and pronunciation through their numerous movies.

Which American Accents do Foreigners Prefer?

The US is a conglomeration of various cultures that speak in English. For example, there are the French that most people think to talk with the sexiest English accent. Also, there are Italians that their accents always seem more passionate. The Russian and German English accents are more assertive and sometimes quite threatening. The Spanish English accent has more of the romance and charm in it. However, I believe many people find the American accent from the deep south more appealing. The New York accent seems to be more attractive to many people because it has mixtures of various cultural accents.

What Is the Best American Accent to Learn?

To get the size of the American accent, you must get into the pronunciation as well. However, you should note that pronunciation is different from articulation. The pronunciation will help you speak a language by articulating the word correctly and in an understandable way. However, the accent is how specific people sound when they utter words in any language. I want to suggest the Southern accent to get the good taste of the American accent. It is more appealing and will make you want to try more.

Final Thoughts

English is one of the most progressive and advanced languages, and it has appropriate vocabulary and grammar to help one enhance one’s sophistication. Learning English is a sure way for most of the foreigner to secure various jobs around the world. Besides, that is what most employers will look for. Remember that before Africans can move to the US or UK, they must pass an English proficiency test.

Gui Hadlich

Hey there, I'm Gui! I was born in Brazil, and I got to travel the world playing tennis. In 2014 I moved to the US to study, and ended up staying here. I've been a student, got married, got a green card, bought a home, and started a business - all without being a citizen. I know how difficult it can be to find answers when you are living in a foreign place, and this is why I started Foreigner Living - to help you with any questions you may have!

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