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Comment by js2 | Hacker News Reader

I think some commenters are taking issue with this article for singling out English. Yes, the larger issue is native vs non-native speakers in any language. But this article is specifically addressed to native English speakers because English often serves as the common language in a room of mixed-language speakers.

I'm a native English speaker. I don't find the article offensive, and I appreciate it pointing out how I can be a more effective communicator.

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In other languages it wouldn’t happen at the same scale due to people also speaking a second language and realise these dynamics. Do you know many native English speakers speaking a second language fluently? I have been living in the U.K. for over 10 years and can count them on a hand.

Well, the thing about English being a global lingua franca is that English speakers aren't constantly exposed to another language the way many other people are exposed to English. It isn't fair, but there we are.

That’s the problem. People think they can get away without knowing languages just because most resources have been translated. They don’t know that they are missing out on a huge portion of information they will never fully understand. The education system is lacking on promoting culture rather than eligibility to work in U.K. and this makes things much worse

> I'm a native English speaker. I don't find the article offensive, and I appreciate it pointing out how I can be a more effective communicator.

If you want people to communicate more effectively, then you state how to communicate more effectively. It is best to avoid criticism since the recipient is liable to take it poorly. Trying to be provocative will only result in the intent of the message being ignored.

Unless they’re German or Eastern European, in which case if you don’t point out exactly where they personally are wrong they might think you’re complimenting them, seeking help in figuring out who IS doing something wrong, or don’t have any actual issues, and everything is ok.

Speaking of cultural differences.

For an article about communicating clearly, it was pretty poor at communicating clearly.

FWIW, I don't take this article poorly because I don't see it as being critical of some immutable characteristic of either me or of English. It's simply pointing out a blind spot that native speakers are unlikely to realize when speaking to non-native speakers.

As to the headline, like not judging a book by its cover, I also don't judge an article by its crappy clickbait provocative headline.

The provocative title is surely one, if not the main reason, the article is here in HN, and not utterly ignored in a sea of other articles with effective and clear titles.

Clickbait exists, because we react to it.

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