(EsPCEx - 2020)
Native English speakers are the world's worst communicators
It was just one word in one email, but it caused huge financial losses for a multinational company. The message, written in English, was sent by a native speaker to a colleague for whom English was a second language. Unsure of the word, the recipient found two contradictory meanings in his dictionary. He acted on the wrong one.
Months later, senior management investigated why the project had failed, costing hundreds of thousands of dollars. "It all traced back to this one word", says Chia Suan Chong, a UK-based communications skills and intercultural trainer, who didn't reveal the tricky word because it is highly industry-specific and possibly identifiable. "Things spiralled out of control because both parties were thinking the opposite."
When such misunderstandings happen, it's usually the native speakers who are to blame. Ironically, they are worse at delivering their message than people who speak English as a second or third language, according to Chong. "A lot of native speakers are happy that English has become the world's global language. They feel they don't have to spend time learning another language."
The non-native speakers, it turns out, speak more purposefully and carefully, trying to communicate efficiently with limited, simple language, typical of someone speaking a second or third language. Anglophones, on the other hand, often talk too fast for other to follow, and use jokes, slang, abbreviations and references to their own culture, says Chong. "The native English speaker is the only one who might not feel the need to adapt to the others", she adds.
Adapted from http://www.bbc.com/capital/story/20161028-native-english-speakers-are-the-worlds-worst-communicators
According to the text, read the statements and choose the correct alternative.
I - The company had a profit of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
II - The tricky word that caused the problem isn't mentioned in the text.
III - Native speakers don't usually think they should adapt in order to make themselves understood.
IV - Using abbreviations in emails facilitates the communication.
V - Non-native speakers choose language from a limited repertoire.
I, II and III are correct.
II, III and IV are correct.
I, IV and V are correct.
II, IV and V are correct.
II, III and V are correct.
Gabarito:
II, III and V are correct.
I - Falsa: a empresa não teve lucro (“profit”), mas sim um grande prejuízo, uma vez que o projeto falhou devido ao mal entendido;
II - Verdadeira: por ser um termo muito técnico e específico, o entrevistado prefere não mencionar a palavra que causou todo o problema mencionado;
III - Verdadeira: o texto aborda o fato de que falantes nativos do inglês têm a ideia se que não precisam se adaptar à comunicação com pessoas que falam outras línguas, uma vez que o idioma é considerado “universal”;
IV - Falsa: as abreviações, além de gírias e piadas, são mencionadas como elementos de descuido dos nativos na comunicação, o que faz com que esta seja dificultada (parágrafo 4);
V - Verdadeira: no quarto parágrafo é mencionado o fato de que os falantes não nativos fazem escolhas comunicativas mais cautelosas, baseadas em um repertório mais limitado e específico.