#english as a second language

[ao3demographicssurvey2024]

In the AO3 Demographics Survey 2024 - an unofficial demographics survey of 16,131 AO3 users - 71% of respondents were native English speakers, and 57% lived in part of North or Central America.

To see more analysis, including comparisons to the userbases of other websites, please view the full results on AO3.

[languageboutique]

[mysecretboringlife]

there is something so magical about reading Babel by R.F Kuang when english is not your first language

[jolteonmchale]

Ken Jeong and Joel McHale Community (2009) Dr. Ken (2016) Animal Control (2024)

[mexicanpadfoot]

Oh shiet, this gonna be good!

Down in the Valley by Versipellis21, and I’m HYPED.

[violent138]

Because idioms are something of a recurring topic on this blog, I want to take this opportunity to mention that when I was much, much younger and still learning English, I thought being part of the "mile high club" meant you were in heaven/dearly departed. Does anyone else have any similar horror stories of mixing up idioms? It was really funny for me to learn what some common idioms in the US were.

[luuuna-rambles]

Community gifs - 205/?

1x24, English as a Second Language

[uncanny-tranny]

Sending so much respect and love to people whose English is "broken." Whether that is because of disability, immigration, age, you haven't been studying long - it doesn't matter why your English is the way it is.

The best thing about language is how versatile it is - that means there are an infinite number of ways to express yourself. Your broken English is beautiful! It is a vital part of the English language. It doesn't need to be "perfect" to be valuable. There are people out there who will put in the work to make sure both of you are understood, just like you are putting in the work to communicate 💐

[bipolaritysucksbutslaps]

so apparently i've failed my english exam, which means i am about to return the english certificate i've got, delete every single fanfic work from the internet and then delete my own existence as well

[jav-uni]

I do my best, okay?

[languageboutique]

[thoughtportal]

this is my english

[letitrainathousandflames]

Constantly delighted by the words y'all have for messing up or being goofy/confused in English. Fumbling. Bumbling. Dawdling. Stumped. Dumbfounded. Idk these words sound round and squishy when I say them.

[avtomat-kalashnikova47]

My korean student from seoul. Had them for private tutoring so they can learn english. They got more than english from me. Love them so much and miss them. Quiet but naughty girls.

[rosegoldthorns]

I am a person with a large vocabulary (in English)

I tend to use larger and more pretentious words because I like the way they sound and it's my humor. Words like rebuttal, amiable, quite, sustainable, appease able in my regular day to day conversations.

However with all this in mind, if I know another person has English as a second language AND are still learning, I would not hesitate to use a much more common vocabulary. If they are really new I would slow my speech, enunciate the important words and use basic sentence structure. To me this is common courtesy. I wouldn't assume by an accent or anything but, most of the time this works well.

Now, what I cannot for the life of me understand is how it is more acceptable for me to do this to a Child than a new English speaker.

I have had people ask me to not use bigger words around kids because they don't understand but those same people will mock those who are struggling with English. I do not get it. Kids need to soak in words. I got a large vocabulary by soaking it in from the adults around me.

Bottom line: kids need to be exposed to a large vocabulary. Adult foreign language learners are already trying as hard as they can, cut them some slack