This is an All Ears English podcast, episode 68.
Why Americans are not correcting your English.
Welcome to the All Ears English podcast where you'll finally get real native English conversation and fluency for business and life.
We believe in connection, not perfection, when it comes to learning English.
Now here are your hosts Lindsay McMahon, the English adventurer, and Michelle Kaplan, the New York radio girl, coming to you from Boston and New York City, USA.
Hey.
There is one key reason why native speakers in the US will not correct your English.
Find out why that is and what you can do about it.
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Hey, Lindsay.
How's it going?
Hey there.
How's everything?
I am great.
I am excited for you guys to have found this podcast.
I think there's a chance that someone out there, this is the first episode you're listening to.
Definitely go back and listen to everything, starting from number one, because there's so much gold, so much good information for you guys here.
Yeah, we're going to move you guys from that intermediate, upper intermediate, to the advanced level to feel fluent and confident.
And you're going to do it with us.
You're going to get to know our team.
Michelle, Jessica, Aubrey, me, I'm Lindsay.
Aubrey is on the mic today.
We have so much fun together as a team and you're going to learn with us.
It's going to be great.
Yes, for sure.
So make sure you're subscribed wherever you find your podcasts to All Ears English.
Four episodes every week.
You don't want to miss any of them.
Yeah, but today we're going to talk about the key question.
What is the key question that I think a lot of our listeners might be wondering about?
Yes.
Why do Americans never correct my English?
That's the key question.
Oh, my gosh.
So, all right.
So, here's the reason, guys.
Let's just come out with it and say they don't want to make you feel embarrassed or put on the spot.
That is a bonus word for today, Aubrey, put on the spot.
What does that mean?
Yeah, it seems to make you feel uncomfortable or embarrassed if you're on the spot, right?
And This is very rude and unacceptable in American culture.
We really try to avoid making people feel embarrassed or uncomfortable.
Yeah, it's interesting if you think about American culture, because even though we are a very vocal culture, we're a pretty direct culture.
We're kind of performance based and we are very visual.
At the same time, we kind of what's the word?
We recoil at the idea of embarrassing someone and making them feel awkward.
Yes, exactly.
It's very rare that an American relishes the idea of making someone feel awkward.
And if so, every now and then I'll meet someone like that, and I don't want to spend time around them.
Maybe they're a sociopath.
You want to get away as quick as you can.
Run away, run And it is rare.
The average person you meet at work, at school, you know in your daily life, does not want to make you feel embarrassed.
They don't want to make you feel uncomfortable.
And so they're going to do whatever they can to not even notice your grammar mistakes.
They're not even noticing them.
They don't care because they don't want you to feel embarrassed.
Yeah, I mean, it's really subtle and it's interesting.
And I think this is probably the way most humans are.
There might be some cultures that have a different attitude towards this a more direct culture, a more intense culture.
I'm not really sure.
Have you experienced this in other cultures that you've lived in or learned languages in?
Yes, but it's such a cultural thing.
Where so, for example in France and Quebec and Belgium, someone would correct your grammar, but they're not seeing that.
They're seeing it as helpful.
They're wanting to help you.
There's zero part of them that would see that as embarrassing or hostile or rude.
And that's the difference because an American... would feel hostile by doing that.
They would feel like, oh, this is rude.
I'm embarrassed to do this, right?
So you can see the cultural difference.
Okay, so this really is cultural.
I wonder, in British English or British culture or Australian culture, I'm not really sure if they are less likely or more likely to correct you.
But I know in Japan, where I lived.
In Japan, I would imagine, when it comes to correcting someone, it's even less common than in American culture.
It's a much more of a saving face idea.
Yeah.
It's interesting, right?
And in some ways there's pluses and minuses here, because I know some of you listeners out there really want someone to correct your grammar and you're wishing they would.
But the plus is they really shouldn't be.
You should be focused more on what you guys are actually talking about, right?
Talk about something interesting that you both find fascinating.
And if you do take the time to correct each other's grammar, that just throws a wrench into it.
It makes it hard to make that connection.
It does, because then if you hear that correction, you're going to get stuck on that.
Plus, the other thing is, a lot of times if you're just asking a native speaker to correct you, they don't know what to correct.
So a teacher may not correct every mistake.
They're going to focus on a few key things like key grammar points.
And that's the way it should be done.
It's like drinking from a fire hose.
I like that expression, drinking from a fire hose.
Such a good visual, imagining a fire hose just like pushing you over with the power of that water.
Yeah, this is how I feel every time I go to a conference, by the way.
It's like you go, you get so many good ideas, so many contacts, but you feel overwhelmed.
That's how you might feel if you do ask that native speaker to correct you.
Where do you even start to get better?
Yeah, you might just get overwhelmed and give up entirely or stop trying for a few days at least.
That's not what you want to have happen.
You want to leave that interaction feeling like I got to know an interesting person today and I was able to share my opinions and ideas and have that be so uplifting.
Exactly.
That is it.
I love it.
I mean, so that's the point today.
I mean, that's the reason why they are not going to naturally correct you.
They don't want to put you on the spot or make you feel embarrassed.
And we suggest you embrace that instead.
Go to the higher level of existing and connect.
Connect with the human being in front of you.
Right, Aubrey?
Exactly.
And if you are wanting to work on your grammar, you need to be systematic about that, right?
Find a language tutor, a conversation program where you're going to work on that in very specific areas, instead of hoping to do that while you're having a chat.
Right.
And a study plan, right, Aubrey?
And we talk about the importance of study plans, communities that are focusing on the same thing.
And, by the way Aubrey, you hang out a lot of times over on the IELTS Energy podcast as one of our IELTS experts.
Isn't that right?
Yes, exactly.
And we have a really supportive community.
The Three Keys IELTS Facebook group where students can ask grammar questions, and they do all the time.
And we respond right away and they're able to ask anything, because a lot of times you're going to search something about grammar online and get a whole bunch of different, contradicting answers.
And it can be so frustrating.
You're not sure who's right.
How do I actually use this?
Or you'll get really complicated explanations.
So we simplify it, make sure that you understand it, especially for IELTS, but in regular life, right.
How can I use this grammar correctly? to improve my test scores and to improve relationships.
So definitely come and listen to the IELTS Energy Podcast.
And if you want to get into that Facebook group, sign up for our course through Keys IELTS at allearsenglishcom.
Slash keys.
Yeah, so good.
We've got some exciting stuff for you.
We have the expertise.
If you are on that IELTS journey in the next couple of years, we have a great depth of expertise for you guys.
So go over, check it out.
All right, Aubrey, thanks for hanging out.
And in the next one, we want you guys to keep going to the next episode.
We're going to talk about how to own your English and own your life.
I can't wait to see that one.
Yes.
Oh, that's going to be really motivating.
I'm excited.
Yeah, let's do it.
I'll see you there.
Alright bye, bye.
Thanks for listening to All Ears English and if you believe in connection, not perfection, follow our show wherever you listen to podcasts to make sure you don't miss anything.
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