On Sat, Aug 5, 2017 at 8:18 PM, Lodewijk lodewijk@effeietsanders.org wrote:
Thanks for sharing!
While some may be concerned that their vocabulary is too limited - the opposite warning must be provided for native speakers. It is often easier to follow a non-native speaker, because they are aware of their limitations. Especially native speakers have the tendency to speak too fast, push in too much content in their presentation and rush through it.
I was literally about to post this. :)
If you *are* a native speaker - please prepare just as well as if you were speaking in another language, even if you normally "wing it" when presenting to a native-English audience.
Listening in a second language takes far more effort than listening in your native language, so please make life easy for your audience!
Record yourself speaking and write down what you actually said. Then work out how you can cut out subordinate clauses (anything in commas or parentheses), and try to write in simple past / present / future tenses where you can.
If you speak in clear English then more people will understand.
Chris