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It was just one word in one E-mail, but it triggered huge financial losses for a multinational compa

来源：焚题库 [2021-05-19] 【大中小】

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问答题【2017年真题】（2017下）It was just one word in one E-mail, but it triggered 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 flopped, costing hundreds of thousands of US dollars. It all traced back to this one word. Things spiraled 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 a communication expert. 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, typical of someone speaking a second or third language. Anglophones, on the other hand, often talk too fast for others to follow, and use jokes, slangs and references specific to their own culture. The native English speaker is the only one who might not feel the need to accommodate or adapt to others. With non-native English speakers in the majority worldwide，it’s Anglophones who may need improvement. Native speakers are often at a disadvantage when English is being used as a common language. It's the native English speakers that have difficulty understanding and making themselves understood. Non-native speakers generally use more limited vocabulary and simpler expressions, without flowery language or slang. Because of that, they understand one another easily. Then there9s cultural style. When a Brit reacts to a proposal by saying,“That’s interesting，” a fellow Brit might recognize this as an understatement for “that’s rubbish.” But other nationalities would take the word “interesting” at face value.

English speakers with no other language often have a lack of awareness about how to speak English internationally. In Berlin，German staff of a Fortune 500 company were briefed from their Californian HQ via a video link. Despite being competent in English, the Germans gleaned only the gist of what their American project leader said. So among themselves they came up with an agreed version, which might or might not have been what was intended by the Californian staff. Too many non-Anglophones, especially Asians and French, are too concerned about not “losing face” and nod approvingly while not getting the message at all. That's why a former senior international marketing executive at IBM, devised Globish ---a distilled form of English, stripped down to 1,500 words and simple but standard grammar. “It’s not a language，it’s a tool，” he says. Since launching Globish in 2004, he’s sold more than 200,000 Globish textbooks in 18 languages. t4If you can communicate efficiently with limited, simple language, you save time, avoid misinterpretation and you don't have errors in communication，’’ he says. When trying to communicate in English with a group of people with varying levels of fluency, it's important to be receptive and adaptable, timing your ears into a whole range of different ways of using English. People who’ve learned other languages are good at doing that，but native speakers of English generally are not very good at adapting to language variation. In meetings, Anglophones tend to speed along at what they consider a normal pace. One recommendation is making the same point in a couple of different ways and asking for acknowledgement or reaction.

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