During the Business English training programmes that we run we ask a series of questions in order to personalise the training for each individual. One of these questions is 'Who do you want to communicate with in English?' Many of the participants need to communicate in English with a wide variety of people from all around the world. Clients often tell me that they don't have too many problems understanding other Europeans and that the biggest problems they have are often with native speakers of English from the UK, Ireland and the USA. So why is that and what can we do about it?
Firstly, it is worth noting that this communication often takes place on the telephone rather than face-to-face. This means that a lot of visual information and clues are not available; no body language, no lip reading, no facial expressions. You are 'flying blind'. Add to this the speed of speech of any native speaker in his or her own language and the challenge becomes even greater - flying blind at high speed! I know what it is like, having lived through this personally with my early experiences of living in Spain and having to use the telephone. As soon as I said 'buenos días' the other person assumed that I spoke Spanish fluently and continued speaking so quickly that I was instantly lost. I soon learned how to say 'Please can you speak slowly, I'm English' in Spanish but very often I just got 'OK' in return and my conversation partner continued as normal.
In these situations I found that a little bit of humour worked best and I would say something like 'Wow, is that slow for you? OK, can you talk to me like I am a small child? My Spanish is really not so good, but if you speak really slowly then I will probably understand you.' If that didn't work then I would just ask them to send me an email!
You can try this with English native speakers of course but I think it is also useful to be able to manage the conversation a little by understanding the way native speakers use language. They will often use expressions that may not be familiar to you, especially phrasal verbs, so you can be aware of how these work and listen out for them and ask for an explanation.
Phrasal verbs, consist of a verb and one or more prepositions, for example 'come in' or 'go in' can both mean 'enter'. Also watch out for the word 'get' which can be used in so many ways that it is almost impossible for a non-native speaker to understand all of them. So don't worry about it, just ask for an explanation or clarification. If you speak with the same person on a regular basis, in time they will probably learn how to communicate with you more effectively and you will learn their favourite expressions and what they mean. The same is true for slang and other expressions. Simply remind them politely that you are not a native speaker and explain that you are not familiar with that expression and you should get a simpler version. I believe that native speakers also need training in Business English - that is to say 'communicating' with other nationalities in Business English. This can be done as part of a team training for example.
Remember that when someone is speaking to you then it is their responsibility to make themselves understood with words that you understand. Your responsibility is to listen but it is not your fault if you don't understand what the other person is saying, we are all only human after all.
Another issue, especially with native speakers, is accent. Britain is especially rich in regional accents which vary enormously from north to south and east to west. When I was 14 years old I moved with my family from Rugby in central England to live in Aberdeen in North East Scotland. I had a difficult time at school with some of the other children; in theory we all spoke the same language but the combination of some strong accents and local dialect often made it difficult for me to understand - but only for a little while.
Of course everybody has an accent of some kind but if you find yourself in a situation where you are speaking to someone with a very strong accent that you find difficult to understand then simply tell them in a polite way (eg. I'm sorry but I'm not used to your accent and I don't understand very well.) and they will hopefully start to speak more slowly and more clearly. Try and do the same and they may well start to 'mirror' your behaviour. Speaking quickly is not always a sign of good language skills. The real target is to communicate with confidence; that means listening carefully and speaking slowly and clearly.