Do you have difficulty with the language barrier?

[DefinitelyReady]

I've never interacted with so many people from different continents, and I can't imagine being bilingual as it agitates my ocd. Even just noticing the different styles in speech is interesting to me.
That being said, it leaves me wondering, if those of you whose first language isn't English, do you, or have you, experienced any hardships with the language barrier?
I joke a lot, naturally have a peculiar way of speaking, and am not always abundantly clear over text due to issues of my own, so I can only imagine how I'm interpreted, and I'm not sure that I'd want to...

 

[GuessWhosBack]

English isn't my first language and sometimes it's hard to figure out whether a person is just being humorous or neutral over text.

 

[LoiteringClouds]

My mother tongue is Japanese and English is my second language.
I had to study English a lot but now I have no problem with communicating via texts*. Speaking is still terrible though.

Now I have problem with Japanese because Japan has high-context culture. I can't fit in there - I sometimes don't know what people are thinking. Context is more important than the thing what is said actually. I feel as if I have the language barrier between people around me and myself.
And sometimes I intentionally create it in my head - I switch my "system language" to English (i.e. my inner monologue is taken place in English) in my free time, so that my hurtful memory won't torment me. Terrible things people have said to me become foreign language that don't make sense to me :)

I joke a lot, naturally have a peculiar way of speaking, and am not always abundantly clear over text due to issues of my own, so I can only imagine how I'm interpreted, and I'm not sure that I'd want to...

I've also told I'm incomprehensible and weird,
So misinterpretation is what I've been feared,
But I no longer care, I just crack a joke -
For me, "crack" doesn't mean coke!

* Please let me know if you find any mistakes. Thank you.

Edit: I have an addiction to dictionaries.

 

[rozeske]

It's not easy as it's a third language I had to to learn but I think I'm managing ok-ish... I have had to use Google a lot though for meanings & spellings.

 

[SoulWhisperer]

I mastered English and speak it with the same ease as I speak my native language. I am also practicing and tried to learn other languages too. I understand Spanish and Portuguese and can speak Spanish to a degree. I know some french and at least a word or two in most languages. I usually can recognize either fully or approximately a language just by hearing it or reading it. A talent that maybe in a better life I could have seen better days.

 

[cowboypants]

I've never interacted with so many people from different continents, and I can't imagine being bilingual as it agitates my ocd. Even just noticing the different styles in speech is interesting to me.
That being said, it leaves me wondering, if those of you whose first language isn't English, do you, or have you, experienced any hardships with the language barrier?
I joke a lot, naturally have a peculiar way of speaking, and am not always abundantly clear over text due to issues of my own, so I can only imagine how I'm interpreted, and I'm not sure that I'd want to...

I only struggle a bit if its over voice. But thats also due to my social anxiety so language doesn't matter for it.

I studied in english medium schools as its the case if you can afford private schools here. I was brought up with English being heavily prioritised over my mother tongue. So its fine for me but i suck at my mother tongue like i cant even read it, as mom made me choose hindi as second language which we almost never spoke at home. Idk what my mother tongue is. It should be tamil cause thats what we speak the most

 

[Ash]

Personally I'm in awe of some the people I chat with here and other spaces on the net who don't have English as their first language. I struggle with languages, even though my mother's family aren't from the UK and she's bilingual, as my hearing isn't great and I'm not good at picking up variations in regional dialogue and intonation in English dialects, never mind different languages, so to be so articulate and expressive in second or third languages beyond the basics of ordering food etc is a skill I'm genuinely impressed with. And then to discover that some of you aren't bilingual from family life has blown me away.

 

[LunarLight]

It's never been that hard for me to understand what people say - sometimes I struggle a bit to find a word or two, but that's all.

 

[Trying To Live]

Not really. I'm not a native English speaker, but I do my best.

Sometimes it's hard to expres myself.

Listening and reading in English is not a problem for me.