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There was an article in the Economist 10-15 years ago about the prevalence of English throughout the world and the typical explanations for it were listed: the British Empire followed by post WWII American economic and entertainment hegemony.

But they also pointed to an unsung advantage - no one really cares if you speak it poorly.

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>But they also pointed to an unsung advantage - no one really cares if you speak it poorly.

Surely this is just a consequence of that fact that the majority of the world's English speakers speak English as a second language. As a native English speaker you're constantly hearing people speak bad English, so you're naturally somewhat desensitized.

Not only bad English, but regional varieties that I as ESL have trouble understanding, which might formally count as own languages if held against linguistic standards. I just broswed Green's dictionary of slang so I feel I know what I'm talking about.

> As a native English speaker you're constantly hearing people speak bad English, so you're naturally somewhat desensitized

Reading middle and old English, I feel the onus is on you because it changed so much :')

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