Foreign accents may be your get-out-of-jail-free card for using poor grammar

(STUDY FINDS) – If you’ve ever felt self-conscious about mixing up “the” and “a” while speaking English as a second language, here’s some good news: native English speakers are likely to be more forgiving of your grammatical slip-ups if you have a foreign accent.

A new study from the University of Birmingham reveals that British English speakers tend to be more tolerant of grammar mistakes when they hear them from someone with a foreign accent, compared to hearing the same errors from a native speaker. However, this tolerance has an interesting catch – it depends on the listener’s personality type.

The research team, which included collaborators from Cardiff University and the University of Serbia, conducted their study with 60 British English speakers in Birmingham – an equal mix of men and women. These participants listened to 40 different recordings, some with perfect grammar and others containing common article errors (think saying “I enjoy Edinburgh Fringe Festival” instead of “I enjoy the Edinburgh Fringe Festival”). The passages were read by both British and Polish speakers, creating a mix of native and foreign-accented speech.