Why Do Native Speakers Seem Different To The Text Books?

If you have been studying for a while, you may have noticed that what you have been learning through your textbooks, doesn’t quite match up with how native speakers seem to do things.

You might notice little differences, or they may have even said to you “don’t say it like that” which can be a bit confusing. Surely the textbook is meant to teach you the language properly, so that you can use it in the real world?

Well, for many reasons, which I will go through below, textbooks and natives can be a little different.

This is totally normal and you don’t need to worry about it. Just stick with what the textbook says. I know you are going to sound wrong, but this the version of the language you need to learn, once you are comfortable with this, you can adapt to sound more like a native.

Textbooks Are Formal

Textbooks are designed to sort of be the golden rules of the language and they tell you how it should be used properly.

This means they will always give you the standard form of the language, so they may appear a little more formal than the language you will hear spoken day to day by natives.

This is actually what you want and actually need if you are learning a language. You want the proper guidelines then if you want to alter it after, that’s fine, which is what the natives do and is why they don’t sound like the textbooks.

The Rules Will Be Broken

If you consider the textbooks as the golden rules to the language, then it’s only natural that these will be broken, and is why natives sound different.

You will have actually seen this in other areas of your life. Just think about learning to drive. You are told that you must have your hands at 10 and 2 on the wheel. It’s the standard way to steer and you need this technique to pass your test, but the second you pass everyone starts holding the wheel with one hand.

Language is kind of the same, the text books will show you the correct way to do things, but the reality is people cut corners and do things a little different in real life. Natives are basically walking around speaking the language with one hand on the wheel …if that makes sense.

Natives Speak In Local Dialects

Another reason why textbooks do not quite match up with native speakers is due to accents and regional dialects. 

A text book can not cover all these, so it has to just consolidate and go for the “standard” version. This can be a little formal, but it is going to be the version that is able to generally cover each region.

If you can speak the standard version you should get by just fine, then you will have to fine tune your skills to the specific region you visit, or make friends from.

If you are thinking this is going to make you look like an outsider, I wouldn’t worry about this, they will know you are not a native speaker regardless and as long as they can generally understand you everything will be fine.

(You can read more about – How Important Is It To Listen To Authentic Native Material In A Second Language?)

Textbooks Don’t Use Slang

A large part of regional dialect is slang. This can be national or quite regional, but as it is very informal it doesn’t really get mentioned in the textbooks.

As I said above textbooks want you know a good general spread of the language that is going to get you by in any area, which means slang is not going to be very helpful as it is only going to confuse you.

It’s best they leave that out and allow you to discover this on your own at a later date when you are more comfortable with the language. 

Natives Will Make Mistakes

One of the biggest reasons that textbooks and natives sound so different is due to mistakes. We may be native speakers and highly efficient at the language, but we still make loads of mistakes and they are just sort of accepted.

If you are an English speaker, how many time have you seen …and more importantly how many times have you done this yourself … the classic your – you’re/your confusion.

If I’m texting I always seem to mess this up. I press send and immediately spot it and I just roll my eyes at my own stupidity and carry on as normal.

Maybe my friends think I’m stupid. I think I’m stupid at times, but really no one cares and no one says anything. The message still makes sense, only a complete grammar-nazi gets their kickers in a twist over this.

However, I do text a lot of non-natives …which is not ideal as I’m sure they are reading my messages and questioning their grammar knowledge and doubting themselves. I do usually try and correct myself for these people, but sometimes they slip by.

So if you are talking to a native and something contradicts the textbook …your friend is probably making mistakes.

Languages Change Over Time

I think it is also important to note that languages do change over time, which can make textbooks sound outdated.

If you listen to people talk from the 1920s compared to now it can really sound different, it’s actually pretty incredible. It doesn’t matter what the language is, they just sound more formal in the past, and more like he textbooks you might be reading today.

This shows the language that is spoken today has moved away from that more standard form that would have been spoken in the past.

You may find that textbooks will start to shift what they see as the new “standard” language to sound more like what is actually spoken today, but then maybe in 30 years time how we speak may be different than today!   

You Need The Textbooks

If you think the difference between the textbooks and natives is actually a disadvantage to you, you would be wrong.

Yes, it can be annoying to speak to someone and they kind of laugh at the way you are speaking, as you sound so formal, but that doesn’t matter. You need a solid base of the standard form of the language when you learning.

Once you have this, you will find you can easily morph into a more natural way of speaking. It is far better to do it this way round, than try and go in the other direction.

You could argue that you may never need to speak so formally, but you never know so it’s just best to build your knowledge foundation using the correct guidelines.

Just think back to school. We all learned the correct way to speak English; we were told how the grammar works and we all learned how to write formal letters …I would say most of us never use any of this in our daily life, but we all know it and we all could start speaking a more standardised English if we needed to, especially to speak to a non-native.

Learning the proper framework allows us to spot mistakes and allows us to know what we can get away with and what we can change, so that we can still be understood.

If you are learning a new language, just focus on the standard form, it’s better for you in the long run.

Conclusion

As you can see there are lots of different reasons why natives sound different to the text books. This is totally normal and is not really something you need to worry about.

Just focus on learning the language using the standard form, then when you are comfortable with this more formal form of the language you can adapt how you speak to fit in with the natives you are speaking to.

This way may seem counterproductive, but it actually is the best approach.    

(You can read more about – Can You Learn A Language From A Native Speaker?)