Until seven years ago, Chicago-born Ben Barron had worked only with ……….(0)………..

But
when he took a job with an international company, …………(1)……….. in Switzerland,
Barron found that his new colleagues ……..…(2)………., who used English as a shared
language, had difficulty understanding him.

“Fortunately I was surrounded by people who would stop and say things like, ‘So what do you
mean by that?’ and „ ……..(3)…….” he recalls. “So I started to become aware of some of my
own verbal communication habits ……….(4)……. to misunderstandings.”

After taking an in-company e-learning course to help native English speakers communicate
better with non-native speakers, Barron slowed down his pace of speaking and edited the
language he used ………(5)……… slangs and idioms.

He is one of a small but ……..….(6)…..…… native English speakers changing the way he uses
his mother tongue. With non-native English speakers now vastly outnumbering native speakers,
it’s up to the latter to be ………..(7)………. says an expert in the Council’s new intercultural
fluency courses, native English speakers in other countries ………..(8)……… to rethink how
they communicate.“It’s a bit of a revelation to many of them that their English isn’t as clear and
effective as they think it is,” Shaw says.

“The English language is changing …………..(9)…………,” says an international consultant,

based in Munich, Germany. The trend is not to have one or two clear standard Englishes like
American English and British English, but to have a lot of different types of English. In
companies, they have their own style of English …………(10)……….. understood by native
speakers.

A. across Europe I. which is not necessarily

B. what is usually J. to avoid
C. growing number of K. have been promted
D. fellow Americans L. make me clarify
M. quite radically
E. that might lead
F. more adaptable
G. really stressful
H. headquartered