The abbreviations ELF and EIL stand for English as a Lingua Franca, and English as an International Language. These abbreviations are used in discussions about pronunciation standards. Around the world, there are more non-native speakers using English (EIL) than native speakers. When groups of speakers from different language backgrounds communicate in English, there is evidence of an emerging lingua franca (ELF) with its own pronunciation norms. English is often thought of as being the property of British and American native speakers, and British and American accents have become the benchmarks for proficiency in pronunciation and speaking. Recently, the appropriacy of these benchmarks has been challenged.

The people pictured below speak as well as, or better than, many native speakers while retaining an important part of their personal, social, and cultural identity - their accent. They are all expert communicators in English, with accents from their first language backgrounds - Polish, German, Japanese, etc. All of them use English in their professional lives. You can hear short recordings by clicking on their pictures, and going to the linked page.

France ...
Caroline, whose first language is French, speaks about cycling to school.

If you would like to volunteer your voice for these pages email me richard@speechinaction.com, and let's see if we can meet and make a recording.