As a young adult, Noah Webster was a teacher. At that time, the colonies were fighting for independence from Britain. Yet the books that American children used in school all came from Britain. The books were all about British people and British places. Webster wanted books that would mean more to American children. So he wrote three books that used American examples—a grammar book, a spelling book, and a reader. These books were very popular, and millions of them were sold.

Webster was interested in changing the spellings of words. He wanted words to be spelled the way they were pronounced. For example, he thought the word “head” should be spelled “hed”， and the word “laugh” should be spelled “laf”. People liked Webster's suggestions.

However, few words were actually changed. One group of words that were changed were words in which an unpronounced “u” followed an “o”. That is why Americans write “color” and “labor”, and the British write “colour” and “labour”.

With the money he made from his books, Webster was able to write. It was the first American English dictionary, published in 1828.Webster's dictionary had over 70，000 words and gave the meaning and origin of each. To this day, Webster's work is the example that most dictionaries of American English follow.

What is language for? Some people seem to think it's for practicing grammar rules and earning lists of words—the longer the list, the better. That's wrong．Language is for the exchange（交流）of ideas and information．It's meaningless knowing all about a language if you can't use it freely. Many students I have met know hundreds of grammar rules, but they can't speak correctly or fluently（流利地）．They are afraid of making mistakes．One shouldn't be afraid of making mistakes when speaking a foreign language. Native speakers make mistakes and break rules, too．Bernard saw once wrote, "Foreigners often speak English too correctly．"But the mistakes that native speakers make are different from those that Chinese students make. They're English mistakes in the English language．And if enough native speakers break a rule, it is no longer a rule. What used to be wrong becomes right．People not only make history, they make language．But a people can only make its own language．It can't make another people's language. So Chinese students of English should pay attention to grammar, but they shouldn't overdo（做过头）it. They should put communication first.

Seven years ago, Chicago-born Ben Barron took a job with Zurich Insurance Group, an international company headquartered in Switzerland. Barron found that his new colleagues across Europe, who used English as a shared language, had difficulty understanding him.

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 avoided phrases and idioms that don’t translate globally.

Barron is one of a small but growing number of native English speakers adapting how he uses his mother tongue. “With non-native English speakers now vastly outnumbering native speakers, the tables are turned,” says Neil Shaw of the British Council. About 1.75 billion people worldwide speak English at a useful level, and by 2022 it’s expected to be two billion. In the Council’s new intercultural fluency courses, native English speakers in countries from Singapore to South Africa have been forced to rethink how they communicate. “It shows that their English isn’t as clear and effective as they think it is,” Shaw says.

“The English language is changing quite differently,” says Robert Gibson, an intercultural consultant. Chinese English, known as Chinglish, and German English, called Denglish, are examples, he says. “English is also developing within organizations. In companies, they have their own style of English which is not necessarily understood by native speakers.”

The most useful change native English speakers can make is to slow down their speech, says Bob Dignen, director of York Associates. Native English speakers on average speak 250 words per minute, while the average non-native speaker is comfortable with around 150 words per minute, Dignen explains. Articulation (清晰发音) is also important, he says. “Instead of ‘I will’ we tend to say ‘I’ll’ and then in fast speech we say ‘ull’, which might cause misunderstandings. ”

“Native English speakers tend to use a communication style that leads to dominance (优势) in terms of talking time with them speaking more than the non-native speaker,” he says. “Shutting up and asking more questions is my suggestion. It makes a huge difference.”