True, some common abreviations are standard. But my remarks, and probably Dobroslawa’s, concern mostly oral conversations—that’s the context where non-native speakers are in a huge disadvantage, even if they are proficient.
I kind of enjoy reading unusual expressions or slang, because it gives me new data and time enough to update on—so if someone uses it in a conversation later on, I may have a better chance of understanding it. Perhaps that’s precisely the problem for skilled non-native speakers: we’re usually much better “trained” in the written language than in the spoken one, so that we’re often ignorant about some of their differences. Thus, writing “slang, abbreviations, unusual collocations” may actually have a net positive effect.
True, some common abreviations are standard. But my remarks, and probably Dobroslawa’s, concern mostly oral conversations—that’s the context where non-native speakers are in a huge disadvantage, even if they are proficient.
I kind of enjoy reading unusual expressions or slang, because it gives me new data and time enough to update on—so if someone uses it in a conversation later on, I may have a better chance of understanding it. Perhaps that’s precisely the problem for skilled non-native speakers: we’re usually much better “trained” in the written language than in the spoken one, so that we’re often ignorant about some of their differences. Thus, writing “slang, abbreviations, unusual collocations” may actually have a net positive effect.